Dear Everybody,
How are you! We are doing pretty great over here! We left Florence yesterday with the faulty directions of the Italians and had to switch a few trains to get here, but we made it and found a place to stay no problem! We are currently in Riomaggiore, Cinque Terre - a really great place right on the coast of the Meditteranean. It was quite a treat when we rolled in yesterday, it was igh twenties and the train station is right on the edge of a big ole cliff, so we got off to look right onto the sea. It was so great.
We are staying in a ten person dorm, but have managed to swindle into a room on our own - which is also pretty great. The beds and pillows arent quite as comfortable, and the kitchen not nearly as equiped as the last, but the scenery sure kicks Florence in the butt. Dont get me wrong I love Florence all in its own, but holy crap. Cinque Terre is already a new favourite!
Riomaggiore is just one of the five villages within Cinque Terre, there are various hiking routes that run through each of the villages - each with its own difficulty level. We were planning on catching the train to Monterosso this morning and hiking back on the main path, which is estimated to take 5 or 6 hours - except that we awoke to a rainy day, and most of the paths are closed due to the fact that they will be too slippery/dangerous to hike through. Bah humbug! So our fingers are crossed that tomorrow will warm up, if not then the next day, and if not then I dont know how long we can wait around in a small town - even if it is beautiful!
For now, we have our beds booked until Saturday when we are schedualed to check out, but the woman promised that we could stay up until November first. I tried to swindle that I would clean the dorms if she let me live for free, but she only laughed..I was serious!
I guess I havent updated much about Florence really - thing is we wandered about a lot, suntanned a fair amount and just lounged around and rested up from Rome. We a slice of pizza three days in a row at this great place called Pizzeria ToTo and a fair amount of gelato. It was HOT while we were in Florence - we are both so tanned. I also had the chance to meet up with the Sheldon Europe 09 group, Mr Sveinson treated Jenna and I to some gelato and a few brews, he also delivered mail from Danielle! Yahoo! We got to visit with him and he strongly urged us to hit up Cinque Terre on our way to Venice - Thank You, Mr S! Tuesday evening we ate out ( how weird!) at a small ristorante called Dell Angollo, where I ate the largest calzone known to man! Then we met with Mr Sveinson and teachers, drank a beer and made our way to Space Electric, a rockin (hahaha) disco near our hostel, where we got in for free because he explained that we were chaperones! Which also entitled us to three or four free drinks! Right on!
I should also mention that we took a five hour saunter up to Piazzale Michaelangelo to catch a view of Florence, hoping to wander through some really great gardens, only to discover that they cost 10€, so we just took the long way instead. We did manage to see some really great houses along the way, and devised plans to marry sleazy Italian men and then divorce them and take the villa in our name. Just kiddig. I think.
Anyway, fingers crossed that tomorrow the sun will come out and we can do the hike. So bummed about this afternoon!
I miss you all at home and wish you were seeing these great sites with us.
Love, Ash
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Flickr!
Dear friends and fam,
I have spent just over an hour uploading photos one-by-one onto my flicker account. None the less, there are a couple on there, only the gems though! More to come sometime soon.
Much love,
Tre
www.flickr.com/ashleypclark
I have spent just over an hour uploading photos one-by-one onto my flicker account. None the less, there are a couple on there, only the gems though! More to come sometime soon.
Much love,
Tre
www.flickr.com/ashleypclark
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Florence!
Happy Easter, everyone!
Our day hasnt been very busy thus far, actually we have spent a fair amount of our day and a half in Florence taking advantage of our really great hostel and relaxing, lazing around. Not anymore though! We are all relaxed and raring to see the city.
We are staying in Ciao Hostel, a few minute walk from the train station, right in the center of town so everything is accessible, which is great. The hostel only opened a week or so ago so everything is brand new - new showers (hot and with pressure!), great beds, great pillows, and a really great kitchen. Which allows us for homemade meals. We made spaghetti the other night and felt ike we were on top of the world! We ate it for two nights and tonight we are making baked potatoes, corn and chicken with lemon/oregano. We are really great cooks, you know! Anyway this is a short update wishing you all a happy easter, we love Florence, I am going to get to visit with Mr Sveinson tomorrow, and we had rooftop hangouts ontop of our hostel last night.
Its really great up there!
Much love,
Ash
Our day hasnt been very busy thus far, actually we have spent a fair amount of our day and a half in Florence taking advantage of our really great hostel and relaxing, lazing around. Not anymore though! We are all relaxed and raring to see the city.
We are staying in Ciao Hostel, a few minute walk from the train station, right in the center of town so everything is accessible, which is great. The hostel only opened a week or so ago so everything is brand new - new showers (hot and with pressure!), great beds, great pillows, and a really great kitchen. Which allows us for homemade meals. We made spaghetti the other night and felt ike we were on top of the world! We ate it for two nights and tonight we are making baked potatoes, corn and chicken with lemon/oregano. We are really great cooks, you know! Anyway this is a short update wishing you all a happy easter, we love Florence, I am going to get to visit with Mr Sveinson tomorrow, and we had rooftop hangouts ontop of our hostel last night.
Its really great up there!
Much love,
Ash
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Roma
Ciao Bella!
It has been a few days since I posted but I have been hoping to toss all of Romes adventures into one post. And since we have to wait for our laundry to be done it seems like an okay time to do it!
We spent our first day touring Rome on a walking extravaganza. We are too cheap to pay for the Metro (which is only 1€ hahaha), but we also wanted to see the city. Nearly everything was within sauntering distance so we made pretty good time. We made our way to the Spanish Steps first, then the Trevi fountain - which you all should know was oversized and so gorgeous. We made a wish and tossed in our coin - which I learned afterward that if you only toss one coin it means for a quick return to Rome. More travelling! From there we made our way to the Pantheon which was also a sure site to see. The dome was absolutely perfect and lucky us the sun was shining for decent photos! From there climbed up the steps of the Vittorio Emanuele II monument, which gave us a great view of Rome and the Colesseum! We also obtained a sunburn and horrendus tan lines. Great!
Exhausted we hit up the grocery store and stocked up on things (wishing they were as cheap as in Greece) and made our way back to the hostel. M&J Hostel is by far the best hostel that we have stayed in so far on the trip, allowing us for decent sleeps in pretty great beds. Our roomates have been pretty great so far, only 6 of us altogether this time. We met a couple who have been travelling in Africa for three months and are travelling Europe for a month until they head back to England, and a few others but we havent taken much time to get to know them really. The people change so often that it is hard to keep track or maintain some sort of friendship.
We spent Tuesday at the Coloseum - not wanting to wait in the huge lineup, we paid a few dollars extra and took a guided tour throughout it and the Palatine Hill. The ruins there still give a pretty good idea of the castle that used to lie there, and let me tell you, a six foot throne doesnt sound like such a bad idea! Haha. So unnecessary! Tuesday also happened to be Ladies Night! Lucky us! We decided that we may as well attend a pub crawl while we are here, seeing as we get free drinks and dinner AND a nice pink tshirt, so stylish, it seemed worth the deal we got. We went to four different pubs and met quite a few people. We met a couple of girls from Canada who are teaching just outside of London, and gave me some contact info so that I might be able to get a job as a TA (if I cant find any other) with their reccomendation. We hung around with them and some hilarious kids from DC who we are hanging out with later tonight as we attend the Queen Tribute band at an Irish Pub! All in all, the pubcrawl was much a success, myself taking more advantage of the free beer than Jenna (she is a tank, and I am not) so it ended it plenty of singing and dancing. PLENTY of singing.
We were a bit of a sore and tired mess yesterday after the pub crawl, Jenna not as much as I was but we still managed to get out none the less. We had been planning to go to the Vatican because it had been suggested to go later in the afternoon to avoid the lineups, but by the time we got there and saw Saint Peters we decided to tour it for free ourselves and we would go to the Vatican this afternoon. St Peters was quite the site, 3/4 of it being done by Michaelangelo and the other 1/4 by a man whose name I cant quite put my finger on. From there we went back to the hostel where we complained about sore bodies and being tired and went to bed around 8.
This morning we woke up early and made our way to the Vatican! Again, not wanting to stay in line we paid a bit extra for the guided tour which was really fantastic. The tour guide was a woman from Edmonton who majors in Art History and gave us our moneys worth for sure. The highlight of the tour was the Sistine Chapel, where I stood around with my jaw open for twenty minutes. It is simply fantastic and in such good condition. You arent allowed to speak or take photos but I did manage to snap one without them taking my camera away! We also saw the rooms by Raphael which were also a jaw dropper. These men had some serious talent. Michaelangelo spent four years working in the Sistine Chapel all on his own! The tour guide also let us know that he didnt shower and would wear the same pair of shoes without taking them off until they simply fell off of his feet. A homely but genius man for sure.
OH, I should also mention that we got another number this afternoon from the man signing us up for the tour of the Vatican, and that Jenna who swindled a knife from a restaurant accidently left it in her backpack and got into the Vatican with it because the guards were hitting on her. The officials here are worse for hitting on us than the actual people. Its almost scary.
Anyway, before this times out and I lose the entire blog, I would like you all to know that I miss you a lot! I will try and update this a bit more often but its so hard when it costs us money! I also tried uploading photos the other evening but the computer kept freezing when I tried to use my flicker. Therefore, there are TWO photos on my facebook - one of the trevi fountain and the other of me atop the Acropolis!
Much love!
Tre
It has been a few days since I posted but I have been hoping to toss all of Romes adventures into one post. And since we have to wait for our laundry to be done it seems like an okay time to do it!
We spent our first day touring Rome on a walking extravaganza. We are too cheap to pay for the Metro (which is only 1€ hahaha), but we also wanted to see the city. Nearly everything was within sauntering distance so we made pretty good time. We made our way to the Spanish Steps first, then the Trevi fountain - which you all should know was oversized and so gorgeous. We made a wish and tossed in our coin - which I learned afterward that if you only toss one coin it means for a quick return to Rome. More travelling! From there we made our way to the Pantheon which was also a sure site to see. The dome was absolutely perfect and lucky us the sun was shining for decent photos! From there climbed up the steps of the Vittorio Emanuele II monument, which gave us a great view of Rome and the Colesseum! We also obtained a sunburn and horrendus tan lines. Great!
Exhausted we hit up the grocery store and stocked up on things (wishing they were as cheap as in Greece) and made our way back to the hostel. M&J Hostel is by far the best hostel that we have stayed in so far on the trip, allowing us for decent sleeps in pretty great beds. Our roomates have been pretty great so far, only 6 of us altogether this time. We met a couple who have been travelling in Africa for three months and are travelling Europe for a month until they head back to England, and a few others but we havent taken much time to get to know them really. The people change so often that it is hard to keep track or maintain some sort of friendship.
We spent Tuesday at the Coloseum - not wanting to wait in the huge lineup, we paid a few dollars extra and took a guided tour throughout it and the Palatine Hill. The ruins there still give a pretty good idea of the castle that used to lie there, and let me tell you, a six foot throne doesnt sound like such a bad idea! Haha. So unnecessary! Tuesday also happened to be Ladies Night! Lucky us! We decided that we may as well attend a pub crawl while we are here, seeing as we get free drinks and dinner AND a nice pink tshirt, so stylish, it seemed worth the deal we got. We went to four different pubs and met quite a few people. We met a couple of girls from Canada who are teaching just outside of London, and gave me some contact info so that I might be able to get a job as a TA (if I cant find any other) with their reccomendation. We hung around with them and some hilarious kids from DC who we are hanging out with later tonight as we attend the Queen Tribute band at an Irish Pub! All in all, the pubcrawl was much a success, myself taking more advantage of the free beer than Jenna (she is a tank, and I am not) so it ended it plenty of singing and dancing. PLENTY of singing.
We were a bit of a sore and tired mess yesterday after the pub crawl, Jenna not as much as I was but we still managed to get out none the less. We had been planning to go to the Vatican because it had been suggested to go later in the afternoon to avoid the lineups, but by the time we got there and saw Saint Peters we decided to tour it for free ourselves and we would go to the Vatican this afternoon. St Peters was quite the site, 3/4 of it being done by Michaelangelo and the other 1/4 by a man whose name I cant quite put my finger on. From there we went back to the hostel where we complained about sore bodies and being tired and went to bed around 8.
This morning we woke up early and made our way to the Vatican! Again, not wanting to stay in line we paid a bit extra for the guided tour which was really fantastic. The tour guide was a woman from Edmonton who majors in Art History and gave us our moneys worth for sure. The highlight of the tour was the Sistine Chapel, where I stood around with my jaw open for twenty minutes. It is simply fantastic and in such good condition. You arent allowed to speak or take photos but I did manage to snap one without them taking my camera away! We also saw the rooms by Raphael which were also a jaw dropper. These men had some serious talent. Michaelangelo spent four years working in the Sistine Chapel all on his own! The tour guide also let us know that he didnt shower and would wear the same pair of shoes without taking them off until they simply fell off of his feet. A homely but genius man for sure.
OH, I should also mention that we got another number this afternoon from the man signing us up for the tour of the Vatican, and that Jenna who swindled a knife from a restaurant accidently left it in her backpack and got into the Vatican with it because the guards were hitting on her. The officials here are worse for hitting on us than the actual people. Its almost scary.
Anyway, before this times out and I lose the entire blog, I would like you all to know that I miss you a lot! I will try and update this a bit more often but its so hard when it costs us money! I also tried uploading photos the other evening but the computer kept freezing when I tried to use my flicker. Therefore, there are TWO photos on my facebook - one of the trevi fountain and the other of me atop the Acropolis!
Much love!
Tre
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Oh, Medusa
Ciao Bella!
We arrived in Italy two days ago, after spending our time in Patras with our friend and his underwear. The ferry ride was long and probably the worst sleep yet on our trip, our seats consisted mainly of airplane like seats in a dark room. No. Good.
We spent two days in a small town on the coast named Brindisi in a hostel named Carpe Diem! It was the only hostel in the small place, but welcoming and homey none the less. Our roomate, on the other hand, was a bit off. Upon arrival we were introduced to her by her stuff scattered throughout an entire corner of the room. Around five suitcases, her own computer (not laptop, computer), and an array of things about the desk. She came in around dinner and made quite the impression upon us. She was probably around fourty or fifty years old with purple hair and large fur coats with high boots. She only spoke Spanish mostly, but managed to make a bit of conversation with us before she took out her tattoo gun. Yes, tattoo gun! She chatted away on her cellphone as she put the gun together. Once she was off of her phone she began tattooing herself. She was shocking. I named her Medusa due to her outline on her lower back. Gross!
Brindisi was not much but on our last afternoon the man who owned the hostel and a few girls that work there were heading out to the beach to watch some boat races and invited us along. We raced through Brindisi out to one of its two castles, where we broke in past the military confinement (haa) and sat to eat strawberries. It was pretty great.
We caught the train at six this morning to Rome, where it is hot and overwhelming. We had been planning to saunter into a hostel and assume for open beds (because that has been our plan thus far) only to discover that nearly every hostel in Rome was full for tonight. AH! We are currently checked in to M&J Hostel, a short walk from the Termini Train Station, and we have booked it up until Thursday evening. Rome is expensive, so we had sought out to find a grocery store and were unsuccessful due to it being Sunday evening. We ate at a small Pizzeria where we spent too much on mediocre Italian food. I ate the canneloni with spinach and ricotta cheese. Though, the waiter did give us complimentary shots and his phone number.
The second one we have gotten so far!
Anyway, we are going to do our best to tour Rome on our own due to the fact that this hostel costs reasonably more than the others we have been in.
DK, the settings say the date is set to be in the blog so I am confused as to why it is not there. Today is Sunday April 5!
Much love,
Ash
We arrived in Italy two days ago, after spending our time in Patras with our friend and his underwear. The ferry ride was long and probably the worst sleep yet on our trip, our seats consisted mainly of airplane like seats in a dark room. No. Good.
We spent two days in a small town on the coast named Brindisi in a hostel named Carpe Diem! It was the only hostel in the small place, but welcoming and homey none the less. Our roomate, on the other hand, was a bit off. Upon arrival we were introduced to her by her stuff scattered throughout an entire corner of the room. Around five suitcases, her own computer (not laptop, computer), and an array of things about the desk. She came in around dinner and made quite the impression upon us. She was probably around fourty or fifty years old with purple hair and large fur coats with high boots. She only spoke Spanish mostly, but managed to make a bit of conversation with us before she took out her tattoo gun. Yes, tattoo gun! She chatted away on her cellphone as she put the gun together. Once she was off of her phone she began tattooing herself. She was shocking. I named her Medusa due to her outline on her lower back. Gross!
Brindisi was not much but on our last afternoon the man who owned the hostel and a few girls that work there were heading out to the beach to watch some boat races and invited us along. We raced through Brindisi out to one of its two castles, where we broke in past the military confinement (haa) and sat to eat strawberries. It was pretty great.
We caught the train at six this morning to Rome, where it is hot and overwhelming. We had been planning to saunter into a hostel and assume for open beds (because that has been our plan thus far) only to discover that nearly every hostel in Rome was full for tonight. AH! We are currently checked in to M&J Hostel, a short walk from the Termini Train Station, and we have booked it up until Thursday evening. Rome is expensive, so we had sought out to find a grocery store and were unsuccessful due to it being Sunday evening. We ate at a small Pizzeria where we spent too much on mediocre Italian food. I ate the canneloni with spinach and ricotta cheese. Though, the waiter did give us complimentary shots and his phone number.
The second one we have gotten so far!
Anyway, we are going to do our best to tour Rome on our own due to the fact that this hostel costs reasonably more than the others we have been in.
DK, the settings say the date is set to be in the blog so I am confused as to why it is not there. Today is Sunday April 5!
Much love,
Ash
Thursday, April 2, 2009
The Coast
Well, we had been planning to catch the ferry to Italy yesterday, until my Eurrail Timetable is completely off and our timing was hours off. We packed up and left Hostel Aphrodite - without getting lost this time, and made our way to the train station to catch a train to Patras, Greece. Upon arrival we had to wait two hours for the next train, so we spent our time in the cafeteria where I ate the most fantastic grilled sandwich for only 2 euro! We left ten minutes early to wait for the train, and as we made our way up the stairs a train with only 2 cars was leaving. We missed it by thirty seconds. The security figure told us we would have to wait until 530 and that we might be able to change our tickets, we went back to the box the man who sold us our tickets rushed us out giving us directions on which Metro trains to take and we might be able to catch it in the next city. Rushing around up and down flights of stairs, asking for directions, hopping on about 4 or 5 Metros we eventually caught our train in Kiatos with five minutes to spare, which finally gave Jenna some time to use the washroom.
Our train ride was around 2 or 3 hours, straight down the coast of Greece. It was picturesque - the way you would figure Greece to be. We arrived in Patras around six thirty. It's a beautiful place - and hot! We were instructed to ask at the Eurrail office for our tickets to Brindisi, turns out it closes around 5 like a regular business, so our next option was to find a hostel. About 1km down the main road they said there was a youth hostel so we made our way in that direction. Patras is fantastic, we have been regretting our time in Athens wishing we'd have been here instead. The hostel was an easy find and was in an old building - vespas out front, shutters on the windows, huge trees and a welcoming entrance. For 12 euro we stayed in the hostel, and even managed to swindle the room with the balcony! The door to our room was 7 or 8 feet high with tinted windows and the shutters open onto the balcony. We were dumbfounded. Set up our bed (Grandma, I used my sleepsack for the first time last night, it worked so well!) and went out to wander the city.
The sun was setting so we sat on the waters edge and took a few photos, a few islands are in eyes view though we aren't sure if anything is really over there or not. We sat for awhile and since Jenna eats like a monster, food was the next option. Most small places were closed so we went to a pizza place next to our hostel and ate, sorry, scarfed spaghetti. Then we hit the sack.
This morning we woke up early to the most hilarious site we've witnessed on our trip so far. We prepared ourselves for the great showers that the hostel offered (or they looked great anyway), so I stumbled out the door and saw a VERY old man in his tshirt and underwear. Speedo pretty much. I turned around and slammed the door laughing histerically. So I figured he just didn't think anyone would be up and was going to wander to the washroom. I figured wrong. We stood in the shower area and he came around the corner AGAIN in his speedo and Jenna and I are just killing ourselves laughing, then the man is stretching in the hallway. HA HA HA. Anyway, that was the last we saw of him. Our showers were FREEZING and not great at all. We made our way to the Eurrail office and got our tickets for the ferry which doesn't leave until midnight tonight. Since we are homeless, and hosteless, we spent a few hours down by the Ionian Sea - getting sunburnt and napping, then swung by the grocery store for snacks for our 14 hour ferry ride, now in the internet cafe and will probably head back to the sea-side for the rest of the evening.
Can't wait for Italy!
Love, Ash
Our train ride was around 2 or 3 hours, straight down the coast of Greece. It was picturesque - the way you would figure Greece to be. We arrived in Patras around six thirty. It's a beautiful place - and hot! We were instructed to ask at the Eurrail office for our tickets to Brindisi, turns out it closes around 5 like a regular business, so our next option was to find a hostel. About 1km down the main road they said there was a youth hostel so we made our way in that direction. Patras is fantastic, we have been regretting our time in Athens wishing we'd have been here instead. The hostel was an easy find and was in an old building - vespas out front, shutters on the windows, huge trees and a welcoming entrance. For 12 euro we stayed in the hostel, and even managed to swindle the room with the balcony! The door to our room was 7 or 8 feet high with tinted windows and the shutters open onto the balcony. We were dumbfounded. Set up our bed (Grandma, I used my sleepsack for the first time last night, it worked so well!) and went out to wander the city.
The sun was setting so we sat on the waters edge and took a few photos, a few islands are in eyes view though we aren't sure if anything is really over there or not. We sat for awhile and since Jenna eats like a monster, food was the next option. Most small places were closed so we went to a pizza place next to our hostel and ate, sorry, scarfed spaghetti. Then we hit the sack.
This morning we woke up early to the most hilarious site we've witnessed on our trip so far. We prepared ourselves for the great showers that the hostel offered (or they looked great anyway), so I stumbled out the door and saw a VERY old man in his tshirt and underwear. Speedo pretty much. I turned around and slammed the door laughing histerically. So I figured he just didn't think anyone would be up and was going to wander to the washroom. I figured wrong. We stood in the shower area and he came around the corner AGAIN in his speedo and Jenna and I are just killing ourselves laughing, then the man is stretching in the hallway. HA HA HA. Anyway, that was the last we saw of him. Our showers were FREEZING and not great at all. We made our way to the Eurrail office and got our tickets for the ferry which doesn't leave until midnight tonight. Since we are homeless, and hosteless, we spent a few hours down by the Ionian Sea - getting sunburnt and napping, then swung by the grocery store for snacks for our 14 hour ferry ride, now in the internet cafe and will probably head back to the sea-side for the rest of the evening.
Can't wait for Italy!
Love, Ash
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