free travel....the rest of the story

so, we left Paris for Barcelona which was pretty and sunny and CHEAP! boy did we ever love that! My shoes got absolutely soaked when we went to the beach, but now I can really say that Ive been in the Medittereanean Ocean! After that we had a 19 hour long boat ride to Italy sans bed because thats how we roll...and it was cheaper. We met some nice guys from Oregon who were on break from studying in Spain and played the worlds longest game of UNO ever! Once we got off the boat, we had to take another train to Rome. When we got there, we found our hostel really easily. They had funny rules and were close to the metro station. We ate real Italian food at this cute restaurant down the street, the waiter was so attentive. Then we found our friends who were in Rome, chatted and made plans for the next day. We walked back to the metro station and went to the Trevvi Fountain and, because we got lost, the Spanish Steps as well. We were glad to knock two things off of the list of things to do our next and only day in Rome! We woke up early and went to stand in line at the Vatican so we could see the Sistine Chapel. We were in line for a couple of hours before we got in! and we were near the beginning of the line! Their systems are silly there. Anyway, we elbowed our way past the multitudes ( we had a schedule to keep) and saw the ceiling. It was magnificent, but smaller than I imagined. After that, we went to St. Peters Basilica. Then we went to the Colosseum to meet some friends for lunch. That was the easiest landmark to find in Rome! we walked out of the Metro and it was across the street! We had a great lunch and some even better gelatto! Then we walked around in the colosseum and some Roman ruins, i even found writing still on one stone, that was really cool. We took a short (2 hour) train to Florence where we got a phone call telling us that we needed to go to a different hostel than the one we booked. Lame! mostly because the woman spoke broken English and we spoke NO Italian. Naturally when we got off the train it was raining. We decided to go to the first hostel because we knew where that was (we had printed directions off before we left to each of our hostels) we got there and knocked. and knocked and knocked.
with NO ANSWER
we were lost


to be continued...........

im home!
cos i just knew you were wondering.
and...i got a new car. but youll have to wait for that story until i post all about free travel (there are 8 more days arent YOU lucky!)

we made it to Paris

After an 8-hour bus ride, we got here Saturday afternoon. We went to the Effiel tower that night. Sunday we got up and saw Sarah off and went to look for the boys who were supposed to meet us between 930-10...we waited until 11 for them no show so we went to the Lourve and looked at the line in fear when they finally called and we met up with them, ate and saw them off once again. We went to the train station to reserve tickets.....which made us HOPE that buying Eurail passes actualls saves up money...cos so far it doesnt! We went to the Moulin Rouge to take pics, and to the Effiel Tower...but we went up that time. It was soooo windy, and i was really scared but thats ok. Today (monday) we woke up early to get in line to go into the Lourve. of course there wasnt one! so that was good. we wandered around for a couple of hours and saw the big things we wanted to and many things we didnt. Sortie means exit here....but the arrows point ALL OVER THE PLACE! its frustrating and a little funny to see the differences from the efficiencient English culture to the laid-back"ness" of the French. anyway we went to the Arc de Triuph (and walked over a mile up the Champs-Elysee to get there and save money). After that we went to the Effiel tower (for those of you counting, thats THREE times lol) and took pictures during the day. We are ready to catch our train, its just not time to leave yet :( but soon! and then to Barcelona!