PS...

By the way...that picture on the top of my blog is one of the views we saw from our hike in Cinque Terre...thought I would mention that little diddy!

ok! bye

The end is near...

Hey everyone! So I actually typed this long thing out yesterday and my blog wasnt working so I sent it to myself in a facebook message...here is the message from yesterday:

Greetings all! I am writing from a sketchy, but cheap internet cafe in Milan right now waiting until we catch our bus to the airport. I have a lot to update you on since our stay in Cinque Terre was AMAZING! So we arrived in cinque terre around 5ish and were anxious to get our backpacks off as usual...turns out we had to take a massive hike completely uphill for about 15 minutes to catch a bus...with our backpacks on and the sun beating down on us, I felt like I was at boot camp or something! But...we made it to our hotel which was in a little town called Biassa-only a 15 minute bus ride from Riogammorie, one of the 5 cities (hints the name Cinque "5" Terre). We met a really nice guy, Matt, who was staying in our hostel too so he showed us the ropes and where to get off. We showered, got situated and went to dinner with Matt at a little Pizzaria. Service over here is so different..they take there sweet time EVERY TIME...so we didnt actually eat for a good hour or so, but we had a great time relaxing and being clean! It was such a long day for us because we were traveling from Greece and we had to get up at 5:15 in the morning to start our travels. We went from the Santorini airport to the Athens airport, waited, went from Athens airport to Milan airport, bought a train ticket and waited, took a 3 hour train to Cinque Terre, another train from one of the 5 cities to the other and then the long hike...you can only imagine how exhausted we were!!

That is why we let ourselves sleep in the next morning...it was very nice! We got off to a rough start that morning since we missed the bus times and had to wait (something we really dont like doing) like an hour to catch a bus down to the city. When we got there it was wonderful though because we took a train to Monterosso (another of the 5 cities-the biggest) and had some great Italian food at a restuarant overlooking the water. This water was amazing..in fact we decided it could be prettier than Greece. It was so beautiful and the little town was gorgeous, filled with little Italian houses of pinks, yellows, whites, oranges, greens..it was so pretty! I took hundreds of pictures so I will post them when I get back. We also went and explored the little streets in this city and it was great..this is definately my favorite of our Italy stops! We then decided to head to Manarola (another of the 5 cities) and we enjoyed a cheap sandwich in some gelato of course. We walked back which took us about 20 minutes and we enjoyed the beachfront view along the path we took. We then went up to the top of the ledge by the port of Riogammorie and could see the sun starting to set...we had to catch a bus back up to Biassa so we decided to save the sunset for the next day! We went home to shower and we watched Anchorman!!! It was soooo great and felt very homey.

The next day could arguably be the best day I have had on this trip so far. We got up early and took the 720 am bus to the city. We were hiking the 5 cities (a very popular thing that people do when they come here). The path we took was right along the beach so we had a constant amazing view as we traveled from city to city. I took many pictures but it just wont do justice to the beauty we encountered. The hike wasnt too bad, but started to get strenuous between the 3 and 4 cities. We stopped for lunch in Vernaza (the 4th city) and then continued on to the last city..it was the hardest hike and it got very hott, but I had such a sense of accomplishment when I was finished..all in all it took us about 6 hours! It was some great exercise and unimaginable views of these cute little cities. We went back to the hotel for a break after our hike and got cleaned up for the night.

We came back down to have dinner and watch the sunset that night and little did we know what was ahead of us..we decided to splurge at our meal since it was our last night together as our trio (tear tear). Amy and I got wonderful pizzas and wine and Leigh got swordfish! I tried it and it was actually really good. We got water and bread (things you have to actually pay a lot for over here). All in all our bill would have been around 35 or more euros...anyway this nice couple from Cali sat by us and were chatting our ears off about our trip. They were obviously loaded because not only did they visit some French palace and eat with royalty because of his job, but they insisted on paying for our meal as a "congrats on graduating" gift. It was so nice of them..especially since that meant we could spend a lot of money on dessert :) :) :) We left and watched the sunset which was beautiful even though it was a bit cloudy...then we went to get some amazing dessert. I got a nutella crepe with mint chocolate gelato on top. Writing about this makes me want it again! Anyway, it was a wonderful day and night so I was very very pleased.

Our next day we left for Milan where we had to say goodbye to Amy..it was really sad and I even cried a little..ya call me emotional, but its hard leaving someone you have lived so closely with for this long...but Aim if your reading this I hope you had safe travels and enjoyed your stay with the Moores.

Now its Leigh and I getting ready to leave for Barcelona..we spent last night in our hostel which is in a really sketchy area, but we never left it...just watched Italian TV which was interesting and read our books. We have all been reading a lot...we bought books and rotated so I am now on book three! I am currently reading New Moon (the second book in the Twilight series) and I am hooked. Leigh and I are looking forward to Barcelona because we hear such great things about it from everyone traveling...people say it is there favorite place! I hope so.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the update...not sure if there will be another one before I get home or not. We will be in Barcelona for 4 nights and then will be taking a train up to Zurich where we fly out of and to save money we are sleeping in the airport! haha..true backpackers in action here, but I dont want to throw down 50 euros just to stay close to the airport!

I look forward to seeing you all very soon. Aim-good luck on the boards, I know you will kick ass! John-thanks for the comment on the blog..you made me laugh and I cant wait to hang out when we get back. Dad- HAPPY FATHERS DAY!! We will celebrate when I return. Mom-dont wear too much of my perfume :)

I love you all! Take care.

Melissa


....so I am in my hostel in Barcelona right now so I obviously made it through the traveling safely! Family..I´m so sorry I missed you yesterday, but hopefully you got my message. I am going to call LeeAnn so Leigh and I can meet up with her! I hope shes up to hang out with us...

Last night we met some friends at our hostel (Its amazing...its called Yellow Nest Feet Up Hostel...I know you probably want to stalk the website mom! haha) and went to a party on the beach...we danced until 5 in the morning it was such a great time! Today we walked around the main area known as La Rambla and there was sooo much going on...basically everything you could ever need is on that street, even pets for sale! There was an amazing market selling fresh fruits, veggies, and fish. We even got some Dunkin´Donuts...it was almost the highlight of my day haha! Tonight we are going on this little organized tour thing where you pay 22 euro and get free tapas and sangria for an hour. Tapas are like appetizers I guess and there will be tons of different authentic ones for us to try. We will then be going to this dance show where the Spanish original dancing is done...we are going to really get a taste for the Spanish culture! Tomorrow we are going to explore the main Cathedral that Gaudi designed..his stuff is amazing and we is unlike any kind of architecture I have seen before. Hopefully I meet some more cool people...I´m sure I will because this hostel is huge and great. It even has a movie theater room! AWESOME..we wil be hitting that up our last night since we have to catch a bus out to the Ryan Air airport at 3:15...yes that is 3:15 in the MORNING! But then we are home free and getting ready to come home so its ok if we are exhausted!

Well, Dad I hope you had a great day yesterday..I love and miss you all. Hope you enjoy this update, I know you will!

See you all very very soon! Take care!

love, melissa

10 days to go..

Hello Hello! I am writing to you from Santorini, Greece once again. We just got back from Ios and it was quite the experience...beautiful beaches, like AMAZINGLY beautiful beaches! There was a bungalow experience...this was where we stayed and lets just stay it was interesting. We became professional mosquito killers and still got eaten alive..don't worry I have pictures, but it was definitely like being at camp Oakledge..Laura you know how crappy that was! It was great though because the beach was literally in front of us and we had a great pool and bar. Night life is CRAZY there..people go out at midnight and come home when the bars close...AT EIGHT IN THE MORNING! We didn't make it that long, but we did make it till 5 one night. It was so fun dancing the night away to American music. There were tons of Aussies and a few Kiwis that we became friends with too which was nice..we went out with them both nights and they became our friends. We also went to a private beach and the water was indescribable. It was the prettiest shade of blue I have ever seen. I am finally tan too which is nice!

It has been great relaxing on the beach for 7 days,but we are ready to get to Cinque Terra tomorrow. It is a small town in Italy where you hike the 5 cities. It should be beautiful! Only 10 days left and then I will be home...I am loving Europe, but am missing a lot of things: my phone, my car, ketchup!, ranch, chipotle, mexican food in general, non sketchy meats, coke icees, free internet with normal keyboards, nontechno music! Haha. It is so great over here though.

I love and miss you all! Talk to you soon and take care!

Love,Melissa

Pictures Up

PS...new pictures up on flickr! These are all from the begining until Rome..Greece will be on facebook when I get back! Enjoy!

Everything I hoped for and more...

I am currently in Santorini, Greece right now taking a break from the hot sun before I continue laying out by the pool of our hotel (Anny Studios if you wanna check out pictures online) with a cocktail. What a life...this is definately the most relaxing and enjoyable part of our trip so far. A little recap...day 1..we seriously could have missed our flight because the stupid Italian trains are always late and put us into the airport about an hour later than we expected. We were RUNNING in the airport with our backpacks to try to find our teminal..pretty funny to imagine, but it happened. We finally got on the plane and made our way to Santorini about 5 PM. We had a guy waiting to pick us up from the airport which was very nice. Our hotel is literally less than 30 seconds from the black stone beach. It is like the water in Cabo, but even better and the white houses with blue roofs only make the whole thing more greek! We bought food and water from the market in town and had our first Gyro...it was amazing. We had a few drinks in other bars around the town and the people here are just SOO nice.

Yesterday was an adventure. We went on a whole day excursion for only 20 euro. We took a bus to a port and got on this ship. We were suppose to have tour guides to tell us about the places we went to but the Greek people were on strike for the day?? Yay, seriously who does that! When in Greece... but anyway, we first went to the volcano and hiked up to see the great view. I am taking plenty of pictures so I can put them all on facebook later. It was beautiful and I couldn't help but sing mama mia! After the hike we went to a hot spring where we were able to jump off the ship (scary!) into the freezing water. As we swam into the brown/red water it turned warm (the sulfer hot spring). It was really neat and quite the adventure. On our next stop we ate lunch on another beach and this one had very clear water. I ate calamari on the beach (I was pretty proud of myself considering i hate fish), but it was actually really good and fresh. We then had ice cream..surprise surprise and headed to our final destination which was Oia, the place where everyone goes to watch the Sunset. Now make sure you are listening to this story because its the best one so far...

We are told that the only way up is either walking 260 stairs or riding the donkey. After almost dying while walking up 10 steps we decided 5 euro for the donkey was definately a better decision. Well, if you have ever riden a donkey you might know, but otherwise you have NO CLUE what you are in for. This was one of the scarriest times of my life. All of a sudden a litle greek man is yelling at you to get on the donkey and slaps the ass to make it run...mine was the leader type of course and just starts running, literally running, up these cobblestone stairs. The little greek men whip the donkeys to make them run faster (because they want them to get there faster and bring them down faster so they can make more money). Mine kept peering over the edge of this cliff and I seriously thought he might jump. I was saying my prayers that I would not die on a donkey. All of a sudden I hear an, "ahhhhh...oh my god oh my god" Gripping tightly to the donkey I try to turn around and I see leigh on the ground with the donkey with her. Her donkey had tripped on the stair and she went flying. THe little greek man just put her on his donkey and kept us going up the mountain. I was like "Oh my god, we are seriously going to die on a donkey". Needless to say, we made it safely..kind of...to the top and saw the sun set which was beautiful. It was quite the day and we were pooped. We went home and crashed at 11 and didn't wake up until 11:45 today. We have been laying out on the beach under a straw hut and after this email I will continue...The moral of this story is: Greece is amazing, but beware of the donkeys!

We leave for Ios, Greece tomorrow...I'm so excited. I love you all.

Just doin laundry

So, we broke down in Rome and had to do laundry FOR REAL..not just the wash your clothes in the sink kind of clean because that is only somewhat clean for a short period of time. Rome has been interesting so far...there is definately a lot to see and we hit it up pretty well. Day one we saw the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon..of course we had some gelato as well. Our hostel is pretty close to the train station which is nice, but we have done a lot of walking. The next day we hit up the colusseum and the roman ruins. It was neat to see, but we were kinda having a moody day especially since some guy dressed as a roman made us pay 5 Euro each for getting our picture taken. He said he worked on tips and then lied to us. LAME. But, we got some wine and drank it at the Trevi fountain so all was much better. We also went on the Rome Pub Crawl and met a lot of cool people. We got a free tshirt and I even was crowned the Fastest Chugger..I won a tshirt to prove it. It was pretty sweet. Arent you prround of me mom and dad? Anyway, today we saw the Vatican and it was amazing. We wanted to see the Pope talk, but that is on Wednesdays so we were a bit dissappointed, but it was still awesome. We have been eating lots of pasta and pizza and are very very excited for Greece tomorrow!!! We will be on the beach for a week in less than 24 hours thank God! We have reached the 3 week mark and it has gone so fast...still living it up here though!

Love and miss you all. Hope all is well.

Ciao!

Melissa, the beer chugging champion

Italy and more

Hello all!! So I am sitting in an awesome hostel in Florence right now. We arrived here today and have already seen the whole city. We were in Venice last night and it was amazing. We saw all of the amazing houses on the water and enjoyed a traditional Italian meal..we all 3 got different dishes of pasta, pizza, and lasagna..cut it into 3rds and rotated!! Haha it was the backpackers way of trying and enjoying all the wonderful food. We of course each got our own double scoop of gelato though..that stuff is amazing! Actually we have had gelato in almost every city..its pretty much a priority here! We met some people from KU in Venice last night and it was so cool..the girl actually went to Heights Highschool where Lauren Griffith goes and she is dating a guy who is brothers with Laurens ex bf..Foof if you are reading this it is sped! haha it was sooo funny! SMALL WORLD. Also we met some people from Canada in the hotel who were pretty much taking the same trip as us..they are even staying in the same hostel as us tonight. We have plans to go to dinner together tonight and watch the sunset on the top of the hill which may or may not happen depending on the weather. We head to Rome tomorrow and we are very very much excited about this. Also this means we are only days away from Greece which is the highlight of our trip.

Before Italy we were in Interlaken, Switzerland. AMAZING place. Seriously the most beautiful place I have ever seen...it means land surrounded by 2 lakes. We met some cool guys from our hostel and all 6 of us rented mopeds and drove around the mountains up to this waterfall. I cant even describe how amazing this was. We sat on the cliff with the waterfall falling in front of us and all of us were just speechless. Imagine looking through a mist of water from a high up cliff. To the left is green moutains full of trees and beautiful plants, below are sheep roaming in the fields with bells around their neck, to the right is the Jungfrau moutain covered in snow and going up so high that the clouds are not even covering it up. I mean it was the best thing I have ever seen. Our hostel was awesome too because it had a bar in the basement and lots of dancing..Thriller has been pulled out on more than one occasions. And Poker Face too. Its been a blast and I get sad to leave each place but excited at the same time. I am nearing the halfway point of this adventure, but I am living up each second. My time is about to run out so I gotta jet, but I will hopefully be able to upload some pictures in Rome. Even though the pictures are just a shame to what the real thing looks like!

Love and miss you all!

Cioa!

Melissa

Pictures Up!

Hellö everyone! I have to make this quick cause as usual I am on the run...headed to the English garden..the biggest beer garden in Munich! Anyway, I posted like 40 pictures on my flickr account so check them out! It took over 30 minutes to upload those so sorry I couldn't do more. I will add others later. Headed to Interlacken, Switzerland tomorrow and am sooo excited. Munich has been my favorite city by far and I could really see myself living here! Thats all I have time for now but I love you all and enjoy the pictures.