Living the Traveler Kind of Life...

It always feels like it has been such a long time since I last blogged, but that's probably because there's so much that happens within a week's time that I could literally write for hours. So, where was I?... After leaving Como, we hopped on our next train to Verona, where we were met by yet another couch surfer. He was an athletic 37-year-old math and physics temp, and though he spoke very good English, he had a hard time understanding us. Nonetheless, he showed us around the cute city of Verona, the setting of Shakespeare's famous play Romeo and Juliet. (It also happens to be where some of the scenes from Letters to Juliet were filmed--mainly Juliet's balcony and the wall with all the letters stuffed in the cracks, which I was sad to find is purely fictional :/)

Since our couch surfer was into windsurfing, I had asked if he would be willing to take us with him one day to brush up on our skills. Bad idea. On our second day, we headed up to Lake Garda to go windsurfing. Sadly, it was super windy and freezing cold water (even though we wore wetsuits), that after only 20 minutes I was done. I'm not as good as I remember being... haha but afterward, Matteo (the couch surfer) took us to a cool German restaurant where we had HUGE pork legs and some of the best fries, which made it all my frustrations of trying to surf disappear. I'm realizing that a lot of wonderful experiences traveling have to do with food. It's probably one of my most favorite ways to experience a culture :D We finished off with some amazing tiramisu and headed home.

There are times in life when something suddenly happens that sort of pushes the pause button on the present your present state and forces you back into reality. The night after windsurfing was one of those times. After logging onto Facebook and reading some posts, I found out one of my closest friends from Point Loma passed away. Raegan Summer Pratt. I was shocked. I still am. It's difficult to wrap my mind around the fact that she's gone; it just doesn't seem real. A greater part of that probably has to do with me being here and not in California, and I have a feeling it's going to really hit me when I get back. Right now it feels like I'm in denial.

Raegan was the sort of person that really lived life to the fullest. And I know that can sound cheesy and redundant, but when I think about all the times we were together, I'm struck by how Raegan always seemed to live in the moment. If she wanted to do something, she did it. She didn't wait around. She seemed to thrive on spontaneity and doing things just because she could. I remember so many times just riding around in her mint blue mini cooper, singing at the top of our lungs, and driving anywhere we wanted to go. It didn't matter where, we just went. We laughed a lot, and we talked about things we couldn't talk about with anyone one else. We knew each other and we loved each other like sisters. Even talking about Raegan in the past tense feels strange because she still feels so alive to me. It's different than when my sister passed away. In a way I feel less sad because this time I have so many good memories, and I don't regret anything in our relationship. We were always real with each other and there's nothing I feel like either of us didn't get to say to each other...which is sort of a rare thing in a relationship I think. I feel like I could share so many stories about Raegan because there's so much I would love to tell... but I think I would need some time to do that, maybe once the reality has sunk in a little more... but I definitely will do that at some point.

After hearing the news, the next morning we left for Venice, and I felt in no mood to explore a new city. Thankfully we had booked a campground just outside Venice, so we spent the day doing laundry and resting, since I was so emotionally and physically drained. And then I got a bit more news... Mom and Dad were going to meet us in Paris! Even though I was excited, I felt an even heavier weight on my decision of whether I would stay with them only a day before heading home to Raegan's memorial service, or if I would skip the service to stay with them the whole time. I wish with all my heart I could have been in two places at once, and I'm still sad that I couldn't go to Raegan's service, but I wouldn't have missed being with my family in Paris for anything.

When we did finally explore Venice, it rained on us. But we trudged through the streets anyways and got lost. I liked Venice, but it was really touristy, and seemed to lose its charm with so many people crammed into the tiny streets looking through all the shop windows. I think I might like it better in the off season... Our second day, we took a boat to Murano and looked at all the glass shops and glass makers, and then to Burano, a cute little fisherman town with lots of colored houses. The last day, I got sick from eating raw salmon and spent most of the day in our hostel throwing up and feeling miserable. Thankfully, by the time we had to leave, I was feeling much better.

We took a cheap flight to Paris through Ryan Air, a sort of janky company, but totally worth it for the price, and finally got to the flat Mom and Dad rented out for the week at about one in the morning. I was so happy to see them! We were a little hungry so we went to the cafe across the street from the flat to get some food. It was a cool little nook that was decorated to look like a Swiss or German cottage, and they had the best French onion soup I've ever tasted! Which is saying a lot since I don't typically love onions.

Mom and I spent the next day riding around on a double decker bus (very touristy, I know), but it's a great way to get a feel for a city and to learn a bit of history. We had lunch like the Parisians do, sitting elbow to elbow, facing the street so we could people watch. In Europe, people openly watch you, but even more so in Paris. Cafes are filled to the max with people sitting side-by-side facing the street. It's great! Free entertainment :)

We spent some time riding bikes as a family, through Paris, and also in Versailles where we did a bike tour through the gardens and walked through the palace, which was kind of disappointing. There were so many people stopping to take pictures of Marie Antoniette's bed chamber that the traffic of people walking through the palace was backed up into the previous three rooms. Kind of ridiculous!  I actually thought the Opera in Paris was much more beautiful. Mom and I took full advantage of the photographic opportunity and had our own little photo shoot haha. I needed some girl time! And Paris is full of great places to shop, so of course we spent a few days doing that. Paris is such a cool city, probably my favorite one so far. Even though there are so many people, it's has this charming feel, with the beautiful gothic architecture, the cafe lined streets, and the sparkling Eiffel Tower. And in nearly every grassy area you see the locals hanging out with their friends sipping wine and having picnics. They also love to hang out along the river for sunset. It seemed like community is a big thing in Paris, and I wish LA was more like that. People don't seem to live life revolving around their jobs. They definitely work, but they take time to be with each other and enjoy life at the same time.

I was sad to see Mom and Dad leave, and on our last day Colton and I went to Giverny, a nearby little town where Claude Monet lived and painted. I thought it was a little overrated. The gardens were beautiful, but very small, and there were WAY too many people there. So what did I do? I took an early train back and did a bit more shopping! :) I spent the last hanging out on the lawn around the Louvre and watching the sunset. It would have been perfect if I wasn't missing my parents already and if I hadn't been creeped on by some guy walking by, staring me down. Some people...

Anyway, our next stop was Bayeux, a quaint town in Normandy, one of the only villages that was left undamaged by the D-Day Invasion. Our first night, we walked through the town and then checked out one of the war museums and the British cemetery. Someone had told me once before that the French aren't very fond of Americans, probably back when Bush was president, but I've found it to be the exact opposite here. Everywhere we've been so far, the French have been very friendly to us. I think a lot of it is because they remember how Americans helped free France from Nazi control. Reading about D-Day in the museum and seeing the graves of the soldiers made me think a lot. One, I think it's amazing how complete strangers can fight for the cause of another person, another country that is suffering. All you need is a common goal, a common belief, and it won't matter who you're fighting alongside, as long as you're fighting the same enemy. It also made me think about the war in the Middle East. Unlike WWII, where there was a clear and present evil to be fought against, sometimes I'm not so sure we know what we are fighting against, or even for, in this war. How do we know we've made any progress? Yeah, Suddam and Osama are dead, but how do we know when the fighting has been worth it? I don't know...

I was really moved as I walked through the British cemetery. The standard white headstones were ingrained with the soldiers name, date of birth and death, age, and a message chosen by the soldier's loved ones. They said things like, "Safe in the arms of Jesus," "Known by God," and something like "Greater love hath no man than this, that he shall lay his life down for his friends." That last one really hit me. I felt the reality of how much had been sacrificed by those who fought in the war, and those who knew someone who did. And I felt grateful for their sacrifice, for their lives. Because of them, my world is different today, and I'm thankful for what they fought for. There lives are a gift to me and to the generations to come.

 We spent a day riding on bikes to the D-Day beaches, which stretched out for miles and were almost completely vacant. It's crazy to imagine what took place on those sandy shores almost 60 some years ago. It looks so peaceful and calm today, you would never think so many people lost their lives there.

After Bayeux, we stopped in Rennes for a couple days, where we literally did nothing. We didn't think there was much to see, so after spending a day at Mont St. Michel, which was a cool castle looking monastery on a super tiny island crowded with tourists, we hung out in our hotel room. In Nantes, we stayed with couchsurfers, who were awesome. They were our age and they were super hospitable. One night we got invited to the girl's mom's house for dinner, where we ate homemade galettes, basically salty crepes. And they showed us around the city, including a cool museum where they have lifesize mechanical animals, like an elephant the size of a house that walks and sprays water out of its trunk and that you can ride on. I didn't particularly love Nantes, but meeting our couchsurfers made it worth it.

Then we stayed in Tours for two nights, with another couchsurfer our age, and had a blast! He invited us to a musical festival that was taking place that week and featured mainly electronic music, but also some folksy bands and metal bands. We met so many cool friendly French people, and we had a great time hanging out with our couch surfer. It was my first experience of going to an electronic music concert where everyone smashes into each other while the dj mixes his music and people are jumping off stage left and right to crowd surf. I didn't necessarily enjoy the pushing and shoving, but the music was good and I had fun dancing around like an idiot. The second night, we didn't like any of the bands that were playing at the end of the night, so there was a little are where a radio dj was playing some oldies, and we spent an our just dancing around like crazies, just the three of us for the most part. It was definitely a night a will remember for life. haha

It was then time to move onto our HelpX, where we would be working at a chateaux in the Loire Valley. As I am writing this, we are actually getting ready to leave tomorrow. We've been here for two weeks, and it has been quite the experience! We've been working with two other HelpXers, a guy from Canada, and a girl from Denmark, doing a lot of weeding and any other kind of yard work. The weather's been rainy and gloomy most of the time, even though it's June, which has sort of put a damper on things. Our host is an interesting character, and the main reason for our frustrations here. He's a forty-something British chap, who is very uptight about manners though he himself doesn't demonstrate common courtesies and can be very rude, he has moodswings constantly so it's like we have to walk on eggshells whenever we're around him (or as Colton likes to say, he has 10 vaginas), and he's anal about the stupidest things. He likes to swear a lot and uses sarcasm to get his feeling across, and he bad mouths everyone and everything. But he's perfect of course. Ha, he's actually easy to talk to and we've had some stimulating dinner conversations, including anything and everything not "PC" (politically correct), but other than keeping him company, it feels like he thinks we're all idiots and a pain in his ass. Never mind the work we're doing for him! I'm starting to understand that conflicting personalities is just a part of life and sometimes people just don't click. That, and everyone is different, so when one person is chill about one thing, another person could be completely insane.

But our experience hasn't been all bad here. Luckily, he has made an effort to take us on adventures, so we aren't left in this little village to be bored the whole time, though we've hung out at the local bar/super market/internet point/restaurant several times after work with some of the locals who don't really speak English. We've gotten to go with him to the grocery store too where we bought our own snacks since he doesn't offer any and was amazed when I asked about having some. (You have to ask for everything you get out of the fridge btw, no helping yourself!) Last weekend we he dropped us off in Tours, which was really nice of him, so we could hang out there for a night. We stayed at the same couchsurfers and hung out in the town. The next day he took us to a nearby village where they had a market, (more like a shit sale), which we didn't spend much time at. We bought some cider and walked on home in the sunshine while we sang Disney songs to entertain ourselves.

Working outside with the weather being so crummy has been affecting my allergies, and this week it developed into a head cold, so I was feeling pretty miserable for a few days. Finally yesterday I got to go to a pharmacy to buy some drugs, and now I'm feeling much better! Even though we're supposed to work 6 hours a day, we've had several days where our work got cut short due to rain or to us being really tired because of the weather. We watch a movie almost every night if we have time, which has been really nice because I missed movies. We did see a French film when we were in Bayeux, but it was very French, if you know what I mean. I don't know if it was good or not, it was in French ha. For the most part, us HelpXers have been getting along. It's nice having other people to socialize with and work with, and it makes the time go by a lot faster. I can hardly believe we've already spent two weeks here! I feel like Colton and I could write a book about all the people we've met and all the crazy random experiences we've had along the way. Traveling may not always be fun and glamorous, but it's definitely worth it for the stories you get to tell later...

Tomorrow all of us will be heading to Futuroscope, some sort of future themed park, which I have a feeling could be interesting. After that, the Canadian is heading to Paris, and the Danish girl is coming with us! Her name is Sidsel (pronounced Cecile), and her plans to go to Italy for a HelpX got cancelled last minute, so she decided to tag along with us for a week or so while we travel through the South of France. I'm looking forward to traveling again and NOT working. HelpXing has been a great experience, but I'm over working and having to deal with crazy people! haha I just want to relax and enjoy the sunny beaches of southern France for a couple days before heading to Spain. And I'm so so excited for Spain! Mom will be meeting me in Barcelona after about a week in Spain and I cannot wait to travel with her! It's such a rare thing to be able to travel alone with my mom and I'm going to soak in every moment of it :)

Adventures in Italy

So I realize it has been like AGES since I last wrote a blog and most of you are probably dying to know what has happened to us! Except probably not... the only person that would die without knowing everything we're doing is my mom (love you mom!) :) At any rate, here's a bit of what has been going on in our world the last couple of weeks...

We spent two weeks at the Sasso, and being there felt like Narnia in so many ways because it was like another world and time flew by! A few days before we left, a New Zealander and a South African joined our HelpX party and brought with them a new variety of topics to our lunch and dinner conversations, which included the healing powers of pyramids. (remind me to research that later) On one of our last days, Colton, New Zealand and I took off for the spa in Serre di Rapalano. It wreaked of sulfur, but after a long walk and hard work, the hot water felt so soothing to my aching muscles.

Our last morning before leaving, Colton and I made homemade banana pancakes for everyone and we ate them together in the tree house. It was the first official meal ever eaten in the tree house, so Rosamond told us, and a very memorable moment indeed. I feel like I could have stayed at the Sasso for a month longer. Just when I was beginning to really enjoy the company of the others and the peace and quiet of the land, it was time for us to move on again. I hope someday I can return...

So next we headed back to Siena, where we rented a scooter and drove around more of Tuscany, this time heading north to the towns of San Gimiano and Volterra. Both were high on my list of favorite places we'd been so far. I think the fact that they are a bit larger than many of the other tiny towns along the way could be a good reason for my liking them. And I'm not sure what holiday or event takes place on May 5th in Siena (i would assume cinco de mayo is not a possibility), but when we returned that night, we found crowds of people hanging out in the historic center, several people dressed with capes.

The next morning we set out on our second attempt to hitch-hike, and luckily we got picked up; twice! After about two hours, we got picked up an Italian man on his way to meet his family members who were having a crisis; from what we could understand, it had something to do with a car accident, but our French and Spanish, which he happened to speak as well as Italian, only went so far, and his English the same. Nonetheless, he drove us through pouring rain like a speed demon and had me praying we wouldn't hydroplane and end up in the same situation his family members were in! I guess when you hitch-hike you can't exactly choose good drivers from bad drivers...

He dropped us off 6km from Florence, and it had just started to rain heavily again, so we ran for cover under a bridge that happened to be close by. Soon enough, we got picked up by a generous farmer who took us to the center of the city, giving us a mini tour before dropping us off at the train station. We walked to the hostel and decided to get some chow since we were both famished. To both of our excitement, we found a really amazing burger joint ride down the street, and nothing could stop us from going in! It was a really cool place with a sort of Spanish vibe, and the food was so satisfying that we decided to go back again the next day.

Florence is know for its large leather market, which was right down the road from where we were staying. We walked around the city as usual, taking in the sights and seeing some of the famous buildings. My favorite was the Lorenzo market, an indoor food market that sold anything and everything you could want of local Italian cuisine, panaforte (a really sweet torte), pesto, wine, bread, cheese, you name it. And of course the lambredotto sandwhich, a specifically Florentine specialty, consisting of the fourth stomach of the cow, which we had to try. The Boboli Gardens were a favorite and we enjoyed walking the stretches of green grass and shaded walking paths. We took a night bike tour and discovered all kinds of little known legends and stories of things that have taken place in Florence. All the buildings and statues have a story behind them, and it was fun hearing their history.

Our next stop was in Pisa, where we stayed with an amazing couch surfer named Simona. She took us to a party our first night at a friend's house where some 30 Italians, mostly students, gathered for some grub and a movie, which was a Woody Allen film dubbed in Italian, that we watched with English subtitles. It was cool getting to hang out with the locals and seeing how Italians like to do things. I felt really at home, almost as if I were back in LA again. It's interesting, it seems that people in Europe are more knowledgeable about films and the industry than Americans are. We don't realize how much the rest of the world is impacted by the things we create and choose to show on TV, but that's a side trail...

I got to take my touristy pictures of the leaning tower of Pisa the next day, and I was satisfied. Our next stop: Cinque Terre, probably one of my most favorite places we have been so far. It's composed of five small towns all bordering the ocean and only a few kilometers apart. After meeting some other hostelers we all decided to see the towns together and hiked the five hour trail from town to town. It was refreshing to be around other young travelers and we enjoyed lots of good food and wine, and hanging out on the shore at night.

When we left Cinque Terre, the trains through those towns happened to be on strike, so we were forced to take a ferry south to La Spezia, the closest large city, and then a bus to the train station. It wasn't necessarily convenient, but it was kind of funny to see how it effected so many tourists. The ferries were packed with people who couldn't take the train from town to town, and there were more than a few headed to the same train station as us.

So onto Milan we went, where we stayed with another couch surfer a bit outside of the city. We never got to see much of Milan other than the Duomo because once our host mentioned that Switzerland was only a short distance away, Colton was dead set on taking a train to there for some chocolate. So instead of exploring Milan for the day, we buzzed up to a little town called Lugano in Switzerland, had some of the best spaghetti we've had yet, and bought a butt load of chocolate. The town itself was actually really cute, right on the water of a lake, with a lot of little shops and restaurants. When we got back to Milan, there was a big free concert at the Duomo, so we decided to check it out. There were probably thousands of people crowded into the square, singing along with some famous Italian singer. We got sucked into the mob of people and I felt like I was stuck in a current in the ocean, being pushed and pulled in all directions by the suffocating mob of people all around me. It was insanity! I don't know how people can enjoy a concert that way, sardined together like that. But it was an experience and now I will always think of it when I think of Milan.

Yesterday we arrived in Como, and spent the day walking around the historic part of the city and hiking the trails around our hostel, which is located in a national park. One trail took us to a very picturesque view of Como and the surrounding mountains. It's beautiful here. Today we decided to spend some time apart, so I took a ferry straight to Bellaggio in the morning and spent the day there. I loved it! So many tiny streets up and down, winding around the little town surrounded by water. So many beautiful places to sit and take in the views.

We got back to the hostel tonight and found a strange Italian dude in the room next to ours. Immediately I got the feeling he was a little off kilter when his first question before he even said hello, was if we smoked. He hardly spoke any English, but he knew enough to ask if I had a boyfriend and if I smoked. He cranked up the music in the common room, thinking he was in a club or something, and caused all kind of ruckus. When I was sitting down to eat, he sat down next to me and pulled out his English dictionary apparently wanting to converse, and outright asked if I would let him kiss me! He clearly was wanting to get some... I was like, sorry dude, you're barking up the wrong tree. Next thing I know, he's blaring something else with his music that sounds a lot like porn. The hostel receptionist was around when this was all going on and walked in on him "wanking," went ballistic on him, and eventually kicked him out! Needless to say, it was quite an eventful night. He was one crazy Italian!

We have less than a week left in Italy, and it has been quite an adventure. I've fallen in love with this country and I feel that this will probably be the first of many trips to this amazing place...even though we've been here nearly 5 weeks, there are so many treasures to discover in Italy that I think we've only just scratched the surface. I look forward to finding more in the future :)

We have landed at the Sasso

Time for another update! Starting where I left off.... on our last day in Rome, thankfully it was a bright and sunny day because we decided to rent bikes for the day. Our pedaling feet took us through a large and beautiful park not far from the hostel, where we cruised down many paths and stopped to eat lunch on a bench. Later, we pedaled all along the river, back and forth, watching the rowers as we went along. It was a nice way to see Rome. I didn't realize how much we had walked the days before until we rode down the same roads. We walked a ton! I also found the city to be hillier than I remembered when walking haha.

The next day, we headed north to Siena on a train. When we got there it was pouring down rain, and after receiving disappointing news from Hertz that we couldn't rent a car since we are under 25, we took a taxi straight to our B&B a little out of town. We made ourselves some dinner, consisting of frozen goods and pasta with a little too much salt :/ and settled into our cold room. Apparently Italians aren't too fond of heaters??  Luckily, I found a brochure from a local rent-a-car company that would rent to us under 25ers and so the next day we set out to Siena to get ourselves a car!

We spent the next day driving all around Tuscany, stopping in the teeny tiny towns along the way. Most seemed like ghost towns, so we didn't stick around long, just enough to try some wine and see the pretty scenery. North of Siena was more foresty and saturated by wineries, where the south was very very green and hilly, SO beautiful. We stopped several times along the road to take pictures, but I don't think they do it justice. We ate dinner in Montalcino, a larger town at the top of a hill/mountain and had some tasty meat! Wild boar and chicken in wine sauce. Mmm mmm good!

Sadly, we eventually had to return our car and move on to the next stop, which took us not far from Siena to our next HelpX. To greet us at the train station was a sweet little old Scottish lady named Rosamond. She drove us back to Sasso (the name of her homestead) where we met two other HelpXers; Arthur, a Brit, and Jeurn, a German fellow who's mastery of English makes for some hilarious moments. We started working almost immediately on the tree house, fixing a hand rail along the stairs up to the 2nd platform-- there are three altogether. And this tree house is what every kid dreams of. The top floor is decorated with all sorts of random scraps of wood and shudders. It reminds me of the one in the movie Jack. It's really cool.

Arther sort of introduced us to Sasso and the ways of Rosamond. She's very scatterbrained and not many things are in working order so you kind of have to make due with the tools that she's got. Sasso itself is a huge establishment. There are bathrooms and bedrooms around every corner, this place would make for the best round of hide and go seek anyone could play! Rosamond told us it actually started as pigsties and cow pens, so they obviously have done a lot of work over the years. She said they once housed 50 people at one time for New Year's Eve. And over the past few years you can tell it hasn't been kept up so much, so there's a lot of fixing and cleaning that needs to be done.

It's been a lot colder this spring than usual, but still no heater, so I have been trying my best to stay warm under piles of blankets and layers of clothes. The past few days have been a bit more sunny, and we've been doing a lot of yard work consisting of hedge trimming, mowing the lawn, and gardening. My hands are starting to show for the work we've done. Almost every day I get a new cut on my finger somewhere; yesterday we had to cut these nasty hedges that have huge thorns on them and it's almost inevitable that you will get poked, which I did at least ten times. I even got a thorn through the shoe and one through my pants, which both bled on my socks :(

There are 3 cats; Rono, Sukumos, and Shakti; 4 turtles; Holy, Cow, and two I can't remember; 2 peacocks; Pythagorus and Penelope; and 2 hens; Henrietta and Theodora living here. The male peacock likes to make lots of noise, especially when I'm around, and is more obnoxious than a rooster. It's only my fifth day here and already I want to shoot it and cook it up for dinner. Take that Pythagorus! Oh, but Rosamond is a vegetarian so there won't be any cooking meat in her kitchen... ha

Speaking of Rosamond, if you have ever seen the movie Duplex, you will get a pretty good picture of the kind of person Rosamond is. We often eat meals later than normal because she will get talking on the phone or working on something else that she forgets that we are all waiting with our mouths watering and our tummies grumbling. Not that I'm complaining. She actually makes good food, it just takes her time to get around to making it. And she's also quite a jokester, so it's easy to get along with her.

Today it rained almost the whole day so we ended up cleaning one of the rooms meant for HelpXers to hang out in... but I haven't really cuz it's so cold! It was covered in spider webs and dust from head to toe, but we got it looking like new. Sometimes with the work I get frustrated because it's not really my cup of tea (surprisingly I actually enjoy cleaning a lot more than working in the yard) and I forget that I'm in this beautiful place in Italy. It doesn't even feel like I'm in Italy here. Maybe because I'm not actually living with any Italians... but I'm trying to stay motivated and thankful that I even have the opportunity to be here and to meet these people. I'm starting to miss my friends and family a lot more, the stress of always being in a new place, though exciting, also wears on my nerves and I am looking forward to coming home to LA after we are done traveling. Not that our trip will be cut short. No no, too much left to see yet :)