First Full Day in Madrid

Well Madrid has been a good place for me so far, manly because I have had a lot more time for sleep! Trella and I woke up at about 10 am and took showers which feels great after all the traveling. we had breakfast and then hit the road! we took the subway, or metro, to a big park where we rented a row boat for 45 minutes! we then walked around the park and surrounding area for a while before getting back on the metro to go home for lunch. we stopped at the post office on our way home so that we could get a box to send home filled with stuff that we don´t really need for the weather and for our trip! we then had lunch and took a siesta!!!!!!!!!!!!!! amazing country!! any place with a siesta in the middle of the day is my kind of place! we then went out with a couple of Trella´s relatives to run errands and I am now getting ready to watch Trella Rock Out on Sing Star!!! WooHoo!!!

Made it to Madrid AND TRELLA!!!!!

so...firstly to fill you all in on what has happened since Switz. Jilli wrote me a comment and I broke to pieces, but then I had to get up and move onto Italy!! Our first destination was a little town in tuscany where we stoped at a winery and did some wine tasting!! some were really good and others I would rather not have put in my mouth. We were only given one white wine, which fell into my top 3, and most everything else was red. My favorites out of the red was the Chianti and the Chianti speciale (I think!), we were also served this amazing lasagna that was drizzled with a white truffle olive oil! YUM, After the tasting we wandered around this beautiful little town--probably the most beautiful in the whole of Tuscany, which was good because we then left for our hotel in I think it was called Caiore. This place was by the beach!!!, but looked a lot like it was in central california rather than beautiful Italy!! we took a boat the following day to Venice and it was absolutely gorgeous, we took a tour of Saint Marks, watched a glass blowing demonstration, and were then given free time to go have lunch and if time permitted a little bit of shopping. I ran off with Jocelyn, Staci, Susan, and one I don´t think I´ve mentioned yet fashion savvy Sara. we had the best lunch I think I´ve had the entire trip so far, it was honestly extraordinary!
That was our only day in Venice the next was Florence, which was also really pretty. The first night we were there most the entire group decided to go to the Disco Tech ¨Space¨!! the next day we had a tour that non of us were enthused for and a group of us went to the ¨ufitzi¨and the ¨academia¨where we saw michael angelo´s David!!!! coolest statue ever!!
Rome was next and we packed a lot in on our last day together!! we began with a tour of the collisium which was the number 1 thing I wanted to see on this tour I think. It is amazing to think of all the people through the years that have walked throught the same places that I have now walked and to walk throught the entrance to the collisium all I could think is ¨how many people walked in here expecting to die and most likely did!???!!!¨we then walked through the Valley of the Forum and then it was off to the Vatican City. In the Vatican City we took a lunch break and then walked the span of the entire country! Isn´t that amazing in only 2 hours we crossed a whole country! Inside the Vatican we went to the Sistine Chapel where we saw many unspeakable beautiful masterpieces by michael angelo, but non more well know than that of God giving life to Adam!!! It was amazing, Susan and I then got lost but only to find that we were the only one to get a close look at the alleged burial site of Apostle Peter, which meant a lot to me!!!
And finally this morning I woke up at 4:45am (which is about 7:45pm in cali the day before) to go to the airport to fly to Madrid and meet up with my friend TRELLA!!! yay I made it and I now look forward to 3 days of much needed rest whilst we stay with some of Trella´s relatives, i can´t explain how good it feels to be in such a homey place after these hotels!! and not to mention we get siestas!!!!

Days gone by...

This is my last night in switz. but todaz was one of the most amazing days on my life. we went into Luzern and walked around but then a few of us went on a trip to the top of Mt. Pilatus! we went 7000 ft up and it was terrifying. I love it here everything is really green and healthy. but to recap on a little of paris...I had stayed up pretty late already but then when i went to go to bed my roomate did not feel well so i stayed up until about 4, however, with free time the next day another girl, Jena, and myself stayed at the hotel to rest for a couple more hours. We then met the group at the Louve, where we saw the Mona Lisa!! it was amazing to even be in the same room as such an amazing painting and that was not even a portion of how large the Louve is. right now I am again in a room with the two girls that i mentioned before, but the period of homesickness has seemed to pass, except it has really hit me that when i come home by bestest friend--Jillian Emery--will not be there which is had to grasp since I have seen her almost every day for the last 2 years!!! I MISS YOU BUDDY!!!
OH! tomorrow we are taking an 8 hour bus ride to Italy so hopefully I will find an easier computer to use!!!!

Days in Paris

WOW! Paris is one of the most amazing cities that I have ever been to. On the First day we went on a long walk around the city and visited Notre Dame, we then went on a boat cruise which would have been really boring if I had not sat next to Susan, my teacher. we laughed A LOT! that night we went up the Eiffle Tour which is just as amaying as it is thought to be!!! The following day we went on a bus tour of the city and saw so much, we had amazing food through out the city. I wish I could write more but I'm running out of time, right now i'm in Switz. and it is crazy beautiful

Day 1...and Day 2

So yesterday (July 16th) we spent A LOT of time traveling. we left from evans at 12pm and spent about 3 and 1/2 hours at the airport waiting for our flight. We sat at the back of the plane which was good and bad, bad because we were next to the bathroom and good because we were next to the bathroom!!!
Now it is July 17th we arrived at the London airport at about 10:40am London time, so that is 2:40am Napa time--and "yes" I called my mom to tell her we got here safely! (Love you Family) So...we got to our hotel at about 12:30ish and were all starving, but then our tour director showed up and we got into our rooms, thank heavens! we then took a walk around part of downtown London, where our group got a quick snack! We then walked to dinner where we had fish and chips, greasy food is not exactly the kind of food you want after traveling for over 24 hours so we didn't eat very much. we are know back at the hotel and getting ready to crash after possible the longest day in the history of the world. I am rooming with two other girls at this hotel, Jocelyn and Staci!
Love you all,
Amy James
P.S. The exchange rate from dollars($) to pounds(€) is aweful, it is almost 2 to 1! so when you pay 5€ for a sandwich your actually paying 10$!!!!!

Post Trip Jitters

I leave tomorrow!! I will be flying into London first and cannot wait to see EVERYTHING I can within the small amount of time that I'm there. The flight is about 14 hours long, which does not excite me, but it is worth it. I just wanted to say that I am going to miss all of you tremendously, so please take care of yourselves. I will take all the precautions that I can to stay safe, so please do the same yourself, bad things can happen all over the world!
Bye!
Amy Christine James :)

Counting Down the Days (3 to go)

I leave in 3 days and am bubbling with excitement!! Today I (re)packed and have "down-sized" I think? Even though I am so close to leaving I still feel like I have months to go, because I have been waiting almost all year. I cannot even imagine the beautiful and magnificent things that I will see, but I hope to do my best in completely describing each and everyone!! I also hope that I will be able to take, sketch, and download for you as many pictures as I possible can!
I will miss you all,
AmyJames

Pre-Trip Post

Hey Y'all:
Well I've set up this blog so that you can all hear about the different fun and exciting events going on in Europe!! I hope to keep this updated as much as I can!
Love,
Amy James!