Czech Out Europe with Me : Spring Break

Glass making in Murano

Colorful houses in Burano

Tocello

After our field trip to Vienna and Venice we were free to start our week long spring break. My group for spring break was Miranda, Rachel, Miriah, Nancy, and myself. Our first activity for spring break was staying in Venice and doing a half day boat tour of 3 surrounding islands. So Saturday morning we headed down to the dock to get on our boat that would take us to Murano, Burano, and Torcello. The first island was Murano. Murano is famous for it's glass making and glass blowing. When we first arrived we got to see a glass blowing demonstration which was very cool. After that we just walked around the island. The next stop was Burano. This island was definitely my favorite! It is known for having colorful houses and lace. When we got there we saw a lace making demonstration. Then we just walked around and explored, took lots of pictures, and ate some amazing gelato. The last stop was the island of Torcello. This is the oldest island and only has 11 inhabitants. The thing I really liked about this one was it was so green and filled with colorful plants. They also had an extremely old church which was very cool to see. Since it was only a half day tour we only got about an hour on each of the islands so we couldn't see everything but we saw enough to get a good feel of the islands.
After the islands we went back to the hostel to grab our stuff and head to our train to Rome. Once in Rome we dropped our bags off at the hostel and headed out to explore the city. We wanted to go see Trevi Fountain so we headed there. Unfortunately the fountain is under construction so we could only see part of it. They had a little makeshift fountain that you could throw coins into so we still got to make a wish! We spent the rest of the night wandering around and seeing more of the city. We got the best gelato I have ever had at a place right next to our hostel. I think we got some each day, it was just that good!

Throwing a coin into "Trevi"

Papal address

The next morning we headed to Vatican city; it was packed with so many people! It was Divine Mercy Sunday so Pope Francis said a special mass in St. Peter's Basilica. They had it playing on screens in St. Peter's square so we watched it there. We also stayed there to see the Papal address at noon. After that we headed to the colosseum and Roman Forum. These were both amazing things to see. It's hard to believe they were all once prestigious buildings people lived in and used everyday. After that we headed back to Trevi fountain. During the day they had a walk way open for you to walk up where the water normally would be and see it up close. Luckily we got there right before it closed. From there we headed to see the Pantheon. After that we walked along the touristy area doing a little shopping and looking for a place to eat. We had some amazing pasta and met some really fun people at dinner! It was pretty late by the time we actually left the restaurant so we headed back to the hostel for bed.

Fun people we met at dinner

Since all of the Vatican Museums were closed on Sunday we had only a few hours on Monday to try and fit it all in. We got to see quite a bit in only a few hours. We saw parts of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica. They were all beautiful and I especially loved seeing the painted ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Once we finished we had to rush back to our hostel grab our bags and head to the train station. We took a train to the airport and caught our flight to Paris. I was sad to leave Italy, Venice and Rome had both been so beautiful! But I was excited get to Paris as well.

view from top of Eiffel Tower

It was pretty late by the time we arrived at our hostel in Paris. We decided to just eat at the hostel and get to bed to be fresh for our next few days. The next morning we were up bright and early and headed a little out of town to see the Palace of Versailles. It was very beautiful and they had a room called the Hall of Mirrors. It was basically a long hall with a bunch of chandeliers, mirrors, and decked out in gold. The whole palace was very ornate with lots of embellishments in every room. After that we headed to see the Eiffel Tower. We planned to go up it at night so for now we just took typical touristy pictures from afar. Our next stop was the Catacombs. This was really eery and creepy but also really amazing. We read that 6 million peoples bones were laid there. They were stacked so strategically it was hard to believe they were bones once belonging to people. Next we ate supper and then headed back to the Eiffel tower by sunset. Miranda had already climbed to the top once and we had a long week filled with walking so we broke down and took the elevator to the top. At the top we had the most amazing view of Paris! It was a beautiful night so we just stood there and took everything in for awhile. It was definitely one of my favorite things over the break.

Window at Notre Dame

The next morning we headed to see the famous Notre Dame Cathedral. I loved all the sculptures on the outside and it had more beautiful stained glassed windows. Then we went to see the Paris Opera House. This is the opera house that Phantom of the Opera was based off of so it was very cool to see. Next we went to the Louvre Museum. I really loved this museum because it had so much stuff to see! We started seeing some paintings including the famous Mona Lisa. We also saw many sculptures, Egyptian ruins and findings, and even a mummy. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling well. I woke up with a sore throat and plugged nose and it had only gotten worse throughout the day. We left the Louvre and walked across the famous Ponte des Arts Bridge otherwise known as the lovers lock bridge. On this bridge lovers put a lock and throw the key in the river to show their love lasts forever. It had gotten to heavy and the railings with locks were taken down a few years ago. People have been refilling it ever since, but it wasn't completely full when we saw it. At this point I definitely had a fever and the chills so Nancy and I went back to the hostel so I could try and sleep and I pretty much slept the rest of the night.

Sagrada Familia

The next morning we had to leave early to get to the airport for our flight to Barcelona. We arrived in Barcelona and made it to our hostel around 1:00. Another group of students got to Barcelona the day before and were staying in the same hostel. As soon as we got there we dropped our bags off and headed out with them for lunch. Then we went to La Sagrada Familia. Sagrada Familia is a giant church that has been in construction for over 100 years and still isn't finished. The detail on it is absolutely incredible! They plan to finish it in 2026 which is the 100 year anniversary of the original architects death. It is definitely one of the coolest churches I have ever seen. The rest of the day we spent walking and shopping on Las Ramblas, their long street filled with shops.

Barcelona beach

Since Barcelona was our last stop we didn't completely pack our schedule like in the other cities so for once we got to sleep in. When we did get out, we went to visit Park Güell. You have to climb some pretty steep hills to get to it but the view is totally worth it. Rachel had been there a few years earlier and everything in the park was free. However, now to get down to the famous mosaic area you have to buy tickets. We did not know this and most of the times for the day were already sold out so sadly we didn't get to see that part. The rest of the park was still really beautiful though. After the park we headed down to the main boardwalk and just walked along the beach for a couple hours. That night there was a pub crawl type thing through our hostel that we did. We met a ton of cool people from all over the place and it was really fun.
For our last day we went and laid out on the beach. It was hot but very windy which made it a little too cold for any swimming. It was still so relaxing to just lay there and soak it all up. Late afternoon we went back to Las Ramblas and did some souvenir shopping. Then we ate some amazing paella at a sports bar place while we watched some fútbol. We went to bed pretty early that night because we had to leave by 5:00am for the airport. Our flight got into Prague around 10:00 but we had to wait until 2:00 for our train back to Olomouc.
It was an absolutely amazing 2 weeks but I was very ready to be back "home" by then. We packed so much into such a short amount of time and I am so grateful for everything that I got to see and experience. However it was nice to get back to somewhat of a schedule and to be able to live off less than $5 a day. again I can't believe our program is already half over! Time has gone by so fast but I have loved every minute of it and can't wait for my next adventure!
Here are some more of my favorite pictures from spring break: