BEDJ #9 | Ferrara, Bologna & Assisi.

Yes, guys. This is it. This is my very last entry for my European Adventure. It took over two years to show them all, but at last, it's been done. It's been a wild ride.

And we are officially done! Hurrah! If you would like to reminisce over the last few years, down below are all the links to the other places I went.

Other Pictures of the European Adventure:

London | Bath | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh | Paris | Versailles | Rome | Florence & Pisa | Lake Maggiore & Milan | Verona | Venice | Ferrara, Bologna & Assisi

European Adventure | Venice.

I feel like I need to preface this post by saying that I was in a foul mood while we were in Venice. It had nothing to do with the city itself, it was just the whole travelling a lot was starting to take a toll on me. As such, there was a serious lack of photos taken of the city.

 We got to see people do glass blowing! It was way cool, and is such an intricate process. Amazing.

 One of the many, many canals in the city. 

 St Mark's Basilica. It was just wow. So gorgeous. Obviously there was work being done, but wow. It was just wow.

Is this the Bridge of Sighs? I can't remember. I feel like it might be, but don't quote me on that. 

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One more blog post to go and we'll be finished! Entirely! What a miracle! Won't we all be glad when this is over?

Other Pictures of the European Adventure (so far):

London | Bath | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh | Paris | Versailles | Rome | Florence & Pisa | Lake Maggiore & Milan | Verona | Venice

European Adventure | Verona.

 Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona, where we lay our scene. From ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

That's right, my friends. Here is the obligatory 'I-went-to-Verona-and-all-I-got-were-these-Juliet's-balcony-pictures' right here.

 Here is the aforementioned Juliet's balcony. Won't lie, I kept expecting to see an old lady taking letters from a just under it (thank you Letters to Juliet for that visual). Disappointingly, apparently that is not a real life thing. There was no wall filled with letters. Instead, there were locks, and graffiti.

 And you thought I was joking. I don't really get it to be honest. Yes, you saw it here folks: I'm a Romeo and Juliet cynic. It was a tragedy for a reason. And Romeo was a dumbass.

This was just a picture I took of some apartments (I assume) in a square just upwards from the balcony. It was lovely.

I don't really have a lot to say about Verona. We were only there for maybe an hour - two, at most. It was lovely though.

Other Pictures of the European Adventure (so far):

London | Bath | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh | Paris | Versailles | Rome | Florence & Pisa | Lake Maggiore & Milan | Verona

European Adventure | Lake Maggiore & Milan.

 Onto the next stop in the (now 2 years old) European Adventure. This is Lake Maggiore. It's pretty neat. Half of it is technically a part of Italy, and the other half is technically a part of Switzerland. 

 A little square near the Lake. I just really loved the look of it. It was so quiet and wonderful.

 We are now in Milan! Another big cathedral. Unfortunately, the name escapes me right now. What I do remember is a lot of people standing around it selling bags of crumbs to feed the pigeons. There was a lot of pigeons. Also, there was a McDonald's opposite it. The gifts you learn when your brother doesn't aspire to be worldly and learn about other cultures.

 The aftermath of the terrible fall I had in Edinburgh. It was about a week old by this point? I still couldn't walk huge distances, I don't think. Lesson of the story: Don't jump around when it's been raining and hailing and snowing, kids. You'll fall and hurt yourself. I'm looking at you, fellow Australians.

On the way to our next city, we got to stop in at an Italian monastery. It was gorgeous. Just wow.

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Guess what guys? We're actually getting closer to the end of this. Only three stops left before we end the never-ending photo album. What sort of miracle is this?

Other Pictures of the European Adventure (so far):

London | Bath | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh | Paris | Versailles | Rome | Florence & Pisa | Lake Maggiore & Milan

European Adventure | Florence & Pisa

A quick picture gallery moment. Florence and Pisa. Florence was actually my favourite city in Italy.

 A big cathedral that's way pretty. I don't know if you can see, but if you look closely the statue to the left of the cathedral is of Dante Alighieri. You know, that dude who wrote Inferno. Prettyyyyy cool.

 Another way big cathedral. I think the tour guide told us that you could take a bunch of stairs to get to the very top, but it was a tight fit. So, obviously I didn't do that.

 Inside the above cathedral.

The trio of touristy things in Pisa. Believe it of not there is a Macca's a couple hundred metres before these.

And the Leaning Tower of Pisa allll by itself. I think I was trying to be funny in this picture and make it look like it wasn't leaning? Still. Really cool.

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So, that's Florence and Pisa. I feel like I should've added more in, but it was at this leg of the journey that I was getting sick of having to take all the pictures. You can only lug a heavy camera around for so long before you get annoyed.

Other Pictures of the European Adventure (so far):

London | Bath | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh | Paris | Versailles | Rome | Florence & Pisa

European Adventure | Rome.

Now, we begin the final run of my Europe pictures from nearly two years ago. Let's not talk about that. I decided, given the enormity in the size of my pictures from Italy, I'd just separate them into city/ies. First stop? Rome.

I'd just like to preface this by saying that to get to Italy, the Family and I went on an overnight train. While I'd recommend this for experience sake, I would not recommend as a thing you do often. It was a little uncomfortable and more than cramped. 

Because of this, I was tired, a little cranky, and a little anxious (school results were going to be released/I was going to find out if I would be accepted into my uni course of preference. Spoiler Alert: I was).

 This is in the Vatican City. It's not the Sistine Chapel (obviously. Taking photos is a no-no there), but I want to say it was St. Peter's? Honestly, I went into so many cathedrals and chapels in Italy, I cannot for the life of me remember the name of this one. Way pretty though.

 Inside the Colosseum. It was raining pretty consistently at this point. So, like I mentioned above *cranky.*

  My distress was doubled of course, when I found out that the Lizzie McGuire Movie had lied to me. Award shows cannot actually take place in there.

 Holla at my old glasses

 The ruins! Loved it! Ancient history and stuff and it was just basically the coolest.

The Trevi Fountain during the day. The Brother hadn't come the first night, so we had to go back so he'd experience the lush. Thankfully, no lip-syncing scoundrels approached me either time.

I'm not saying that the Lizzie McGuire Movie raised my expectations of Rome, but it kind of did. I re-watched the movie recently, and was like 'I've been there! And there!' and basically it was memory lane for me. 

Except of course, there was no romance or pop-star-sensation. Instead, I got some fellow Australians and a particularly special brand of American tourist. (It was a tour-bus-sort-of-schtick).

Versailles

 Can you understand why the French people revolted? I can understand.

 This was someone's bedroom. I want to say Marie Antoinette's but I'm pretty sure her's had a green wallpaper.

 The Hall of Mirrors. Gorgeous.

 Was this the marriage bed? I wanna say this was the marriage bed. Don't take my word for it though.

 The outside of Versailles

The gorgeous gardens which we (we being the Mother and I) didn't explore because the sun was going to set soon and I was paranoid. Next time. Definitely next time.

Only one more stop to go! Italy! (Which I might break up a bit because there were quite a few photos)

Other Pictures of the European Adventure (so far):

London | Bath | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh | Paris | Versailles

Paris

Following on from my post on Edinburgh, I figured now would be a good time to post Paris. I think I'm going to divide Paris into Paris and Versailles. Versailles was hands-down my absolute favourite part of Paris.

I didn't adore Paris as much as I adored other places, but Versailles was just. Omg. I can't even talk about it. It's stunning. If you go anywhere in Paris, go to Versailles. But this post isn't about that! It's about Paris!

Like I mentioned above, I didn't like Paris as much. It's probably, in hindsight, largely because of an incident that happened in the first ten minutes on my being there (read: mugging). It left a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. The smell also really bothered me though? I don't know.

It was still gorgeous though. Pictures!

 The Australian Promenade! We saw this on our first say of adventuring and promptly made it our mission to walk across it/through it every single day. (Which we did. Quite successfully). 

 This collection wouldn't be complete without Mona Lisa. I didn't have a  huge time to admire it. It was basically *picture* then get outta there. Thus, the off-kilter perspective.

 Both of the above two are outside the Louvre/opposite the Louvre. Much pretty. You see The Brother there, in all his grumpy finery. Yes, this is the locket bridge. Yes, it's gorgeous in real life. 

 On top of the Notre Dame. Such pretty, much view. A+

Shakespeare & Company! My one goal in the trip to Paris, was to get there. I got there. Was very happy. Got a few bookmarks. Not so much an actual book. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside. Understandably, as it was so cluttered and busy. Gorgeous little shop though. :)

So there's a very brief trip to Paris for you! The next post will definitely be Versailles and then, Italy! The final leg of the European Adventure. It's been a long time coming, I tell ya.

Other Pictures of the European Adventure (so far):

London | Bath | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh | Paris

Edinburgh

I thought I should probably try and get as much of the European Adventure out of the way. It's been going on for far too long. I can't believe it's still going. I promised myself I wasn't going to be one of those people who took forever. Yet, here we are.

This'll be the last stop on the U.K. side of the trip. Unfortunately, there aren't as many pictures here because guess who managed to nearly break her foot on the first night of arriving?

Here's a tip: Don't jump up and down on a road when the weather has been kind of pathetic the whole day (i.e. snow, and hail, and rain). Despite your enthusiasm, it won't end well.

Anywho, the plan for these final legs of the European Adventure 2012, is that I'll clump all of Paris together (was not a fan of Paris, unfortunately), except for maybe Versailles, because that was easily my favourite place. And I'll clump most of Italy together (probably).

Anywho, all aboard the Edinburgh Train!

Food from the cafe outside Holyrood Palace. The hot chocolate was A+. The cupcake not so much. (I might have gotten it not realising there were sultana's or raisins in it. I mean, it was dry as well, but that's not the point here)

Holyrood Palace. Sooo prettay

Chapel ruins right next door to Holyrood Palace

Edinburgh Castle

That place J.K. Rowling wrote some of Harry Potter in. (It's A+ just generally, but that little fact made it ten times cooler)

Mary Queen of Scots Tomb! For all you Reign fans out there, here's the real Mary. (even if she's mighty more desecrated or whatever)

The Christmas German Markets. So pretty!

So, that's the highlights of Edinburgh. It was easily one of my favourite places of the trip. Even if I wasn't able to do/see as much as I'd wanted.

Other Pictures of the European Adventure (so far):
London | Bath (& Stonehenge) | Stratford-Upon-Avon | Blenheim Palace | Oxford | Warwick Castle | Edinburgh