Change of Plans...Let's go to Amsterdam!

Hallo! We are now in Amsterdam, NL! And it is shweet! Getting in was a bit of a bump in the road, but now that we’re here and back in the saddle, allz geode!

So we left out of the Ciampino Airport (not Fumicio main airport) on the 9^th and got to see a bit more of Rome’s countryside. It was cute and picturesque…with random Roman ruins scattered in farmers’ fields. So also kind of weird.

When we got to the airport, we put our backpacks into our stowage bags (so that all the ties and cords don’t get caught during their ‘checked luggage’ journey. Jen’s stowage bag immediately ripped, so we got out of line and attempted to find some makeshift accommodation. We ended up tying off all of the MANY pull cords and such of Jen’s hiking backpack satisfactorily. We got back in line and progressed up to the counter where we were informed that since we did not print out our boarding passes, RyanAir was going to charge us 40 euro per a boarding pass to print them out for us… “Um, excuse me?” –We then asked if there was an internet café or some place with a printer in the city where we could print out our boarding pass… the counter-lady referred us to the ‘Information’ booth.

Jen had brought her flash drive, so the information guy (grudgingly) was able to print out our boarding passes which I had saved as a PDF file on our computer. (Another young couple was having the exact same problem..which they too got handled.)

Switching writers now (btw)

So we got on the plane and had a nice flight into Amsterdam…oh wait, we didn’t fly into Amsterdam we flew into Eindhoven, Holland (which according to Mallory/the internet was supposed to be only a 10 minute train ride into downtown Amsterdam…needless to say, that wasn’t quite the case.)  So after spending 2 hours in the airport (once we landed) trying to find accommodations for our stay, we finally got on a bus to head to Amsterdam at 6:00pm.  Here is the breakdown…20 bus ride to Eindhoven train station…then a 2 and a half hour train ride…then a 10 minute metro ride…then a 20 minute tram ride…then a 15 minute walk to the hotel.  (All the times are estimates)  So we finally got to the hotel about 10:30 – 11pm.  That was the longest 10 minute train ride from Eindhoven ever J.

Our hotel is great considering we weren’t able to book it until day of. 

More to come…we leave for Athens tonight!

Food In Rome

Last time you heard from us we had been in Rome only a day or so.  We have since left Rome but had an amazing time in the Ancient City.  So far I think we have seen the most in Rome and London.  We kept pretty well to sightseeing everyday in Rome.  We went to the Vatican Museum and St. Peter’s Basilica.  Both were stunning.  We had to rush through the Vatican Museum because it is so massive but we did see the Sistine Chapel.  We also made our way to the Pantheon and all the beautiful Piazzas.  The architecture in this city is so breath taking.  The detail in the sculpture…wow.  We also got to spend some time in a beautiful garden overlooking the entire city.  I think that the Trevi Fountain was my favorite…I had no idea it was going to be that big!  All the pictures in the world don’t do it justice.

Not only did we see amazing things we also ate amazing things and here is Mallory to tell you all about that J

Gelato. MMMmmmm… So, while we were in London, we met up with one of Denise’s besties (Lawrence) who we mentioned during our England entries. Mr. Lawrence was kind enough to tell us about a couple of gelato joints he had frequented during his time as a Roman. The gelato at the first place was EPIC. It was like a block from the Trevi Fountain, and you walk in and you feel like you’ve accidentally stumbled into a professional chef’s demo area. The gelatos all had elegant and elaborate names and we definitely took a while to decide. But I settled on a ½ caramel w/meringue, ½ honey gelato medium cup. The honey was the flavor for which they were best known, and I got the medium because the large would have bankrupted us. (the gelato turned out to be super rich though, so I’m not glad that I got a medium, but I’m okay with it… I mean, had I gotten a large I definitely could have eaten it but…okay, never mind) Jen got ½ honey, ½ chocolate with meringue. She liked hers too.

The second gelato place was a bit difficult to find. We headed to find it straight from the Pantheon, and it took us about on hour. And it was hot. And the streets were tiny because it was Rome, and our map was less than helpful. But we found it! I got the rice and cinnamon (medium) and Jen got pineapple, coconut, and mango.  Both combos were super refreshing. Mine tasted like horchata and Jen’s was like a smoothie salad with a punch!.

What else? Um, OH! Pizza! Really good pizza at this place called Florida (it was on a street called Florida), and it was amazing. The cheese and the sauce and the…toppings! Very good.

And we went to this place near our hotel with was near Termini that had homemade desserts. Our dinners of homemade pastas were flavorful and well made, but the dessert was soooo goood. Jen got a layered berry cake and I got tiramisu. And we inhaled both of them. Then we ordered a second tiramisu (it was our last night in Italy!), and did not regret it one bit. It was so amazing. (It was called 39 Pizzas or something. If you go to Rome, go there; eat tiramisu, be happy.)

And during drink orders, when we asked for water, our servers would ask if we wanted it “with or without gas?” Jen and I shared a chuckle over that a couple of times…that’s pretty much it in the food department, I think.