Current Location: The Eternal City!

Well, it has been a while since I have updated anything!  After finishing up my job at the colegio, she and I headed to Cuenca to celebrate the birthdays of two of my dear, dear friends, Helen and Corinna!  We had a blast, and also enjoyed the beauty of Cuenca.  Those girls were so lucky to live there!

Lucy and I in front of the river Huecar in beautiful Cuenca!

Krista and Corinna are SO EXCITED about the Cuenca present.  Wonder what it is...

Out at el Quintopecado.  Wouldn't be a visit to Cuenca without going there!

All of us minus Natira!

After Cuenca, we took a bus to Madrid and spent the night there at my friend's house.  We had some delicious tapas, and in the morning we departed for the airport to go to PARIS!  Oh my gosh, I loved Paris.  It. is. beautiful!  I will definitely put up picture when I get back to my apartment in Spain.  We saw the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Louvre, enjoyed walking around the Montmarte area, the latin quarter, and overall just fell in LOVE with Paris :).  Definitely on my list of places to go back to some time in my life.

Me and the Eiffel Tower!

Lucy and I at Notre Dame.

Artists in Montmarte

Self-explanatory!

On Friday morning, we headed out bright and early to the airport to fly to Pisa.  We spent a couple of hours there in Pisa, and really enjoyed it as well.  It is a small town with beautiful old architecture, history, and of couse, the Leaning Tower of Pisa (La torre inclinada!).  We saw that, obviously, and then walked around Pisa.  Also, I ate a pizza for lunch, and it was delicious.  Yes, A PIZZA.  It wasn't a small, personal pizza or anything either (maybe it was...medium sized). It was delicious. Also I ate gelato. Cannot get enough of that stuff!

Me and my Gelato. MMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

A few hours later, we headed back to the train station, collected our bags, and boarded our train to Florence.  Once in Florence, we had to board another train to Sieci, the small, tuscan village where my cousin's Seminary is.  I had been there before back in December, so I remembered how to get there this time.  Eddie met us at the train station, we were all so happy to see each other!  Our families grew up together, so we have always been very close.  Lucy, Eddie, and I immediately started joking and laughing; Eddie begged of us to behave during mealtimes at the seminary.  Yes, he knew that I did fine last time, but Lucy was not with me last time.  He was concerned :).

We arrived at the Seminary, got settled into our room, and then headed down for dinner.  Now, dinner here is not like dinner at other places.  Meals are had in silence, and there are a lot of unspoken rules you must follow, like eat relatively fast because the seminarians can shovel food into their mouths so fast that you will have just taken your 3rd bite and they are finished.  As they wait for the guests to finish eating before serving the next course, Lucy and I were a little nervous.  Luckily, there was this French guy visiting as well and we just followed whatever he did.  We laughed about dinner later, because Lucy took a few minutes eating her pear, and Eddie sat behind her, in his head going "LUCY FINISH THE DANG PEAR! JUST FINISH IT! EAT THE PEAR!!!" hahahahahaha.  I thought that was HILARIOUS!

So the meals pretty much went like that while we were there.  We were very civilized, don't worry.

Eddie's birthday was the day after we arrived, and he got permission to go into Florence with us to celebrate!  We went to a few museums and churches, and had a DELICIOUS Italian lunch. OH MY GOSH, it was delicious.  There was pasta, bruschetta, vegetables, fish, chicken, and white table wine flying everywhere.  For dessert, strawberries soaked in lemon juice and sprinkled with sugar.  Afterwards we felt like we could roll down a hill, but it was worth it.

Eddie being our Florence tour guide.

Lucy and I in Florence

Eddie and Lucy in Florence!

We returned to the seminary, and the next few days were able to see what life is like for Eddie.  The mealtimes, the masses, his daily chores and his jobs.  He has a busy time there, but he seems to enjoy it, and it is a really lovely house nestled quite nicely in the hills of Tuscany, so you can't really complain about that.

I love this one--Eddie with the Tuscan countryside behind him!

On Monday, we left Edwah in Sieci, and departed for ROME! Oh, Rome. Rome, Rome Rome.  I have not been able to stop thinking about Rome since I left in December.  In the summer, it is HOT, and still ridiculously beautiful.  Everywhere you turn there is an ancient building, pillars, ruins, the VATICAN.  Our hostel is literally a 5 minute walk from Vatican City.  We have been there every day.  Yesterday we saw the Pope!  Also, he was in his Pope-mobile.  The Pope on wheels, if you will.  He gave a speech, said some stuff in a few different languages, it was great.  I love being in Vatican City.  We climbed to the top of the cupula as well! That, I have decided, is my favorite place in the world.

Hello, Pope!

Of course, we walked around Roma, went to the Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps, Colloseum, Vatican Museum, Trastevere neighborhood (LOVED this).  Also lots of gelato, lots of pasta, and pizza.  Basically I won't be able to fit through my apartment door when I get back.

The Spanish Steps!

Lucy and me at the Trevi Fountain

throwing in more coins!

and Lucy throwing in coins!

Sadly, we are leaving Rome today to go back to Madrid, but I am excited to see all of my amigos in Villarrobledo again for one of my last weeks there.  Before leaving Rome though, we made sure to get some gelato and pay one last visit to Il Vaticano :).

I had such a great visit with Lucy!

More later, besos!!

Mary