I have found a new home!

LOVE!!!

Ciao,
Paris is officially my favorite place in the ENTIRE world!!!! Every sing building is beautiful, the streets are clean and the people are surprisingly very nice!

We made it!

Friday, Marissa, Elyse, Kelly, Danielle, Stephen and I headed straight to the mesmerizing Eiffel Tower where we had the chance to climb it! 669 steps later we reached the second floor where we stopped for pictures! The view was magnificent! The tower itself is maintained so well! You'd never know it's over 100 years old!

I definitely did not go hungry in Paris! I tried a Nutella Crepe, Creme Brulee, Croque Monsieur and a Chocolate Macaroon! Yes, I know, I sound like a fat kid, but I have to make sure I like the food before I move there!!!  :)  I was kinda bummed I didn't get to try the French Onion soup, but there is always next time! :)

 I also visited the Arc de Triophe, Concord Square, where a monument is in place from Napoleon's years, the bridge where Princess Diana was killed; I signed the wall, and the Louvre!!!!

Arc de Triophe

The Louvre beats the Florence Accademia by a far! I could have spent an entire day inside! The Mona Lisa was beautiful, but my favorite section was Napoleon III apartments. He had SOOOOOO many chandeliers, which I am completely infatuated with! For those of you who have seen my facebook pictures, yes, I did fall asleep inside of it! In my defense, traveling for 4 weeks straight is extremely tiring! Such a hard life I live :( hahahaha.

We also made an extremely quick visit to Notre Dame Sunday! When I saw extremely quick, I'm not joking! We last track of time at lunch so we literally ran to Notre Dame, grabbed pictures and ran back to the Metro so we could catch our bus so we didn't miss our flight!!! Exhausting!

Notre Dame

I'm slightly disappointed how much I have spent with just transportation. Ryan Air usually has cheap flights, but the airports that you fly into require you to find another sort of transportation to the actual city you need to be! So in all you're still spending between 100-200 euro for transportation then another 50 or 60 for a hostel! I know I am extremely blessed and that I knew this would be expensive coming in, but it just get stressful at times. It is just making a wiser money spender. Just like my daddy!

Tweety :)

My favorite part of the trip was finding a figurine with Tweety standing next to the Eiffel Tower! I could NOT pass up buying it!! It had my name written all over it!!! I also really enjoyed watching the Eiffel Tower Sparkle after sunset! Talk about being speechless! There is nothing in this world more beautiful than the Eiffel Tower, especially at night!

We also stopped at a Starbucks and it had the Christmas flavors out!! I got Mocha Blanc Cranberry! Only way to explain it: Christmas in a cup!

Only 4 more weeks til I return home and I feel like I have so much left to see!!!! Brit and I are going to make a list of things to accomplish! :)

See you all in a few weeks,

It looked like Caesar!

Love ya,
Meek

There is an entire field of stone dolphins outside the Pisa airport!!!

Priceless!

When in Roma..Sleep doesn't exist, you walk more miles in a day than the calories you consume, and you see things you thought you'd never see!!!

Ciao!!!!!!

Well, I finally made it to Roma and it was beautiful! Although, it was not what I expected it to be at all, it was much worth the trip! I thought that the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps would be more secluded, but the fountain was surrounded a bunch of random buildings and the Spanish Steps just had a little fountain in front of it. The Spanish Steps are always packed with teens and young adults. In fact, Brit and I had the pleasure of meeting several Italian military men! haha..

When we arrived Friday afternoon we headed straight for the Colosseum! The history inside of it is fascinating, but I felt very weird standing inside such a place! I can't imagine filling that place to watch people be slaughtered!!! EW! ha. Afterwards, we toured the Roman Forum, which was very pretty! Both the Colosseum and Forum remind me of Pompeii, which has been my favorite thus far! The Forum existed before Jesus Christ, which makes me wonder why people do not believe in him! This trip I have met so many people who do not believe in God. I know I went through a time when I questioned things, but never doubted that there was a greater power above me! I have experienced too many miracles in my life not to believe. I know that having my dad make it through his accident and feeling my Papa close to me when I'm struggling that there is a God and I will one day walk through those Golden Gates and meet him! I may not agree with every rule in the Catholic Church, but I am truly proud to be a Catholic and I hope one day those who don't believe will experience such miracles and have the faith that I have.

Roof of the Pantheon

The last destination of Friday was the Pantheon. It was pretty but not one of my favorite places. An interesting fact is that it has a hole in the ceiling and it is the only original roof in Rome!

Spanish Steps!

The Vatican was my favorite part of the trip!! We started in the Vatican Museo, which consists of 10,000 rooms!!! How insane!! We spent all of Saturday morning there then went into the Sistine Chapel! We weren't allowed to take photos, but everyone was so I snagged a few! It was soooo packed and consumed by beautiful architecture! :) From there we headed inside of St. Peter's Basilica!!!!! OMGGGG it is HUGEEEE!!!! The Firenze Cathedral would fit inside of it!!! The architectural style is extremely Renaissance! I love all the gold trimming and the High alter is so beautiful!! (I feel like I always use the same words over and over, but really these places are unexplainable!) The beauty and history is so extraordinary!

Once our tour was finished we headed down to the Catacombs where most of the Popes are buried. Marissa, Brit, Ian and I then climbed to the Dome of the Vatican! It was about 300 steps, but the view was soooo worth it! The view reaches miles and miles wide!

Sunday was an extremely long day! We were all so tired, but we made it out alive!! We went on a walking tour then we literally booked it from one end of Rome to the other in order to see Pop Benedict the 16th give a speech!!! I was dripping sweat and wanted to fall over, but I think my life is finally complete! He spoke 7 different languages, drew a crowd of 1000s, and gave me goosebumps! The applause from the the crowd was so overwhelming, I nearly cried!!

I hope everyone is doing well and I miss you all but only a month and a half til I am home!!!!! Time is Flying!!!

Love and Miss you all!,
Meek

Making a wish and throwing a coin in the Trevi Fountain

Sistine chapel

View from the Dome!