Roma

Rome was a blur of meeting up with my grandparents, seeing all the sites (the coliseum, the pantheon, various churches, etc.)

The most exciting day for me was the day we went to Pompeii.

The beautiful, abandoned city that was buried when Mt. Vesuvius erupted for the first time in quite a while, burying the city and killing those residents who didn't flee. It was hauntingly enchanting, and a very cool glimpse at what life must've been like. 

The next day:

What would a trip to Italy be without food porn?

Next stop: Florence!

So I'd heard of Florence, but I wasn't really sure why. It ended up being a beautiful city, but what it was known for was it's "duomo." This dome, constructed of brisk sits perched atop a large church. This duomo was built before they should've had the technology to build it. The church itself was started well before anyone had any ideas on how to construct the dome! Filippo Brunelleschi, who eventually designed and built the dome wasn't even born when the church was begun. He was a genius. Eventually the church and dome were completed. We climed the tower next to the duomo for a better look. 

The view of the city was breathtaking. 

Catching up

Posting from my tablet has been frustrating, so I downloaded a blogging app. 

Let's see, where was I?

Switzerland!

I'll just post the important stuff: chocolate, James Bond and mountains. 

We were on what they called "the top of Europe," the heighest point in Switzerland and the film location of a James Bond film. It was gorgeous, cold and really bright! It took us three gondola (cable car) rides up to the top, and then we took two down and walked the rest of the way back down to Lauderbrunnen. First we explored a small town (I forgot it's name). Reed ran down while my mom and I walked. It was further than we thought it would be, but it was a good walk. 

On the way out we discovered this in a vending machine:

And to me and Reed's surprise mom agreed to buy us one!

(Turns out it doesn't actually get you high, it's just cannabis flavored. Ew. Why would you want that?)

Days 4 and 5

Day 4 - a Paris!
Today we went first to the Orsay Museum (of modern art), and then to the Versailles Chateau and gardens.
No photos were allowed in Orsay, but here's a selfie with the Sein

 

Next we took a train to Versailles, a castle built by a French king who decided that he wanted a more relaxed castle environmet, so he made the royals and everyone else come out to his seculuded castle to visit him. It was later added on to buy Marie Antoinette and her husband. It was beautiful and had extensive gardens.

The hall of mirrors...

Then we went to see the Eiffel tower at night.

                   

(I wish I could rotate these!! I guess that's what I get for only bringing a tablet and not a laptop)

Day 5

Today was mostly spent sitting on trains (7 hours worth, 4 different trains!). It was a beautiful ride up into the swiss alps though!

A lot of the train ride consisted of this:

The internet just got really slow, so I'll post the rest tomorrow, but it's beautiful here!

Laurel

Le troisieme jour a Paris!

Today we visited Le Louvre and then Les Jardins des Tuilleries. I didn't come in with a set agenda (except seeing some beautiful paintings and artifacts). We saw the Mona Lisa first, which was very cool, but of course there was a huge crowd already surrounding her. Most people were trying to take pictures which made no sense to me because there are so many better pictures already taken... After that we split up and I wandered the museum, visiting all three sections and all 4 floors (but not the whole museum of course), it's so big!

(I can't figure out how to rotate these :'( )

We met up and went to lunch at a little cafe where I had to order in French. We got quiche and then delicious desserts. I had un gateau au chocolate avec marmalade de fraises (chocolate cake with strawberry marmalade).

We split up and Reed and I visited the Tuileries while mom went to some churches. The gardens were beautiful. We arranged to meet at one end of the gardens and somehow missed each other. Mom left 10 minutes after we were supposed to meet (assuming that we had gone home by mistake) and Reed and I waited for her for an hour and fifteen minutes before turning home where we found her. It makes me wish we had european cell phones.

We came back to a beautiful dinner laid out by our host mom. All in all c'etait un bon jour.

Laurel

France day 2

My alarm went off at 8:30 and I rolled out of bed. I grabbed my shampoo and groggily attempted to figure out the shower. There was a detachable shower head, and I decided to try to shower like the europeans and leave it detached. This proved too hard, so I hung the head up.
Once I dried off we had breakfast of bread, cheese and surprisingly good coffee (the French aren't known for their coffee), and then we were off to Le Tour Eiffel! Two metro rides later we arrived. The tower is beautiful.

We stood in line for about an hour, making friends with a nearby British family. We chose to climb the 1,665 steps up to the second level of the tower, and then take the elevator up to the very top. Each viewing platform was more breathtaking than the last! Paris is a gorgeous city when viewed from above.

Awkward but necissary tourist selfie from the top

When we finally got all the way back down we flopped onto the lawn in front of the tower and gazed up at it. At that point it was 12:30 and our tummies were growling. We found a little cafe and had lunch. They seemed used to serving tourists.

The hospital of the invalids (L'hopital des Invalides)

Reed and I ended our afternoon by visiting Les Champs-Elysees (while my mom went to the Luxembourg Gardens) which ended up being far too touristy and entirely full of chain stores. Not at all what I was hoping. We found some cute shops along side strets, but no gelatto or macarons which is what I was looking for. I guess I'll have to keep looking.

Reed and I found our way back home on the metro ourselves, and then once mom was back too we were fed a huge dinner buy our wonderful hostess (who speaks no English, and K wasn't here tonight, so I played translator as well as her 13 year old son who is learning English in school). We had omlettes, bread, potatoes, broccoli and cauliflower in cream sauce, a potato salad with corn that was just dressed in a vinegrette and a small pizza split 4 ways. She also put out yogurt for us, with fruit and cheese for dessert. I still don't understand how the French stay so thin!

All in all it was a good day.

Laurel

Arriver a Paris!

Le I am on to the next leg of my journey. After a very long day of travel I arrived in Paris with my mom and my brother. We left home at 10:00 am our time and flew out of Montreal. By the time we arrived in Paris it was just before 2am. We tried to sleep on the plane Some, goal that's always hard. We were put at the airport by the father of our host family (They All-have long complicated names. Let's call him K). K Took us to his little tiny apartment That is attached to a school in the 9th arrondesmont in Paris. He Introduced us to His Wife Have you speaks English and his oldest no sound. We-settled in, and Were Given tea. Once We had relaxed for a little while K Took us out to explore Paris a little. We saw a beautiful Cathedral, artists selling Their art on the street, and learned How To Avoid tourist traps.
Paris is very classy. All the people wear much dressier clothes than we do in the U.S.. I was very glad That I Had thrown in a black dress, mostly because i Brought clothes for when I'm going to be farming later in the trip. I think I would've managed to blend in pretty well If It Was not for the rest of my family, my Lack of nice shoes and my English accent. 
My french is coming back to me quite quickly. Even words I had not used since 7th or 8th grade! Our homestay family complemented me on my French and I feel like I'm in command when it comes to talking to people. So exciting!
In the afternoon we Decided to go down to the Siena, and we ended up going all the way down to the Notre Dame de Paris. It was beautiful. We finished our outing with ice (ice cream) and Almost getting lost on the way to the metro. All in all it was a great adventure! I can not wait for the Eiffel Tower tomorrow!

The one downside to Paris is that it smells like cigarettes and pee... You have to pay for the public bathrooms, so apparently people go on the street.

Here are some photos:

The sunrise out our airplane window as we landed in Paris (at 7am local time)

Le Seine

Le Metro

A bridge full of lover's locks...

Le Notre Dame de Paris

Pigeons sitting on carvings

Easter chocolate in a little shop

This plus a scarf (which are very commonly worn) was my attempt at looking Parisian.

Laurel

Braddock Farms

Braddock farms was my last stop, but first I attended Power Shift, a youth convention talking about issues of climate change and youth empowerment. I met up with friends, and met some future Oberlin schoolmates. Naturally I went to all of the food focused seminars, discussions and panels. It was all so fascinating.

Plus I was that close to Bill McKibben. How cool is that?

I was housed in hostel that was a converted convent. It was right across the street from a steel mill.

The farm was just down the street from the hostel. Both were in Braddock, PA, which is in the outskirts of Pittsburgh. Braddock had been a booming city because of the steel mill, but in the 1980s a series of layoffs forced 90% of the inhabitants out of the city. Braddock became a ghost city.

    (Graffiti near the hostel)

Slowly but surely Braddock has started to get back on it's feet. They have a new mayor who is implementing positive changes and renovating buildings. He's decreasing gang violence, helping schools and many other great things (including the pictured signs).

While at Power Shift I learned that the biggest rubber duck in the world was stationed less than a quarter mile away from the convention center. Naturally we had to visit.

                                      (Necessary selfie with the duck)

The farm was part of Grow Pittsburgh (a program promoting urban farms). A couple years ago they took over an abandoned lot and turned it into a farm. Right next to the steel mill.

Urban farming is pretty similar to rural farming except that instead of having quiet you have truck drivers honking and whistling while you're weeding... The farm is a non-profit organization run by Marshall. He was gone for the week so I worked with his assistant for the summer, Kristen. Being a non-profit they were able to make their vegetables accessible to the people living in Braddock. They tried to have their (local, organic) vegetable prices compete with Food Lion's prices. We had lots of people come and pay for their veggies with WIC checks. Each check was for $5 and only redeemable at a farmers market. We had people bring three or four (15 or 20 dollars) and we sent them home with at least 5 bags bursting with produce. The program was a win-win for everyone.

The best part about living on my own was cooking for myself. This is lentils, wild rice and kale.

 I made pesto with garlic greens (that I rescued while we were weeding) and spinach.

Curried tofu and wild rice.

Roasted vegetables (mainly from the farm) and swiss chard (from the farm) omlette

The woman who ran the hostel had just adopted a puppy named Colby and he was like the cutest thing ever.

We mulched with aspen shavings, which made the farm so pretty.

Laurel