Cote D'Azur - Nice, Monaco, Menton

**Warning: Most ADD post of my life...

To sum up this week: laying in the sun, getting sunburnt (classic), eating copious amounts of crepes, and running on the beach.  I think I could get used to this...

Tidbits from the week:
- Menton, France is one of the best kept secrets -- it has the southern france feel without crazy amounts of tourists and some of the best food we've had!
-Monaco is probably the MOST BORING place I've ever been. It would be fun if you like casino's or have a billion dollars to spend at designer stores.
- There was a tennis tournament in Monaco and we got to see the stadium (from afar)!

Today, we go to our last stop on this eurotrip to Copenhagen and then back to London for a few days before we come home to the good ole U.S. of A :)

I can't believe that in a week I'll be heading home.  I flip between being so excited and not excited at all (mostly because of the snow).

A few things I can't wait to do when I get home:
-Cuddle with SADIIEEEE
-Never smell cigarette smoke
-Run through hallways without hitting a billion fire doors
-Minnesota Nice <3

Went to the Trevi Fountain and didn't meet Paulo :(

Bonjourno from Roma! Hanna and I are on our first stop through our European adventure in Rome, Italy.  We left London on Monday and will move to our next destination on Thursday to Venice! Due to our long trip we both decided it would be best to pack in a real person suitcase (contrary to our Scotland trip which we did in a backpack – I’ll probably brag about that accomplishment for the rest of my life).  Because we had to pack in a suitcase we splurged for flights that allow checked baggage – gettin’ real fancy over here. My flight into Rome was more difficult than expected.  I had a flight on Alitalia which is apparently an Italian based flight company since EVERYTHING was in Italian.  All the notices, signs and announcements were in Italian and occasionally I would see some English.  The flight attendants would also give an English announcement but their English wasn’t too great and so they would mumble the entire time.  This was extremely difficult for me because I’m already deaf as it is when people speak clear English so I usually just followed what others were doing or would pretend I hadn’t heard anything.  The best part of the flight was the friend I made!! I was sandwiched between two old men and the one on my right was really fun to talk to.  He gave me some insider tips on traveling in Rome – with hand drawn pictures and everything! It was really nice to meet someone who was so passionately in love with their home town.  He inspired me to be really excited to visit this amazing old city. 

We booked a hotel for safety reasons and made our way into central Rome after arriving.  I’ve officially decided that the ghetto follows me AKA I’m ghettolicious. The hotel is in a run down area that was a little frightening.  We got here around 10 pm last night and were completely lost. It was pitch dark because the street lights here are far and few in between. We dragged our suitcases underneath a dark bridge past a gang of teenagers and I was close to hyperventilation by the time we reached the holiday inn.  Rome has a history of really bad pickpocketing and mugging so I’ve been on high alert the entire time we’ve been here.

Today, we hit a ton of sightseeing since we only have two days here! We saw:

·      The Coliseum: Built in 100 AD for public fights and games.

·      The Palace (It has a different name but I can’t remember it): A palace built in 1000 for the kings and queens of the time.  It was ruined partially when the “Galls” (French) overtook Rome.

·      Roman Forum: An area of public buildings that was made a monument in Rome during Ceasar’s reign.

·      Pantheon: Biggest dome built with brick and modern architects doubt it could be replicated.

·      Spanish Steps

·      Trevi Fountain: Where Lizzie Maguire meets Paulo #DUH

Tonight, Hanna and I met up with Jack a friend from high school.  He is studying abroad here and we went out to dinner with him.  FOOD COMA FOR LYFE.  The restaurant was accommodating to college students with the baskets of free bread (we got three), large portion sizes, and free dessert.  Not only did we get all that free food, but the waiter enjoyed us so much that he gave us an extra bottle of wine! It was a great night with fun company and delicious food : )

Tomorrow we are going to the Vatican and any other Roman monument we need to see before we head to Venice.  I’m so blessed to have this experience and I still feel like I’m growing so much.  Nevertheless, I CANNOT WAIT TO COME BACK TO MINNE <3 18 days and counting. Words cannot express my excitement. 

SUN!

My mom, dad and I have been in Barcelona for the past three days and I'm in love with this city! Despite my little knowledge of Spanish, I've been able to understand enough to get around.  With not a lot on the schedule, we have been able to nap in the sun, explore around our hotel, and just wander the winding streets here.  We've become European with our eating styles aka we eat lunch at like 3 and dinner at 8 which is DEATH for me who is always hungry #mylife. The best part of being in Spain is the warmer weather and the SUN is here almost everyday :) I love it! We also have Sangria at lunch and dinner which is the best!! It's so delicious.  Here they eat a big lunch and smaller dinners.  Usually they have tapas at dinner which are little appetizers for the table to share.  We've tried a lot of great tapas bars -- at my favorite we had chips and guacamole!

I had fun showing the family around London.  I can't believe that it was my last few full days in London.  I've completely fallen in love with the city and have enjoyed showing it off to all the family I had come to visit.  On Easter we went to dinner with the Manitz's, Nelson's and Claire who were all visiting.  We had drinks and then went to Chinatown - it was SO good!

I'm furiously doing laundry (it's free here :)) and preparing for my long trip with Hanna through the month of April.  I can't wait for our adventures and although I'm sad to leave Europe and have had an AMAZING time I'm ecstatic to come back to Minne <3 because I'm in love with our fabulous state.

Easter dinner :) 

The view from our terrace in Barcelona

Selfies on the roof of the Cathedral de Barcelona

Best candy shop in the world!! 

I thought this was "Naptime Abroad"....

It is officially the last week of school here at Queen Mary.  We are wrapping up all our classes and frantically finishing assignments (or pretending to...hehe)! On Friday, I will be done with my junior year of college and off for a month of traveling Europe #isthisreallife?

Last week, Grandpa, Aunt Marie and I had more adventures through London.  We went to the Portobello Market where I purchased my very first artwork (sew grown up).  It was a FREEZING day here in London and despite my 6 layers of clothing I was still frozen and had to make a pit stop at the hotel to bring my feet and hands back to life.  Clearly, spring is not here.  Now, to all my Minnesotans I may sound like a brat (which definitely could be the case) buuuuuuuut the cold here is so damp it gets in your bones and you can't get warm unless you stand under a heater wearing 16 bagillion layers! My lack of winter clothing is also becoming an annoyance. ANYWAYS, we went to a few other markets and tried a lot of delicious foods (cheese toastie, cheesy potatoes, pumpkin tortellini, etc).  On Sunday, Aunt Marie and I went to Afternoon Tea which was splendid :) We had finger sandwiches, scones and sweets and were completely stuffed the rest of the day! I was so lucky to have them here with me and enjoyed every minute of their visit.

Monday, I had the opportunity to go visit the American School in London.  This is where the story gets interesting.  The classroom I visited had a total of 18 students.  2 students were on holiday.  On Monday, there were 6 students present.  How many people were ill?!!??!!?!?!?! Not only did 7 students call in to say they were sick, 3 went home throughout the day.  As I watched this unfold, the germaphobe in me was silently freaking out.  I had walked into my own mini-hell.  The nurse came down at some point and began handing out anti-bacterial wipes (I wanted to take more than one but figured that would be excessive) and they wiped down the classroom which made me feel a little better.  After school was out, I ran back to my apartment to degermify (newest made up word) and drank a big glass of airborne...I refuse to get sick because........

COLLIE, KEVIN AND CULLIE COME ON FRIDAY!! ! ! ! !! ! ! !! ! ! ! !!  I'm not excited or anything.....I have our stay in London jam packed with activities and then we go to Spain for the week. I can't wait to go somewhere relatively warm and see the sun :) It's been a few weeks. Hanna and I have officially planned our April adventures and we will be traveling to Rome, Venice, Nice (France), Monaco and Copenhagen (Denmark).  I'm so excited to explore all these cities and get one last good look at Europe before heading home in one month.  I can't believe how fast this time has gone.

Loving London

It took me a little under three months to finally fall in love with London! After showing the city off to two different groups of visitors I fully appreciate what this city offers.  I love the different neighborhoods, the interesting people (especially some clothing/hair choices), the different languages I hear, the public transportation, everything! I'm not sure I'm ready to leave in a month...

Last night, Aunt Marie, Grandpa and I went to an Indian restaurant in the Whitechapel area. We were a little unsure of what to expect as we turned down alley way after alley way in a run down neighborhood but we found a really cool place! Aunt Marie expertly navigated the menu and we soon had a feast in front of us.  Everything was delicious! It was my second time having Indian food and I really enjoyed it.  AND!!! Grandpa tried ALL the dishes we got! Afterwards, we went and got bessert (yes, I did want to use a b instead of a d) :)

I guess I can't procrastinate anymore....off to write an architecture essay. BLAH. SO BORING. Mom, Dad and Cullie get excited for me to describe all the architecture of the buildings around London.......

Visitors on Visitors on Visitors

I've been slacking with the blog...hopefully I'll be better now that I have wifi again! Caitlin visited me last week in London and now Grandpa and Aunt Marie are here!! I'm so so lucky have so many visitors here in London and that I get to show off what a wonderful city it is.  Because so much has happened since then I'll keep this short and to the point :)

Caitlin's visit:

• We went food tourin' aka ate our way through London which was wonderful -- some of the favorites were crepes, ben's cookies, chinese food from chinatown
• We saw the Lion King and IT WAS AMAZING.  We were 5 rows from the stage! What an amazing show to see so close up.  Caitlin's seat mate was REALLY into the show with very enthusiastic clapping and laughing at the weirdest times.  He kept us entertained throughout the show
• We went to the IceBar in London which was really fun and REALLY cold - it's kept at -5 degrees at all times.
• Hodgepodge dinners were our speciality! We made some really good meals in the hotel room
• We went to Tea at Harrods which was so fun and it made us think of Grandma <3
• Overall, I was so lucky to laugh as much as I did with her.  It was fun having my best friend at my side and we had a blast adventuring through London :) 

Aunt Marie and Grandpa are here!! WOOHOO.

• Saturday, we walked around multiple squares in the city of London.  Aunt Marie had been wanting to see The Book of Mormon in theaters, however, it was a sold out show until May.  We went to see the theater just in case they had a lottery for some shows.  Surprisingly, they did! There was a huge crowd around the golden lottery ticket holder.  We decided on a whim to put our names in....AND THEN WE WON!!!!! We got two tickets for the front row of the show that night.  They were 20 pounds each while tickets currently sell for about 350 pounds....
• Sunday, we went to the St. Patrick's day parade and festival.  The parade was very abstract random with an ambulance in it, African dancers (not sure how it related to Ireland?) and various other confusing sights...
• Today, we walked around the Westminster area with Big Ben, London Eye, the Prime Minister's house.  We also explored Covent Gardens with a stop at Ben's Cookies!! It never fails to impress me.

Here are some pictures!!

HAHAAHAH mustache picture :) we didn't realize caitlin had a graffiti mustache until after the picture was taken....

leapin' into platform 9 and 3/4

At the Lion King! 

Best Crepes in the world...

GPA and Aunt Marie!! 

Mechanics vs. the Raasch's

I'm beginning to believe that I'm jinxed with mechanical problems (train in Italy, train to Scotland, Caitlin's plane...the list could go on).  On Friday night, Caitlin called me to let me know that her connecting flight from Southbend to Detroit had been cancelled due to mechanical errors.  For the next few hours I frantically searched for ways to get her here in time for our flights to Paris which was 6 hours after she was supposed to arrive in London.  After it was apparent that she wouldn't make it in time I began wondering if she would make it to London in general. 48 HOURS and a bagillion flights later, I can safely say that caitlin is OFFICIALLY in London!! She arrived at about 6:30am and I was bursting with excitement (probably because I downed a coffee that I had added 4 packets of sugar to...not my smartest decision cause I'm still shaky).  We were both crying and hugging each other over and over at the airport.  I don't think we could talk fast enough the entire ride back to Mile End. AND she surprised me with real Cheez-its!

Proof that we are TOGETHER :) <3

Although we missed out on Paris, we are going to have an amazing time here in London -- because of the fun adventures planned and mostly because we get to have sister time :) I could not be happier! Today we are going to go to Covent Garden for some lunch and ben's cookies.

ANOTHER S/O to the Edina Boys Varsity Hockey Team for winning STATE!! What an amazing accomplishment and I'm so sad I wasn't there to cheer them on.  YOU GO LIL BRO :) AND a happy happy early birthday to Cullie!! Can't believe you're already 17!

More later :)