Turning 20, Volcanic Ash, and a week with my sister

First off, I am very sorry for the long delay in updated my blog - although I hope the following explains why it might not have been a priority over the past couple of weeks.

Well, a couple weeks ago I had the privilege of turning 20 in Paris. My friends went well out of their way to make it a fabulous night. It all started with me and my two friends from college, both named Lauren, standing under the Eiffel Tower as it twinkled at midnight - a little cheesy, but perfectly appropriate. The saturday after my birthday Lauren Moore and I went to Versailles which was absolutely gorgeous and not too crowded at all. I think we just managed to beat the large crowds. The on Sunday morning, in the middle of the whole volcano ash mess we started our journey to Scotland.

We had already bought train tickets, but it still ended up being a battle to get on the train to Amsterdam. Once there we had a lovely evening wondering around and the next day we took a free walking tour of the city. By this time we had found out our flight was not going to leave Tuesday morning, but we managed to change it to Thursday morning. Fortunately I had an old dorm sister, Danjella, who lives about an hour outside of Amsterdam with her brother and sister and let us stay with them for two days. It was wonderful seeing Danjella, relaxing in the Dutch countryside, and cycling like the locals. Our plane did leave Thursday morning.

After many hours of traveling I made it to Aberdeen just a couple hours before Megan, my older sister, found out she had won her campaign and now has a job for the next year! It was perfect timing and I am so glad I was able to celebrate with her and her friends. The next day Megan and I went to see Les Miserables in Edinburgh and afterwards we spent the rest of the week just taking it easy in Aberdeen. Last night I finally made it back to Paris and it felt so nice waking up this morning to fresh baguette, a french press of coffee, and a pain au chocolate on the table.

Megan and her friends
Me and Danjella
Dutch countryside
A little Amsterdam...

Ciao Bella

Milan for Easter, an excellent decision. My friend Bridget and I flew from Paris to Milan on Friday and despite an 8 hour delay leaving from Charles De Gaulle the weekend was lovely. Italy was fabulous and a country I must return to someday. I was pleasantly surprised by the generally friendliness of Italians and how easy it was to understand some Italian and pick up a few phrases while I was there. Also, most likely due to Milan's proximity to Switzerland, I didn't find the culture overwhelmingly different from France.

Milan is where Hemingway based his novel A Farewell to Arms and I loved walking around picturing where the hospital might have been and all the roads his characters wondered down.

Bridget and I knew very little about Milan, the Lakes, or really what we were going to do once in Italy, but that added adventure to the trip and I think we managed just fine.

Bonjourno Senhora!
I, of course, drank lots of Italian coffee.
On Sunday we went to visit Lake Como, renowned as the most beautiful lake that borders Italy and Switzerland. Despite the gray skies it was absolutely beautiful.
Gelato!
Milan is currently one of the fashion capitals of the world along side Paris, London, and New York. Bridget and I strolled down several of the main shopping streets, but only window shopped.

Leonardo Da Vinci. We went to one museum in Milan featuring Italian art from the 15th-17th centuries. Lots of Luinis, Brezins, and Raphaels. A nice surprise was seeing Raphael's original sketch of his "School of Athens." The museum was having a special Leonardo exhibit and we saw his self-portrait and as well his painting of "the musician." Then we were given free tickets to go see the small exhibit of his sketches/thoughts. It was amazing to see what all that man thought. One piece of his journal had some sketches and then text that dealt with the flights of birds and the problems of painting.
There was a huge Easter egg with the four seasons painted on it.
Bridget and I on top of the roof of the main cathedral, Duomo.
The view from the roof was amazing, but even more incredible was seeing the architecture's miniscule details. Bridget and I spent over an hour on the roof just in awe of this.
The Doumo.

Well that's all for now, prego.