Paris "Wee Wee"

Since we couldn't feast on a delicious meal for Thanksgiving, anddd it was our one year Anniversary, me and Caleb decided to meet in Paris! And it was just as expected! We started our day at Mcdonalds for breakfast.(Such Americans I know) But it was the fanciest Mcdonalds we had ever been in! We went all over the city, starting at the Louvre where we saw the Venus, and Mona Lisa. Would I be wrong to say the Mona Lisa is overrated?? Okay then I won't say it. Caleb was excited about the Louvre, because the pyramid above it was in the Da Vinci code, so it was cool seeing that. We then went to the infamous Eiffel Tower, and it's not overrated at all! It was beautiful. It trulyyy is the heart of Paris. Me and Caleb were so excited that we stacked up on mini Eiffel tower statues, keychains, and lighters. It was a battle going on between all the guys selling the tower. It was like an auction. They all kept lowering their prices, so we could buy from them. Caleb almost was hustled by some guys gambling in front of the tower. He saw one guy winning, and almost played because it looked so easy, but after watching for a while, he realized that they were working together on a team trying to trick tourists. Crazy right? It was also crazy, because a lady came by and kicked the box they were gambling on. We figured she was religious, or either just felt like he was giving Paris a bad name. Long story short, the tower is beautiful, but it is surrounded by beggars and peddlers. After leaving there, we stopped at a deli, and got a chicken sandwich, that was delicious! The people there were sooo nice, opposing the stereotype that all Parisians and French are evil. Caleb spilled some sauce on his new jacket, and they brought out soap and water to help him clean it. They also said he looked like 50 cent, which is always hilarious to me. They directed us to Champs Elysees, the famous street in Paris, where we headed next. We approached the Arc de Triomphe, which is also famous. As we walked down the Champs Elysee, we could see the huge ferris wheel, that we like to call "The Paris Eye". We stopped at two foreign car shops, one being Mercedez, Benz. Both had nice cars we had never seen before. We then went to the Louis Vuitton headquarters, which did nothing more than upset us. I mean it was a beautifulll store, but itjust made us want to buy stuff, and of course we couldn't. There was a line outside the store, as if we were going into the club. The inside was huge! And I think the lowest priced item was a keychain for 115 euro. We went up and down the escalators, and into the beautiful rooms, staring in awe. In one room, the unthinkable happened. We looked out the window, and it was snowing!!! It was soooo pretty! I've never seen snow before, and what a great place to see it. I pretty much ran out of the store to play in it. Everything just seemed perfect! We then headed over to the Notre Dame, a beautifullll church that was nice to visit. Caleb then took me to dinner at a traditional French restaurant in the Latin Quarters. After eating here, we came to the conclusion that French food is bomb! I had garnished steak, and he had the beef stew in wine sauce. We both had it with rice and potatoes. We also both had a crepe with cheese and ham for a starter, and for dessert I had ice cream, and he had an apple tart. It was all sooooo good. To finish our night, we headed back to the Eiffel Tower to see it lit. Too amazing for words.

The next day we went to the Versailles Palace, which of course is gorgeous. When approaching all you see is a looong Golden gate. The inside is huge, and each room is decorated with great detail. Our audio guides said each room has been done over ten times. We saw the kings chambers, and the queens bedroom. It was truly a sight to see. However, while walking through, we kept seeing these strangeee contemporary art pieces. They were colorful, big, and just looked as if they belonged in the Disney store. Our audio guides said they had only been there in the last few years to be showcased. We figured it was a money thing. What was even more funny, is that we approached one of these weird pieces, and saw that it was done by Pharrell Williams. It was a piece filled with several diamonds and stones, but still, it was very much out of place. After we left the palace, we stopped and got a barbecue chicken burger sandwich, with FRENCH fries. Again, french food is molto bene. Just before I got on my bus to the airport, we stopped at the Hotel Lafayette. It's a hotel that sits on top of the gallery Lafayette, a Parisian mall. We went to the 33rd floor of the hotel, to see what is said to be the best view of the city, and it was. It showed us just how beautiful the city really is. So yea um i love Paris! Sidenote: If you ever go to Paris, don't go in November. It was freeeezing. Not good for our LA blood, at all.

The David

The David is in The Accademia. The David actually is pretty much The Academia. The Accademia is one of the best Art schools in the world, and it has very few students. Inside of it are great sculptures done by Michelangelo, but the greatest of them all is The David. When first walking up to it, it may take your breath away. It is huge, and very detailed. Before Michelangelo sculpted this, it was just old marble sitting in the Piazza near the Duomo. Nasty, old marble, that no one wanted. Michelangelo, who was very cocky, asked to use it, and said I bet I can make something of it. It still, to this day, is the greatest masterpiece Florence ever had. And even though it is centuries old, it still represents, the ideal man, that any woman til this day would date. His body is so detailed, the feet and hands match perfectly, and the hair looks real! It took him two years to finish, and it became the Florence symbol. If you look into his eyes you can see how focused he is, because it represents David before the victory over Goliath. His slingshot is not held high, as it is in the pictures we're used to, because it is supposed to represent mind over muscle. David used his intellect to overpower Goliath, and Michelangelo conveyed this through the piece. There is nothing like it.

The Uffizzi

I've been in Florence a while now, and I haven't fully taken advantage of all the beauty here. Lately I've been visiting some of these historical places. One great place I went was the Uffizi. It's a museum that houses paintings from the greats Michelangelo, Da Vinci, and Bacilli. Mind you ALL of these artists are from Florence. It also has pictures from Raphael, and he's only from a small town right outside of Florence. Do you feel the greatness??? There I heard some of the stories about Michelangelo who was arrogant, stubborn, and greedy,but he was a genius, so no one could say anything. I learned some things about Da Vinci who was a student for six months before he collaborated with his master on a painting, and his part of the painting was better. After this, his master never painted again, this painting is also at the Uffizi. There are also a lot of Bacciali paintings, who was the first to start making paintings appear more realistic. The greatest part of the Uffizi is that it had a separate corridor that royalty such as the Medici, would walk through over the city, the ponte Vecchio, and the Arno river, to get to the Pitti Palace. This corridor has over 300 self portraits. The Uffizi is definitely one of the top ten tourist sites in Florence.

LONDON

So somehow Ive failed to talk about my trip to London. It was INCREDIBLE. Now Caleb had continuously made it seem as if it wasn't what it's cracked up to be. From what he told me it was cold and dull. Now, it was cold, but dull it was not. The first place he took me was to the Big Ben, London Eye, and Thames River. He didn't even give me a warning or anything, just took me to it. I immediately screamed! It was sooo beautiful! The sun was setting right over the river...and it was just...to much to handle. He then took me over to Buckingham Palace which was pretty, with a really pretty fountain in front of it. However, the coolest part was the soldiers walking back and forth like they used to do in the past. We also went to the Queens Garden. It was fillllled with so many flowers, and just colorful leaves all over the ground. If there's anywhere you want to be during Autumn, its here. It also had these small ponds with ducks, and black swans in it. To a city girl like me, this is a site to see. Buttt I got a lil taste of the city too. There's a street in Central London that looks just like Times Square. It's filled with all these theaters, which pretty much makes it the European Broadway. Caleb treated me to one of the shows, "We will rock you". Umm it was interesting, kind of, but it's more about the experience.d We also participated in something called Orange Wednesdays, when movies for students are like dirt cheap. We went to see Paranormal 2, and it was funny sitting in the theater with excited British kids.

By the way, I LOVE there accent. Caleb claimsss they love ours too, but I highly doubt it. They are also some of the nicest people ever! The fact that they're all mean is a myth. Although, I have met mean ones, let's not forget about my trip in.Anyways, we also went to a night club called Oceana! Oceana reminds me of Vegas clubs! It had four beautiful rooms for different genres of music! It was the first time partying with just my boyfriend, but it was fun! The last big thing we did was take a River Cruise. It was at night and it was beautifulll. It was sprinkling a little bit but we didn't even care. We were able to hear all the history of that's surrounds the river, which was pretty awesome! Like some of the ships that still sit there in the water. In war, they were used as decoy ships, and if anyone would approach, they would be shot instantly. If you want to know anymore, ask me! Overall, it was a great Fall Break! We're not even going to talk about me missing my flight back. That's another story entirelyyyy. :) wait! I almost forgot! One of the best parts about London...I was reunited with my love....Chipotle!

The Italian Night Club

So a lot of thestudents party here, but they only party at the American tourist nightclubs. I decided if I was going to party, it would be at an Italian club, with Italians. So Chelseas intercambio and his friends invited us out for a night with them, so of course we said yes. They came to pick us up at midnight on a Friday night. Italians would start partying that late.

They drove us to a different part of Florence, kind of along the outskirts. It was kind of exciting seeing the city from inside a speeding car. When we got there, we met up with some other men and women. Rolling pretty deep with the Italians. The club was free entry which was cool. It had cars parked upstairs which was different. The people, of course, party hard. We danced the night away! One of the guys, Daniele, said "the word of the night is Be stupid!" and that's just what we did.

Me, him, Chelsea, and her intercambio joined together doing the craziest dances. The wave, the robot, an airband, we did it all. It was really fun. Afterwards we went to another secret bakery. They call it their breakfast after the club. Kind of like Denny's for us, I guess. They treated us to delicious pastries, and we hung out there talking for a while. It was a nice night. Did I mention there was a man dressed as Elvis in the club??

Gusta Pizza...Again

I show Gusta so much love, because you know what, they deserve it! Gusta is the pizza place on the same street as my apartment, and we like to say it's the best pizza in Florence. The men who work there are from Naples, and Naples is known to have best pizza in Italy. Gusta also owns a coffee shop next door, and a panini shop next to that, that is sooo delicious!

Anyways, we went to Gusta to ask if we could use the restaurant to film, and they were very nice about it. They called Caleb Will Smith, and flirted with me right in front of him. Italians have no shame. They agreed to let us use the place in the morning, before they opened. Not only did they do that, once we got there, they gave us free pizzas, free beers for the actors to use, and even made me my own personal mini pizza. They don't even sell these. They got really involved in the film, laughing and reciting lines. They let us stay as long as we wanted, and pretty much made the customers move around us. No American business would ever do this! Ahh The joy of a relaxed country. At the end, they had us all sign autographs for them, and made us promise to show them the film. Ahhh I love Gusta.

Short Italian Film

The last time Caleb came, he said the city was so beautiful, that we just had to film a short film here. So we brainstormed some ideas, and I wrote a script up. I found some students that go to my school to act in it, and we dedicated a whole weekend to filming. All it did was remind me of what a beautiful city I live in. We filmed some scenes at night, and had a chase seen on the bridge. This was exciting to see, especially since Caleb asked one to jump in front of a car and he did it. He also had the main guy of our film try to jump over a street barrier. When the guy didn't make, he went down, and so did the barrier. I guess because we were loud someone decided to throw BLEACH on us! Yes Bleach! Now I know when you're being loud after hours, Italians are known to throw down water, but this was bleach. We thought it was raining at first, until we smelled it, and notice everyones clothes had changed color. It was awful. However, we filmed in some really great places, and overall it was a good experience.