Parts of Paris

Paris this time around felt so different from when i was there in 2011. for one thing, i had my citymap app, so there was no getting lost to be had. also, i had time to just chill, which was kind of hard for me this trip. i can't remember day-for-day what was done, so i thought i could just write about some more vivid memories...

my first night i met a kid from australia who was hitting the town with some italian dude who lived at the hostel. before i ever set eyes on the italian i heard about him from the older ladies at the front desk, and i already had a really bad impression. he seemed okay when i met him, but as soon as we left the hostel for our night out i was like oh, this guy is the worst, actually! if you need any idea of what this dude was like, when people asked his name, he replied, "God". despite this, and having no other plans, i stayed out with them. we hit a small bar with a dj and four chess boards. since i dont know how to play, i sat and drank beer and watched the aussie and italian. after that the italian announced he was hungry, so we hit a cool little restaurant nearby. i was up for a little bite, but that isn't what i got! the italian ordered in total: 2 bottles of wine, a cheese plate, a meat plate, 3 delicious starters, an amazing duck entrée to share, yummy desert to share, and 2 digestifs each! and, of course, we had tonnes of bread. and of course, i tried everything! i was worried to look at the bill, but i was so satisfied and full and drunk, i decided not to care. i gave a few bills, as did the australian kid, and the italian footed the rest. i was a little sad that i had spent so much on my first night in paris, but looking back, it was THE GREATEST MEAL OF MY LIFE. so worth it! i definitely waddled out of there, to another pub, where i was too full of food and drink to have anything else. the italian was tried to smooze the ladies, and even drunk i could tell they were not having it. we were off back home!

the next day was rainy and sad, but the aussie and a cool dude from montreal and i hit up d'orsay museum. i never went there the last time i was in paris. we had to wait in line for a while, but it was worth the wait! the building itself is beautiful, and even though it was one of my last of many museums this trip, i enjoyed myself. i think we grabbed lunch afterwards and walked around. can't remember! this trip i also finally walked champs d'elysee and saw the 15,000 euro watches and such. pretty amazing! we also hit up arc du triomphe, which is pretty stunning.

the next day my friend morag was heading to paris from another french town i can't remember, due to arrive around midday, so i spend the morning in a cafe with a book and hit up a few local shops. i felt very Parisian! it was nice. finally my friend touched down at the hostel and we headed out on a walk, destined for Pere Lachaise cemetary, where a tonne of famous and also loads of non-famous people, are buried. along the way we grabbed some wine and crepes and had a little siesta next to the siene. quite nice and a good catch up :) i guess we spent too much time wandering in and out of shops, cause when we finally made it to the cemetary, it was dark out and the doors were locked. we drank the last swallows of our beers and got the metro home. that night we headed out to Pigalle (the moulin rouge district) and ended up at the same nightclub brenna and i went to the last time i was there! we spent way too much money on a bottle of wine and danced a bit, but the highlight was getting a delicious cheeseburger on the way home. good timez,

one day morag and the montrealer went to the catacombs, which is where the parisians buried a crap tonne of bodies underground back in the day. it was quite a long walk to get to the area where all the bones are stored, and i was kinda freaked. i was afraid that someone was going to jump out and scare us, a la the underground tour in edinburgh. but no, parisians are way too cool for such tomfoolery. the bones are stacked in an orderly fashion, and some stacks are adorned with a design made of human skulls, for example, a heart, or a cross. it was pretty weird, but cool. we grabbed some lunch from a grocery store and ate in front of a church. then we headed to Pere Lachaise cemetary and spend a few hours there, looking for jim morrision, edith piaf and oscar wilde. usually, the more notable graves were the ones where there were crowds. this cemetary is beautiful and HUGE, holy shit. i was effing tired.

morag and i headed to the modern art gallery to start off the following day. i'd been there before, but i wanted to check out the new exhibits going on. this turned in to morag and i asking "is this art?" about basically anything and everything, and taking pictures of really random stuff...it was a hilarious day.

afterwards we wandered around and found a few vintage shops where i picked up a few dresses and an amazing red cape, which i wore off and on for the rest of the day. i didn't have any money left after that. morag wanted to revisit a famous fancy restaurant and bakery near the tuileries to have some pricey hot chocolate, which she shared with me. we did not feel fancy, really, in our street clothes. morag wanted to go to shakespeare and company, which i probably wouldn't have thought to do it on my own. i got a tote and a book (stamped). it was really cool! afterwards we stopped off at the eiffel tour for a bit, then we headed back in the area of our hostel. we ended up on the hill of sacre coeur with beer and chips. when we were sufficiently annoyed with some dude asking to add us on facebook, we stopped at the shop to buy some yummy stuff to make sandwiches, including fresh baguettes from the corner bakery. ooh la la! i miss that :( we met a guy from the states at our hostel and went out with him back to pigalle, with hopes of finding a better bar to go to. we wanted to dance! we ended up going to james hetfeeld's pub, which i thought was maybe owned by the guy from metallica up until i googled it a minute ago. different spellings! and dayum, that james hetfield's gotten himself into some trouble over the years! we had a tonne of fun dancing and drinking, and even experienced some dude helping himself to morag's beer, via a drinking straw he dropped into her bottle. she was so shocked, she didn't do a thing, until she came to her senses and verbally bitch-slapped him. we had a great time, nonetheless!

i honestly can't remember what we did the next day, but morag was off in the early evening, so we spent a lot of time at a cafe near the train station, eating chocolate mousse and drinking cafe au lait. it was such a decadent, lazy afternoon, and i loved every moment.

on one of my last days when i was alone again, i went to musee de l'orangerie that i'd missed last time i was in paris. it was short and sweet and i had a nice little time. i finally saw the waterlilies! afterwards i walked to musee du petit palais and had lunch, then i took in an exhibit by a swedish artist Carol Larsson. i loved his work! he did a lot of portraits of notable individuals, but even more work of his daily life with his family. it was really beautiful. it was a pretty lazy day for me -- i walked around and took some pictures and read.

i had to wake very early to catch a metro then a bus to the airport, so i could catch a discount plane ride to dublin, where my trip originated. i didn't feel great walking alone in the dark to the metro at 5:30am, but i'm still alive so hurrah. i caught my plane at 9:30 am and it was early, so i had to wait like 5 hours to catch my flight from dublin to chicago. while i was waiting i had a giant english breakfast (my first large breakfast in a really long time), and i had to fight for a spot. everywhere was taken, so i sat down in a reserved section that actually belonged to a separate food stand that sold asian noodles. the lady who worked there tried to get me to move, but i insisted i just needed to eat, and i was so tired and hungry she must have seen the rage in my eyes, and she let me be. as soon as another spot opened, i moved. i sat and had coffee and wrote a bunch of blog posts until it was time to fly to chicago. when i finally got home, i'd been up for probably over a day, and i was wrecked. heather picked me up and took me home, where i had a really long shower and finally, privacy! it felt so nice.


***
this post was quite out of order...the memories of the paris days are inseparable and kind of run together in a mess of fun. i had a great time my last week (even though i was missing home) and it was amazing to spend time with and get to know morag better. unfortunately for me, she's not coming back to canada for a while yet. whenever i think back on my trip, i feel like it was a dream. i can't believe all the adventures i had in 11 weeks. there are so many places i need to revisit, and so many other new places to explore. i know i'll be back in europe in a few years, and i can't wait. thanks for reading, everybody!

Seville, Spain

Seville was such a beautiful city! I took the train down from valencia with Anaïs  (which cost a hell of a lot more than i wanted to spend...ouch) after las fallas was through. She was going to meet some family who live there, so i spent a lot of time by myself and met up with her at night. Her relatives had booked her a hotel room for her stay, so i went along for free, and snuck breakfast for two days :) it was an intense start upon arriving because as soon as we got out of the taxi at the hotel (we were too lazy to walk or take the metro) and shut the doors, the taxi drove off and anaïs said she had left her phone on the seat. thankfully the hotel staff was really helpful and called the taxi company, and the phone was returned later that night. hallellujah! they said because it was an iphone there was a slim chance of seeing it again. so lucky.

after we got ourselves in order and Anais went to meet up with her family i went for a wander, and not 10 minutes in, I was at an ATM and i heard, "Rachael?" I turned around and it was a girl we had been hanging out with the whole time in Valencia. She said she recognized my butt and my tote bag. hah! she and her cousin were there for one more night, so we made plans to meet up later on. she suggested i check out the nearby gardens, so i went on a stroll around the area and ended seeing some cool fountains. i'm pretty sure she meant i should check out the jardins del palacio (which i did another day). These are gardens you enter through Reales Alcazares de Sevilla, the royal palace, which used to be a moorish fort. the palace was covered in beautiful mosaic work and obviously has an intense moorish design influence, as you can tell from the shape of the doorway arches. from here you enter the gardens, which are unreal! there is a maze to wander through and beautiful foliage throughout. crazy! we met up with the girls later that night and headed to a beer festival where we tried some sort of tequila flavoured beer called Desperado (more liiiime!) and got to scratch a ticket to win some beer merch. the girls got girls t's that were covered in holes (on purpose), and i got a nifty string backpack. garage sale pile, here it comes! we hit a tapas restaurant afterwards for some late-nite grub.

another day i went to Plaza de Espana, which is a building that was built for the 1929 american exposition. now, it houses government offices. the detailed decoration throughout represents spain through and through, down to mosaic fountains and other decor denoting different regions of spain. absolutely stunning! on the last day in the citty i went on a walking tour that ended here, and i randomly joined a protest fighting for abortion rights. crazy enough, you can rent a boat in this plaza and row around in a man-made moat!

anais was with her family for most of the daytime, but she'd arrive back around 9 or 10, then we would go out. one night we got dudded up (as much as possible when most of your clothes are sorta dirty and you are sick of everything) and headed up to a tapas bar, which was actually started by her relative? the guys behind the bar were intense -- there was a real system going. they'd write people's bills on the counter with chalk. we kept the tapas coming, ditto the sangria, and had a grand old time! outside there were men dressed as women for a bachelor party, and a group of men in traditional capes with decoration, playing beautiful tunes and singing. quite the experience! afterwards anais and i wandered to another place that was suggested to her, which turned out to be a music venue with music being played in a smaller front room, and a flamenco performance going on in a giant hall with benches and tables and its own bar! this place was amazing, cause it felt like we were watching a real flamenco show. we didn't have to pay 30 euros to see an "authentic flamenco experience". they also had cheap pitchers of sangria. ole! the best night :)

one afternoon i rented a bike and just WENT. i ended up at things i may not have if i hadn't had wheels...plaza mayor, the amazing structure i posted on facebook that amazed everyone! it is very striking! what a beautiful place. i wish i had gone up to the top to see the city! next time ;) i also rode over one of the bridges to another area of the city, full of people and shops and restaurants. i can't remember the name of the area, but at one time before there was a connecting bridge, this area was considered its own town, and it still kind of is! i was told the older generations who are crossing still say they are going to the next town :) i really enjoyed the dedicated green bike lanes throughout the city! winnipeg needs to work on this like crazy.

a must see in seville is the cathedral, which is the largest Gothic cathedral and third largest church in the world. that it was! i didn't go inside, but it was very impressive from the outside! unfortunately, the plaza outside is very touristy and you may be harassed by gypsys to take a piece of some sort of greenery for money, or perhaps by some drivers to take a ride in their horse-drawn carriage. no worries! on my tour i was told that to get up the bell tower,Giralda, back in the day people would ride donkeys, but now you just walk along the interior stairs or ramp that follows the walls. i lol'd. according to my map, this bell tower was built in 1184, so man, do i feel young.

seville was AMAZING. so beautiful. the other day i was looking at a blog of a couple travelling spain, and i was getting pangs in my heart! i was so fortunate to have met anais in madrid and travelled with her up to this point. i'm so happy that i got to travel to 4 different cities in spain, but there is so much to see! i'm destined to go back one day soon, for sure.

valencia

Valencia. was. insane. 

Las fallas was in full force, so there were parties, firecrackers and fireworks all day and night! We would see little babies lighting them off, it was cray. There were parades and music through the streets, and giant models of cartoony characters constructed by different artists, which are all burned down on the last night of the festival.  We ate paella and gazpacho and doner kebabs (x2 haha) and rented bikes to ride to the beach, and had popsicles for breakfast. At night we would grab €1 bottles of wine from across the street and share them on the way to the fireworks show and subsequent street dance party. I dont think ive ever heard avicii or the 'i love it' song more in one week.This city is so cool...las fallas made sure we saw barely any of it. 

On our last day, anaïs and i went to the Science centre, which is housed in a very futuristic-looking area. We got there an hour before close so we didnt have much time, but the best part was definitely the incubators with the baby chicks! Ah! 

I had so much fun in valencia, and i want to go back asap to see everything.  I guess i just have to redo spain sometime :) the people ive met in the last few weeks have been incredible, i cant even say.

Lisbon ;)

The people of porto are quite sure their town outranks Lisbon on all fronts, but i obviously still wanted to check it out for myself! I met a nice dude named eduardo in the hostel in porto (one of my faves, btw) who suggested i stay at his place in lisbon where he is currently studying law. We also took the train together cause it made the most sense.

Although eduardo is from brazil, i loved his enthusiam for showing me around his adopted town. We went to a regular spot of his for dinner and stuffed our faces, and we did a short tour of his area of chiado. He graciously gave up his own bed for me to sleep in, much to my opposition, and slept on the couch for like 4 days. Whatta prince!

The next day before school we went up the Elevador de Santa Justa which is right near his place. This is a crazy old elevator with an amazing 360 degree view of the city. After this we split up and i took a small bus up to the alfama (old town) of Lisbon. I visited the castle saint jorge, which in my opinion has the beeest view of the city. Its breathtaking. The castle grounds are rather sprawling. I visted the camera obscura that was installed in one of the towers (same idea as the one in edinburgh) and it was so cool! It really felt like i was watching a scene dumbledore would conjure up in harry potter, which is funny, cause there seem to be many similarities between edinburgh and portugal relating to jk rowling and harry potter fame. Bah! :) i went for lunch at 28 cafe which is a cafe in an old tram car. Bitchen kitchen. I then tried to visit a few churches, but they were closed because it was monday. I wandered up and down the hilly streets and finally wandered back down to the city centre, exhausted.

The next day is the day of the Alfama flea market, Feira da Ladra, so i headed back up by tram! The tram is really fun :) i tried my best to haggle but i still paid €10/dress. This is where i got my yellow scarf youve seen as of late. I went back to a few churches then headed back to apartment to change and put down some bags. Later on i walked up to the district of Barrio alto where there are tonnes of shops, cafes and restaurants...very few vintage shops to be found, but a beautiful and interesting area! For dinner, a few of eduardos friends came over and we headed to a joint run solely by the owner--she is the cook and server, and you either deal with the alower service or you dont. I had a dish with traditional codfish, potato and egg, and finished it off with delicious chocolate mousse. The owner didnt speak any english but she seemed pretty funny and made going there quite an experience!

The next day i headed to an impressive oceanarium, where i saw one of my fave animals: otters! Theyre so damn cute, holy crap. I walked around the dock and pavillion then took the metro back to city centre and walked around the praça do comércio and arca du rua augusta. This archway is amazing! Its really gigantic and stunning to see in 5-6pm light. 

The say after i headed to Belem via tram 15, which is a nearby district of lisbon. I checked out a few gigantic and impressive monuments and rhe monastery, botanical gardens (where i made friends with a duck), the coach museum (v v old, like the one cinderella used but way older and darker and real). I also picked up dessert at pastis de belem, which are supposed to be the best in lisbon...and they were! I couldnt stop eating them. Before taking the tram back i stumbled upon an intense community mural, of which i took a million pictures. Bah! I went back to the arch to chill for a while, until i became too annoyed by the guys asking if i wanted to buy drugs. Went home after that.

Eduardo and his friends had decided last minute to spend the weekend at the algarve, so i bought a ticket to madrid on a sleeper train and was off that night. Eduardo was so great for letting me stay! It was decided even before i knew his name. This is the sweet thing about travelling, especially alone...anything can happen, and people are amazing. Lisbon was so different from porto, but i enjoyed them both. I did really miss all the people i met at my hostel in porto, though! I definitely need to go back asap :)

Madrid, a silent killer

Madrid! Aw lawd. I had so much fun. I arrived in the morning, so i was able to have a shower, get a few groceries, and join the 11:30am walking tour. The tour left a bit to be desired. Although the guide reminded me of jen from It crowd, i felt like she basically said, okay heres this church, i know it looks pretty plain and not that interesting...and here's why. I know madrid missed the enlightenment but man, not really rooting for this town. Haha. A few of us went for lunch after where we got a 1st and 2nd course, dessert and coffee for €10, which turned out to be a common deal in spain (and for even less!) it was good. We them headed to jardines del buen retiro, which is a sprawling, beautiful park. We had a nice siesta looking over a topiary garden where i chatted to a calgarian dude about winnipeg, then we beaded to the nearby museo del prado. This museum was v louvre-ish, and the portraits were very impressive. That night, we went out with a bunch of different hostels for tapas, and it was amaaazing. We went to this busy restaurant where we stood at tables and they brought plate after plate of tapas and sangria and we just went to town. The waiters were carrying plates upon plates upon plates so seriously and quickly. It definitely felt like we were eating after bar food, but before we went to the bar. It was so good! I loved the atmosphere. After dinner we went on a bar crawl, and while the bars were pretty shitty (aka the music) i had fun. I really hate bar crawls that you have to pay for, because it rarely ends up being worth it. I did one in budapest that just had a tip at the end, which was a good scene. Ah well!

I met a dude from california who i hung out with the next day. We went to caixa forum, a hanging garden and gallery, where they had an exhibit called genesis of black and white photos of untouched areas of the earth. I was so inspired in this place! The photos were amazing, and so was the modern building. Such a good time. Afterwards we went for coffee, ate some food, ten i went on a wander by myself and ended up at Centro de arte reina sofia, the modern art museum of madrid. I got in for free with my student card ;) They have cool glass elevators and a lot of sweet exhibits, but the only one that blew me away was one by ed templeton, who i found out later is a skater and artist and works for Vice. The exhibit was about his adolescence and family life, and it brought me to tears, which is a first for me in any gallery, i think. After that i didnt need to see anything else, and i left back to the hostel.

Sunday morning was El Rasto fleamarket. I picked up several really cute things including my beatles shirt and a few doodads. I ate aome tapas and wandered in some antique shops then headed back to the hostel. That night i joined a group going to a flamenco show, which was really cool! The dancer had on quite a modern outfit with flamenco flair, and she was gorgeous. I had no idea how much the dancer directs the singing and guitar, and what an unrehearsed, collaborative effort it is. Really cool. 

When i got home i booked a few flights and a hostel for down the road, and decided to go to valencia with my new friend anaïs for las fallas festival. We planned to take the train the next night so we would have another day to check out madrid. Then i went to bed.

The next morning i woke up and struck up a conversation with my bunkmate, a british fellow named sam. I told him our plans, and it turns out he had the same ones, but he was driving his car there. He asked if we wanted to join in, and we totally did. We had been planning on havjng another day in madrid to see more sights, but we didnt really wanna pass up a ride so...just gonna have to go back to madrid? ;) We went and got some snacks for the road and went to the garage to find a bright blue mercedes. Anaïs and i were like, what are our lives? Are we princesses? It was amazing. We all needed to pee halfway there so we stopped in a small town of mangililia( sp?) that was so dead (probs siesta time), and found only bushes to pee in. By a castle. After that we were dead set for valencia. Arriba!

Porto

The next day i headed to rome by train to catch my flight to porto. Im pretty sure i took the wrong train there because i arrived in an hour rather than 3 hours, but i didnt get caught, and i was happy to have the extra time to get my thangs in order. Lucky accident! I was on my plane to porto in no time :)

I ended up at one of the best hostels of my whole trip, the spot hostel. Everyone who worked there was so so friendly, and i actually hung out with the staff quite a bit. The pub crawl was a no-go that night, so i headed out on the town with a bunch of dudes once their shifts were over. Id hit porto when carnival was on, which just means its party time and there are a tonne of people wearing costumes like it was halloween. Some of the bars were pretty fun, really good music etc. nice!

The next day i went sightseeing alone and stumbled upon a charity shop, where i picked up a few things including the tan print dress ive been wearing quite a bit. Next i went to try a "Francesinha" sandwich (translates to French lady), which is a triple decker sandwich with three kinds of meat, covered in cheese and a spicy sauce. I heard it was the most popular place to try them, but later found out its not the tastiest place. After lunch i wandered to Centro Português de Fotografia (Portuguese Photography Museum) which was alright, but id just missed an additional exhibit by 2 days. TG it was free entry. Then it was Torre dos Clerigos (Clerics' Tower), with 240-steps. They were in the middle of a live bell performance, starting with 'you are my sunshine' (one of my fave jams!) pretty good view of the city, too! Afterwards i checked out praca de lisboa, which is a cute outdoor shopping area with some fun shops and cafes. Keeping with the randomness of this trip, i spotted a guy named george who does walking tours and pub crawls (who had been part of the group the night before) and joined the tour fir the afternoon. George is a great tourguide, very chill, and the tour itself was really interesting. We ended up at a small funky mall where we had a bite to eat before i headed back to the hostel.

The next day was beautiful! I set out on foot and checked out the school of music building, then headed to Serralves (museum of contemporary art). The museum wasnt that expansive, but the gardens behind the museum were crazy big! So big there were cows there! Really beautiful and more impressive than the museum. So the museum was actually pretty far away, and when i was there i started having a stomach ache. I started walking back and began to feel pretty shitty. I thought maybe i was really hungry so i stopped at a restaurant and all i could have was a bit of soup and sprite. Somehow i trudged back to the hostel in the heat and went straight to bed. After a few hours i went to spew, then slept a bit longer. Not the most fun thing ever, surprisingly! It actually took a few days to feel normal again...i have no idea what happened.

One of the guys from the hostel invited me out for the next few days to go sightseeing around porto, cause im a princess, i guess? And he had a fricken car, so no more walking 4 me! Some things we saw/did included:

-cheese castle

-crystal palace

-the beach

-a tea house

-port wine tasting

-amazing views!

Note: Theres a pretty cool bookshop with an interesting spiral staircase called Livraria Lello, which is said to have inspired the bookstore in the Harry Potter movie. Had a very 'shakespeare and co' feel to it. 

On my last day in porto i went on a morning walking tour (weird order of things, i know), which secured my love for porto. The traditions are so interesting and fun, and the city is absolutely beautiful. Some of the university students choose to wear traditional robes and uniforms and seeing them makes you feel like youre in an HP movie actually. They say jk rowling took inspiration from porto for her books when she lived here. I need to go back to porto. Its so cool.

 

"Naaaaapoliiiiiii!!!"

Naples started off rather slow, due to the time of my arrival and the rainy weather. I arrived at my hostel, owned and operated by a man named Giovanni, who welcomed me with a heaping bowl of pumpkin pasta and water. After eating, he gave me an hour-long run-down of the to-dos and to-not-dos of Napoli and the hostel. By this time it was pretty late, so i hung out at the hostel and befriended a new guest brendon. We gathered a few others and headed out for our first napoli pizza, in the city that pizza was born! We both enjoyed this pizza the most out of all others (there were many!) but we agreed it may have been because it was our firsts...i could tell the first night that napoli is a small, intense little town.

The next day brendon and i, along with a few hostel friends, took the metro to pompeii. We were there for about 5 hours, and it was raining for about 4 of them. The last hour was a steady pour-down! Pompeii itself is giant, and i felt lost for the most part. A majority of the streets look the same. The grounds were lacking any creepy ash-covered human corpses (save for 3 that i believe were replicas), but it was still pretty cool. It would have been more enjoyable on a sunny day, but my company made the trip more fun! After pompeii we headed to a pizza place called L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele, from the movie Eat Pray Love, which was an experience in itself. the pizzeria runs a tight ship: they only serve marinaira and margehrita pizza with or without extra cheese. only 3 types of beverage, and no dessert. The walls are filled with old family pictures and shots of the staff with julia roberts and her signature. To be honest, the pizza was pretty oily/moist and was not my fave of the trip, but i can attest that i definitely would have needed larger jeans after eating, if i wore jeans.

The next day we took the Naples underground tour which shows you the old fallout shelter, aqueduct and an underground portion of a very old theatre that had been hidden up until a few years ago. It was pretty cool and our guide was  entertaining. It was also rainy that day, and after walking around a bit more and having lunch we went back to the hostel to dry off and relax. That night i went for a walk with brendon and found a few vintage shops and some wine. We decided to go out on the town after much prodding from b and ended up staying out pretty late and checking out a bunch of different bars. Italians really know how to party...lets just say that!

My last day was one of my favourites of napoli. B and i set out with a hilarious dude from our hostel named Christian, and we saw so many sights! So many churches, the royal palace (amazingggg), the castle, the pier, mt vesuvius from across the river, and a lot of modern napoli town. We kept repeating the goings-on from the night before and i was cracking up the whole time. It was mostly our other hostel saying italian phrases in his super un-italian accent. Memories! That night a gang of us went for one last pizza and finished with beers. Bittersweet timez.

The hostel was cool and i was fortunate to meet some interesting people. The owner was pretty intense and was very interested in what we were doing (annoyingly so at times) but he really wanted us to get everything out of napoli. I also was not down with him smoking in the hostel... It was pretty gross. All in all it was a relaxed close-knit environment and  i had an amazing time in the city.