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home sweet home . . .

WE'RE BACK! ahhhh... so nice to be home. the funny thing is that i DID NOT wanna go on the trip. but after, i didn't wanna leave! haha... it's not that i didn't wanna go home. i mean, i missed everything back at home, but i loved everything in europe. so much fun.... SO MUCH FUN. and the weather was so perfect, we came at the right time... RIGHT after the heatwave. ahhh... nice. =) so let me explain what exactly we did, it was a 10 day tour that you go on with the same people.. just going around europe on a tour bus till you get to the next city where your hotel is. the people we met were soooo nice.
ok, so here's my european dream... (that was the name of the tour)

Thursday - August 21, 2003

Right now we're in Philly!!! It's about 6pm here.. and we're on the plane about to leave for Rome. It took us 5 hours to get to Philadelphia from LA, then we waited for 3 and a half hours for the next flight. We ate pizza even though I wanted a Philly cheesesteak.. but i wanted the REAL ones, not the gross airport version. haha. Ok time to go! oh yeah.. Devon and Nathan are having a great time!
........... Watched *Two Weeks Notice*, *Chicago* and *Friends* on the plane.................

Friday - August 22, 2003 - Rome

It's 11:11pm right now and were in the hotel room. We're staying at Hotel Villa Pamphili. We arrived here at Rome at about 8:40am. At about 9:30, we got on the shuttle bus to the hotel. Once we got there, we checked in and knocked ouuuuut. Claire and I have our own room and my mom and dad had one. But that's how all the rooms are. When we woke up, we were thirsty, so we drank stuff from the mini-bar. Our drinks were 4 euros each! Which is around 4 bucks at home too. And all i got was a tiny coke.. and Claire got an orange soda type thing. Then we fell asleep again until 4:30ish cause we had to go to the welcome meeting thing. After that, I woke up to go online on their computer.. but I coudn't change the language to english. haha. So then we ate at a restaurant in the hotel. Don't know the name.. then we were all reaaaally sleepy again. So we went back to sleep. Around 7pm, we took a shuttle bus downtown. Went around and saw a church, went inside, and then a mass was starting so we stayed. It was short, only like 30 minutes. And we couldn't really understand what they were saying. BUt anyway, after that.. we got ice cream at Gelateria Millenium. YUMMY =) Walked around and looked at stores. This one purse store had really cute purses and they were cheap too... but i didn't feel like buying anything. miracle! haha.. and they had huge sparkly pretty rings that we wanted. the *blingbling* rings.. hahaha. Left that store with no *blingbling* rings.. =/ but we kept going around and taking pictures. Then we got pizzas at Pizza Li. The lady that worked there was chinese and she spoke fluent Italian! Oh yeah, people were selling fans... you know, those fans that fold up.. and they were selling them for 12 dollars!!! HELL NO! haha.. but anyway, we had 20 minutes before the shuttle was gonna come, so my mom went pee at the subway station. you put money in the machine and then the big door to the stall slides open. Then it slides to close when you get in.. kinda scary, but cool! except for the paying part.. haha. After that, went back to the hotel. Watched tv and ate our leftovers from earlier. Took a shower and went downstairs. Tried to use the phone, but it wasn't working. Was gonna go online, but some kid was using it.So now i'm back in the room and it's 11:31pm. i should get to sleep cause i have to wake up at 6:30amd tomorrow... BYE! oh yeah, the bears slept in the whole day today.. =)

Saturday - August 23, 2003 - Rome

Right now it's 11:30pm, and i'm gonna take a shower......
Ok, so today.. woke up at 6:30am and went downstairs to eat, but the restaurant wasn't open yet.. so we went back up cause my mom was being filipino and she wasn't ready yet. So waited for her and went back to eat. Left the hotel at 7:30am and took the tour bus to Vatican city. walked to the Musei Vaticani and took a tour around. Then went inside the Sistine Chapel. After, we went inside the Colosseum! You know.. like in the movie *Gladiator* hehe. Drove to the Aurelian walls, and saw the Caracalla baths, Circus Maximus, the Appian Way, and the pyramid of Gaius Sextus. I fell asleep on the way home, but had to wake up to go around. Once we got to the hotel at like 3:30, Claire and I KNOCKED OUT!!! Woke up at around 10:30pm and packed everything back in my suitcase for the next day and ate. Watched tv, took a shower, then we tried to go to sleep cause it was already 12. Couldn't fall asleep, so we put boring music on the tv but we kept laughing cause we still couldn't fall asleep and it was already 1am.

Sunday - August 24, 2003 - Rome to Venice

HAPPY . ANNIVERSARY . MOM . and . DAD ! ! ! ! ! !

Woke up at 3:30am and couldn't go back to sleep till around 5 something and woke up at 6:20am. Got dressed ate breakfast. Went back up, got our stuff and got on the bus. Left at 8am for Venice!
.... Now it's 9:25am.. 3 1/2 more hours....
......We stopped at around 10:30 to go to the bathroom and bought HUGE gatorades. Stopped again at around 1 for lunch. i got a capri sandwich.. YUMMY!!! went pee again, and went around the store and left at 2. Got to Venice at around 4:30. At 5, we drove to the pier. Took water taxis and walked around St. Marks Square. Then we rode on gondolas!!!!! Devon and Nathan rode too! The gondolier guy let me drive it!!!! yeaaaah. and Claire drove it after me. After that, we went around the shops, then left to go back to the hotel for dinner at 8pm. They gave us soooo much food. Then went to our room and went online. Did my blog and went on friendster. Took a shower and went to sleep at 12.


ok...... i'll continue this later.. cause i gotta get ready for school. BYEBYEBYEBYEBYEBYEBYEBYE!!!