EuroTrip: Monaco to Florence and Turning 28

8/2014. Florence.

I had mixed feelings about Florence. I had been there before when I was 19. I had done a trip with my college and we travelled all over Italy. That trip, Florence was my least favorite, but it was also the trip that would decide one of my college majors-- Art History.

So, I felt like I owed Florence a second chance and besides, it was my birthday. We spent much of the day traveling, but we did get to Florence at a reasonable time and we got to walk around a little. This campsite was really nice and clean. I was happy to be there and felt a lot safer there than I had when we stayed outside of Monaco.

It was a long day and with my body still on full-blown bloat mode Phil took me back to our cabin and rubbed my feet for probably a good hour after we had another crappy Contiki dinner. We eventually headed back towards the main area, got a real dinner, a couple of beers and sat outside in the Florence night air. Everyone else had gone back into the city and took part in the Contiki orchestrated karaoke night where a lot of people regretted going the following day when the hangover hit from the 2-liter drinks that the bar your TM takes you to sells you "on special." To me, this seemed like a concerning night when one girl from our tour went unaccounted for (and a guy from our tour went to look for her, no one from Contiki) while others were driven back by strange Italian men that picked them up after they drank 2 liters of alcohol in a bar.

That just seemed like a huge recipe for disaster and in many ways could have been had it gone differently.

I was glad to have stayed in that night and had a quiet birthday with my man who really is the best foot rubber, ever...no really, like EVER.

Phil on the other hand was just overjoyed to be out of France where small portions dominate. Phil couldn't wait to be in his country, Italy and immediately fell in love with Joe Pinette's take on France vs. Italy:

Overall, 28 began probably the best any other age had began up until the point. I was in Europe, with the love of my life and we had an entire trip to still go!  

EuroTrip: From the Beaujolais into Monaco

We said goodbye to the chateau and began our journey towards our final French-related stop, but the chateau would be a huge part of our trip because it's where so many of us came together as a group and started to make our friendships. These girls became my best friends and my magnet sister (we were on a mission to get a magnet from every stop):

P Party at the Chateau.

I was particularly excited about this leg of the trip because this leg also meant my birthday. I turned 28 in Monaco and spent the rest of my birthday in Florence. I was excited for Monaco because of Grace Kelly. As an American myself, it's a very romantic story that an American was picked by a prince and married into royalty even if her end was tragic. I couldn't wait, I had even packed a really great dress just for this part of the trip.

The views were beautiful driving from our camp site into town.

By Phil. (philgoestothemovies.blogspot.com)

Beaches in New Jersey do not look like that and the clear blue of the water was absolutely breath taking. Oceans in New Jersey are green and dull, but in Monaco it looked like a beautiful painting.

We walked up to the castle and Phil, Kelsey, Ellie and I all went on to look for magnets after we took our pictures.

By Phil. (philgoestothemovies.blogspot.com)

I was at this point suffering from what some travelers get: body bloat. It started in my feet and then my ankles and then my entire body blew up. It was very uncomfortable and also most unattractive, so I won't be posting pictures of myself, but here's Phil's selfie:

By Phil (philgoestothemovies.blogspot.com)

After the castle, we went back down to the casino areas which was just boring. Neither Phil nor I are gamblers so this was a bust. We walked down to the McDonald's and stood in an insane line to buy overpriced fast food. I was so let down and annoyed for having to have packed a dress that I just walked around in and then sat in McDonald's wearing as we used the WiFi.

We went back to the campsite after that as a cab ride back would have been way too much money and there was nothing to do there unless you wanted to gamble. We stayed at the campsite and hung out at the bar. We drank and laughed and then at midnight, those from the group that had come back with us, all sang me happy birthday. It was a fun night!

This was also one of the two worst camp sites of the trip so we wound up staying up really late because sleeping was scary. The bar closed and we had to go stand by the laundry rooms. Tipsy and tired, we stayed up talking and then the bright idea of what would be referred to as Mission 3AM was born. A guy on our trip brought with him a blue Angry Bird and he would take a picture of it wherever we went and wanted to get a picture with everyone on the trip. So, tipsy on my birthday we all decided it would be a great idea to steal the bird. We did and for the next couple of days we would pass the bird between us and whisper "3AM" to know that Blue was in transit. The bird was eventually given back to him and he was able to finish his mission with Blue.