Allora, va bene, Allora*

And now for Cinque Terre!  So super tiny, so beautiful, so empty.  I can imagine it's bustling with tourists once the weather starts to get warm, but there were hardly any people anywhere-tourists, actual Cinque Terre inhabitants, even animals were scarce.  The trails had been closed because of rain and mudslides, but we did get to walk along "Lover's Lane" from Riomaggiore to Manarola as it was getting dark and it was amazing.  People have written love messages all over the rocks and benches and even carved them into the plants.  An amazing place....even while waiting for the train to Florence in Monterrosso the view was amazing...

*it seems like every Italian person is constantly saying "allora" or "va bene", I'm pretty sure it's possible to pretend to pretend to understand Italian by just saying Allora, Si, No, and Va Bene (or non va bene if the person looks sad/mad).  Also good is "basta" for buying food.

Mmmmhmmm

I really love that feeling of jitteriness after drinking lots of coffee, the kind of bordering-on-turrets moment.  

Genoa Genova

It's hard to pronounce Genoa (or remember which languages say "Genoa" and which say "Genova").  Nonetheless, it's a nice little harbor city with none of the hookers and sailors which the guide book said to look out for.  There may have been one hooker...or just a girl who was waiting for someone outside.  Two days in a row.

I walked around a lot, saw the harbor, ate some tasty pesto gnocchi, and saw Christopher Columbus' house, which was quite small and quite unexciting, and probably not his real childhood home.  That tiny building with the huge flags is his "home".  I guess when a guy is older than 500 years old then it becomes ok to make things up about him.  There was also a cool stripy church/cathedral/what have you.  

The pirate ship was apparently used in Roman Polanski's movie "Pirati"...excellent.

Nunchucks!

They don't mess around in the Vatican.  For some reason I thought it was hilarious to be in the one place where every Catholic wants to hang out...including boatloads of nuns, monks, priests.  There may have even been a friar.  

Took a lot of pictures, but have yet to figure out how to summarize things in a good way...I need to mail my application before the end of the week and my crazy 4 hour French lessons started today...so far I have learned how foie gras is made (and apparently how ducks/geese are at least smart enough to try and kill themselves by banging their heads against the cages than be force fed?!) and that candle is bougie in French...which is a fun word to say.

A great idea...

...or created by people who wear socks with sandals?

Gird your loins, people!

Sex Ed will be more that just "Magic Johnson was a STUD.  Take out the "U" and he got an STD."?!

Maybe I'll be able to make some cash on Watch Out Below! now.

Oh Lille.

I could use the help with this crazy Parsons application.  Can't seem to focus and write my essay...and shed a few tears last night over attempting to figure out how to finance college with negative assets.  Is it just me, or does it seem completely ridiculous that they'll only take private loans?  It's a school that originated in the US, still had a partner in the US, their main language is English, they probably have a ton of US students AGHHHHH so why can't they just subsidize some flippin' loans for me?!  

Ok.  Rant over.  It's time to focus on professing my love of Jim Henson and Simon Doonan and why I need to be further educated in art.  AND my website is kind of up and running...

www.erikafriesth.com

Woohoo!  It's really pretty all thanks to Betsy!

T-Minus 3 days until Italy..Genoa, Cinque Terre, Florence, and Rome! 

This one goes out to Lille.

The coolest cat ever!  And maybe in the top 30 largest.

Alright now it's Ouchy time!

Yaaayyy finally!  Ouchy is probably prettier in the summer though.  Fun Fact!: This is where you can catch a ferry boat to cross the lake to France.  

The Olympic Park!  Otherwise known as a collection of body statues.

The Olympic Museum itself.  Nice to look at, too expensive to actually go inside. ($15)

one of these seems slightly out of place...can you guess which one?!

and speaking out out of place... a  Thai temple in the middle of a park. 

Did you see the tiny eyeballs?

This is super cool and slightly creepy...I know I loved Barbies when I was little and oddly liked them to always be having kids like the lady who just upped it to 14 rugrats...regardless it's cool how artistic the process is and how much work goes into the tiny eyebrows and everything.  

http://jezebel.com/5148051/how-a-barbie-doll-is-made

Apparently I am hilarious even in Switzerland.

Especially when I ask for a ski lesson and then they find out how old I am.  

Ski ski ski!

A skiing adventure!  We went to Les Paccots today...I had a slightly short lesson and then down the tiny practice hill a few times...and then twice down the little kid learning hill.  Only a few falls, some yelling, lots of arm flapping, and a whole lot of sleepiness afterwards.