pushmepullyou design blog

The ferry from Split to Ancona took about 10 hours, but we slept the time away in our little beds way below deck. Eoin and I even managed to squeeze in a Baywatch episode or two (this disc has been exhausted on our trip - weàre at a count of at least 2 views of each episode since our departure) before bed, so we had visions of Mitch and Hobie running through our heads all night.
Once we arrived in Ancona, we had a really easy time of transferring from ferry to train to metro all the way to Romeàs Termini station.

The first stop after leaving our bags off at our hostel was the Colosseum. It was impressive, but I thought thereàd be more Christians there for some reason…

We walked in the humid afternoon all the way to the Pantheon. What a spectacular building! This place is amazing. I couldnàt believe how huge it was from the outside and we hadnàt even gotten to the famous dome on the inside yet. The oculus (opening) in the roof of the dome must let rain in, but nobody seems too worried since the floor is made of many-colored marble. At one point a feather made its way through the oculus and Eoin and I watched it drift all the way down until it landed on my nose!

On our walk around the city we were struck by how many ancient ruins there are just lying around. It must be kind of weird to choose a meeting spot like the Colosseum or Pantheon, but I guess Romans get used to it and must take a lot of the history for granted as Iàm sure I would too.

I may have this wrong, but the most amazing part of all of this is that Rome was built in a day, right?

Day 3 in Croatia: we took a ferry to the island of Brac and relaxed the day away. The first stop was at a little market
where we got some lunch and ate outside on the shady lawn of the square. I didn’t want to leave that area; it was
perfect just to stay there and lie down in the breezy shade. We eventually moved on to the beach which was surrounded
by pine trees - an odd mix where we’re from, but totally part of the landscape in Croatia. The “beach” was a
ledge with slippery stones that led to a deep drop-off. It was pretty difficult to navigate the stony part and both
of us got cut up a bit, but once we made it to the deeper part, just drifting in the sea was really great! We dried off
under the shade of the pines and tried another beach area out. This one had a pebbly strand that led into a seaweedy sea. I get grossed out by a slippery feeling between my toes, so that wasnàt the greatest experience. After drying off the 2nd time we got back on the ferry and reached Split in time to get some dinner and get on board our other ferry, this one bound for Ancona, Italy…

After spending 2 days in Dubrovnik, we got into Split, Croatia by bus from Dubrovnik at around noon. We were no sooner off the bus than we got offers left and right from people hoping to rent us their extra rooms, and one guy was successful! After
off-loading our bags we got right to it and went exploring around the city. The heat was really oppressive and we were pretty anxious to hop into the sea as soon as we had the opportunity. We swam around for a bit and got out to watch the people stroll by. That was when we saw HIM! Eoin spotted what he called “the dweeb” walking slowly up and down the beach and stopping really awkwardly to gawk at women sunbathing through his thick glasses. So gross!!
We followed him from a distance to see what he would do next. After a few minutes he had attracted the attention
of another group of people also. We hung back and watched as he stared and made each girl or woman totally uncomfortable.
It got really bad at one point, so some lifeguards were alerted that there was a creep on the loose. Oh man! Eoin and I were having a great time; this guy made our day!

We arrived in Dubrovnik, Croatia on the 7th of July and were immediately hit by a very heavy heat the minute we stepped
off the plane. Thank goodness there’s a beautiful sea breeze from the Adriatic! We exchanged some Euros for Kuna, the local currency and were on our way. A bus took us into Old Town, Dubrovnik’s medieval walled city center via a pretty dramatic mountainside view of the beautiful coast.
Things were looking great except for the fact that we had to lug our backpacks around with us for the whole day,
which was pretty difficult; however we found a great way to cool off and just watch the world go by at Onofrio’s fountain, a central reservoir from which fountains pour out of stone heads
- really the perfect way to get a cool drink after being beaten down by the hot sun. After a pretty long day we were ready to get off our aching feet and into a nice cool bed, so we made our way to the hostel I had booked. After a lot of confusion, we finally discovered that help, and relief from our heavy packs, had been a phonecall away the whole day!
Our host picked us up by car and drove us to our cute little hostel apartment.

Swimming in the Adriatic is pretty different from what we’re used to on the East Coast. There’s basically
no real “beach” to speak of unless you’d consider a shore of pebbles a nice substitute for sand, and many
“beaches” don’t even have that. For our first dip we climbed down a rocky beachfront to the tumultuous waves waiting to swirl us around. It was a little scary since we weren’t yet used to the
boisterous Adriatic sea which is full of large waves, crashing surf, and steep dropoffs. We definitely couldn’t touch, much less even see, the bottom of the sea where we were, but it wasn’t scary since we felt here somehow more bouyant. I wasn’t afraid of sinking at all; it felt impossible.

We walked around the city wall after our swim. The wall was built in the middle ages and surrounds Dubrovnik town still today. It’s a massive structure which has turrets and lookout points all around it. Eoin and I found a nice little lookout nook to chill out in for a while and then got back to the business of touring the wall. I got totally burnt from all that walking in the midday sun!

Swim #2 brought us to a pebbly beach which felt kind of sore beneath our feet. Once we got in the cool water
we felt refreshed and clean again; all that sweat from the long walk around the wall just came right off. What a great way to end the day!

After a lot of fumbling online, we finally decided that our most cost effective decision was going to be to skip London and go directly to Dublin via Ryanair (cheapo airline here in Europe). We stopped by the Arc de Triomphe on our way to Beauvais Airport’s bus system, so that was a nice farewell to Paris. When we arrived in the dinky little Beauvais airport, we knew that things might be a little rough overnight there. We had planned on staying all night at the airport since our flight was in the morning and as you know, we’re not too picky about sleeping arrangements. We got a rude awakening when we learned at 11 or so that the airport actually CLOSES completely and that we’d have to sleep outside! So, we and some other wretches camped out in the cold French night. Luckily Eoin had his sleeping bag with him this time; we snuggled up and I actually slept pretty well!

Upon our arrival, we met up with our Mum. It was so nice to see her! We needed some major TLC after our crappy day of traveling and night outside, and Mum was willing to treat us to lunch and Starbucks. After a while in Dublin we headed down to Carlow by train to see Grandpa and spent a great evening catching up.

One of our best experiences so far was our time in Chartres hosted by Ayo, our new couch-surfing
friend. I had wanted to visit Chartres Cathedral ever since studying it in Art History class. It’s a beautiful Gothic style Cathedral that has some of the most impressive and oldest spires, carvings, and stained glass, which the cathedral is particularly famous for. The blue found in the glass is actually called “Chartes blue” because as far as I know it’s not found anywhere else.

Ayo met us in the afternoon and set us up in his home. From there we wandered around the town on the lazy Sunday that it was and took a look at life in Chartres. We ate some Kebabs at a local shop and had chocolat viennois (hot choco with whipped cream on top) and macaroons while watching people walk by.

Then came the tour of the Cathedral I was amazed at how beautiful Chartres Cathedral really is; it’s so cool to see and totally worth the trip! The cathedral was apparently built starting in the 12th century and finished in the 16th century. The two spires reflect this since they’re in really different styles.

After the Cathedral we went out with Ayo and his friends to watch the Euro cup final - Spain vs. Germany. It was fun, but I really liked talking with the ex-pats we met more.

We took some time out to see the famous Louvre Museum in Paris on day 2. It was really great and we managed to take notes on every single piece of artwork. JUST KIDDING!! We saw a few of the most famous works, but even that took a long time.

Eoin and I discovered a new love - French Crepes! The ones we like are smothered in Nutella (hazelnut choco spread) and folded up into a very edible triangle. Also delicious: Chocolat Chaud (fancy hot choco) which is more like a melted chocolate bar than the watered down crap that we’re used to. It’s strange that with all the fatty, delicious things here the people aren’t as fat as Americans. I think they probably have secret Gyms that we don’t know about…

We flew via Air India out of Newark airport, so we got off to a pretty crappy start, however, when we arrived in Paris and saw all the charming cafes and were surrounded by that certain je ne sais quoi that the city has, I got pretty excited to be here! Plus, having a sweet treat or two didn’t hurt…
As the day wore on and on (it gets dark here at around 11:30PM!!) and we wandered around further and further, Eoin suggested that we get a bottle of wine and chill out open-container-style under the lit up Eiffel Tower. We did just that and enjoyed ourselves among the crowds of sexy young ladies and gents who were doing the same. We stayed out pretty late and by the time we got to our Metro station it had closed!! We stayed outside the city, so the only way home would have been via very expen$ive taxi, so we decided to do it Grosch style and sleep in some bushes until the Metro opened again at 5:30. Boy, what a night!

Check out West Elm’s sale section for some really lovely summer melamine and other cuties!