Kyra Over Seas

We were in Italy for a week, and I probably could've spent triple that in Florence alone.


We started Florence off with a really cool leather making demo, and learned how to tell real leather from fake. Leather is literally everywhere in Florence, so it was awesome to know what to spend your money on. Mike and I both picked up really cool rings from the jewelry section of the leather shop; mikes has three parts to it and the center ring spins, which definitely keeps him entertained. And mine is what is called a puzzle ring, so its four bands entwined to make one ring. The only problem is if you let them fall out of their hold on each other, its a fricken puzzle to get back together. It took us nearly an hour the first time I accidently dropped it!

After our demonstration we went on a walking tour of Florence and got to see all of Michaelangelo's sculptures, which are incredible. The entire tour we were starving, so a few of us asked our tour guide where to get the most authentic Italian pasta to which she directed us on our little maps to a hole in the wall restaurant down an alleyway with no other tourists. We stuck out like sore thumbs- the waiter took one look at us, said "English menu", and came back with dust-covered never been looked at menus. So basically, you know we found the right place. It did not disappoint.

As a perk of going Contiki, you get to stay in exclusive "stopovers" full of other Contiki-goers. When I heard that we were staying in a chateaux I didn't really know what to expect, and when we pulled up my jaw quite literally dropped.

There's nothing quite like waking up and realizing you're not at home, you don't have to go to work and the sun is already shining.


We've been falling asleep early and getting up early, and it feels great! The hotel were at right now has an amazing continental breakfast so we've basically sprung out of bed every morning to start our day out right. This morning we walked the seawall to central Cascais and visited their public market and shopped all the local boutiques. We found an amazing seafood restaurant (the only one that wasn't €190 per person) and had a delicious lunch before walking along the beach back to the hotel. It was a beautiful day at 21° so after all the walking we dove straight into the hotel pool for an after lunch swim which was the perfect end to our day. It may only be 6pm now but we plan on staying in our room and finishing off our brie, crackers, wine and pastries from our favorite little cafe.


Our flight to London takes off tomorrow at 9am, and it will really suck to leave portugal behind. However the thought of being in Rome next week has really got me keen on hoping in another plane! I've loved how relaxing its been here, and I know these next few weeks are going to be super jam packed so I'm so happy we had this time to unwind! As soon as we start our tour there will be so much to write about, however Im afraid we might not always have WiFi to post it! I'll probably have to write a bunch of entries, save them as drafts and post them in masses as soon as I get WiFi. We'll see how it goes!

I hope you're all having a good weekend as well.
xx

Yesterday we found out you can never really escape Raincouver. Portugal welcomed us with rain and plenty of culture shock.
We only stayed in Lisbon for one day, but it was beautiful. Plenty of local restaurants, mismatched buildings and cobblestoned streets (which by the way are super slippery when wet). The view from our hotel was lovely (pictured above) however I was still feeling jet lagged and motion sick and sadly didn't take many pictures.



I haven't had the best of luck with the transition here. The first day I had motion sickness, the second I felt ultra jet lagged and today I have a migraine! And of course Mike is totally alright other than the obligatory exhaustion after over 24 hours in airports. However, it was kind of a blessing in disguise as we decided to stay in our hotel for the first day in Cascais and relax and its been splendid. And did I mention, the weather today is beautiful?

Happy Easter everybody! I hope youve all been treated to mini eggs, turkey and plenty of family time.

Meanwhile in our household, its crunch time!

Mike and I have been running errands nonstop and our stomachs are in a constant knot of anxiety and excitement. We've both had our last shifts at work and now we just have one more family dinner and one more outing with a friend before the big flight out! We definitely can't believe it. It'll be scary to leave our picturesque city behind, but the journey were about to begin will probably be life changing. I definitely won't be able to sleep these next couple of nights! I mean, who could?

xx