Ever heard of fall break? Neither have I, but that’s what I spent the last 10 days doing. My study abroad program gave us a week off to observe Toussaint holiday, a week which many students use to travel throughout Europe. Seeing that I was already in Paris to begin with, I was essentially given a vacation within a vacation. I used Toussaint to travel to Athens, Rome and Florence, which made for an action-packed combination, despite also being an unsightly trio for my debit card.
First on the list was Athens. Considering it was a major tourist city that had recently hosted the summer Olympics, my expectations were high. But as I made my way through the city, I was beginning to feel as if the Parthenon wasn’t the only part of Athens that could be considered the ruins. For what the city lacked in infrastructure, it certainly made up for in food and entertainment. Gyros, souvlaki and all the traditional Greek fare exceeded expectations, and I sure had a great time taking advantage of the country’s debilitated economy.
After a few nights in Greece, I was off to Rome, the Eternal City. Although it was unnecessarily difficult to get from the airport to the youth hostel, it was worth the hassle. Minding my commitment to eat as much as possible, as often as possible, I had pasta, pizza and gelato at least once (usually more) every day. My personal highlight in Rome, however, wasn’t the food; I finally had a chance to make use of my minor in Latin. I’m almost certain I drove my friends to the point of insanity trying to incessantly translate everything in the Vatican and the Roman forum, but when in Rome, you do as the (ancient) Romans do.
And finally, I spent the last two days of my trip in Florence, the Tuscan Italian hub of all things art and culture. Most of my time there was spent wandering around museums and, you guessed it, eating. Though art is something I usually force myself to enjoy, seeing original work by Rembrandt, da Vinci and Michelangelo was actually an enjoyable experience. And on the topic of eating, Florence easily had the best food of the cities I visited. At the risk of drooling on my keyboard, I’ll avoid describing the flavors and tastes that graced my palate.
You’d think that spending so much time roaming some of the greatest cities in Europe would never get old, right? In all honesty, after 10 days of transient tourism, I was ready to go back home — to Paris. There’s something about the charm of Paris that makes it trump anything I’ve seen before, a charm that justifies the obscenely exorbitant price of everything in it. Such sentiment from a person of my frugality should be considered a pretty big compliment.
Editor’s note: Spelling of “compliment” corrected. Thanks to commenter Cathy for pointing out the error.
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