Italy - the land of pizza, pasta, and Limoncello?

First of all, I had an absolutely amazing time. I'm still in disbelief of all the beautiful and wonderful things I was able to see in just 1 week. I will start off by trying to give a condensed summary of Italy (with pictures!) and then probably in another post I will get to Ibiza. The 2 themes of this trip were not having a plan and the phrase "well, you would think...". Because we thought we had a plan, but it turns out we didn't have a plan for anything and just went with the flow, which turned out for the best and most things that we thought would make sense, did not at all. For example, you would think that it being mid-October in Rome, that the tourist season would be over and you would think that you wouldn't have to wait 2 hours in line to see the David at Accademia in Florence. But there was a ridiculous amount of tourists and we did have to wait in line for 2 hours, with no ticket. Unprepared, but so worth it!

The Colosseum

After landing in Rome on Friday, we got into the city and got settled in. Straight away we went and saw the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. The Colosseum was pretty incredible, but I enjoyed the Roman Forum better because it was essentially the Colosseum multiplied by 100. There were so many archaeological ruins that were so well preserved, it was amazing!  It was also raining on/off that day and at one point it even poured. After wandering around all day, we happened to stumble upon the Trevi Fountain at night. Besides the absurd amount of tourists there, it was gorgeous! Way prettier at night than during the day. I went and made a wish and threw my coin in! Needless to say, I slept so well that night.

Just arriving in Rome..it just started to pour!

Outside view of the Colosseum

The Roman Forum

Rome's equivalent to the White House

After making my wish!

Trevi Fountain...so beautiful!

Inside Vatican Museum

Saturday consisted mainly of visiting the Vatican City - a tour of the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peters Basilica. Wow. This place is almost indescribable - it is so ornate and filled with priceless pieces of art, sculptures, and architecture. This was one of my favorite places to visit and the money we spent on a private tour to skip the lines and see all 3 things was well worth it! After the Vatican City we wandered around Rome and would literally stumble upon gorgeous churches that usually had small amounts of tourists and were just as incredible as the St. Peters Basilica and other things we had seen. It is truly amazing to see these incredible architectures that were built such a long time ago, before computers, and have them be right smack in the middle of a bustling city. I also bought some beautiful rosaries from an adorable old Italian woman in a church whom we had a great conversation of Italian/Spanish/English (thanks to Michelle's greater knowledge of Spanish) and she ended up stuffing our bags of rosaries with free postcards. I found that Italian people are usually very friendly and warm and we made friends with people all over Italy. That night, we went to this cozy Italian restaurant away from the touristy locations and had a delicious meal. We noticed an Italian family next to us dipping biscotti like cookies into this yellow liquid in a champagne glass. After asking them, we found out its a lemon liqueur called Limoncello that is the strongest alcohol I have ever tasted! Even the tiniest of sips was too much for Michelle and I and we definitely saw them down 2 glasses each of the stuff in addition to their wine and other alcohol. Even though they only spoke Italian and we only spoke English, we still had a great time talking with them.

In a gorgeous hallway in the Vatican filled with tapestries

View from the top of the Spanish Steps

We had bought 2 train tickets on Saturday to Florence and Naples, because they were very cheap and we thought it would be fun to see a couple of other Italian cities. Originally we planned to go to Naples on Sunday and Florence on Monday. But luckily we checked and saw that the David statue (in Accademia in Florence) was closed on Mondays, so at the last minute we switched the train rides around. Both Sunday and Monday we got up around 5 AM to be on the train by 6 AM...I know, we got up earlier on our vacation than we did when we're in school! But I am so glad that we did, because Florence was so beautiful. It definitely had a smaller, more intimate feel than Rome. Everywhere we went, there was winding, narrow streets with cobblestones and beautiful squares with markets and vendors. Never have I seen more stores solely dedicated to leather, shoes, and leather shoes! We stood in line to see the David (Michelangelo's famous masterpiece), which was pretty cool to see. Apparently, same as in the Sistine Chapel, we weren't allowed to take pictures. But I was determined to get at least a picture of myself in it, so we managed to get in a couple of pictures. And we had a tasty Italian lunch (lasagna and bruschetta) sitting besides the Duomo (the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore) while I sipped my first glass of red wine. It was so good, much better than white wine!

I have to climb this?

Then on Monday, we took our early train again to Naples (NapoliSorrento that made me so thankful that I did it. After making our way back to Naples, I could not bear to leave Naples without having a delicious pizza, which is apparently what Naples is known for. Also, on the train ride back, we met a Canadian guy our age who told us that Naples can be kind of a sketchy place, so I'm really glad that we chose to climb Mt. Vesuvius instead of looking around the historic part of town.

View into Mount Vesuvius...it was huge!

At the top of the crater - so windy!

My climbing outfit and a spectacular view of Naples and Sorrento

My favorite angel at Castel Sant'Angelo

I have more pictures coming since at the end of our tour at Vatican City, my camera battery died! But Michelle took a ton of pictures so those will come soon. I know I have used the word beautiful and amazing so many times, but those are the only words I can use to describe my travels in Italy.