Amo l'Italia

So for my spring break, as most of you know, I went to Italy with my mommy. I had the best week ever, thanks to the best mom ever, and can’t believe that it is already over.

In the taxi on the way to my hotel in Rome, the first thing my 40-year-old taxi driver asked me was “do you have a boyfriend because you look very good”. And from that moment on, I knew I was going to like Italy. Then, I had dinner (pasta with cheesey meaty goodness and a gelato) and knew I was going to love Italy. I was right. Although I am sure that I could tell you every single glorious detail of our trip, I will try my best to highlight the main points!

Our first morning, we went to explore ancient Roman ruins, which was a surreal experience. People I had read about in history classes and in the Bible had literally been standing in the same spots that I was—how cool is that?! After that, we went to the Colloseum and learned about all the weird (gross) Roman events that took place inside. After eating a delicious pizza, we went to a palace/museum (I can’t remember the name- shame on me, but it was cool!) then the Trevi Fountian, and, being the tourist that I am, I threw in a euro! I hope that means I’ll be back to Rome. The next day, we went to the Vatican. In case you are not aware, it is absolutely huge. We were in the museum for hours. The artwork was incredible; we went into a room full of Etruscan artifacts and learned all about the Etruscans, a civilization that I knew relatively nothing about. Another highlight was seeing the frescoes by Raphael. By the time we made it to the Sistine Chapel I was exhausted and hungry, which kind of took away some of the awesomeness. But guys, I was in the Sistine Chapel. How cool?! After that, we found the Spanish steps, and climbed them!

Tuesday bright and early, we headed off to Florence. Although I loved seeing the sights of Rome, I fell in love with Florence. It was beautiful and much more peaceful, with everything in walking distance. When we got there, it was raining, but that didn’t stop us from waiting outside for almost an hour to climb the 400+ steps to the top of the Duomo. And climb them we did. I think the view was worth the stairs and the rain, look how pretty! 

I think my favorite day, if I had to pick one, would have been Wednesday. We decided to take a day trip to San Gimignano, Siena, Monteriggioni and Chianti. San Gimignano is a walled in medieval town, with beautiful views of the countryside. The town was tiny with passages leading all over, and I felt like I was in a movie or a fairytale. The highlight of Siena was the Cathedral, one of the best examples of gothic architecture. The fortress of Monteriggioni was our next stop. The fortress is home to less than 50 people, and you could see from one end of the “town” to the other. I think I could happily live there and just spend the day looking at the view. Our day ended at a winery in Chianti, where we watched the sunset from the patio. There are very few times in my life where I have felt as happy as I did then. Looking out over Tuscany, it made me realize how beautiful and precious life is. We are often so preoccupied by getting to the next step, to see the next thing, that we forget to stop and appreciate how blessed we really are.

Thursday, it was back to the museums for us. We went to the Uffizi, also immense. I could probably spend three days there and still not see everything. It was around this time that my maturity level began to decrease, and after four days of seeing naked roman statues, I just had to take note of the impressive behind on this one. Mom found me ridiculous, but because she loves me so much, overlooked that I was acting like a 13 year-old-girl, and let me giggle for a minute. 

After the Uffizi, we went on an intense mission to find presents for people and boots for me. We got a little lost, but getting lost in Florence beats getting lost in most places!            

Friday before catching the train back to Rome, we went into the Accedemia de Belle Arti to see the beautiful David. He was beautiful. After one last trip by the Duomo, one last gelato (chocolate and peanut butter) and one last trip along the Arno, we said goodbye to Florence.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a trip without a little travel drama. After checking into the Holiday Inn in Rome (by far the worst of our otherwise quaint little hotels) mom went to check into her flights leaving Saturday. She could not check into one of her flights, and I am sorry to say that the drama that followed was not pretty. In the end, everything was fine, but poor mommy lost her luggage coming home. I have decided that although the travel gods don’t find favor with us, all the other gods have been treating us pretty well!

Saying goodbye to Italy was hard, and saying goodbye to mommy was even harder. The sights that I saw were beautiful but the time with my mom was priceless. Wow, that was cheesy even for me, but it’s true. Anyway, I could write for hours about Italy, but I think that give all you lovely readers an idea of Italy! I hope you all had a great Easter and had some chocolate bunny for me!