I got behind on my blog again…oops. Like I said before, time slips away so quickly in
Italy. And sorry this is going to be really long. Anyway, for the second travel week my mom, her friend Susan, and my friend Zoe all came to
Italy for our own “Grand Tour.” It was so much fun and the perfect time to see my mom and other familiar faces. I was so excited for my mom to come too because she had never been to
Europe and it was a fun experience to share with her. It would have been nice if my dad could have come too but next time.
We started our trip in
Venice where we spent 2 nights. The first night we all met up, Friday, we got some delicious dinner and walked around for a little while. I was in desperate need of protein and vegetables so I got a nice serving off steak and veggies which made me feel so much better! The next day we headed to St. Mark’s square. We went into San Marco’s Basilica. All of the marble was so beautiful and extravagant. We went to the top of the clock tower and could see everything! Afterwards we took a gondola ride. It was SO cool. Our gondolier was 100% Venetian and super friendly. The gondola itself was so extravagant and it was totally worth the high price. There is no way you can go to
Venice and not take a gondola ride!
After the gondola, we ate and shopped some more (we did a lot of both!). The next morning we did some more shopping and went back to St. Mark’s square where it was flooded. It was crazy to see
Venice flooded and how it affects the city. We then headed to
Rialto Bridge, the Jewish Quarter and then ended at the train station. My favorite part about
Venice was actually seeing it after learning so much about it in my classes!
We left
Venice on Sunday afternoon and headed to
Trento.
Trento is a small city located in the Italian Alps. We decided to go there for one night because my mom really wanted to see the
Alps while in
Italy. We ended up staying in this amazing Italian Villa. It was gorgeous and the people there were so nice! We really lucked out and the best part was that it was pretty inexpensive! I am pretty sure we were the only people staying there. They had a restaurant at the Villa where we ate and it was probably one of the best meals of my life. I think we ordered everything on the menu. We ate some delicious tortellini and spinach gnocchi that were to die for. For my main course, I got a steak in truffle sauce and for dessert we got some apple cobbler and lemon cello. The best part of the meal (besides the food) was the atmosphere. We were in this cozy little restaurant that was decorated so nicely and we were the only people there. We couldn’t have found a better place to stay if we tried.
The next morning, the owner took us on a tour of the villa and then took us into town to catch our train to
Florence. We got to
Florence on Monday afternoon. We had decided to stay in an apartment and it ended up being in a great location and was really nice. For dinner we went to a really good local restaurant and then headed to this bar near the Duomo to meet one of Susan’s friends. The next day we did some shopping and then went to see David. I was once again amazed my Michelangelo’s work and so was everyone else. We went to the river and walked along the gold market on the bridge. I bought a really pretty gold necklace. That night we had an amazing meal. The best part was the Italian man making the pizzas was stationed right next to us and was so nice. He sang to us and we spoke to him in a weird combination of English, Spanish and Italian…Spitalglish? After eating so much we needed to walk around so we went to this palace. It was one of the only museum type places that was open late and being there at night gave it a totally different feel.
On Wednesday we went to the Duomo. It was good but it did rain quite a bit and you couldn’t see nearly as far as I did in September. After the Duomo we got some amazing sandwiches at this little oil shop. After lunch it stopped raining and was time to start conquering the leather market. Many hours and Euros later, we came away with too many goods! I got two purses, boots, a hat, some scarves and gifts for everyone! I would say it was a successful shopping trip. That night we had even more amazing food. My mom got the best ravioli I have ever tasted. I can’t even describe it. We needed to do some more walking and then went to bed. The next day, Thursday, we left
Florence to go to
Rome. On the way to
Rome though, we made a stop in
Siena.
Siena was really pretty but kind of a difficult place to go for only a few hours. The problem was that the train station is located so far from the center. We continued onto
Rome and when we got there we walked around and…you guessed it, ate some more. The next day was Susan and Zoe’s last day. We went to the Coliseum and took a tour of the Forum. I personally thought the Forum was a lot cooler than the Coliseum. The crazy thing about
Rome is that you will be walking through the city and suddenly there will be ancient ruins. That night we went and saw the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. My favorite was the Trevi Fountain. It was gorgeous and there were so many people there that it felt so lively.
On Saturday, Susan and Zoe left really early in the morning and my mom and I went to the Vatican. We decided to take a tour because we wanted to know what everything actually was. We started in the museum and looked at all the paintings. It is crazy how extravagant everything is and was fascinating to hear how Vatican City works and how they have their own postal service and everything. It was also interesting how so much of the building materials and paintings were taken from other parts of the world like Venice. We ended in the Sistine Chapel which was so incredible. It is hard to believe one person was able to do all of that. We wanted to go to St. Peter’s Basilica but the line was super long. We talked to some guards and they told us to come back that night and there wouldn’t be a line.
We were getting kind of hungry but a terrible thing had happened. I couldn’t even look at or think about pasta without feeling ill. I had developed pasta overload from eating pasta twice a day for two and a half months. The worst part was the thought of having to eat it for another month! I begged my mom to let me find a burger so we went to an Irish pub for lunch. I got a really good American meal and my mom got an Irish breakfast which she was excited about too. We walked around a little while longer and then headed back to the Vatican to see St. Peter’s. When we got there the line was much shorter so we were relieved. It was pretty incredible and pretty cool at night. My dad had given us some things to get blessed and it was actually pretty comical watching us try and figure it all out since neither my mom nor I are Catholic. Afterwards we went to a Van Gogh exhibit near our hotel that was open late. It was funny though because all the descriptions were in Italian. It was a good way to end our night. On Sunday my mom left for the airport and I headed back to Paderno. It had been a really good week and I am really glad my mom got to come to Italy.
