ITALY

In the Vatican

Vatican City

Italian beer!

My beautiful mother!

The grounds of our fancy Roman hotel!

Gourmet breakfast

High-speed train to Naples

Pizza in Naples

Spaccanapoli Street in Naples

Trevi Fountain

Piazza Venizia

Pantheon

My mother in Pienza

TUSCANY

Montalcino

Chocolate art in Florence

Cathedral in Florence

Ponte Vecchio

Cathedral in Orvieto

Orte

My mom and the donkey that tried to eat me!

GOATS!

Roman Forum

Colesseum 

Inside the Colosseum

I know it has been too long since I have written about my adventures… I apologize!!!!!!! Back in the day (meaning March 29-April 4), I went to Italy with my parents.  I took a flight from the Granada airport (smallest airport I have ever been in! I met all 12 employees!!!!!) to Madrid, and then to Rome.  I arrived late on a Tuesday evening.  First things first, I got on a train in to the city, and well, long story short, I got a FINE for buying the wrong ticket, which I didn't know because it was in Italian and I was confused and the person in line next to me told me the wrong thing! Grrrrrrrrr…. But anyway, when I arrived in Rome center, I found my hostel (about 5 minutes from the train station), and then immediately went to the hostel bar to have a drink.  After I told the people at the bar about my first experience in Rome, they all bought me drinks, since they didn't want me to have bad connotations! Well, I didn't.  The next morning I waited FOREVER at the train station for my parents, but when they arrived we went to our hotel…. Which was quite a surprise.  Due to my dad's diligent hotel points, we got to stay in one of the fanciest hotels in Rome for practically free!!! It was so beautiful and had an amazing view of Rome.  We had some snacks at the free happy hour corner in our hotel before heading out to Vatican City.  We got persuaded in to going on a tour of it, and some of the facts were interesting even though I didn't like our tour guide.  It was so beautiful! There were so many paintings, and the Sistine Chapel was breathtaking.  Absolutely breathtaking.  We went and had some beers nearby and then went to a recommended restaurant and had, what else, but pasta (spinach risotto, lobster pasta, and mushroom, cream, & meat pasta.).  All was very yummy.  After dinner, I had wonderful gelato before we went to the Spanish steps, which weren't as cool as we wanted them to be (I hear that you have to be there late at night for it to be cool) and then we back to the hotel because we were all very tired.  The next day we had a fantastic buffet breakfast (it had everything!) and then went to Termini station to go to Naples for the day. Wow that was confusing! We saw something written next to our train time, and I asked a policeman what it meant and they said it was postponed.  Well, HE LIED.  What it really meant was that it was canceled. WHAT? How do you just cancel an entire train a few minutes before it was supposed to leave? Lame.  Anyway, we took the next train, which was a high speed train so we got there in an hour! It was really cool!  Upon arriving in the Naples station, I saw immediately what people meant by it was shady.  There were creepers everywhere and people trying to scam you.  We got out of there and went to find the pizza place recommended in Eat, Pray, Love.  We found it and got what Elizabeth Gilbert recommended (the author), which was double mozzarella.  Oh My GOSH, it was soooo yummy so we had to get another one.  It was a really tiny place, and weeeellllll worth it.  We then went to the National Archaeology Museum, which was all right.  We went to the famous street that splits the old and modern parts of Naples.  It was pretty touristy but I really enjoyed it.  I thought it was interesting.  We decided we didn't have enough time to go to Pompeii so we got back on the train to Rome.  We went to the famous Trevi fountain.  It was so pretty, but sooo crowded!  I threw my coin into the fountain to ensure my return to Rome one day (yay!).  We went to the Pantheon, but on our way stumbled upon Piazza Venizia, which was grand and had a view of the Colosseum.  Very exciting.  The Pantheon was cool because it was so well in tact for being so old!  We had dinner at a cute restaurant with some more homemade pasta, meat, berry pie, and wine! We went and enjoyed the hotel happy hour drinks until we crashed.  The next day after another glorious breakfast we rented a car and left for our tour through Tuscany.  Luckily we planned to do this on this day because the entirety of Italy was having a transportation strike.  I LOVE Tuscany.  The first place we drove by was called Montefioscone, and I decided I have to live there one day.  It was by a really pretty lake and looked fun.  Maybe one summer….  The first place we stopped though was Pienza, which was my favorite.  It was a little village that had one main road running through it.  Like all of the little villages in the Tuscany area, it was on top of a hill with a view of the surrounding area.  We ate at a little restaurant and had the local specialty of a type of sheep cheese.  We had it on a baguette with a little fresh truffle.  It was very tasty.  We each had some local wine and homemade pasta.  The whole village was very peaceful and picturesque .  The next place we went to was Montalcino, which was pretty, but the streets were tiny and confusing.  We got lost in there for a while, and I was sure we were going to wreck the car somehow -- we barely fit through the streets!  The next place was Siena.  It was very large and more modern than some of the other towns.  I didn't like it that much but we did see the unique plaza they are famous for called Il Campo which is where they hold their famous horse race every year.  It was getting late so we went to our last pueblo, San Gimignano.  It is famous for all of its towers.  Unfortunately it was dark when we arrived and the pueblo had pretty much shut down, but it was still nice to walk around in the deafening quiet.  We bought some white wine that they are famous for and then headed on to Florence, where our hotel was.  We were right along the river by the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge.  The next morning we got up early and walked around Florence.  We first went to the Cathedral with the large dome that was striped black and white.  We went to the see the leather factory, but it was the weekend so they weren't currently working like we had hoped.  We then went to the Uffizi Museum that we had reservations for.  It was recommended to spend 3 hours up to an entire day there, but my parents and I being the museum types did it all in an hour haha.  Nonetheless, we saw works from De Vinchi, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Raphael, & Rembrant.  I really enjoyed Botticelli's Birth of Venus.  I really enjoyed the whole museum.  We got some sandwiches and pizza for lunch before heading out on the road down towards Rome.  We stopped in a town called Orvieto.  We went inside the cathedral which was absolutely beautiful.  One of my favorite I have ever been in.  It had a lot of colorful murals.  The town was really cute and we walked around it for a while before heading to our farmhouse outside of Orte, Italy.  It was the most darling bed and breakfast ever!  We had a view over the countryside and a nice little apartment room.  They lost the key to our regular room, so they upgraded us to the apartment.  We went for a drive in Orte which was really tiny and upon these high cliffs.  It was so adorable.  Back at the farmhouse we had some drinks looking over the countryside and saw the sunset.  We decided to eat dinner there (all of which was locally grown or made and organic).  Oh dear, best meal ever!  We had an Italian appetizer sampler, a Bruchetta sampler, a saffron pasta with ham, some other pasta, and local wine made on the property!  It was ammmaaazzziiinnngggg! After a wondrous nights sleep, we went to go walk the land before breakfast to see the animals.  First stop the donkeys, a mother and child.  I was all hanging with the baby donkey petting him, and all of the sudden he started eating my shirt that my mom had just given me the night before.  I was so shocked!!!!! How many people can say that a donkey tried to eat the clothes off your back before breakfast on a farm outside of Orte, Italy. Hahahaha.  He eventually let go and we went to go see the goats.  They stared us down for a while before they started fighting and showing off.  The little baby goat was so precious!  We had our breakfast after hanging with the animals and then went to Rome.  We went to the Roman Forum first, which was all right, but pennies compared to a lot of the ruins I have seen in Greece.  We went to see the Circo Massimo, which is where chariot races used to be held, but it was basically an empty pit.  Disappointing.  We then went to the Coliseum.  Before we went in, we sat on a hill and ate some bread and some local cheese we had bought in Orvieto.  Our little hill overlooked the Arc of Constantine and the Coliseum.  Inside the Coliseum was really cool.  It was hard to believe that it was once a place of lions and gladiators! We went to the church of San Pietro in Vincoli that has one of Michalangelo's sculptures there Moses.  You are supposed to be able to see a face in Moses' beard, but I couldn't see it.  After that it was time to leave Rome and to go to Rome Fiumicino, which was the city where the airport was.  It was such a fun vacation!!!!!!!!! I hope I get to return to Italy one day!