Thinking about the things Iv'e done this week, almost brings a tear to my eye. I don't think anyone understands how much I love Italy. BY FAR the best week of my life. I know it sounds cheese but it was seriously a dream come true. Ive been wanting to go there for over 7 years.
To begin the dream getaway, we flew from Paris to Milan. Milan honestly blew me away. So many people had told me "there's nothing to do in Milan, its just expensive, yada yada yada". Well let me tell you from experience, they're all WRONG. Initally I thought our stay was going to be horrible because when we arrived at the central train station, a woman near by got her phone stolen right out of her hand and she was screaming and chasing the guy right by us. Thankfully, when we walked just around the corner, we saw that some bystanders jumped in and knocked the guy to the ground and called the police. The woman got her phone back! Literally 20 feet away from where the man got caught was our hostel lol. It was called the Ostelo Bello Grande and seriously i give it a 10/10 and recommend it to anyone. They provided both breakfast and dinner, had great wifi, and to top it all off, they even gave you a wireless modem to take around town with you all day so that you could have wifi wherever your'e at! ALL Included in the price of the room! We went to the Milan Cathedral which is seriously the best cathedral I've been too on this entire trip (still true to this day). It is just so beautiful and massive and the inside was astonishing too. Afterwards, we went shopping throughout the city because after all, it is considered one of the fashion capitals of the world. The city was beautiful and clean and altogether very nice. I would love to go back some day.
Our next destination, and by far the most beautiful was Venice. That city is literally paradise. I truly believe that everyone should see that city at least once before they die. Taking a gondola tour with a singing guide was just the cliché experience I wanted. In Venice is the famous San Marcos square where they have the beautiful basilica and big Clock tower. We went to the top of the clock tower and got some amazing views that pictures can do no justice to. The food in Venice was delicious. I quickly learned that I love Pasta Carbonara. I had never even heard of it before going to italy! The pizza was super lecker too. In that city is so much culture and so much history that I truly loved learning about everything it had to offer. There was a really cool Leonardo DiVince museum there with alot of his inventions which was very cool to look at. I would do anything to go back to this amazing city.
Next stop, Florence. In Florence we stayed at a nice bed and breakfast which was run by the cutest old lady. She didnt speak a lick of english so she spoke italian to us so we did our best to manage. Italian is a strange mixture of spanish and french so a lot of the times I was actually able to understand what was going on! On the second day in Florence, we took a quick little trip to Pisa which was flippin awesome. The city didnt have many tourists so it was very calm and peaceful and the warm sunshine made it perfect for us to visit. Once there, we saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa of course and enjoyed the day away from all the commotion. Then we went back to Florence and treated ourself to some good ol' Italian gelato (twice in one day).
On the last and final trip on our Italian excursion, we ended with a bang in ROME. Im currently trying to put into words how much I love this city and I don't think its possible. To start, we met up with Claire and Kanci at the Trevi Fountain and had just the grandest of time. We started by taking lots of pictures of us throwing coins into the fountain and then we went to the Pantheon!!! Ever since I watched the TV show Engineering an Empire where they talked about the amazing architectural and engineering advancements made by the Roman Empire, I have always dreamed of being able to see it with my own eyes. The Pantheon was breathtaking and what was even more incredible was thinking about just how long that monument has stood there..... After seeing that, we went to go get some gelato from this place that Claire recommended and it was so flippin good. They dipped it in chocolate sauce which the solidified into a shell over your gelato. The next day we woke up early to go to the colosseum. It was seriously like I was living in a dream. The colosseum was so fascinating and we even got a tour of the hypogeum! All together we spent 4 hours at just the colosseum alone and then we went to the roman forum which again, was totally wicked. So much history there and I loved every second of it. After another 4 hours of exploring, we left downtown and got a bite to eat. The next day we tried to go to the Domus Aurea, Emperor Nero's Palace but soon found out that you have to book your tickets online in advance. So instead, we went to the Vatican where there were literally millions of people so we couldnt go inside the basilica or the Cistine Chapel. Oh well, at least now I have a reason to go back! We ended up exploring more of the city until night fell upon us. At this point, we went on a pub crawl in Rome and had the greatest time. We met a rich girl from Bolivia named Andrea who is currently studying abroad in Florence! Our pub crawl director ended up taking us (since there was only 5 people who showed up) to a very nice, very exclusive club in Rome which had to be the hottest place to be. I still can't believe we got in. Jobe, our tour guide, even got us into a VIP section where we spent the night dancing and having loads of fun. Truly an unforgettable night. The next day I woke up early because I decided to buy a ticket to the Domus Aureus but the tour was in spanish because they were all sold out of the english ones. Honestly, no regrets whatsoever. It was everything I've dreamed of and more. The coolest part was that they had a room where you put on virtual reality goggles and got to explore the palace in real time to see what it looked like back in the time of Nero. I cannot believe how awesome it was to this day. Once the tour came to an end, I met up with the rest of the group to go see Caracalla's Bathhouse which again, was astonishing. They were so massive and so intricate in design. I wish I could have seen it in its prime.
Anyways, the week was great and seriously I wouldn't change it for the world, but now, its time to get ready for school again and go back to reality. Fortunately for me, reality abroad is best kind of reality to have. WHOOP!!
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