hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!
Got back from Italy a few hours ago! It was a good trip..a longgg weekend because we did so much traveling..but very fun.
-Jessica, Ashley, Tory, Anazette, Rob, Andrew and I left Madrid on Wednesday..our flight was delayed 5 hours (yes...5 hours) so we didn't get to Rome until 8pm. We checked into our hostel and ate dinner at a cute Italian place...I had spinich and ricotta ravioli..mmmm..that was when I realized I would probably gain 30 pounds on this trip. It was SO good. We then went to the Pantheon, The Spanish Steps, and The Trivi Fountain. All were really pretty lit up at night..especially the Trivi Fountain. They say to throw a penny over your shoulder into the water to ensure your return to Rome. Of course we did it...The next morning, we got up early and hopped on a bus to Vatican City. LISTEN TO THISSSSS- Alright...we got on the bus at the bus station/terminal place. We knew it cost 1 euro for one ride..so we were like sweet. We got on the bus..and the driver didn't ask us for money or anything..so we just walked on by and sat down in the back. So we're riding..riding...riding..then we stop at a bus stop and 3 like, "transit patrol" men (in uniform) get on the bus and head straight for us. They started yelling (in broken English), "you no pay for ticket! fined! fined! 50 euros you owe!"..we were all just sitting there staring...We were like umm no one asked us for money...the bus driver saw us get on...what were we supposed to do??..."You buy at terminal! We take you to police station if you don't pay us fine of 50 euros!"...I (hating confrontation/getting in trouble/afraid of getting put in jail in a foreign country) was like "Here's my money! take it! don't hurt me! I'm leaving!" haaahahaha...everyone else was questioning/trying to get out of it...but they didn't budge....so we all had to pay 50 freaking euros because apparently, we were supposed to buy a bus ticket at the terminal and then validate it on this tiiiiny hidden machine once you get on the bus...cameras on the bus had caught us just walking on and not validating our ticket. How we were supposed to knowwwww that? We're just Americans! What is this "validating" mess? Anyway...we paid 50 euros for a 20 minute bus ride to Vatican City that should have cost 1 euro. There were a ton of people there because it was All Saints day..a huge holiday in Catholic countries. We went inside St. Peter's Basillica and it was amazzzing...I know every cathedral I go to is "amazzzzing" but this one really was. We happened to be in there when mass was starting to we got to go to mass in the Vaticannnn...sooo cool. It was all in Italian...and longgg (an hour and 45 minutes)..but it was totally worth it. When we walked outside the cathedral, everyone was standing around and there was a man speaking on a loudspeaker...we look up at this window and its THE POPE. It was crazy...I guess he was speaking because of the holiday...but it was awesome. He said a little bit of something in English ("May God bless you on this special day") but everything else was in Italian. We were all in awe that we were standing there listening to the Pope speak...how many times does that haaaaappen? We had planned on seeing the Sistine Chapel next but it was clossssed because of the holiday...major bummer. Guess I'll just have to go back again someday:) We had lunch at a restaurant near St. Peter's...we were all still a little on edge from the bus ride, so we decided to eat cheap for lunch haha...Ashley and I split an eggplant dish..it was deliciousss. After lunch we took a bus (we bought a ticket before we got on..har har) to the Colosseum. It was just as I had studied...huuuuge and olddddd. We didnt get to go inside, but the outside was awesome. It's so weird to think how long it has been around and all the things that have gone on inside of it. After that we took a little "siesta" at the hostel and then met up with a friend of Jessica's who lives in Rome. Flavio (yes...his name is Flavio) grew up in the States but is full Italian..he moved to Rome for college and lives there currently. He was great...he took us to this place that had 32 different types of spaghetti. We had some wiiiine and I had artichoke, cheese and tomatoe spaghetti. AMAZING. We had gelado for dessert (icecream...Italy is known for it) and then he took us out to some of his favorite bars. It was a fun night and I'm glad we had someone to show us around!
-We got up early on Friday and caught our 7:45am train to Florence. It was about a 2hr ride through the Italian countryside...it was beautiful. We checked in our hostel in Florence and met up with another one of Jessica's friends...she's got friends all over! Martin is a friend of hers from school who is studying in Florence for the year. There were tons of people there (I'm guessing because of the holiday still)....we stood in line for the Ufizzi Museum for an hour before deciding it wasn't worth it...we went to the Duomo (a cathedral...a smaller version of the Duomo in Milan..which you'll hear about soon) but couldn't go in because of the long line. That's the bad thing about going to so many places in such little time..you have to choose what you really want to do wisely. We saw the "Gates of Paradise" which was pretty cool. We then went to see "The David" sculpture by Michaelangelo. It was crazzzzyy...way bigger than I expected. It's so wild to think that he was carved out of one solid block of marble. How is that possible?! It was awesome to see. That afternoon we shopped at the street market. A lot a good stuff...I got a wallet and "weekender" travel bag made of real italian leather...Ashley got a great leather jacket too...the stuff there was amazinggg...it was probably best that we were only there for one day or I could have done some serious damage. That night, we ate at this outdoor restaurant...lasagna. incredible. Moving on...we were all pretty tired from getting up so early so we called it an early night. Florence was by far my favorite city that we visited :)
-We caught our 8:30am train to Milan the next morning and got to Milan at 11ish. Martin and his friend Erin decided to come with us so that was fun...they were great. We checked in our hostel and had pizza near the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele..it's a huge shopping arcade with shops like Prada, Gucci, Louis Vuitton...I'm telling you, everyone in Milan was decked out...clothes, jewelry, makeup..the whole deal...just walking around the streets! A lottt of beautiful Italian men :) After lunch we went to the REAL Duomo. It's the largest gothic cathedral in the WORLD. It was awesome..so biiiig! It was so intricate, too. The inside is filled with paintings and beautiful stained glass windows. We climbed to the top (156 steps..ehhh) for an incredible view of the city. We walked around the edges of the roof and took lots of pictures. We got some gelado (I'm pretty sure we had it every day)...and then Ashley and I ate at...brace yourself...Burger King. I know..who eats at Burger King in Milan, Italy?!!? That whopper just looked so good. It was worth it. That night, we just walked around the city...National Geographic was doing this photo exhibit...pictures all set up down the street..so that was cool. We had coffee at a little cafe and then a few of us went to a bar for a little bit. It was a fun night! When we got back to the hostel, we met the girl who was in our room...(it was a 6 bed room and there were only 5 of us..so they threw a random in there)...anyway, her name was Kate and she was from NY. She had just graduated from college and had spend the past 2 months backpacking through Europe by herself...isn't that wiiiiiild? Just her...and a backpack...for two months. I could never do it...but more power to her. It's fun meeting different people from all walks of life.
-We got back to Madrid late this afternoon...I'm glad to be back! It was a good but tiring trip...pictures should be up soon. I'm going to Amsterdam next weekend to see Jani (my good friend from DePaul)...I'm so exciiiiiiiited. Have a good week :)