Hello there! So, I finally made it back from my 10 day fall break adventure through Italia! The trip was a bit exhausting (due to all of the training, flying, and hostel switching), but absolutely worth it. Experiencing the people, food, and landscaping was incredible. Cathryn and I started off in Rome, trained 4 ½ hours to Florence, then to (the oh, so beautiful) Cinque Terre, and finally to our last destination; Pisa. All of the cities were quite different and had their own little styles and charm. Although Cathryn and I don’t know a lick of Italian, we made it through with hand gestures, translators (mostly Melissa while in Rome), and a lot of pointing (and smiling!). I tried my best to cut down my photos into a few collages so you can get a small glimpse of where I spent the past 10 days…
WARNING: these pictures do not even BEGIN to grasp the beauty that is apparent within these cities.
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| Roma |
Every time you turned your head in Rome, there were some type of ruins surrounding you. It was definitely unlike any other city I have seen (…and I say Paris has a lot of history). Luckily, we stayed with Melissa (my friend from DePaul) and she acted as our translator & full-on tour guide. This was an easier transition than just being thrown to the lions as soon as we got there. On our last day, Cathryn and I spent the day ALL OVER the city. We went from the Roman Forum to the Coliseum to St. Peters Square and everywhere in between. Thankfully we had our Rick Steeve's tour guide book on hand to help us out while our former tour guide, Melissa, was in class. Even though Europe isn't TOO big on celebrating Halloween...our little American souls couldn't help but come up with a last minute costume (a cat was the easiest way to go) and head out in the city for a celebration.
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| Florence |
Florence was a nice change of pace. Even though it is just as popular as Rome (especially to study abroad students), it was much easier to navigate. We got around everywhere by foot, which I personally think is the best way to travel (you never miss a site!). Our hostel was a 5 minute walk to the biggest open air market filled with small gifts and a LOT of Italian leather (extremely tempting). I couldn't help but purchase a few small things to tuck away until Christmas! The river was gorgeous and we had enough gelato to last us the ENTIRE trip (complete accident). I got to meet up witch Chelsea Coppola (a family friend) the evening before I left- it's always nice to see a familiar face.
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| Cinque Terre |
This was (hands down) my favorite place we went to in Italy. This stunning place is made up of five small villages linked together by the coast and hiking trails. Even though we were only there for two nights...and half of the cities were closed (due to major floods and landslides the week prior)- we still had a great time. By the end of our stay, we created friendships with the locals and the only two tourist families traveling in the towns (there seem to be a total of 25 people there…and we met all of them). The warning I posted above (about the photographs not doing justice) was directed towards THESE photographs. I can honestly say this was one of the most astonishing places I have ever been and I would recommend it to anyone (and everyone). Even though all of the trails were closed the second day we were there and we got stuck in one of the cities for 4 extra hours (the train was delayed due to extreme weather conditions)...we made the best of it and had a GREAT time in Cinque Terre.
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| Pisa |
If you can't tell by looking at the photos, there is not much to do in Pisa besides take touristy pictures in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa (which is EXACTLY what we did). We took photos holding the tower up, pushing it over, leaning WITH the tower, and I even have a few photos of tourists TAKING touristy photos (which I personally thought was hilarious). I was told that there was not much to do there besides the tower by a few friends in advance, so luckily- we only stayed there for one night and flew out of the Pisa airport the next morning. It was a very relaxing way to end our trip though Italy.
ALL IN ALL our trip was absolutely wonderful. I'm sure when I get home I will have multiple stories and tons photographs for you to look though, but for now...this will have to do! Love and miss you all.
xox, mer.
PS. If you're still keeping up with my travels, I really appreciate it! It means the world to me.
:)
