Rome, Florence, and Pisa (and lots of pictures!)

Hey all, still Evan here...

ROME DAY ONE

So, we fly from Paris to Rome next. This flight was AWFUL, we got to the airport and immediately joined a really long line, only to be cut by about 10 people who were then pointing at us, laughing, and speaking Italian. Lauren and Mom were NOT pleased, so they tried to cut them and regain our spots in line while Dad, Joe, Shawn, and I stayed back and watched the really awkward interactions for about a half hour. Then the airport made an announcement that we didn't understand (it was in French or Italian.. we don't really know which) but luckily Dad asked a guy in line and he said they were calling everyone en route to Rome to go to the front of the line. Ha! Karma got us back in the front of the line. So we then stood around FOREVER for spots on a flight with no assigned seats (terrible idea.. lots of pushing and hurrying for good spots on the plane was involved..) but eventaully, we got on and flew to Rome!

Once we got to Rome, we found our driver, a nice old Italian man named Franchesco who spoke no English but managed to become our favorite person on the trip by pulling tricks on us, giving us all our Italian names (Joseppi, Maria, Laurenza, Shawnee, Joseppi, and Evante) and giving us a free tour of the city (he is the one with us in the picture above!).

After that, we got to our hotel and realized how nice our rooms were! After that, the day was quickly ending so we figured we should go knock some tourist attractions out. First up was the Spanish steps. I won't lie, at first I thought it was going to be really lame since they were just steps with nothing cool about them but once we got to the top and the sun started setting above the Vatican, I realized they were pretty cool steps after all.

Next up (I'm telling you, this trip was NON-STOP.. just wait until Rome day 2!)was the Trevi Fountain. We all really liked that as it was bright and beautiful.

After, we went for our first dinner in Roma! It was delicious and our waiter was really charasmatic (our favorite comment was his response to whether he would make seafood linguine on a Monday even though the menu said it was only available Tuesday and Thursday: "for you, I do anything"). Long story short, dinner was amazing.

Afterwards, we headed back to our rooms and once there, Mom, Dad, Joe, and I walked around to try to find a gelato stand that wasn't closed. We eventually stumbled upon a closed resturant who gave us 2 lemon sorbets and 2 chocolate gelatos in glass containers and told us to leave... this isn't really an important piece of information but c'mon.. who gives dessert in glass and then tells the people to leave? It just seems like a waste of glass to me... Then it was bed time.

ROME DAY TWO

Maybe the busiest day of the trip, I'll try to keep it shorter than Day One.

We woke up and had the complimentary breakfast at the hotel, which was nice and outside in the garden. After that, we went to the Vatican where we walked through the museum, looked at the Sistine Chapel, and then went out to St. Peter's Square. The Sistine Chapel was (obviously) amazing, I really can't even imagine how difficult that must have been to paint! St. Peter's square was also really cool just because of how must history it holds. It was all set up for Easter, so the chairs were everywhere!

After that, we went to the Pantheon. Long story short, it's the most perfect dome ever made to the point where we don't even have the technology to make it now in 2010. Somehow, they figured it out and made it a perfect half-sphere... crazy! (Thanks for the history lesson, Joe!) After that, we went to the Colosseum and the ancient ruins of Rome. That stuff was all really cool because it's all so famous and so old. Insane to think how long they used those buildings and how well-built they must have been to still be around today! After all that walking, we were all EXHAUSTED and Shawn was actually sick. Still, we had to eat. When in Rome...

This was my favorite meal... but you probably don't care. We went to a resturant called Rendevouz and had the world's best lasagne, the world's best tiramisu, and ice-cream filled chocolate/stawberry/vanilla-covered desserts.

After that, we went back to the rooms.

FLORENCE

We rented a car (actually.. more like a bus, please see the picture!) and Dad drove us (safely! despite the fact that Italian drivers are the CRAZIEST in the world.. and people think Chicago is bad!)to Florence where we spent one night and 2 days. First night there, we saw the Ponte Vecchio and just walked around. There we saw another amazing sunset over the Ponte Vecchio, thus making it the fifth-straight amazing sunset we came across on sheer luck (the first 4: Eiffel Tower, Mount Mart, Spanish Steps, and the Colosseum). We slept, we woke up, and we went by the Duomo (which was closed because it was so close to Easter). Then we saw the mock David before going to a store called David 2, a leather shop with the most AMAZING leather jackets. The prices were outrageous, but that didn't stop us from trying the jackets on!

After that, we walked around some more and shopped a LOT before bidding our farewell to Florence.

PISA

We then drove to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower. We didn't stay for over 2 hours in Pisa as we only went to see the tower, but I think it was worthwhile for nothing other than the ridiculous pictures we took there, I attached one as an example.

Sorry if my posts are long and boring, we just all decided I should write out all the things we want to remember. I only have one more post left on our visit to Europe, then it's back to Joe's much more concise and readable posts! Next up is my favorite stop on the trip, the Cinque Terre!

Until Next Time- Ciao and God Bless,
Evan