Just got back from an amazing Spring Break with my Mom, Aunt Nicole, and Uncle Bob in Italy - It was a great time and was just nice to spend some time bonding with my mom and family again. I figured I'll just give a quick run down of each day just so I don't write forever ;) For the most part I think these events are on the right days...but they're already starting to blur together...
Friday March 22 - Flew into Rome and met up with my family in the airport baggage claim area. Mom cried and helped me get my obnoxiously colored bags :) We ended up taking a cab to our hotel and explored the city just walking around for the afternoon. Our hotel was pretty nice, although it was only 1 room it was divided very well and was comfortable for all of us to share.
Saturday March 23 - Visited the Colosseum, the Forum, and the Palatine. Got to learn more about each place and visited in-depth. Made friends with a family from Spain while in line to get tickets - the guy asked me what I knew about buying tickets (in English) and then relayed the info to his mom (in Spanish), so I just started talking back in Spanish while my mom captured the moment on film lol. I was a little disappointed that we couldn't get tickets to see the bottom and top levels of the Colosseum (buy your tickets ahead of time!!) but it was still nice to learn more from a guide. Went on a night bus tour with Mom, tour kinda sucked, but at least I got gellato lol
Sunday March 24 - Thought about going to the Vatican for Palm Sunday Mass, but there were way too many people there! So we ended up going to the Pantheon and getting Palms (which were olive tree branches) and then went with Mom to this simulator time machine tourist trap. Chased all over the city looking for a street vendor and finally found him thanks to a random kid I practically attacked walking down the road when I saw he had one of the vendor's works (thank god he was from the US...that would have been even more awkward).
Monday March 25 - Went to the Vatican with a tour group (Angel Tours) who after making us wait for a half hour in the pouring rain told us they actually didn't have tickets for us to get inside. We were pissed. So after walking back to the end of the normal entrance line we joined another tour group (Tickets4Fun) and did thankfully get to see the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica.
Tuesday March 26 - Took a bus from Rome to Florence. It rained, but I did find this amazing leather store. The workers were great and looked me up and down, pulled out a leather jacket and said "this will be the one" - turns out they were right, first one came home with me (I did try on lots of them), along with a lovely purse that will be perfect for professional use. Hotel was actually like an apartment - 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, living room with baby sized kitchen-type thing, but the wifi didn't work for crap so we were pretty out of communication with the world for a few days.
Wednesday March 27 - Took an amazing day trip through Tuscany with WalkAbout Tours. They were great! We visited 3 cities: Siena, San Gimignano, and Pisa - went on walking tours, had a wine tasting, climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa, visited an amazing church, and overall just had a great time. Met 2 other girls studying in Spain and we all agreed on the things we hate (so glad it's not just me).
Thursday March 28 - Spent the day with Mom shopping (got another purse) and then just looked for some various souvenirs for people. Mom got lost - not good - but she eventually got home and decided she is very happy living in the US (I agreed). Then just relaxed for the night.
Friday March 29 - Took a train from Florence to Venice. Accidentally booked a hotel way outside of the city and took us a few hours to figure out everything before we could actually get out and explore. It was a best Western, which was super nice because we each got our own room and it was an actual American-style hotel! Got some lunch before it started to pour rain. It was miserably cold so we ended up bailing and headed back to the hotel - Sadly I did not get to go on a Gondola ride - but pouring rain and worrying about falling into the freezing river wasn't quite how I had always pictured it. Got some dinner and threw peanuts at my Uncle Bob walking home. Then just spent some time with Mom. After we went to bed our stupid hotel room decided the power would go out so the front desk called us and woke us up and made someone come up and cheek the power (I was pissed) - apparently you can't plug in a coffee pot or you will blow the fuse there...fail. But, at least the wifi there was good.
Saturday March 30 - Mom and Nicole and Bob all got up around 4am to head to the airport. It was sad and we cried :( I ended up checking out a little later and caught my own flight back here to Madrid. Sadly, they got back home to the US before I got back to Madrid (4 hour layovers suck). My taxi driver tried to convince me to go for drinks with him then didn't understand why I said no (you know you're in Spain when...). And of course, everyone and their brother was graciously waiting to greet me with a huge puff of smoke in the face (yay lung cancer).
And on that note - my host family is gone until the morning, so I am going to enjoy the little silence I have left. It's Easter and I made myself an omelet - there was no food in my house. I Skyped Keith and my family, got to join in the family party fun, even if it was through Skype. Tomorrow is homework day and then back to school on Tuesday :p Bleh.
43 days left!!
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