Travel week 2 with the Rents!!

Travel Week 2!!

Hello all! So last week we had another exciting week of travel and this was just as fun as the first travel week. My parents came over for the week so it was really great to see them. My dad went to Spain in high school 3 times with myself and two sisters so he knew what to expect a little bit. My mom on the other hand hasn’t been to Europe so she was really looking forward to coming over and she did great!! It was fun to have them both over here and go exploring with them. But funny story on how they decided to come over. So my dad knew he was going to come over sometime while I was here but wasn’t quite sure when he would. So about two weeks before this travel week he still wasn’t sure but finally decided he was going to come over for the travel week but said he didn’t think my mom was going to come. He said to keep emailing her to encourage her to come and maybe that would work. So I did that but one morning I got an email from my mom that said she wasn’t going to come over. Then a few hours later I got an email from my dad that said she was coming!! So at this point I was totally confused and started to wonder if my dad used some selective hearing or what haha. So I emailed them both and turns out she had decided to come so that was awesome to find out! Anyway, while they were here we went on a mini tour of Italy and it was amazing!

Venice!

Our first stop was Venice. They flew in on Thursday and I met up with them on Friday night. They met me at the train station and it felt a little like home seeing them. And I know that being only an hour from Venice by train, I probably should have made it there already since were over 2 months in, but nope this was my first time lol. Venice was a really cool looking city, and I got to see a little Friday night but my parents were still pretty jet lagged so we just took it easy that night. Our hotel was kind of in a random alley with no signs really to show where it’s at and I have no idea how my parents found it! It was a really nice hotel, very clean and compared to the hostels I’ve been in. By the way, it was such a nice change of pace to stay in a hotel rather than a hostel!! (Also nice it was on the parent dime haha! Thanks mom and dad!) The next day we took a boat ride down to St. Marks square so I got to see the main canal and all the others that branch off and it really was a cool sight. St. Marks square was also quite the sight and St. Mark’s cathedral so awesome. There were also St. Mark’s lions everywhere which was cool to see since that’s the logo for CIMBA also. We didn’t spend too much time there because we were leaving at 2 to head to Florence.

Florence

We got into Florence around 5 and took a cab to our hotel. I was a little nervous about the hotel because my parents had me find one and book it so I was hoping I didn’t find a terrible one lol. But once again we really lucked out. It was a really nice place and in a perfect location, right between Academia and The Dumo. I also was put in charge of picking a place to eat so I just looked in a guide book for something near us that it suggested, we went there and had an amazing dinner so that was good. The next day we hit up all the museums that Florence had to offer. We started off at Academia and saw the David statue by Michelangelo and I have to say…wow. It is an impressive sight; I can’t imagine working on something like that!! It was insane!!! After that we went to the Uffizi to get reservations for later since the line was pretty long and then went to the Dumo. The outside of the Dumo was so crazy looking. Not what I expected at all. It had green and white marble so it didn’t look anything like traditional churches. I really can’t even describe it too well because I haven’t seen anything that looks like to compare it to. There isn’t a whole lot on the inside of the church anymore, most of the artwork was taken to either the Uffizi or Academia, but it was still very impressive. The dome on it was huge and also very impressive. After spending some time there and then eating lunch we went to the Uffizi which is supposed to be one of the best museums in the world. It really was pretty insane; they had works of art from almost every famous artist who has lived lol. There were tons of famous paintings there and it required quite a bit of walking around to see it all, but it was worth it. My mom really enjoyed herself there; she really likes art so it was an impressive sight for her to see. That night my parents again had me pick a place to eat so I referred to the guide book again lol. We ended up going to a place called Za-Za’s and it was one of the best restaurants I’ve been to. The atmosphere, the food, the wine, everything was so good!! My parents also loved it and it really made them feel like they were in Italy. The next day we took our time getting ready, checked out and headed to Rome!

Rome!

For those who read my blog, few if any I know lol, know that Rome is my favorite city, so I was very excited to take my parents there. My friend from back home was on a field trip till the next day so she couldn’t pick us up and show us around so my parents had to settle for me lol. I felt like a mini tour guide when we first got there though, since I kind of knew where everything was from the last trip. So we took a cab to our hotel and got settled in then we headed out to the street to see where we wanted to go. It was raining and I remembered that my friend told me the Pantheon is really cool when it’s raining since the ceiling has the hole in the top that’s open to the sky. By the time we got there the rain had kind of stopped so we couldn’t see the rain falling to well but we could see the sprinkles hitting the ground so that was pretty cool. My parents really enjoyed that, they sat in the pews for a little to just take it in and it was really cool to see them do that. I knew they would love the sights of Rome from that point on because as cool as the pantheon is, it’s defiantly not the top sight in Rome. Next it was starting to get dark and they say the best time to see Trevi fountain is at night so I took them up that way. Also, I would like to point out, that I was able to take them there without a map and purely from memory, so take that everyone who voted me for worst internal compass!! Lol Anyway, we came up to the side of Trevi fountain so I told my parents to look down and off to the side so they couldn’t see it until they were in front of it. When they finally got to the front and I told them to look they were blown away. It is a spectacular sight at night (highly recommend to go at night your first time). The next day we went to the Vatican to see all the museums and St. Peter’s Basilica. In my previous blog I described the museums so I won’t go into detail there, but I will say that my parents seemed to love it just as much as I did. I did my best to remember the stories from my tour to tell them as we went through so they really enjoyed that. St. Peter’s was really cool to see. It was massive with works of art everywhere and huge sculptures everywhere. I would say it was just about as impressive as the museums, but I’m Catholic so I’m pretty sure I have to say that lol. Jkjk!! We found out that if you go to the Swiss Guards at the bronze door, you can get free tickets for a papal audience that takes place every Wednesday so we got tickets for that the following day. We got to the Vatican Wednesday morning around 9:30 probably for the 10:30 papal audience and then stood in line for a little while before getting allowed in. It was a mad house to get in!! People were so excited and it was crazy, everyone pushed like crazy to get to the front. We had to wait outside before going into an auditorium and while we were waiting they had the Pope drive by in the Pope mobile!!! So that was really cool to see. After he went by we were let in and my dad and I had to get on either side of my mom and really push out to keep her from getting crushed. Unfortunately I got separated so that ended up happening anyway, sorry mom!!! The papal audience was really cool to be in. He talked to a bunch of different groups in all the different languages so that was really interesting to see. At the end we got blessed and I am proud to say that I have now been blessed by the Pope. Well that about wraps up our trip, it was amazing to have my parents come visit (potential students trust me you want your parents to visit!! Free place to stay!! Lol jk mom and dad!!). I really enjoyed showing them the sites and how to travel a little and they really enjoyed it to which made it even better. Well I will get another blog out hopefully within the next few days so be looking for it!! Until then, Ciao!!!