Although it seems like my doorbell just rang yesterday (after literally pacing my apartment waiting), my family has come & gone. I can't believe the long awaited week has passed, but what a week it was! Writing about it all seems a little daunting [clearly just set myself up for failure] but I'm also excited to look back on all that we did.
taken right before i left!
Side note regarding pictures: I hope you like David as much as I do!
After a long day/night of traveling, my mom, dad, & David arrived pretty tired but ready to eat (cue start of food blogging..). We took a big loop around Florence as I overloaded them with sights of the Republica, the Duomo & Baptistry, Piazza della Signoria, the Ponte Vecchio, & just Italy in general (David's first time!). If I'm being honest, the most planning I did before their arrival included which restaurants we would go to. So, first stop: Gustopizza. I'm just going to leave it at David proclaiming it to be the best pizza he's ever eaten. Can't even argue.
After inhaling said pizza, it was time to check into the hotel & try to regulate their sleeping..aka take a three hour nap. With a freshly made cot for me to sleep on & a collection of almost any movie you can think of, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to join. We woke up just in time for the hotel's Happy Hour - an hour of free drinks & appetizers in the lobby. We liked Hotel Davanzati.
& it's literally around the corner from my apartment!
Then we ventured out into the Florence nightlife which lead to a backwards food crawl of the chocolate festival for some strawberry/banana chocolate fondue, Grom for the first gelato experience of the trip, & finally Osteria de'Peccorini for the best ravioli my mom has ever had! David may have even thrown out there that it was his best day of food ever.
welcome to firenze, dabin! (& since i'm writing this 3 weeks later, come back!)
you too, dad! i don't even have to take pictures this time
I unfortunately had to go to Italian class on Monday so I sent my family off to explore the San Lorenzo market. They met me outside of school, which was a little strange but more exciting, & we headed to Gustapanino (brother of Gustapizza) so I could show them our other favorite lunch spot. After our paninis, we decided to trek the 463 stairs to the top of the Duomo. It was a little rainy & pretty cold, but the views of Florence & surrounding Tuscany are always great. (From one side of the Duomo, at least; the other side was way too windy & seemed a little dangerous..)
on the way up
lots of area, obviously, but the general area of where i live!
lighting candles in the duomo
After more walking around & sight-seeing, we went to the Old Stove, a tiny American-esque bar right around the corner from my apartment. It is a chain & there are lots of them around Florence, but we finally discovered a place near us that has Strongbow! After a few drinks & watching some old music videos on MTV, we went to dinner at Acqua al 2. It was really good & I finally got to try their famous blueberry steak! After dinner, we went back to the Old Stove for a few more rounds, some NBA, & American rock & roll.
On Tuesday morning, we got up & went to the Accademia. David met David & I was once again awed by how massive & incredible he is (the statue, not the brother). I had to go to class again & sent my parents off to check out the Uffizi & the Central Food market. Class ends at 2:30, our meeting time was at 3, & I was finally able to squeeze in an amazing lunch at Mama's Bakery! This place is owned by a man from San Francisco who brought everything he missed from America. I finally found chicken salad + avocado & oatmeal raisin cookies! It was awesome, but seeing my parents outside the Pitti Palace waiting for me again was still better.
We decided to wander through the Boboli Gardens, a massive garden behind the Pitti Palace that also has a mosaic museum & costume museum. The gardens were beautiful & I can't wait to go back later in the spring when it's all in bloom. But we did get lucky with a sunny day & it was perfect! So perfect I felt the need to take tons of pictures.. Again, hope you like David!
looved the fruit trees shaped into arches
can't wait for them to bloom!
david loved them, as well
hi dave!
reflecting, not avoiding me taking more pictures
strolling through cyprus avenue
needed a picture with that guy, obviously
After a great dinner at ZaZa's, I met up with all of the girls to celebrate Alyssa's 21st! They were at Kikuya & I showed up right at 12:01 to catch the end of the officially 21 cheers. The plan was to go to Twice after, but we decided kebabs, a stop at the photobooth, & nutella back home sounded better..
We woke up early enough on Wednesday to grab Gustapizza to-go pre-train, per David's request. On the way, we stopped at the leather market for a beautiful scarf for myself & a wallet as my belated birthday gift to Dave!
good times
yeah he does
last picture on the ponte vecchio
seriously, come back
We ate our pizza outside the train station & then caught our train to Rome!
We checked into our hotel, where David & I took a nap while my parents walked around. My mom was so happy to be back in Rome & it was so fun hearing all her stories, plus having someone who knew where to go. At night, we walked to the Spanish Steps, went inside the Trinita del Monti (the church at the top), & had an awesome dinner at a place at the bottom of the steps, Ristorante 34. It was delicious. We celebrated my mom's birthday a couple days late, David decided to have his first ever big seafood dish, & we even made friends with the owner who gave us the name of a pasteria in Chicago!
david even danced down the steps singing lizzie mcguire!
one of my favorites from the week; happy birthday mom!
On the way back, we walked around Rome & took in sights of the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, & Piazza Navona. Having learned a lot about Rome in Latin during high school, it was incredible to finally be seeing these things myself.
it's like whoever took this knew we could photoshop you in, dan!
definitely a keeper
alright, dave, i get it
but just had to get this one
We woke up really early Thursday to catch our tour appointment at the Vatican. The whole tour was unlike anything I had ever seen. We went through the whole Vatican & then St. Peter's Basilica. Although we had to walk through it all like bottles on a factory conveyor belt due to all of the tourists, I don't think I blinked the whole time. There wasn't an inch of floor/wall/ceiling that hadn't been crafted in some amazingly beautiful way; I didn't even know where to look!
a sqaure in the vatican before walking through all of the rooms of art/artifacts
some of this is painting, some relief, & it was sometimes even hard to distinguish between the two. the hall itself was lined with massive tapestries. it was unbelievable
couldn't not sneak this one
& these places were massive. St. Peter's has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world; my dad & I were guessing you could fit about 30 normal sized churches inside! The entire inside is lavishly decorated with marble, relief, sculptures, & extravagant altars - it was beautiful.
just missed a little girl doing ballet in the spotlight, i swear
loved all the light coming in
one of the huge altars
vatican city - which i learned is actually its own country & the smallest independent state in the world
st. peter's basilica; somehow completely missed the dome
the pope's crib
alright, dave
After so much walking & trying to process how everything in the Vatican was made, it was time for lunch. We walked to Campo de'Fiore, a huge square that holds a market with fresh fruit, flowers, & lots of oils, vinegars, & other Italian goods. It was another beautiful day & we ate lunch outside at Maranega, a restaurant in the square.
necessary picture of the spiciest bloody mary's we've ever had
We then made our way back to the Pantheon so we could walk around inside. The dome of the Pantheon is an architectural masterpiece because its diameter is exactly its height (142 ft!), aka it is half of a perfect sphere. We read something that said it probably couldn't even be recreated today. It's incredible to think that the Romans were doing things like this, while America wasn't even a thought yet!
the pantheon ("to every god") was built as a temple to all the gods of ancient rome
two thousand years later, it's still the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome
the altar inside
The boys decided to go back to the hotel while my mom & I walked around some more. We made our way back to the Trevi Fountain, & I was really glad we had basically already done that because it was a zoo of tourists & even worse, tour groups. We did some shopping then headed back to the hotel for naps of our own.
took another picture, then awkardly threw in a coin by myself because i realized i didn't the night before.. because i have to come back!
After dinner in Trastevere (across the Tiber river), we went to the Abbey Theatre Irish Pub. My mom remembered going there when her & Danny went to Rome three years ago & we definitely missed him. But having Dave there drinking & ordering beers like it was no big deal did almost make up for it.
had to go for a pear bulmers
whoa
Friday morning, we stopped to get some pizza to go & ended up eating them in front of Argentinian ruins.
just your average picnic
After lunch, we decided to walk to the Coloseum & then the Forum & the Palatine. Again, I had learned so much about these places all throughout high school; it was pretty surreal being there in person.
national monument to victor emmanuel ii, or also known as "the wedding cake"
can't even really comprehend how this was made, much less just how old it all is
arch of titus
the colosseum; definitely the most surreal to be actually in front of
the inside; they have recreated part of the floor to better show how the gladiators would have no idea what kind of animals were coming up from the floor or even where they were coming up
just your everyday field trip to the colosseum
in the forum
wish i remembered what all of these were!
trying to understand all of it
caesar, romulus, remus, & more walked here..
view from the palatine
all the "decorations" are made of only bones, all different types
still don't really know what to say, so that's enough of that
After walking around some more, we made our way back to Piazza Navona to enjoy the last hours of sunlight, people watching, the painting stands, a couple more Morrettis, & a really funny comedian that interacted with (made fun of) every one that walked by.
piazza navona
not the comedian. these guys just sat there & waved
had to do it.. unfortunately have to wait 3 more years to do it again
last bit of sun
For our last night, we ended up going on a bit of a food crawl. First we went to Serafini to try their house pizza. It had pears, gorgonzola, salmon, mozzarella, & arugula & was awesome. Unfortunately, the rest of the menu didn't seem too impressive so we moved on to Cybo. There we had pasta & more salmon & reflected on how great the week had been. We ended our night at the Abbey Theatre Pub. My parents left after a little bit, leaving Dave & I to enjoy top 100 futbol goals, American pop hits, & conversations about David going to college & me being a senior in college. Except can't say I really enjoyed the last one because that's just all crazy.
My parents & David flew out of Rome Saturday morning & I was definitely sad to see them go. I had so much fun showing them around & especially just spending time with them at all. I am so grateful that they've given me the opportunity to do all of this this semester & I'm so happy they could experience it, as well.
I took a train back to Florence & since everyone was still in Paris/London/Verona, I had the day to myself. I walked around for a little bit, went to mass at the Duomo, & enjoyed lots of food that my mom had brought me from home.
having had my parents & dabin here did make me sort of homesick, but eating a box of kraft mac & cheese spirals for dinner two nights in a row sort of helped
& way too many of these to admit
Like I said, I can't believe the week has already come & gone. On top of that, next week marks the halfway mark! As depressing as it could be, I'm trying to think that we have that much more time to make it even more amazing than it has been - plus warm weather!
We've gotten a taste of warm weather this week & it has been as amazing as we had looked forward to. We enjoyed long walks (to Grom), drinks outside the Lion's Fountain, & sitting outside the Pitti Palace during our lunch breaks studying for midterms (right).
!!!
Overall, time is FLYING. & it is making us sad.
i'm thinking this will always be true..
But as I was telling my parents, I have only things to look forward to, as far as I can see ahead of me.
[..like Colin coming! Stay tuned!]
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