Spring Break in Italy

Hello, readers.

3 months ago I'm sure I left you all eagerly waiting to hear about my Spring Break adventures, and then every adventure I didn't tell you about in the weeks following. There are plenty of posts coming, but I'll just pick up where I left off for now.

On March 18th my wonderful parents arrived in Florence to spend their spring break gallivanting around Italy. I was so incredibly glad to finally have my family back for a while, and I'm so glad I could give them this opportunity to travel with me (this was mom's first time in Europe :]). Unfortunately I didn't take too many pictures of this week because I was too focused on enjoying my time with them.

First things first, I had to spend the evening showing them around my new little 'hometown'. We grabbed lunch at one of the patio restaurants in Piazza della Repubblica, where mom and dad had their first taste of 'real' Italian food (note: 'real' to Americans, 'touristy' to Italians) as we sat and people watched for a while. Then we hopped over to the San Lorenzo leather market, which we probably walked through 5 times the whole week because mom loves to shop, where I finally bit the bullet and purchased a real Italian leather jacket.

The next day we headed back into the city center to meet our guide for our fantastic Segway tour. Yeah, we were 'those people', and I have to say it was fun to play tourist in a city I'd gotten so 'used to' over the past couple of months. I impressed myself with how much I already knew about the city, and learned a bunch of little facts to impress everyone I knew who hadn't gone on an official tour of the city yet.

Tuesday we hopped on a train and headed to Rome. Mom and Dad took plenty of goofy iPad pictures to celebrate their first Italian train ride, and we had fun trying to talk to the Italian lady across from us who brought her puppy with her.

Our first day in Rome we toured the Vatican, natch, got gelato, and I showed them around some of my favorite places in Rome, like the Trevi fountain and Piazza Navona. The next day we toured the Colosseum and the ancient ruins, and dad and I made a trip to the top of the 'wedding cake', or the Monumento Nazionale a Vittorio Emanuele. I'd day this offered us the best view of Rome, since we could see ancient Rome, the Piazzas, as well as St. Peter's Basilica.

View from the Vittorio

After a whirlwind couple of days in Rome we packed our bags and headed to Venice. After unloading and wandering around Piazza San Marco for a while we grabbed dinner a restaurant recommended by Rick Steves, and took a gondola ride through the canals of the city. :] Dad had mentioned before that the one thing he wanted to do when he came to Italy was ride in a gondola, and it was really a great experience. Our Gondolier was wonderful and we learned so many cool things about when Venice was built, and which notables and celebrities (Casanova, Andrea Palladio, Brangelina....) had lived where.

The next morning we headed to the island of Murano, where mom and I once again did tons and tons of shopping while dad took in the sights. That afternoon we headed back to Firenze and enjoyed a relaxing evening before mom and dad headed back to America.

It was really neat being able to show them around Italy, and I was so glad to be able to share my experiences with them.

My next few weeks were 'uneventful' compared to much of my time abroad. I spent more time getting to know Florence and taking little local field trips, which I hope to post about when I finish all my big 'vacation' stories.

Next up: Amalfi Coast!