Hi. I'm in.. Italy...: Spring Break aka Rallies

If I could send you a picture of my butt you would see a giant footprint from Rome. The place literally kicked my ass.

But it was awesome and Spring Break was so much fun. Absolutely exhausting and possibly permanently damaging to my feet.. but so much fun.

Let's see if I can give you a quick recap.

Friday through Wednesday were spent here in Florence.
We did, what we thought, was a lot of walking. Seeing the Duomo, climbing the Duomo. Walking through the Boboli Gardens, seeing Michelangelo's David, missed the Uffizi (woops.) We took a little day trip to Siena, went to a fail of a wine tasting, but soaked up the sun in the Campo which is their big square. I's really cool, holds the Palio, which is there big traditional horse race. Google it, it's nuts. Florence overall was pleasant. Found a Neapolitan-style pizza which made Dana very happy. Until we ate the whole thing and felt miserable. Dana got gnocchi with prawns, whole prawns were given so I tried to help and get them out of the shell, ended up making a very unappetizing prawn graveyard. We went to an Irish pub one night. Ordered "hot nachos" got some concoction of doritos with cheesy salsa and a bunch of jalepenos. The last night we went to this popular apperitivo place and Dana got the worst cocktail of her life. Pure nasty vodka.

Wednesday after climbing the Duomo, we left for our train to Rome. Were almost late, couldn't figure out which train it was since Rome wasn't the headliner but a stop on the way to Naples. Figured it out just in time and were off to a week of beatings!

Thinking back that Dana and I were a little bit tired from our walking Florence makes me laugh. Cause we had NOOOO idea what we were in for. Rome is just so much bigger than Florence. And not just bigger, but confusing as f***. Our trip is pretty much best summarized as mapping out a place of interest and then getting lost for hours but eventually finding our original destination.

So the bnb that we stayed at was great. Well the first room was.. It was essentially a converted apartment with five rooms. Each room was painted to represent one of the big attractions and was thus named after that monument. For the first three nights Dana and I were in the Colluseo room, painted after the Colosseum. It was the master bedroom with a big room, big bathroom, and this giant bed that was our savior. You literally just sank into it and it engulfed you with its down comforter, it was a slice of heaven. Unfortunately the last night we were moved into a janky room and I slept on a converted sofa chair. Not a slice of heaven. Needless to say, we really really missed the Colluseo.
Marco, the owner of the bnb was an Italian probably in his late 30's. He was precious. Picked out great places for us to eat and go at night. Brought cakes and yummy treats from his grandma. Talked about the growth on his "man parts" and that he had to go in for surgery on Friday, and last time he had to get this done he was 17 and he was really embarrassed because the doctor looked like a porn star with big boobs so he got excited. But when we saw him on Friday he gladly told us that he didn't have to get surgery because it had reduced but the doctors didn't decide until after he was completely naked and all the interns had examined him. See, I didn't ask for the details, just initially what his surgery was for. He had no problem sharing the details, so I share with you. :) Growth and all, I liked him a lot.

When we weren't busy having breakfast and light conversation about growths, Dana and I headed out to the center every day around 11. Thursday we saw all the monuments like the Spanish steps, Trevi fountain, Victor Emannuele monument, Piazza Novona and Fuori, other casual ruins, and the freaking Pantheon that we couldn't find to save our lives even though we knew it was right at our fingertips. Friday we went to a popular "park" that overlooks Rome and the Vatican. And by park we mean rocks and a few benches for the view. This too took us about two hours to find even though we were literally right below it just couldn't find the official entrance. Saturday we went back to the Vatican to go into the Basilica. We were hurting so decided to take the regional train to the St. Peter's Square. Found the train, went the wrong way. Had to wait 25 minutes to head back the other way. After the Basilica, we made our way towards the Colosseum. Stumbled into a bad pizzeria, only to discover a poppin' amazing place full of Italians four stores down. Bought lots of desserts instead. :)
The Colosseum was easy. Except that it rained. But we got to see it pretty empty because everyone was underneath little caves so they didn't get wet. We then walked through the Palatine which is just an amazing amount of ruins.
So after all our meandering throughout the city, we would hop onto the tram that would take us back into Trestavere, where our hotel was, around 6. Back in the room we would nap on our amazing bed and just rest our poor, beaten bodies. Around 8 we would force ourselves to rally, drink some espresso, and head out. We ate in Trestavere twice, both were absolutely amazing dinners. Had one fail dinner in the historical center, and the last night was at a cool tavern looking place in the center. We really only went there cause it was called Old Bear and I had just coincidentally spent an hour watching YouTube videos of bears, so it only seemed fitting. It was good, but we were both just so tired and fat from our week of eating out.
Sunday we woke up, left the money for Marco in the room since he's not there Sunday mornings, packed up and left. We had directions where to go from Marco. He was drunk texting Saturday night. I love broken English and when mixed with a drunk Italian, it really only gets better. Dana had to go to the station right down the street to get to the airport and my stop was across the street, but we thought it was by the station too. Not by the station, so we said our goodbyes and parted. I think Dana had a successful trip. My stop on the other hand, wasn't running because there was a big market in front of it on Sundays. Lucky mee.. So I literally had no idea where to go and was about to call Marco when a gentleman came up to me and in Italian told me that the line wasn't working because of the market and pointed me to some general direction. Which I found and all went well. Got to my train five minutes before departure. So all was good.

So this Spring Break was quite the adventure. So many fails but we rallied and conquered Rome.. Maybe not conquered... survived with enthusiasm!

Today I made it a point to do nothing but blog and not leave my apartment. So here I am. Going to watch a Disney movie.
Tomorrow I'm going on a giant run because I've gained a FUPA from all my eating out. Don't know what it means, ask mom. And Michael comes tomorrow!

So the rallying continues...

Here's just a few pictures. Dana has some on her phone too.