{when in rome}

We made it!


We are in the beautiful city of Rome, Italy.  Getting here was a hassle because our flight from Seattle to Frankfurt was suuuuuper delayed due to disorganization of the flight staff (I know some things can't control, but we didn't even start boarding until about 5 minutes after the plane was supposed to depart) so we ended up having to catch the next flight to Rome from Frankfurt two hours after our original one.

Once we got to Rome, Stacey and I took a cab and got absolutely ripped off, but we didn't care because we were so damn tired.  I tried staying up all night the night before we left (went to bed at 4, woke up at 8, with hopes of sleeping on the plane) and I learned that no matter how fucking tired I am my body cannot sleep on planes! Rude.

Once we got to Rome, we checked into the hotel, threw our shit on the bed, and then went exploring.  We went to the Trevi fountain, got some dinner, and I crossed a few things off of my bucket list to boot. Yay!

Last night, our first night here, consisted of a lot of walking around a long with gnocchi, wine, and wishes at the Trevi Fountain.  We came back to the hotel, and I was so goddamn tired I didn't wanna go explore anymore, so Riley and I went to bed.  Then we woke up and took a tour of the Vatican... which was downright beautiful.  Now, I'm not religious, but that place was amazing.  Seeing all of the artwork, and all of the history was completely breathtaking.  We lost my mom for a little bit, but we found her eventually- but trying to find her, and get ahold of her was an adventure in its own.  Later in the evening, we took a night tour of Rome, where we saw the colosseum, St Peter's (again), the Embassy de Marta (I may be spelling that wrong), and lots of other goodies that Rome had to offer.  It was probably my favourite part of the trip so far, and our tour guide was awesome.  He showed us some unconventional places in Rome that not many tourists know about... for example, a 2,000 year old cobblestone road about 20 minutes out of the city center that had marks from chariot's from Caesar's empire.  He also brought us to the top of one of Rome's 7 hills and showed us an awe-inspiring panoramic view of Rome at night, as well as warding off some street vendors who kept trying to get us to buy roses. Nooo, thank you. Finally, he showed us a little part of the city where lots of painter's go.  He pointed us out to "Rome's best gelato" (coming from a man born in Rome, I believed him) where we got AMAZING gelato, and even tried the Viagra flavor.

Rome has been full of adventure, food, laughs, history, and art work.  I'll be sad to leave tomorrow morning to get on our cruise ship, but excited to see what other parts of Europe have to offer.  Next up is Naples, Italy, including a tour of Pompeii.  Another place I'm stoked to see!

Here's a teeny peek at what we've done so far!

The BEST spaghetti I've ever eaten, hands down.

View from our hotel in Rome

Drank a glass of Italian Wine!

Making a wish at Trevi Fountain

Tried gelato. Yes, even the viagra.

St. Peter's. The Pope talks on one of those balconies!

Ciao!

{vacation to-do list}

One week from now, I will be in Rome.
Two weeks from now, I will be in Greece.
Three weeks from now, I will be in London.

This is crazy to me! I can't believe I'm finally going to go to Europe, and see all of these places that I never imagined I'd be able to see.  The only other country I've been to outside the US is Canada, which doesn't count, since I was born here. (I say here because I am currently in Canada visiting Coralie & co).  Our family has been planning this trip for a few months, but it didn't seem real to me yet.  I have a small 'excitement capacity', so if I have a few exciting things coming up in the future, I can only get excited about them in a timely manner.  For example: I went to Sasquatch! Music Festival in May, and before that I had Relay for Life, I couldn't get excited for Sasquatch until Relay was over, and even then I didn't actually believe I was going (which makes no sense because I shelled out an arm and a leg for that wristband), and after Sasquatch I got excited for school to be over, and THEN it hit me that we were going to EUROPE!!!

I fly into Rome with Stacey, who has been one of my best friends since we were toddlers, on Thursday the 27th.  The longest flight I've ever been on was from Utah to Florida and I was only 9 years old so I don't remember it much, but I am NOT looking forward to the flight.  I can't sleep on flights at all. I'm pretty sure I could take ten sleeping pills, but my excitement would keep me from falling asleep.  Stace and I will hopefully be too excited to sleep the night before we leave, so that I can sleep on the plane.  If not, I'm planning on loading my iPad with books so I can read on the plane, which usually kills time and I just love to read.

We spend a few days in Rome and then we'll be headed to our cruise ship, which will then take us to all these exotic places... Greece, Croatia, Turkey (hopefully, if the ship deems it unsafe to go then we won't dock there) and Italy.  Then after that, we head to London, a place I have wanted to visit since before I can remember.

So, what that brings me to, is my bucket list.  When I go on this trip, I have a list of things I absolutely MUST do. (edit: and PHOTOGRAPH each one)

1.  Visit the Colloseum
2.  Make a wish at the Trevi Fountain
3.  Become an Italian pop star a la Lizzie McGuire (kidding! but that would be pretty cool).
4.  See the white buildings of Santorini, Greece
5.  Visit Pompeii
6.  Try authentic Italian pizza
7.  Order a glass of wine in Italy
8.  Take a water taxi in Venice
9.  Visit the London Eye, and actually go on it (I'm absolutely terrified of Ferris wheels)
10.  Eat fish & chips in England
11.  Trafalgar Square
12.  Find a BLUE PHONE BOX! 
(From hereon, all were added after post was published but I don't want to forget them)
13.  Do something silly in front of the guards with the hats in London. You know, the ones that don't smile. (Extra credit if they do smile.)
14.  Italian espresso!
15.  Order a beer in London
16.  Snap Matt Smith's suspenders. (Just kidding. But not really.)
17.  Gelato!


Most of these I know we'll already be doing, but hey, that's a pretty damn cool bucket list if you ask me.

Ciao! (see? I'm practicing my Italian!)

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