the one that is overdue and long, but includes good stories...

        Sorry for the long delay on posting the past few days have been total chaos. My last day in Barcelona I went with a new friend Sam to the aquarium, and we had a blast! The shark tunnel was 80 meters long and incredible (check out the pics on facebook)! The 28th we had a day on the ship called “Italy Day” where everyone slept in and relaxed. We had a few mandatory meetings but for the most part I just wrote letters, packed for Italy and took naps.
        Alex and I got of the ship on the 29th and never looked back. Our first day was by far the most stressful. After getting off the ship in Civitavecchia (Don’t feel bad if you cant pronounce it, no one on this ship can) we made our way to the train station. After buying tickets to Rome we jumped on the train right before it left.
        The one-hour ride went by fast, and next thing we knew we were stopping in Rome, and then stopping at another Rome station, and another… we were unsure where to get off so we just picked one and went with it. Bad idea. We got off in a super sketch area, we walked out of the train station and turned around went back in and got on the next train going further into Rome and got off at the main station.
        Our next adventure was… you guessed it, our taxi ride! 20 Euro got us around the block to our hotel. Which was also super sketch, so after opting to carry our backpacks around until we could check in we wandered towards the city center.
        … Long story short we ended up near the Spanish steps and started searching for a new (not as sketch) hotel. We found a listing for a hotel called the panda in our Italy guidebook. We found the hotel, about a block from the Spanish steps, and they had an opening that night for 70 Euro. We booked it and dumped our bags in our small but clean room. We spent the rest of the day exploring Rome and seeing the sights.
        The next morning we woke up really early and took some pictures at the Spanish steps and the Trevi Fountain before any of the other tourists woke up. It was beautiful. Before boarding our train to Florence we stopped at a McCafe, it’s like a McDonalds only it’s just a café. It was cool I got a chocolate pastry thingy.
        Once we made it to Florence we found our hotel where a little old lady greeted us with a crooked toothed smile. She spoke very little English, and we speak very little Italian so the conversation was interesting. We eventually got into our room, which was large and at first we thought it was pretty nice and clean.
        We took the rest of the day to explore Florence. We saw the main squares and ended up at the Pittie Palace. The Palace was AMAZING, I loved it! Alex had been there before and it was so hot that we just hit the highlights of the gardens. But we did have a great time. We ended the night with a great dinner at the same place we had lunch at (it was good and cheap). We then stopped at a wine bar to have a drink… it was a long day, but the Fanta and Champaign hit the spot :] That night we got in bed and were sooo hot both of us did not think we would be able to sleep, then at about 11pm we heard a knock at our door. I answered it and the crooked toothed lady was standing in her nightgown with a fan for us. I wanted to give her the biggest hug ever. She then proceeded to come in our room, move a table up against the footboard of our bed and set the fan up so it would keep us cool in bed. She officially won our online recommendation.
        The following day we woke up early again, well I had actually been awake all night because I was being eaten alive by mosquitos. Not joking I was/am covered in bites! Any who we got up and climbed the dome of the super huge church, 467 tall stairs up it was insane but so rewarding at the top!
        We took the train then from Florence to Orvieto, one of my favorite places in the world. We met a really nice couple our age on the train from New Jersey, they were super nice to talk to and we helped each other out with maps. Once in Orvieto we found our Monastery where we had reservations for the night and checked in.
        We spent the entire evening leisurely strolling around the town. It was soooo refreshing to be in a place with minimal tourist impact. Alex and I had a great meal with a half bottle of local white wine. It was superb.
        After dinner we had our second gelato of the day at the best gelato place in all of Italy. I had it last time I was in Orvieto and I could have it all day every day forever. SO amazing. We then went to bed fairly early so we could get up and catch our 9 am train back to Civitavecchia. That was this morning, and I am officially exhausted. We spent the day on and off trains, and skyping at the local subway shop. Tonight I will fall asleep in Civitaveccia and wake up tomorrow in Naples. This really is the life!
Missing home but loving Europe,
Cris