Category Archives: Mediterranean

Day One –

From Florence, we took a scenic train ride to Venice. We had the wonderful company of two nice ladies from Leiden, Holland. When in Europe, always take the advantage of the opportunity to travel by train.

Upon our arrival, we discovered how high the bridges in Venice are and how difficult the city is to navigate. We roamed the canals until we could check into our room at 4 pm. We had a bit of trouble since we forgot to meet our host at agreed upon spot.

After we were settled in, we went to go and visit Libreria acqua alta. However, we got sidetracked by our lingerie hunt at Intimissimi. Ivanna managed to get the shorts we first spotted in Rome. Unfortunately, it was the last pair so I didn’t get any. Because of this, we continued our search and tried to find another Intimissimi in San Marco – it didn’t exist. I called several stores, and managed to reserve one medium pair of shorts. In retrospect this hunt seemed trivial, but at the time, acquiring these shorts were SO IMPORTANT.

In the evening, we went to get drunk on spritz, a local usual, and tequila. We went up to a peddler and bought one of those light toys that you fling into the air. It was almost stolen, and we were laughed at by other adults. After our evening, we passed out.

Day Two –

In the morning, we went for gondola rowing lessons on the Venetian canals. We acquired this activity through Get Your Guide, a site that offers getaways at great prices. Our instructor, Anna, was kind and sang beautiful melodies to row to. As we headed out to open waters, the wakes caused by bigger boats caused me and Ivanna to almost fall off the boat several times.

After our lesson, we purchased some gelato and headed to Intimissimi to claim the forsaken pair of shorts. Victory was ours! We walked the length of Venice until spontaneously decided to go to Lido beach. We met up with some of my friends who were doing a summer intensive there. It was a beautiful day to soak up the sun. We walked down the beach in search of sand dollars. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any to gift my friend, Melanie.

After we changed back into our clothes, we had out last Italian pizza and a bottle of chianti.

We rode the water taxi back to the apartment in absolute exhaustion. We frustratingly checked in to flight online, showered, packed, and slept. We headed back to America the next day, concluding this amazing experience.

Day One:

We took a train from Rome to Florence (somehow we got double booked one of our seats with a family). Once we made it to our destination, we checked in to our AirBnb and then walked around to find food. On our first stroll, we realized Florence is tiny and can be walked across in 25 minutes!

At one point, we saw a strange kid in a hotdog costume. I’m pretty sure he flipped Ivanna off when she laughed. We ended our day with visiting the Uffizi Gallery.

Before we made it back to our AirBnb, we crossed the Ponte Vecchio and saw a sight that had us fall absolutely in love with Florence.

Day Two:

We were in the second leg of our Europe backpacking trip, so you could imagine we were getting more and more tired by the day. This morning, we stayed in and ate cold leftover pizza in bed. Once we had energy in our bellies, we went on a walking tour of Florence. The hotdog kid makes a reappearance. On this tour, we learned that the Medicis were very extra in avoiding peasants with their 1km corridor. Also, we had to make a note of grumpy old couple who joined us.

After the tour, we prepared to head out to Tuscany. At train station, we made a quick stop inside a convenient store where Ivanna tried to find contact solution – unfortunately, everything was in Italian.

So, now we made it to the wine tour. We visited two different wineries. During the first one, Ivanna kept getting annoyed by the host tapping the bottle. Meanwhile, I was discovering that I actually enjoy red wine – Chianti, to be more specific.

After this, we stopped by San Gimignano, which was a fortress that was TOTALLY IN ASSASSIN’S CREED! I absolutely GEEKED.

After our Tuscany trip, we headed back to Florence for a night out. On the Ponte Vecchio, I spotted some beautiful art and purchased a piece for my mother. Unfortunately, the artist was a tad creepy towards Ivanna. We ended up settling at The Library, which was not only a library but a bar and cafe as well! I ended up ordering a Kamikazi…cocktail? which was ridiculously alcoholic. I had to drink it fast though because we learned that the place closed at midnight instead of 2am.

As we continued our stroll, we spotted two girls from our wine tour, Arden and Meryl, and saved their asses from a group of gross drunk bachelors. After our rescue mission, I saw a sign for mint gelato, and accidentally purchased 10 euros worth of it in a huuuge cone. Meanwhile, Ivanna went to get fries from…an Amsterdam cannabis store There she encounter a gaggle of drunk girls who only spoke in only squeals and clapping. We made it home got some well earned sleep.

Day Three:

After a tiring day, we slept in for a few hours before prepping to go shopping. We managed to find some places that made authentic pieces with leather. If you ever go to Florence, definitely check out Leonardo and the 32. After this, guess what, we saw hotdog kid AGAIN by the Uffizi Gallery. We enjoyed a nice lunch on the south side of Florence and you bet your ass Ivanna scarfed down an entire plate of prosciutto.

After we finished our meals, we hiked to the gardens overlooking Florence.

We ran into “no tav” protestors on the way back. We ended our Florence trip by hanging out in our room with ordered pizza.

 

 

Day One:

During this leg of our European Tour, I was able to meet up with my parents and family friends. That means free lodging and food! After out flight, Ivanna and I showered and enjoyed the spacious air-conditioned hotel room that we were staying in. Right after, the family went to dinner with Father Joe, a priest in training from my church at home. Here, we had our first Italian gelato. We tried to check out the shops that were around but unfortunately they were all closed.

 

Day Two:

Everybody got up early to have mass with the Pope. It was wonderful, but people often treated it more like a concert. So rude. Since Ivanna and I had been traveling for a week, we decided to escape to the beaches of  Santa Marinella. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND TRAVELERS TO DO THIS. The break from walking everywhere was so refreshing.

 

After burying our wallets under our umbrella, we stripped to our swimsuits and swam the long, deep way out to the rocks. We were amazed by the blue everything! The beach day was almost ruined when I nearly stepped on a cluster of sea urchins. Yikes! Some people were playing volleyball, and being the volleyball-obsessed co-coaches that we are, we wanted to join! …But the people were wicked good at playing in a foot of water…and we weren’t, haha. Instead we played with some other girls. We missed the train we wanted to get on to get home so we went to dinner by the water instead and ate calamari at a restaurant with very strange employees.

 

 

Day Three:

This day was absolutely insanity. We woke up super early for a tour of the Colosseum and Roman forum. It was super cool and educational but absolutely exhausting (especially in comparison to the beach!). At one point I tried to climb inside the coliseum like Ezio in Assassin’s Creed but was told to get down. I’ll get ’em next time.

 

 

The fam bam enjoyed lunch by the Spanish Steps. Our second tour was much worse than the one with our wonderful tour guide Marco. When we passed the Spanish Steps, we didn’t even get to walk up the steps! We bailed after the Trevi Fountain. What can ya do? We went home and I squeezed in a nap before we went shopping and dining for my mother’s birthday. We ate at La Isla Pizza where my parents dined the night before. Somehow, they became best friends with the employees and got a shit ton of food. Hey, that’s my parents for ya.

 

 

After dinner, we ran into the cousin of Amy, one of the family friends with us. We grabbed gelato and a received a private tour of this cousin’s fancy, famous suit tailors shop. It was pretty crazy that all of the garments were completely hand-made. Color my impressed!