Roma (insert over-used phrase here)

Rome was the place that we stayed in by far the longest (a whole 3 days!), which ended up being perfect. Our timing was excellent as the first day was the day we spent the most time walking around outside and it ended up being the only rain free day! We ran around to all the big sights right away, which is Rome is no easy feat (pun intended).

A Castle, I forget the name..

View from the top of said castle

In front of the wedding cake

More cake

Anna and I made it inside the Colosseum!

View of the center of the Colosseum

Snapping photos left and right

A city of ruins

Its Rome, what did you expect?

In front of the colosseum

By the end of the day we were all dead tired. Despite this, I still managed to stay awake long enough to see one of my friends from UPS, Mara. It was so nice to meet up with someone who knew the area and of course catch up with someone from home, Mara, if you read this, I am so glad we got to meet up!!

The next day we got up at the crack of dawn to wait in line to go to the Vatican Museum. This ended up being an excellent idea as the line was huge and we managed to get in before most of the tour groups. The Vatican Museum, possibly one of the largest and most extensive Museums I have been to thus far (this is saying quite a lot, I think I may have had my fill of museums for several years to come).

My favorite part, the ceilings

A little bit of rain didn't damped our moods

We spent a very content morning wandering through the exhibits and of course seeing the Sistine Chapel. Anna and I ended up seeing it twice on accident because we didn't realize that the exhibits beyond the Chapel you could only access by going through the Chapel again.







Another gelato stop was necessary afterwards at the best and cheapest place thus far. They gave us huge scoops of delicious frozen goodness for almost half what we had paid in other places.

The discovery of the gelato mecca

Satisfaction, gelato

Needless to say we deemed it the best gelato in Italy!

A close runner up with millions of flavors

We took it easy for the rest of the day as the following day was a big day for us, Easter with the Pope!


Again the day started early to stand in line, but this time we were greatly rewarded. We got in line at 7:30am, the gates opened at 8:30 and after a mad dash we found ourselves in practically front row seats!

Ready for Mass

Mass didn't start until 10:15 so we watched as the square steadily filled up, and then witnessed the most public and multi-lingual mass I have ever seen. The Pope presided over the mass, however he didn't do as much as one would've thought, given his age. All and all, not a bad way to end a trip in Italy.

I see the Pope

This whirlwind trip of Italy hardly scratched the surface of what the country has to offer, but its one of those trips that I will always remember. I made it back to Vienna exhausted, with my hard shell and sanity a little scratched but completely satisfied. I hope to make it back there and maybe I will be able to venture more off the beaten track, but for now Arrivederci, ciao bella Italia!

Sitting for Mass

Just need to grab a quick pizza...

...in Naples! We were in Naples for only about 24 hours, which was not nearly enough time. It was enough to walk around, see how beautiful the area is, get to see a castle on top of the city (which was shockingly well hidden, very impressive) and eat some pizza!

We made it to supposedly the first pizza place. Well, I don't know if it actually was, but it was absolutely delicious!

Yum pizza

Before leaving Naples we made a quick pit stop in Pompei to check out what all this fuss was over this preservered city. You can see for yourself, it was pretty spectacular!

Ready to get our wander on!

Backpacking through Pompei

The Amphitheater

 

Everything considered, I think Naples/Pompei was an excellent stop on our trip. I don't think I really got a chance to see what it was actually like, but hey, I got some delicious pizza!

Singing through Venice

After an easy train ride we arrived in Venice, the floating city! For some reason this thought had not hit me until we arrived and I realized that we needed to get a boat pass in order to get to our hotel, instead of finding the nearest metro station.

So excited to be in Venice

The "streets" of Venice

Once we got to our hostel we got our sea legs together and went exploring. What we soon realized about Venice is that you can't really have a set plan on what you want to do, its better to just explore and let the atmosphere soak in.

Masquerade

 

Anna, me, Zach and Andriy

We wandered the streets which resulted in getting lost quicker then I thought. The small streets lead to bridges with gondolas floating past. We found a nice restaurant to eat dinner in the middle of a small square.

Dinner time

Later on we explored the main center at night, Venice is absolutely gorgeous at night! The lights illuminating the Rialto bridge coupled with the sounds of the waves and a cool breeze made for a perfect evening (of course a bottle of wine and gelato didn't hurt either).

Oh the lights of Venice

Although the city is a beautiful place to be during the night, the day time brings in the tourists literally by the boatload. So we decided to venture off the beaten path and take a little picnic on a beach on an island a little farther away. This reminded me of home, as it was a beach but it was windy and quite a bit colder then we anticipated!

Colorful houses

Artistic alleyway

 Later on we explored another outlying island known for its colorful houses and lace. As was the theme of Venice we wandered along the streets and canals, allowing our stomachs and noses lead us to the next step.

The greenest pizza yet

The houses were beautiful and after yet another filling Italian meal we had an extended photo shoot. (See pictures above, can you blame us, the houses were so beautiful!) Our day ended with gelato in the city center again, we turned in early again to up again for Florence!

Viva Italia! The journey begins in Milan

Ready, set, travel

 The familiar college experience of spring break takes an interesting turn when studying abroad. Instead of the typical trips of migrating south for beach, booze and burns, our thoughts turn to intensive tourist destinations like Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, Prague and Rome. In an effort to get as much out of spring break as possible I headed off to Italy for a 10 day whirlwind 5 city tour armed with three friends (Anna, Zach and Andriy) a hard suitcase, a beat up section of my travel guide and my sanity (which was soon to leave me).

We flew into Milan and immediately ordered pizza. Seriously, we had hardly set our bags down in the hotel before we were off in search of a restaurant to order pizza. Once I had taken that first bite I knew that I would be eating my way through Italy, even though I knew it wasn't the best pizza I would have during the trip I was still in Heaven.

The next day we hit the ground running, full of energy and excitement we were ready for day one! The weather was beautiful and we spent the day wandering around to all the sites, first up was the Duomo, a massive cathedral (I believe it was a cathedral, not sure) which was an amazing example of Gothic architecture. We went up all the way to the top and walked around on the roof where we got an amazing view of the city.

On top of the Duomo with Anna

Duomo front view

For lunch we found a nice little restaurant and I had a salad with the BEST tomatoes I have ever eaten. As became tradition every time we ate we got gelato and continued our tour of the city.

At the restaurant with the fabulous tomatoes

A museum and a park later Anna and I found ourselves in the heart of Milan's shopping district and so decided to indulge (My poor wallet!).

The first of many Ferrari stores

Delicious

We branched out for dinner and got pasta, I ordered gnocchi and promptly burned my tongue, but oh so delicious! Topped off with gelato we collapsed after our first full day of touristing knowing that the next day would bring us to Venice!

Alive and Lost in a strange new land...

Where can you find Beethoven, Schubert, Strauss, Brahms and a little of Mozart?
Look no further then the Centralfriedhof aka central Cemetery in Vienna! Enter into one of the four entrances, but make sure you pick the right one!

Where could they be?



 Its a little crowded!











Hm, there are enough people here to populate the city of Vienna! What do you do in a complicated city? Get lost!
Once you are lost, find a sign that directs you where you need to go.

Preferably a sign that has the major landmarks clearly labeled.

There they are! Now we can find

Beethoven.....

Schubert...

 Strauss and Brahms.....

Anndd a Mozart memorial!

Well, that's all folks, how to find your way around a cemetery as large as a city, just remember next time to read the signs!