There's no place like rome...

I brought Toms to wear around Italy. 

However, I didn't break them in before I left. 

Killlllled my feet the first day I wore them. 

So I resorted to my good ol' red vans. 

Dorthy style.

Errrrday.

So.

Enjoy my trip through Italy. 

Via vans. 

Museums. Crowds. Famous stuff. Stairs.

You name it. 

Vans did it. 

Holla.
Special thanks to J Jules and Becca Baby for taking pics.
I couldn't have done it without them.

......

Made it to Romania literally 30 minutes ago. 

It's great.

Can't wait to tell you all about it!!!

Romanian blog starts tomorrow...check there for updates. 

Okie dok?!

Rome day dos

Kids. I'm supes tired.

I feel like I have done a months worth of stuff in a week. 

How many steps have I taken?

Enough to walk across the ocean. 

And back! 

Probably.

But hey. I'm soaking up every second of it.

Today? Spanish Steps and The Vatican.

We're all soooo sick of taking pictures.
And smiling in them.

So we goofed off today. 

It might also be due to the fact that we found ourselves in another, yes another...

prepare yourself...

yes.

a Museum.

  //Sistine Chapel//

 //St. Peter's Basilica//

Dear B. 

Sorry about the pic with a hot italian boy. 

But he was BEGGING me to take one with him.

So I had to. 

Xoxoxo

Rik.

Gladiator Stadium.

Hit the Colosseum and The Forum today. 

Just enjoy the pics, aight?

The iPhone successfully took all of these. 

Seriously wish I had my nice camera for today though. 

It was incredible!

It was a feast for the eyes.

Unreal. 

That's basically the only word I can use.

And maybe tiring. 

Aka: reeeally tiring. 

This is how we felt the entire day. 

Faces not faked.

I think a week of non-stop everything is wearing on us. 

One more full day tomorrow.

Then we're off to Romania! 

:)

I can't wait. 

The prettiest place in all the land.

Siena is my favorite. 

My absolute favorite. 

We spent our time eating while overlooking the city.

Buying gelato and finding places to overlook the city.

Talking on our hotel balcony while overlooking the city.

and basically overlooking the city. 

We wandered the city too...

But I think one of my favorite memories of all of Italy will be sitting on my bed in Siena at night. 

The balcony doors open. 

Writing in my journal.

The city below me.

Listening to people play music on the streets. 

Kids playing soccer.

Without the noisy noise of a million tourists. 

It's how I have always imagined Italy to be. 

I didn't want to leave my hotel balcony. 

Not for one single second. 

Florence is the place for love.

Is Florence the place for love? 

Who knows. 

But according to the wall graffiti it is. 

We saw the Statue of David. 

Um. Hello?

Incredible. 

I'm not one for artsy stuff and naked statues. 

But David is my home boy!

Loved it. Seriously. I loved it. 

Way bigger than I expected. And just uh....amazing. 

I wanted soooo badly to sneak a pic.

But I felt bad. 

Next stop. Top of the bell tower. 

Paid 6 Euro to climb 414 steps.

After some serious calf burnage, we made it to the platform.

Cheered so loud when we made it to the platform.

Walking up flights of stairs. 

No bueno. 

You know what else it no bueno?

Realizing there are more stairs after the celebrating and muscle pics have taken place. 

Like 300 more stairs. 

and 3 more platforms. 

Death. 

But we made it.

To the very top this time. 

 So worth it. 

Went to Ponte Vechio Bridge.

Spelling?

Who knows. 

Not a fan of being in these pics.

No make up or hair-doing is going strong and I'm loving every second of it. 

However...the sweat and "roll outta bed" look are killin my pics!

I'm doing this for you dad....doing it for you. 

"Get in the pic or you might as well just buy a postcard" -David Laws (possibly altered by me)

Also hit the Ufizzi Museum. 

Oh what up one of the most famous museums in the world?!

Sounds cool right?

Sorry to say it...but a museum is a museum.

Famous or not. 

Still not my thaaang. 

First one through. Everytime. 

Luckily Julia shares the same passion for museums as I do. 

Obviously there are some sweet pieces of art in there. 

My humanities class basically came to life.

But 3 hours?

How does one possibly spend 3 hours in there?

Finished the night with an Italian Opera.

 We all fell asleep at some point.

Don't hate. 

The days are packed and we're all pooped.

Next stop...Siena.

New day, new city.

Spent the morning in Venice. I freaking love that place. 

First major purchase...genuine italian leather bag. 

Check!

Side note: I hate euros. 

The exchange rate is a joke. 

Literally paid a service fee of 18 euros yesterday. 

That's over $20.00

Unreal!

But I had no monies to spend. 

So I had to do it. 

Then we said adios to pretty pretty Venice and made our way to Florence. 

Jenna didn't want to pay for a water bus to get to the train station, and of course she can't go alone! Duh. 

So I went with her. 

We lugged our luggage all over the city. 

We have a ton, a TON! of luggage. 

And there's like a TON of stairs.

 No bueno.

I took off my backpack when we got to the station and asked Julia if she could see my back sweat.

"Ya I can. 

And your shoulder sweat. 

And your armpit sweat."

Sweet. 

But we made it. 

And we're 7 euros richer than everyone else. 

Hot dang. 

Trains are awesome. 

Neck pillows are probably more awesome though.

Seriously. 

That thing has been a life savor the whole trip.

And hey...meet Amanda and Julia.

We tend to migrate to each other. Like allll the time. 

Anywho...we made it to Florence late last night. 

It's no Venice...but it's absolutely amazing! 

Check out the elevator to our hotel. 

It's sketchy. 

But sketchy is cool.

You're not adventurous if you're not doing sketchy stuff. 

Right Mom?!

Can't wait to show you pics from today.

Italy is like the coolest place you could ever be.

Ever.