Easter Break Adventures

Hi!! Sorry it’s been so long since my last update…It’s been a crazy month. I’m sorry this is so long, but I didn’t want to leave anything out. Feel free to just look at my pictures instead…they’ll tell a story too! Here we go….

I travelled to Venice, Italy on March 29th to meet my parents. The flight went well and I got into Venice no problem. Then….I had to find my hotel. Without a map. Or WiFi. To say I was lost would be a total understatement. I wandered the streets of Venice for over an hour looking for our hotel. Finally, thanks to magic, I was able to get Wifi for five minutes. This allowed me to load a map to the hotel. Three minutes later, (I’m not kidding, I was three minutes away from it the whole time), I stumbled into the hotel. Thankfully they let me check into the room early so I could sleep while I waited for my mom and dad to arrive. They arrived in Venice at around 2:00. It was SO nice to get a hug from them both. We spent our time in Venice looking at the stunning architecture. The Doge’s Palace was one of my favorites. It was absolutely massive…to think that it was built so long ago blows my mind. I think we also stopped at many (all…thanks, dad) of the churches in Venice. They were all very pretty and extravagant. The food in Venice was really good, especially the pasta. We also walked for over two hours to find a specific gelato shop. I got a frozen crepe… frozen yogurt with warm Nutella and white chocolate inside. It made the 3984784 mile walk worth it. We were also introduced to Limoncello in Venice. It’s a sweet lemon flavored alcohol that is served straight…it wasn’t our favorite thing but it was very pretty looking. The weather was pretty cold…we were all pretty glad we brought our coats along for the trip. Overall, Venice was a great start to our tour around Italy.

From Venice, we took a train to Florence. The train was surprisingly very comfortable. It was a fairly short trip and we arrived in Florence with no problem. Once in Florence, we checked into our hotel and enjoyed some sunshine – finally!! We walked to the city center of Florence and looked at some of the massive buildings. My mom and I shopped while my dad explored more churches. That night, we had one of my favorite dinners of the trip. The restaurant was a small one on a quiet street. I had pasta and tasted (hated) some Tuscan red wine. The next day was spent exploring the Accademia. The museum was full of amazing art and statues…including the statue of David. It was seriously incredible to see the statue of David in person. It blows my mind that Michelangelo was able to carve such an exquisite statue out of a block of marble. Later that afternoon, we wandered around into another part of Florence and got what the locals described as the best pizza in the world. My life changed because of this pizza, and not in a good way. My mom and I sent my dad (mistake number 1) to order and pay for the pizza. Since it was a take away pizza place, we figured he couldn’t mess it up too badly. We were waiting on the steps of an old church when he returned with a steaming pizza. He took a bite and told us it was one of the best pizzas he’d ever had. So, being the trusting daughter that I am, I took a bite. ANCHOVIES. ANCHOVIES WERE ON THE PIZZA. I nearly vomited when I started chewing the pizza and had no choice but to finish eating the bite in my mouth. I was basically dry heaving and crying at the same time. My dad “suddenly remembered” that he ordered a pizza with anchovies on top. Nice, dad. The taste of anchovies was in my mouth for the rest of the day. I still get nauseous thinking about it. We learned an important lesson that day…my dad doesn’t excel at ordering for the group. The taste of rotten fish finally disappeared when my mom and I had a spritz for dinner. Spritz is a really popular drink in Italy…it’s some bubbly orange drink with prosecco in it. It was sooooo good and helped erase the trauma that occurred earlier in the afternoon. The rest of Florence went really quickly as we only stayed there for a few days. We rented a car in Venice in order to get to our next destination – Cinque Terre.

Once we left Venice in our rental car (a really adorable white Volkswagen thing), we started driving towards the Italian Riviera. We stopped in Pisa to see the leaning tower. It is really, really crooked. The pictures don’t really do it justice. The thing is basically going to fall over at any moment. We only stayed in Pisa for a few hours before continuing on towards Cinque Terre. The drive was really nice, until we arrived on the outskirts of the town. We drove on a road the size of one lane in the USA. It was, without a doubt, one of the most horrifying hours of my life. My mom and I were sweating with fear while my dad was laughing at us. The turns were almost all 90 degrees and either straight uphill or straight downhill. I’m still not sure how we made it to our hotel, but we did. I’ve never appreciated American roads so much in my life. Once at our hotel, we walked around the small town of Monterosso el Mare, one of the five towns that make up Cinque Terre. The area is absolutely gorgeous, but the crappy weather made it a different experience for us. The hiking trails were closed and the ocean was way too cold to get in. So, we found a cute bar overlooking the water and enjoyed drinks at happy hour. The gelato in Cinque Terre was my favorite. Overall, I think Cinque Terre would have been much better if the weather was nicer. Since it was so cold, we couldn’t do a lot of the main things (hiking and swimming) that Cinque Terre had to offer. It was still a gorgeous area though, and I feel extremely lucky that we were able to spend Easter together on the Italian Riviera.

After we left Cinque Terre, we drove through Tuscany to Rome. My inner Twilight fan-girl came roaring out when we stopped at a hilltop town called Volterra, Italy. Parts of the Twilight movies were filmed in this town and the original gangster vampires were called the Volturi. When we walked through the gates to enter the city, there was a massive parade going on. People were dressed in traditional clothes and were all playing drums and waving flags. It was really, really cool to see. The town prides itself on being ‘supernatural,’ and it definitely had a strange aura to it. My dad visited a torture museum while my mom and I explored the city. It was a really awesome stop on our way to Rome. A few (carsick) hours later, we arrived in Rome. My dad was nearly hyperventilating bout driving through Rome during rush hour – poor timing, we know – but I was confident in my navigating abilities. We pulled up to the rental car shop with no problems at all. From there, we went to one of the most beautiful hotels I’ve ever stayed in. It opened two months ago and was fully renovated. Everything was beautifully designed and so convenient. ….there was even a “do not disturb” button next to the bed. The hotel was also located in one of the best parts of the city. We could walk to most of the main attractions in Rome easily. The first day we did a hop-on-hop-off tour and saw most of the city from the comfort of a bus. We got out at a lot of the stops and explored some of the smaller attractions in Rome. We also ate lunch at a restaurant that served “sexy wine.” I’m fairly certain it was just fruit juice, but it was delicious nonetheless. My mom considered buying a bottle of it for our wine connoisseur friend (yes, you, Mrs. Timm), but decided the quality wouldn’t quite be up to her standard. The next day, we had a guided tour of the Coliseum. We took dozens of pictures and I still don’t think we did it justice. It was absolutely massive. It kind of creeped me out knowing that people were mauled by lions in the same place that I was standing, but I feel really lucky to have seen such an amazing place in person. The following day we got to see the Vatican. It was one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my life. The church was beyond enormous…you could hardly see one end to the other. The gold ceilings and statues in the church were gorgeous. I felt bad taking pictures in there, so I only have a few. It was really an amazing experience to be in such a sacred place with my parents. Overall, Rome was my favorite city on our Italy trip. There was so much to see and do – and the food was delicious. It was a great way to end an amazing ten days of travel with my parents.

We flew to Malta next, and made it to the villa in Valletta no problem. The weather was gorgeous in Malta compared to how it was in Italy, and it felt great to not wear a coat outside! I showed my parents around Valletta that evening, and we ate at a phenomenal restaurant. I had my first good hamburger since leaving the Midwest, and I almost cried from the taste of decent beef. The next day, we took the ferry to Gozo and spent the day walking around and seeing the island. We managed to see the castle, the capital city of Victoria, the Azure Window, the caves, and eat lunch in a span of a few hours. We also drank Gozitan wine while sitting two feet away from the Mediterranean Sea. We crashed that night and woke up early to get to the fish market. We walked up and down the dozens of tents that are full of stuff to sell. We also ate at one of my favorite restaurants. My dad and I ate traditional Maltese pizza and had milkshakes. We travelled back to the villa after that and took it easy for a while. It was nice to enjoy the view of the sea from the villa and relax for once on the the trip. We spent the next day looking at my school, my residence and other areas of Malta. Later that night, we went to the more modern part of Malta, Sliema, and ate dinner at another one of my favorite restaurants. We drank more good wine and had pasta…and a white chocolate Oreo crepe for dessert. I promise you that the crepe is more delicious than it sounds.

My dad left the next morning, so we had to say goodbye in Sliema. I was really, really sad to have him leave, but travelling all over Italy and showing him Malta was one of the highlights of my life so far. I feel so blessed to have parents that were willing to make the 20 hour trip to come visit me. My mom moved out of the villa and into the residence the next morning. I think she will really appreciate having a clean kitchen when she goes back home. On Thursday, at 3:00 a.m., we got to the airport for our flight to Brussels. The flight was bumpy…and I got plane-sick. Apparently that’s a thing. Luckily the flight was fairly short and I was able to get to land quickly. The city of Brussels is so pretty. The mix of modern office buildings and historic churches and government buildings. The Grand Place was an area full of massive old buildings. They looked like castles. You can see the pictures on my pictures page…it was one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen. The waffles in Brussels were as good as I expected them to be. They were fresh, fluffy, and sweet. I had one that was caramelized, one with whipped cream and strawberries, and one with chocolate sauce, chocolate ice cream and caramel ice cream. I also drank my first full beer in Brussels at a bar called Delirium. I hate the taste of beer so I never drink it…but I figured it would be a crime to be in the beer capital of the world and not drink one. I ordered a liter (wanted a glass, got flustered when ordering and ended up with a liter) of apple-flavored beer. I drank the entire thing and was rather proud of myself. My mom and I spent a lot of time shopping in Brussels as well. It was nice to shop at some familiar stores and get some new clothes. Overall, our trip to Brussels was much more slower-paced than our adventure in Italy, but I really loved it. The city is one of the most beautiful I’ve seen.

My mom has been living with me at the residence since we got back from Brussels. We’ve gone to the beach, shopped in Sliema, and enjoyed some more food. We’re both so excited for my aunts and cousin to arrive on Sunday. They’ll spend a few days in Malta and then we’re off to Paris for a long weekend!

Whew. Sorry that was so long! I’ve got a lot more coming up too! After travelling to Paris, my mom will head back to Nebraska. One week later, my friend Lauren travels to see me!! We have a trip to Barcelona planned during her stay…I’m SO excited to visit one of the cities on my bucket list! One day after she leaves, Shawn arrives! He and I have a trip to Switzerland planned, and we’re working on planning another trip to Sicily. As soon as he leaves, finals start for me. My last final is June 16th, and I’ll be home June 18th! I was originally supposed to arrive home July 2nd, but we rescheduled my flight so I could by home for my mom’s 50th birthday and my 21st birthday on June 26th! It’s been a crazy month for me, but I’ve loved every single second of it. Look at my pictures page to see the pictures from my trip!!

Xoxox,

Megan