As I settle back into my daily routine, it feels somehow different. The calendar on my wall brings tears to my eyes as I look at the photographs of places I have now seen in person. My large poster of Paris (thank you, grandpa) now holds a promise. I am left with memories of stainding in the rain in Verona's main square with a broken umbrella, waiting for a pair that would never arrive; screaming "BASTA" at the people selling splat balls and roses and glow-flying-fan-things; explaining to people what language we are speaking to them in; gifting people with "bon bon's", and just having the most amazing time of my life. I almost didn't get on my return flight home.
Now that I have been back home and had time to settle down and get my miscommunication with work mostly settled, I am able to brace the bittersweet emotions and sort through the abundance of photos from my trip and select a few to share with you. (Keyword:
haha) I had nearly 2,000 of them.
Pre-European Croissant and coffee at O'Hair in Chicago. The croissant was stale and they gave me a caramel latte instead of a mocha. Total: $12. One of my last purchases with the American dollar.
Shopping with Lisa in a high-end thrift shop in Boston. We're talking pricetags around $300 on average for used clothing. Yikes.
Ireland! Yes, it does rather look like Nebraska. More than a bit disappointing.
My first glimpses of Italy! It was all a bit of a blur...
An interesting building-courtyard thing that has something to do with the Olympics (I cannot remember... it seems like so long ago...) where we were harassed by a mariachi band.
For you, Aaron. We tried to ride it, but the owner saw us.
Yes, the bell tower is leaning. It's an Italian trend.
Our first authentic Italian meal.... running on zero sleep in the last 24 hours, I can't even remember what we ordered.
A woman yelled and blew a whistle at Hunter to get out of this tree.
Cliff diving... yes indeed. I jumped off of that there cliff.
This is not really Pria. Pria is far more beautiful, and completely un photographable.
Starting out for Verona... three hours later than planned.
Our hotel room in Verona
...with a secret downstairs room! We had no idea this was included in our room. We stayed up late talking and laughing here after our opera was cancelled due to extreme weather.
Struggling to find our way to a walkway that is actually right in the background of this photo.
The walkway we eventually wound our way around to.
Sweet castle
Vespa's across from a café where we ate a late (and much needed) lunch
Arena Di Verona, where we were supposed to see the opera Aida.
Writing on Juliet's Castle
Our dinner, which we enjoyed for several hours when the opera was rained out. This was the most amazing tortellini I have ever had in my life. Six pieces for 13 Euro... some of my best spent money.
As it turned out, the waiters fell in love with Hayley and me, so we received an abundance of free food, including coffee clouds... you have not lived until you have had a coffee cloud. I want to live on a coffee cloud...
The bathrooms inside the restaurant were swanky, so a photo shoot was necessary.
The bottles aren't filled with perfume. We smelled all of them. They sit on a ledge of lies.
An attempt to sell our ponchos we purchased for the opera.
A suit of armor in our hotel that haunted Hayley after she touched it, only because the sign requested she did not.
Inside Arena Di Verona... our seats were in the front row in the third section back on the right-hand side. Would have been pretty fantastic.
The streets of Verona
Lunching in Soave
Squatty-potty!
Walking, rather hiking, up to the Soave castle
Vinyard in Soave
Soave countryside
Drawbridge. Enough said.
The castle courtyard
Soave is technically only the part of the city enclosed in the outer wall
Lisa & Liz
We rushed and ran people over to beat the tour group pouring out of a bus... it turns out they were senior citizens, and they had trouble with the steep cobblestone path leading up to the castle.
Standing in the enterance of what would have been the torture chamber
Inside the torture chamber, hence the tortured look.
"And then we went this way, and this way, and this way..."
Stepping out of the Venice train station, this is what you see. Your breath is completely taken away, and you have to stare at the canal replacing what would be the main road.
Riding the ferry to San Marco Square
The canal
San Marco Square
The Basilica
The solid-gold alter piece inside the Basilica you had to pay two euro to see
One of my favorite pictures from Venice-- a preserved hand! Wicked.
And some leg bones.
And a skull. The container for the skull was all fogged up-- on the inside....
The ceiling of the Basilica, completely mosaic.
The outside of the Basilica, undergoing some renovations, sadly.
Venice is full of gorgeous little canals, like this one.
All the architecture is incredible. It makes everything in America seem so young and boring.
A European public drinking fountain. The bottom pool is for your dog to drink from.
The streets of Venice
A (very creepy) mask shop
An island Hayley and I originally thought to possibly be the haunted island Poveglia.
Riding the ferry back to Venice from Murano.
My yacht. We didn't ride it this trip.
Gondola ride! It was an absolutely amazing experience, worth every cent. Our gondolier wouldn't sing for us, but he was extremely informational about all the buildings we went past. We rode past other gondolas that had people playing accordion and guitar for the passengers and serenading down the canals-- it was awesome.
This group of guys thought they were so awesome, backward hats, sunglasses, muscle shirts, so they figured it would be super manly to all get in a little boat together and go for a ride.
We all sipped Bellini's on our ride
Our gondolier was kind enough to pose with L&L for a photo after the ride
Train ride to Cinque Terre.... We party hard.
Train layover in Milan... Duke Prospero was on my mind the entire time.
My first glimpse of the Mediterranean! Absolutely breathtaking.
Immediately after our 8 hours of train rides, we see this... did I mention, breathtaking.
The view from our dining room. For real.
Riomaggiore
The owners of the apartment we rented in Cinque Terre had a cat who wandered about the property who went by the name of 'Ross'. Sarah fed him cheese. He came back with friends.
The first of our neighbors we saw was a man gardening in a speedo. Only in Italy.
The winding streets inbetween the houses, connected to the houses by large sets of staircases. Total number of stairs from our house to the main street in Riomaggiore: 106. Now, imagine doing that like, 10 times a day. My calves feel amazing.
Beach at Riomaggiore. Hunter and I went swimming in the dark. It was one of the most frightening and incredible experiences.
Beach yoga
The main (and really the only) street in Riomaggiore
Sunset view from Lisa & Liz's balcony
Riomaggiore at night
Ferry ride away from Riomaggiore, take in the color of the water...
Beach at Vernassa-- there is so much sea glass to be found! Came away with an awesome sunburn, excluding a fine, white handprint on my arm.
Cliff-diving at Vernassa-- a little bit frightening at first. The water is very deep.
The town of Vernassa
Deserts after a wonderful dinner in Riomaggiore-- the petals are made of chocolate.
Potential for the most epic ding-dong ditch ever.
Our dining room in Riomaggiore.
Saying goodbye to Cinque Terre...
One of my best purchases in Italy. Everyone laughed at first, but once they all had one, they realized how brilliant an idea it actually was.
Our (swanky) hotel in Lucca gave us each a pair of fluffy slippers--which we rocked the majority of our stay.
The hotel room. I'm still not convinced it wasn't haunted.
The whole place was filled with the most beautiful displays of hydrangeas I've ever seen. The little tray next to the vase held Nutella candies.
Lisa & Liz's room.
The lobby of the hotel, absolutely stuffed with antiques.
The dining room where they served us a beautiful breakfast every morning.
The hotel cat, "Chi-Cho", who was immediately named "Cheeto".
A small caurosel in Lucca with horses wearing rainbow tufts... or are they rainbow unicorns....
The most awesome gelato shop, seriously inspiring. It was like Red Mango--with swings! And gelato instead of frozen yogurt...
The Killers literally played almost a week after I left Italy. I was seriously depressed for a while.
My favorite place in Lucca....
Touring a castle winery, pre-vespa tour.
Tuscany, from the top of the winery tower. This is the countryside we vespa'd through.
This may have been my favorite street we rode down. It felt very fantasy-like.
I got the best Vespa... this is the key Lisa stole from me after returning my purse.
Our line of Vespa's
Lunching at a restaurant halfway through the tour. The spicy spaghetti needed more spice... my lips burned for several hours after.
We also discovered a lounging stormtrooper on our travels...
Hayley and our tour guide, Jason, "connecting"...
Tuscany family photo
Pisa! This was as much as we saw, after we missed our train to Florence.
The Duomo
"463 stairs, no lift"-- there were a few people we met on the way up who should have seen this sign.
463 treacherous, sweaty, hot, dank, smelly steps later... bam, the rooftops of Florence.
Sadly, the Duomo is completely covered in vandalism. This, however, was too funny not to capture.
Inside the Duomo's dome. The lower paintings are disturbing portraits of hell.
After the Duomo, we hit up Hard Rock Café for some much-craved American food and margarita's. Best. Nachos. Ever.
Hotel in Florence-- right by the Duomo. The bells surprised us by ringing at 7:45 am, of all times.
Sitting on the steps of the Duomo in the evening, watching the street vendors shoot flying, glowing things into the air.
Breakfast at the airport in Venice.
On our way to Paris!
Paris traffic is insane. They also have a special lane for busses and taxi's and bikes. It's pretty nice when you're relying on taxis.
You know how sometimes when they are doing construction on one side of the road, they will put a stoplight on either side so one side of traffic goes, then the other side goes? Yeah, both sides of the light turned green at the same time. Hence the awesome traffic jam. All the drivers were screaming at each other in angry French.
Paris!
It's a public piano! I wanted to play it so badly, but we never got the chance.
Standing in front of La Siene
The Eiffel Tower!
It's a lot smaller than you imagine it.
The carousel next to the Eiffel Tower. This carousel had motorcycles on it...
Biking through the Louvre courtyard on our evening tour.
Sarah, streets of Paris, disappointing bike tour.
Pretty ride, though.
This was probably my favorite section of the bike ride.
Selfie, on a bike, in Paris.
Sunset on the ferry ride following the bike tour.
We did not have uninteresting neighbors.
Eating our expensive salads we were so craving at a Parisian café.
The bread was absolutely fantastic.
The Louvre!
Inside the courtyard
Being awesome.
Though we ourselves were not the subject of any pickpocketing, it is very clear why it is such a huge spot for them (see below picture)
The entire inside of the Louvre was a thick sea of people.
View of the courtyard from a window inside the Louvre.
There she is...
More interesting than the Mona Lisa, however, was this person. As you push your way through the intense mob crowding the painting, you realize there is a very large, blue sunhat obscuring your vision. As you get closer to the frilly, obnoxious thing, you discover it is an Asian man.
The architecture inside the Louvre is as incredible as the art it holds.
Reading about the dear Etruscans and giving our feet a break.
The ever-reclining Etruscans. What a life.
Savoring a cool air-conditioning vent.
My personal favorite part of the Louvre, the giant Sphinx.
Showering ducks in the pond outside the Louvre with pretzels.
After once again getting horribly lost in the winding and confusing underground Metro station, we finally make our way to the Eiffel tower, at 11:00 at night.
Which, I might add, is exactly what time they set off sparklers on the entire structure. They are not lit up in this picture.
It grew surprisingly cold as we sat there sleeping and speaking in fluent Russian.
The (solid gold) gates of Versailles!
A fraction of the line for entry to Versailles, which we did not have to wait in.
The grand Hall of Mirrors
The king's bedchamber.
And the queen's.
Backside of Versailles
The incredibly vast gardens
Grove of Apollo's Bath in the gardens of Versailles.
More of the gardens and the fountains they contain, which were not running,unfortunately.
This, my friends, is the bridge from Inception.
Our apartment elevator, maximum capacity 3 persons.
The street our apartment faced.
Notre Dame! We didn't go inside, sadly.
At first, we thought we were being bombed. Then we realized it was merely a military plane parade.
The Paris Opera House!
Masquerade...
The architecture was incredibly grand, even more so than in Phantom of the Opera.
We returned later that day to see an actual ballet at the opera house.
Our box seats, directly facing the center of the stage. This is what you get for a stranger taking the picture for you.
The view from our box. Did I mention we had the front seats?
The chandelier....
Box five wasn't empty.... *gasp*
The statues they show in the beginning of Phantom!
Like I said, awesome seats.
Posing on the railing of the box.
A shot of the ballet we saw. The set was incredible.
The real, velvet curtains.
Balcony shot in the main lobby.
Riding the banisters. 'Cause we are just that classy.
This door was right next to the elevator in our apartment...
Seems pretty legit.
Vive la France!
I invested in a 4 euro scarf specifically for this.
This is the actual intersection where a barricade would have been built...
Rue Mondetour & Rue Rambuteau.
An uphill moving sidewalk!
Rue de Rivoli... ravioli....
Ahhh.... back to American food....
And, Scene.
