Italy--
There are so many things to be said about Italy. The first thing to be said is that I am scheduling another visit. From Athens we flew to Rome. I was wearing a Mizzou t-shirt and some other Missouri fans found me in the airport. So that was fun. We dropped off our things at the hotel and went immediatly to a tour of the coloseum. That was amazing! Our tour guide was an archeologist which immediatly made me like her and she knew exactly what she was talking about and gave a great tour! After spending some time walking around this amazing place we took another tour of Rome hitting spots like the Wedding Cake, Trevili Fountian, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, and of course more ruins. The thing that really amazed me about Rome was that so many of the ruins were still in such great shape that it was easy to imagine what things must have really looked like. Its an understatement to say that it was great, the only thing about Rome is that there is an immesnse population of tourists. Actually I should say that about everywhere I went in Italy. Yes, I know that I was a toursist as well, but I was so used to traveling and not being around Americans, it was weird, and yes almost annoying, to hear so many other Americans. Anyway, the next morning we went through Rome and had some really interesting experiences. We stopped to get some gelato, so Rachael orders first and the guy (who was about our age) spoke perfect english to her. Rachael walks away and Jess and I try to order. We were going to split so we pointed to one flavor and the guy goes of in Italian for about a minute, we were so confused, I just started laughing. So now that I am laughing he starts laughing and tries to show us other flavors. So Jess says "Yeah, that's fine, just do whatever." The guy ends up giving us the biggest bowl they have and heaps 9 different flavors in it. We are laughing the entire time as we don't have a clue as to what is goin in and he is laughing. So we get in line behind Rachael and she turns to look at us and there we are, holding the mothership. Everyone working there is laughing, so we sat down and proceeded to eat the entire thing right there. Yes, that was my gelato expereince. We spent the rest of the day exploring, and we even found a race track where they had chariot races; yes just like Ben Hur. People use it for a jogging park now, how crazy is that. These trips have really shown me the difference in perception of history and old that Americans have vs Europeans. The next we drove through Tuscany, which was beautiful, I think driving through Italy was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We stopped in Pisa (where I had some pizza) and then headed to Florence. I love Florence. We walked around and stopped at a small cafe across the street from our hotel where I had some of the best dessert ever and the best cannoli of my life. The next morning we went to see the David, explored some of the city and then toured the Uffizzi Gallery. After that we made our way to the flea market which is a maze in itself, and then found a little resteraunt in an ally. In there we found where the locals eat, and thank God because the food was amazing and the people were awesome! They gave us their favorite dessert and all came to say goodbye when we left. The next day we took a day trip to Venice. We took a little boat to the sinking city and spent the day walking around this city that seems to have been frozen in time. It is exactly what you would expect in Italy, the small streets, old buildings, and gondala rides with an Italian singing his heart out. It was a beautiful city and it served me the best pizza of the trip. We went back to Florence where I got my Garfield sized piece of lasguana that I had been waiting for the entire trip. The next morning I poped in at the cafe to grab some cannolis for the ride back to Rome and then jumped on the bus. We headed back to Rome, and then to Athens, and then back to Cyprus. Italy was amazing, when we were driving through Italy it made me want to cry because I never thought I would actually be able to do the things that I have and see the things that I have seen and I am only 21. If God has given this all to me so early in my life, what else does He have waiting?
Pictures:
http://missouri.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2214565&l=4cf3d&id=15934718