A Week in Italy!

I can't believe I'm writing about spending a week in Italy - I've always though it would be just a dream, and now I can say I actually did it! 

While I saw some of the most incredible, beautiful, and awe-inspiring sites and cities, I'm not going to pretend it wasn't a tough week for me. As most of you know, I have Celiac Disease and have to maintain a gluten free diet at all times, which is pretty tough in a country whose cuisine mainly revolves around pizza and pasta. With this in mind, I planned ahead and packed snacks in my suitcase to supplement the meals I knew I was going to miss out on. It was pretty hard for me to watch all my friends enjoying their pizzas and pastas while I ate salad after salad, but there were a few days that I found some great gluten free meals!

For instance:

Rome, Sunday night, I was able to get this delicious grilled fish:

Florence, Wednesday, most of the group went on an optional day trip to Tuscany for wine tasting, but I was feeling physically drained and needed a "Casey day" to get some energy back. For dinner I found a restaurant with gluten free "Vegetariana" pizza!! Yum!

Venice, Thursday night, I got delicious gluten free pasta with tomato sauce, basil, and fresh mozzarella:

That about sums up my "real Italian food" experience, but what I did get to have was delicious!!!

Now for the cities themselves - there is a lot to talk about!

I flew into Rome Sunday morning and immediately started a walking tour led by an awesome guy named Justin once I made it to the hostel. The weather was beautiful, sunny and mid-70's. Sunday, I saw the Parthenon, Vittoriano, Castel St. Angelo, Colosseum, and Roman Forums. The Colosseum was by far my favorite site, and I spent the longest time there re-living my childhood by scream-singing, "THIS IS WHAT DREAAAMMSSS ARE MADE OF" from the Lizzie McGuire Movie ;)

Monday was another day in Rome, and Justin led us around the city again to see more famous cathedrals, ending at the Vatican! We toured St. Peter's Basilica and I got to see the Sistine Chapel!! It was unbelievably beautiful. That night after dinner, Stacey, Allie, Meredith, Andy and I went to the Trevi Fountain to see it lit up at night. That was one of my favorite moments from the trip!

Tuesday morning we departed for Florence, and got there by train around 11 am. I loved Florence so much - it is smaller and more walkable than Rome, and it really feels like an authentic Italian city! Danny (our tour leader) took us on a walking tour of the city and we saw the Duomo cathedral, the river with gold market bridge, and the leather markets. I got myself a new Italian leather jacket for way too much money, but YOLO

Before dinner, Danny took us up to the hilltop on the other side of the river for sunset. The views were unbelievable!! Another favorite moment from the trip, for sure!

Wednesday I decided to stay in Florence in order to recuperate a little bit and find some real food, so I spent the day walking around the city and eating a lot. I also climbed the 463 steps to the top of the Duomo and had some more awesome views of the city!

Thursday morning, we left Florence on a bus for Venice!! Venice is truly one of the most beautiful and picturesque cities I have ever seen. The water made me feel so happy and at home, I could have easily spent another 2 days there. I rode on a gondola with Stefano (who sang to us at the beginning) and saw San Marco's Square. This was the night I finally got to eat pasta in Italy! So delicious!!

Friday morning we left Venice (sadness) for Milan, with a stop in Verona for lunch. Verona is a very pretty little city, but extremely rich. It is the city where Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet takes place, and I was able to see the wall and balcony where he got his inspiration! I also wrote a letter to Juilet and dropped it in the post box! The letters are actually read by a group of people and they write you a response eventually, how cool is that?!?! I can't wait to get my letter back from "Juliet" :)

When we got to Milan, I wasn't overly impressed because our hotel was pretty far from the city center. The only good thing was that we actually stayed in a REAL hotel with amazing accommodations!! Danny took us to see the famous Duomo cathedral which was absolutely huge and sorta creeped me out. This was the only city that I didn't care for - it just felt like another big city in any other part of the world.

Knowing I didn't want to spend all day Saturday in Milan, I took a train up to Lake Como with Allie, Meredith, Stacey and Chris!! I'm so glad I did because the views were stunning and the city was a lot of fun to walk around! There were some great street markets with tons of antiques. I saw sailboats and wanted to be on all of them at once even though that's not possible but yeah :'''')))))

My flight on Sunday got me back to London around 2:00 in the afternoon, and I'm honestly so happy to be back here - there's no place like "home"!! :)

I'm not going anywhere this coming weekend, so I'm exciting to finally have time to really explore parts of London that I haven't had the time to see yet! 



Lots of Love,
Casey