Spring Break in Rome

Sitting in beautiful Italy with my Papaw.

For my spring break, or Semana Santa, as it's called here in Spain, my grandparents flew over from the states to spend the week with me. It was WONDERFUL to have a little piece of home here with me finally! I absolutely loved having them here with me and getting to share my Spanish skills with them because in reality, none of my family has ever really heard me speak Spanish so it was great to see how their eyes lit up when I could speak to the people at the restaurants or with the locals.

ITALY!!

The first few days they were here we took a tour of Madrid and I got to show them the beautiful city that I now call home. I also shared with them the exciting world of public transportation. Since the little suburb I live in is kind of far from the actual city, we took the metro and then the bus to get to my house, here in Villaviciosa. I knew Granna would be just thrilled about all the people on the metro but in the end they were both very appreciative of the experience because taking the bus and the metro would have been something they would not have done on their own. :) Look at me, I'm a local, I know how to do stuff! Anyways, I think they really enjoyed Madrid, I know I did. It's such a beautiful and lively city. Especially they day they arrived, there was a nationwide strike so Granna was freaking out a little when I didn't arrive at their hotel at the exact time I said I'd be there. But it all turned out to be ok in the end, we weren't really bothered by the strike and I got there safe and sound.

NUTELLA GELATO

When we took off for Rome, I was more than excited, despite having to wake up at the butt crack of dawn, I was actually pretty energized when we got there! I had never been to Italy before so I couldn't wait to experience everything! I was so excited about Italian food, and oh my gosh these Italians did NOT disappoint. I probably gained like 20 pounds just being there for 4 days, the food was SO good, like nothing I'd ever had before. And the gelato! OH MY WORD. I tried nutella gelato, and coconut, and peach, and cream, and I had like 37498239238749823423 times more energy after that, just ask Papaw, he'll vouch for me. I was like a kid who just chugged 3 Red Bulls. It was AWESOME! I loved the pizza, it was all REAL ham and the pasta, oh gosh, it was lighter tomato sauce than the stuff we have in the states and don't even get me started on the bread. With EVERY meal they gave us bread to start with, and as we all know I'm a complete bread-a-holic so of course I couldn't turn it down...EVER! I mean, come on, it's bread!

Oldest Building in Rome

Gorgeous view from the tour bus.

Inside St. Peter's Basillica

At the Tomb of the Wounded Soldier.

Anyways, the first day we were in Rome we rode the Hop On, Hop Off tour and mapped out all the places we wanted to get off at the next day. I was in complete and total awe of everything I saw. All the buildings were so old and had so much history, I just couldn't even believe! And when we passed the colosseum my mouth dropped. It was the kind of place you only see in pictures and you don't actually picture yourself being there. But I was there! I couldn't get over it! We rode around forever and got to know the city and picked out the prettiest places to go back to later in the week. The second day we were there we took a walking tour of the Vatican. Which, I did not know, but is its own country. It is the only country where no one, besides the pope of course, dies a citizen. And the length of your citizenship depends on your job, once you finish your job there you leave the Vatican and can't live there anymore. All of the homes are owned by the government and no one owns them, like if I wanted to have a summer home, I wouldn't be able to just buy one in the Vatican because you have to be approved to live there. It was really cool actually. While walking inside of the Vatican we saw the inside of the Sisteen Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, everything was more than gorgeous! I couldn't believe how well everything had been preserved over the years, it was so huge and beautiful! I just couldn't get over it, I was like a little kid in a candy store when we stopped there! We even took pictures with a man dressed like a gladiator, it was so cool! I can only imagine how imagine or how extravagant all of the art work was. I have NEVER seen anything like it before! Everywhere you turned there was something new and even more magnificent to look at, I couldn't snap enough pictures or take it all in fast enough. The next day we went and walked through all the places we had mapped off on the Hop On, Hop Off tour. We saw the colosseum, the tomb of the wounded soldier, St. Peter's Basilica (from the outside) and the Trevvi fountain. All of which were so incredible up close! My favorite was definitely the colosseum, it was so gorgeous! I can only imagine how amazing that place was in its hay-day, must have been really something to beat what it is now!

At the colosseum. 

Pina Colada, mmmmm!

Besides all the facts about Italy that I learned along the way of our many tours, I think the thing I learned most was that my grandparents are not exactly like everyone else's grandparents. I'm only 20 so in the states I'm not legal to drink yet, and we had casual drinks after most of our adventures; at first it was weird getting used to but then it turned out to be fun! Of course, since I don't drink much in the states, I had no clue what to order so I went with the ever popular, beer, mojitos, or pina coladas. It was really cool! I even got to teach my Granna, in a restaurant, the Ai Se Eu Ti Pego dance! (For those of you who don't know, that's a really popular Portuguese song). That was HILARIOUS! I had such a great time in Rome, I was REALLY sad to see my time with my grandparents end. It made me homesick to see them go, it was like a little tease to have family here for such a short period of time. But it was definitely a trip I will NEVER forget, and I now know where I want to go on my honeymoon!

The Trevvi Fountain