Firenze and Roma

Florence is a fancy-looking city. It's beautiful, known for art, and considerably warmer than the 3 previous Italian cities we visited, so you know, I was happy. Mainly, we just walked around and took in the views, such as:

Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore

Palazzo Vecchio

Lots of naked statues, lots of nude fighting. I know they were going for the whole human-body-beauty thing but every time I see naked people battling I think "it would be so impractical to be fighting naked and without armor." I know, I know, the point wasn't to be realistic. The statues are truly amazing to look at.

We didn't have much time here and we opted to take a day trip to Lucca on one of our 3 days. Joel and I are suckers for small towns, and Lucca did not disappoint. While most people online were underwhelmed by Lucca we enjoyed the fact that there isn't much to see. Small towns make us slow down, stroll, and take our time. Walking the old city walls that are tree-lined was just really fulfilling.

This is how we happened upon the best gelato I have ever had in my life. The gelato was just on the next level, blowing other gelatos out of the water. The lady that worked there happily told us that all the gelato was made in house, clearly, this is the secret ingredient.

We also climbed up to the top of this stunning tree topped tower:

I have lots of out-take photos with Joel's face, fingers, and hands because Joel thinks it's hilarious to photo bomb me, see below:

...And now, onward to Rome...some theme music to get you in the mood (this song played in both of our heads for our entire week in Rome)



Rome was pretty wowzers. Thank you, Emily Spiegel, for the great Rome recommendations including the best pizza we had in Italy. What we loved about Rome is that it's this bustling city with amazing sites but 5 minutes from where the locals live, it's not all just tourists or vendors like some cities. Of course, the touristic sites are overrun with tourists, even in December (I can't even fathom what madness ensues in summer time). We took way too many photos at the Coliseum and the Forum and learned more about how violent humans are. Really though, they would let lions, rhinos, elephants, bears, etc. loose with some gladiators to entertain. I think that were I a Roman back then I would not have attended since I cannot bear to watch UFC fighting either.

San Paolo fuori le Mura a.k.a. Saint Paul's Outside the Walls

This cathedral has photos of each Pope and some believe that when space runs out, the end times are here...they're almost out of space!

Rome has a little bit of everything: neighborhoods with character, street art, lots of ancient things, river view. I'll let the pictures speak for me.

Garbatella neighborhood

Garbatella neighborhood

Tiber River

Tiber through the trees

The Smallest Country- Vatican City

In case you ever want to visit somewhere more crowded than the Louvre, go visit the Vatican the day before a Catholic holiday. We got to check out the world's smallest country after waiting almost 2 hours in line to get in. Lesson learned, buy the tickets online. The Vatican is pretty much a cathedral along with a few museums (of Louvre quality). One of my favorite parts, sadly, not pictured, was a signed Argentinian soccer jersey from all the men's national team. Pretty funny to see Messi sign a jersey for the Pope. Below see Vatican decadence:

not actually in the Vatican, but just around the corner from it

And so our visit to Italy comes to an end. Some parting thoughts...
-I enjoyed speaking Spanish while the other person spoke Italian and we understood each other. (However, Joel read that this is considered rude.)
- Pizza is cheap everywhere and WAY better quality than the cheap pizza in the U.S., but I'm happy to report that California holds its own when it comes to good pizza.
-I should have eaten more gelato.
-Fresh pasta, yummmmmm
-If I had to live in Europe, Rome would be one of my top picks.
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more Rome & Vatican pictures