Mama Mia! I Went to Italy

 CIAO!

As some of you may know, two yeas ago, my parents purposely planned a three week vacation to Italy without my sister and I. If you don't recall this, please reference the Neitzel Christmas letters years 2014 and 2013. I know it was like a second honeymoon for them and they didn't have to take us but....

Clearly they don't understand Ohana.

Whatever. Two years later I could finally have my revenge... Going to Italy without THEM!

Take that SUCKASSSS. (Sorry Amanda)

Now that you have a little background, I can tell you all about my travels. I took a lot a pictures so prepare yourself.

Florence:

My friend Caro and I decided to leave a couple days early to go to Florence before meeting up with the rest of our group in Rome.

We took a metro, a bus, a train, a plane, another bus and another train until we successfully arrived in Florence.

I don't even remember what mode of transportation this was taken on

Touchdown in Italy

Our hostel! Clearly we had the honeymoon suite lol

The most gorg building I have ever seen. Santa Maria del Fiore

The most gorg building I have ever seen plus gelato  

At the top of the Duomo!

Hiked up 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stairs to see this

But, it was worth it because this was probably the only thing I studied in Architecture class that I remembered

Looking below at all the peasants 

We didn't pay 23 euro to go look at the statue of David. But we saw a copy of it...

My breakfast pretty much everyday

Basilica di Santa Maria Novella

Tomb of Galileo

Tomb of Michelangelo

Seriously so amazing and my new computer desktop background  

A bottle of Tuscany wine overlooking the city. My favorite night of the trip

Oh that's just me doing Florence things

Inside Santa Croce Basilica  

Santa Croce Basilica  

ERRMUHGERD SO CUTE

My favorite meal from the entire trip. Best wine, best bread.

And OHMYLORD best pasta.

I'm ready to return

I would like to thank Allison Proud for her contribution to this trip. I made her type out everything we should do, eat and see while we were there. I did just about everything she suggested and had a fantastic time. SO THANK YOU ALLI.

I would also like to apologize to Allison Proud for sending her pictures and snapchats of all the things she told me to do, eat and see while I was there. I sent her a picture of just about everything she suggested and rubbed it in her face. SO MY BAD ALLI.

Rome:

After 2.5 days in Florence, Caro and I said goodbye to our honeymoon suite and headed to Rome. A couple of our friends from school were meeting us there. Now this is where all the real Lizzie McGuire magic happened.

The Roma Gang

Not sure the name of this...

SO COOL

Just imagine gladiator fights RIGHT HERE

AND HERE

The Roman Ruins 

Ruins

It was really cool to walk around here

The Roman Forum 

This was my favorite thing we did

Look how amazing it all is!!

And look over here too. 

All that's left of a small basilica 

The original bronze doors on the original hinges. 2,000 year old doors!

Arch

My favorite part of all basilicas is the ceiling 

Because it usually is the most decorative and untouched 

Hi yes, I would like to rent a scooter and a hot Italian boy to drive me around?

Pantheon: Not going to lie, I confused the Parthenon with the Pantheon so I was confused when I walked in. 

My friends from back home all took super artistic photos here. So I had to too.

Austin 2011

Alli 2013

 I needed to see what they were looking at.

Pope Francis!!!

Kissing babies and blessing people. Being all awesome.

Vatican 

Vatican Museum: Mummy 

Vatican Museum: Torso. One thing I actually remembered from Art History class

Vatican Museum

Vatican Museum

Vatican. So breathtaking 

Vatican: Pieta by Michelangelo. The only other thing I remember from Art History 

Crazy how huge this place is

You would need a good week to see everything in here

A nice picture of us looking HANGRY

Hey Marissa, did you get to throw a coin in and wish for a life of happiness, true love and good health at the Trevi Fountain? 

NO IT WAS CLOSED.

Trastevere Streets

Oh wait I remembered this from Art History too. 

THE BRITISH ARE COMING!! Wait, that might be wrong.

Hey girl...

Catacombs. Sadly there were no bones and skulls

And the food you may ask? It wasn't as delicious as Florence but it was still great. I posted my two favorite meals below.

We may or may not have had gelato twice a day. 

Sunset over the Roman Forum. I loved it.

And then we walked over to the Coliseum and it looked so magical at night

I had such an awesome trip and I am so glad I got to spend 7 days there. I know I will go back because there is soooo much of Italy I didn't get to see, do and eat. I would love to take my sister back there. Although I had fun making memories and traveling with new people... I do really miss traveling with my sister. Mostly because no one gets my jokes but her. I can't wait for her to visit!

Overall, it was a great trip and I got to see all the places Lizzie saw. Disappointed I didn't see Paolo though... 

I can't wait to go back, but next time I'm staying here....

-Ciao