Italy

Italy trip day 1:

After planning a trip to Australia and then last minute changing our minds to Italy, Thursday morning we sped down to the Colorado Springs airport (running really late, of course) to catch our flight. We were relieved to make it in time and got situated on the plane just as they announced there was maintenance issues...uuuugh :( So we waited at the airport for a few more hours, played a couple rounds of hearts and research a little more about Italy. We made it to Washington DC, but missed our connection to Rome :( Nonetheless, we had a good time at our hotel and eating hot dogs and burritos at the local gas station for dinner :) 

Day 2: 

We slept in, enjoyed the hotel and then went to the Air and Space Museum. Thankfully we made our flight to Rome! To make it even better, mom, dad and Keith and I all got our own rows. That makes flying internationally so much better!

Day 3:

We finally got to Rome, and we land early in the morning so we have all day to explore! 

                            

Day 4:

This day was Sunday and we really wanted to go to church but man was it hard to find! The boys went to rent the car and mom and I took the metro to church. The ipad (aka the map/directions to church) died. We knew we were so close, but just could not find it. At one point we even heard hymns being sung! But we walked up and down the streets and could not find a steeple. We ran into these old Itailan women and in english and then in Spanish, tried to ask them if they knew where the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was. They responded in complete Italian, but acted like they knew what we were talking about, and told us to turn around. We walked back up the hill and it was literally right in front of us! We stood in the parking lot and didnt recognize it because it looked different than we expected. Mom and I got a good laugh from it! Dad and Keith also had their share of difficulties, with the car rental but eventually met up with us at church. It was a small branch and they gave us headphones and translated for us. It was really neat! 

Afterwards, a member took us to the Temple site! 

 

Then we drove up the Tuscany. I was SOO impressed with its beauty and died over the food. Really. It is definately some of the best food I have ever tasted. (And I didnt think i particually liked Italian food. Boy, was I so wrong)

We ended the day in Florence. We saw the Michal Angelo but that is about it. That and our hotel (it had an excellent breakfast in the morning!) 

Day 5: My favorite Day 

Cinque Terre is off the charts! It is one of the sickest places I have seen. There are 5 quaint, bright cities on the coast that you can hike to. You can also take a train and even drive to some (we did all three) but my favorite was hiking it. The views were so gorgeous. We went to all five and enjoyed the scenery, the music and of course the food and gelato.

Dad found a cute bed and breakfast. The sweet owner didnt know any english but someone would translate and she would do the best she could. Dad adored her and said she reminded him of his grandma Oma :) We were tempted to stay the night, but we just had too much still left to see so we decided to made the drive back to Rome that night. It was a very eventful night. We were all hyper- slash/ delirious and everything was so funny. We would see castles in the distance and would try and make our way towards it.  You cant really tell in the picture but we drove up what I think was a bike path, because the walls got more and more narrow and we couldnt turn around! 

We of course stopped in Pisa and saw the Leaning Tower. It was great. After Pisa, Keith drove the rest of the way back to Rome and we "slept" in the smallest car you have ever seen..

Day 6: 

We end up back in Rome. This day we did the Sistine Chapel (Although we call it the Sasine Chapel) It reminded me of Paris in the sense that it was awesome to be able to be at such a historic place that you have heard so much about your whole life, yet the fact that it SO packed with people and expensive almost outweighed the awesomeness of it. We were exhausted from the night before, and stood outside in a line for an hour before getting in. Nevertheless,it was beautiful and I am grateful we got to see it. Then we went to the nicest hotel I have never stayed at. It was a Waldorf Astoria with the best Spa in Europe. We took a nice long nap and ate pizza by the pool at night. They had some of the best live music I have ever heard. I wish we would have been able to stay longer and enjoy the hotel more.

Day 7: 

We basically just left. With happy stomachs and hearts :) It was one of our favorite trips.