Our good friends Rachael and Paul arrived Sunday around noon and after picking them up at the train station, taking the bus to San Nicola and introducing then to the stairs of Genova, we started our final adventures of traveling around Italy! We spent Sunday afternoon with a quick introduction to Genova where we finished our evening off by taking the funiculare to Righi for what the students referred to as meters and liters. We shared a meter long pizza with four different types of their pizzas and a liter of vino! It was so good! This was Nick and I’s second time visiting this restaurant, Ristorante Montellegro, but unfortunately the last time I felt ill so I didn’t get to eat.
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| Nick & I in Genova’s Harbour |
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| Funicular |
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| Our meter of pizza |
Will our bellies full, we enjoyed a beautiful walk back down to the villa via the crueza as the sun was setting over the Mediterranean.
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| Genova at night |
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| Genova at night |
The next morning was an early one for us as we were set to catch the seven a.m. train to Pisa. As you may remember on the day trip to Pisa a couple weeks ago it was so nasty that I didn’t get to visit the town square, and I was determined that I was going to be a tourist and take that famous picture with The Leaning Tour. Well, mission accomplished! We had the most beautiful weather to visit Pisa and get the most hilarious photos of us all either holding up or pushing over the tower.
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| Leaning Tower of Pisa |
After a quick visit in the cathedral, we headed back to the train station and we were on our way to Firenze. While our accommodations there weren’t glamorous, our location was perfect! They were right by the train station and Nick and I’s room overlooked Santa Maria Novella, one of my favorite churches in Florence. After quickly checking into our accommodations, we were off again. I introduced Rachael to Firenze’s oldest perfumeria, where she bought the best smelling hand lotion! We then our way through the town, stopping to get our favorite sandwiches and the heading to up to visit Piazzale Michelangelo and San Miniato before making our way back to the hotel and change for dinner at Enoteca Pitti. What a great way to end a great day in Firenze, we had the best meals with the best vino.
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| Chiesa Santa Maria Novella |
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| Nick, Paul & Rach wait in line for sandwiches |
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| Firenze |
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| Cheese plate at Enotecca Pitti |
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| Yum! |
Again, with our bellies full and some of us a little tipsy, we headed back for a good nights sleep, as we were up early the next morning in hopes of being able to visit David! I hadn’t booked tickets in advance because they charge an outrageous €4 booking fee in addition to your ticket. But with a short wait we were able to get in, thankfully, as Nick read an article the other day that they actually don’t know how much longer David will be on display as X-rays have shown that he has microscopic fractures in his ankles, hmmm…. glad we got to see him one last time!
Of course a trip to Firenze isn’t complete without a stop for some of Firenze’s best hot chocolate!
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| Hot Chocolate in Firenze |
When then shopped our way over Ponte Vecchio, where I was able to get the best leather wallet at the same place I bought my purse in February. We then made our way to The Boboli Gardens, the view of Tuscany from here is just stunning and I am so thankful that the weather was absolutely beautiful for my last visit to one of my favorite places.
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| Ponte Vecchio |
After an awesome afternoon wondering around the gardens, we gathered our bags and headed to the train station to catch our train to Roma. Shortly after arriving and checking into our awesome flat, probably the best Airbnb I have stayed in to date, we made our way to The Spanish Steps for a walking tour. On our tour we were able to visit The Pantheon and Trevi Fountain, where we had fun taking selfies of selfies 🙂 we ate dinner nearby at a delicious restaurant, Rach and I both had the house lasagna.
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| Selfie of selfies |
I was sad that we weren’t able to spend more time at the flat, because it was really nice. But we were on a mission to see the most of Roma that we could! Up again bright and early Wednesday morning we first made our way to The Colosseo, which was a great idea, there was no lines and hardly anybody in there when we arrived! It was awesome to be able to visit without the hoards of people. Then after a quick visit to a The Roman Forum we made our way to Vatican City. Although the lines looked intimidatingfir St Peters, it didn’t take us nearly as long as we anticipated to get in. Rach and Paul decided to climb the dome, while Nick and I waited below. I sadly wrote out the last post cards that I will likely ever send from St Peters!
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| Nick & I and our final Colosseum shot |
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| Rach & Paul at The Colosseum |
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| St. Peter’s |
For me a trip to Roma is not complete without a visit to Roma’s Irish Pub for some nachos and a pint of Smithwick’s, finally satisfied with my “Mexican fix”, we were headed back to retrieve our luggage and board our train back to Genova.
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| Nacho yumminess |
The weather was absolutly fantastic and the company was even better. I am so thrilled that Rach and Paul were able to make the trip over to visit and we were able to show them around the beautiful country that we have thankfully been able to call home for the past eight months!
Photos from our wonderful trip with Rachael and Paul can be found
here!
