Wine, Church, and Pasta

 

When we first arrived in Italy, this is all that I saw: historic houses with small farm barns and miles and miles of grape vines.

 

We walked the small and winding streets of Assisi Perugia, Italy finding Italian flags hanging everywhere.

 

Numerous doors were open, and the homes were beautiful. I tried to grab pictures quickly so that they didn't think I was a creeper.

 

This restaurant was delicious, I had the "pallotte cace e ove", and I was in heaven.

 

It was very hilly here, which meant a great workout, and the view at the top was amazing.

 

We found this small "farmers market" and sampled the many things they had there. They had lots of homemade pottery, and I got a plate to bring home to my parents. Oh, and they handed out free wine, which I of course drank up.

 

 

I thought that this little entry way was interesting, I loved the way these little towns were structured. It really is an entirely different culture, everyone is so close to each other- physically and emotionally. It was nice to see that.

 

This is the Basilica of San Francesco d'Assisi. This church is one of the most important places of Christian pilgrimage in Italy.St. Francis was born in this city and would go on to live out his life in this city.

 

After visiting the Basilica, we ate dinner and got some gelato. I ate a lot of gelato this trip... 

 

 

And pizza...

 

 

The best part of Rome was going to the Trevi Fountain. I of course threw a penny in and made a wish.

We also got to tour the Vatican.. which made me absolutely speechless. The work was amazing. I was in awe the whole entire time trying not to trip on myself as I marveled at the beauty around me. We also got to see the Sistine Chapel, but of course no cameras were allowed because they did not want the paintings to be destroyed by the flash, but that was unlike anything I have ever seen. I cannot even fathom how Michelangelo painted that. I cannot wrap my head around it. Amazing.

 

Going inside the Colosseum was super cool! I touched every single wall I went past. I couldn't help it, it was enchanting being in there. Grass was overgrown and covered the floor, the stone was marked... I could hear the battles going on in there. I could imagine the intensity.

 

 

 

We got to see The Duomo in Florence as well. It had beautiful gothic structure, and the size of the cathedral was magnificent. These buildings just make my jaw drop.

 

This is the small replica of the Statue of David right outside of the Palazzo Vecchio. This was really cool to see as well. The art here was incredible.

 

One of the high lights was the Ponte Vecchio which is a closed in stone bridge built in Medieval times over the Armo in Florence.

 

 

While we were wandering the streets of Florence we saw this hotel, and I thought it was really funny because we were all from Arizona. It was nice to find a little bit of home in Italy.

 

 

 

That same night, there was a street band playing, so we stopped and enjoyed that along with the other Italians. They were some great saxophone, and trumpet players. Needless to say it was quite the jazzy night. Sooner or later we had to make our way back to the hotel we were staying at. When we did our room was really stinky, and not because of what you think. This toilet has nothing to do with smell, but a bag of cheese did. Our tour guide, Darren, had bought some really stinky cheese in Italy earlier that day and thought it would be funny to leave it in our room. Since that night the deathly cheese made its way to everyone's room during some part of the trip.

 

 

The famous stinky cheese I found in our hotel room

 

 

The toilets were weird though.