Milan

Our final stop on our grand tour of Italy: Milan.

Honestly, I had heard mixed reactions about Milan and thought I wouldn't like it. Surprisingly the city was rather nice as it was clean, easy to navigate and had a beautiful Cathedral and center area.

My favorite part was seeing Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper. Through some great luck we were able to reserve tickets the day of, normally tickets are sold out weeks or months in advance. It was stunning and literally took my breath away although I only saw it for 15 minutes as visitors are only permitted to stay in the room for 15 minutes for preservation purposes.

This visit to the Last Supper marked the end of a wonderful two weeks touring around Italy. I saw so much, learned so much, went to cities people dream of going to. I am so grateful for my experience in Italy and all the experiences I have had thus far in Europe. It has been nothing less than amazing.

Milan Cathedral

Exploring the top of the Cathedral and seeing the sights of Milan from above

Vittorio Emanuele Gallery, a mall in Milan

The perfect ending to the perfect trip

Venice

Venice was my favorite!!!

I loved getting lost, standing in St. Mark's square and seeing Murano glass everywhere. It was such a beautiful location for Easter and I am so glad I found a Greek Orthodox Church to attend the night of Easter.

We also had the once in a lifetime opportunity to go on a gondola ride. Superb!! So serene and peaceful!

Venice is the most unique and romantic city I have ever seen. I wish I go back right now!

Pigeon feeding in St. Marks Square

The girls in the square

The 'streets' of Venice

Florence & Pisa

From Sorrento we took a train to Naples, switched lines, and then traveled through Tuscany to Florence.

I really loved Florence, it was a very pedestrian friendly city with the gorgeous Arno river. I loved walking around with my map in hand and going to the museums!!! We went to two museums while there: the Galleria dell'Accademia and the Uffizi Gallery. Although the lines to get in were super long, it was well worth the wait as I was in awe when I saw Michelangelo's David and Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. In awe!

One of my favorite moments in Florence was 1. buying a leather bag and 2. watching the sunset over the city from Michelangelo's Park.

We also did a half-day trip to Pisa. Mostly just to take some photos of us with the leaning tower for our facebook profiles!

The Birth of Venus

David

The Leaning Tower of Pisa

Sunset in the park in Florence

Arno River

Sorrento

Lemons, lemons, lemons. Lemon trees, lemon drinks, lemon gelato.

Sorrento is a small city on a hill with a ton of lemon-made products. It has stunning scenery of mountains and the ocean and is a key spot for travel to Pompeii and Capri.

While there we stayed at the most wonderful B&B with such friendly owners and literally saw the entire city in a day, it is really small, but so quaint.

Capri

For a day we took a ferry from Sorrento and traveled to the island of Capri.

It was a picturesque island with wonderful sights like...

-The Blue Grotto. A limestone cave that is illuminated by sunlight and creates a color blue that is so brilliant. I have never seen such a blue like that before.

-Faraglioni Rocks - huge rocks that protrude out of the water from the coast

-Pebbled beaches

One of my favorite parts of Capri was being able to swim off of the pebbled beach in the Tyrrhenian Sea. Although the water was cold and a jellyfish bit me, it was such an amazing time - swimming off the island of Capri.

Naples & Pompeii

I remember this past summer I was in Boston and fascinated by a History Channel program on Pompeii. Who would have thought that I would actually have the chance to visit Pompeii in just a few months!

I am so glad we made the half day stop to Pompeii. It was beautiful. I loved the large stones we walked on and all of the ancient ruins. It was as if I was walking back in history.

Naples on the hand was not my favorite. There were garbage piles lined up on street corners and you could just tell it was still developing. At the same time, I did have my favorite pizza there.

A few photos of Pompeii:

Rome and Vatican City

My first visit in Italy was to Rome. I loved it! Especially seeing the ancient Roman sites and imagining the grandeur of the Roman Empire. It was a packed 3 days with visits to tourist sites and of course gelato and coffee stops every day.

Here are a few of the highlights we saw:

The Colosseum, truly a gem

Vatican City (including St. Peter's Basilica and the Sistine Chapel) The Chapel was breathtaking, I did not want to leave!

The Pantheon (here is a photo of the ceiling of the Pantheon) The Pantheon's dome inspired the dome in the Capitol building in DC, the dome in St. Peter's Basilica, and so many other buildings around the world. It was amazing to see the inspirational power of the Pantheon in person.

The Spanish Steps of Rome (and had a coffee break near by)

Trevi Fountain (I threw my penny into the fountain so I am guaranteed to return to Rome!)

Of course this is not everything, we also walked around the district of Trastevere, saw the wedding cake and had my first slice of Italian pizza! Rome was beautiful; a city filled with history and breathtaking sites.

Italy

As you all know I went to Italy for spring break!! I just got back tonight to Barcelona (home, sweet, home) and I plan on creating a blog on each city I went to! It will be some-what like a recap of what I did/saw/liked/disliked. This will be my way to re-gather all of my thoughts that I had during the trip and tell you about the AMAZING time I had!!!

I will be writing shortly...

In Love with Paris

Well this weekend I went to Paris and I LOVED IT!

It is such a beautiful city with so much to do!! My best friend's cousin showed me around and it was wonderful!

Here are some highlights of the trip:

Palais Garnier (Paris' Opera House):

Museum d'Orsay (couldn't take photos inside) But it is an old train station that now holds a fabulous museum.

The Louvre - and especially seeing the Code of Hammurabi (so many memories of my history classes: an eye for an eye...):

The gardens of Versaille - stunning. I have never seen anything like them:

Touring the Notre Dame - a must:

Climbing up the MANY steps to the top, top of the Effile Tower! It was exhausting but the views were rewarding:

Walking along the Seine:

And simply walking around Paris, relaxing, and eating crepes of all kinds, macaroons, chocolate mousse, beef stew, cheese, wine and my favorite french onion soup. Delicious. And there was so so much more that we saw!!!

And special thanks to my tour guide for showing me the real Paris!! I had such a fabulous time. I can't wait to go back! But for this week and next I am taking final exams... I will write back when things settle down!