Spring Break in Italy

God provided. Wow. After Drew’s 72 hour flight and a few changes in plans, I met Drew at the bus station in Denia on Saturday morning and greeted him with the “run and jump”. He was quite dirty and asked at least 3 times if he could please just shower. Sure thing. I wanted to hear all about the trip and catch up, but knew he had to sleep, so I tucked him in for a nap. We toured Denia in the afternoon and stopped at my “second familia” (Linds’ house) to show off my “guapo novio”. At night, Drew, Linds and I went to meet some other students at Paddy’s (the Irish pub owned by Bastiaan-a dutch guy). Drew and I took a walk Sunday before packing our bags and heading out to see a bit more of the city. Travel was perfect. Our stops included Pisa, Florence, Rome and Cinque Terra. In Pisa, we saw the Leaning Tower and took a stroll down the coast. Our exploration through Florence was fantastic. We were both pretty hungry, so we went to a restaurant and got a pizza and some bruschetta. We met a couple from New Orleans and they told us to hed to the Piazza Pitti. This is a huge botanical garden, a castle, other buildings and what not. We could have spent hours here, but our time was precious. We headed back across the famous “joyeria” bridge and grabbed a gelato, sat, peed, and bought some wine and cheese and tomatoes. We went back to the room and hung out for a bit. We took another nap. Jet lag was seriously hurting Drew. This night we went to a great restaurant. On the menu: 1 bottle of wine, 1 bottle of water, 1 bruschetta, 1 ravioli, 1 pork chop with fritas. Our waitress spoke perfect English (along with most people in Florence and Rome) and so we quickly made friends with her. She gave us some suggestions on where to go, so we grabbed a drink at this chic bar and met 2 Italian guys. I swear you could throw Drew into a den with lions and he’d probably make friends with them in 2 minutes. Rome was BIG. We got off the train and providentially another hotel landed in our laps. Again, it was centrally located and inexpensive. We settled in and went to the grocery store. Very smart idea. We got a whole meal and then some for 20 euros. We went back to the room and scarfed on Pringle’s, bread with pesto, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese, some wine. We toured around a lot. We saw the monument and museum for the fallen soldiers of WWI, got a tour of the colloseum (Drew was so so so jacked to see this. Kevin, my brother, would have enjoyed it too I think), walked a long way to the Vatican and visited a couple church’s. We were both whipped at the end of the day and called it a night at about 10pm. Cinque Terra. Indescribable. A national park? People really live there? Population: 300? Ya. The most glorious sites I have ever seen. Drew and I were contemplating heading here because traveling 4 hours didn’t seem worth it to us and we wanted to see more of Rome, but I am SO glad we did. For both of us, it was the best part of our trip. The pictures speak so clearly of our experience. I am not sure how to express it in words. We were going to take it super easy, but decided half way up the mountain that we were going for a bit of a hike (from our town to the one next door). We went to a little café and got sandwiches and French Fries and some wine and headed out to watch the sun set over the sea. On the horizon was a battleship, the most beautiful sunset glistening off the water, and a long line of mountains. Very picturesque. Headed back and called it a night. Travel is travel. I am back home now, ready to crack down on homework and get back to the real world. Already missing Drew as well as home. See most of you soon though. Pictures say so much more than words, but there are so many. I picked the ones I thought would say the most, but all the others are on shutterfly. Enjoy.
Cinque Terra
The last day it was sunny for us and so we soaked up some rays in the port.
Colloseum in Rome
Leaning Tower of Pisa