The Best Place I've Ever Been

^^Burano is famous for it's lace

If I could live anywhere in the world I might choose the island of Burano, where I could choose my house based on color. Mine would be periwinkle. And all day I could just sit and watch old ladies make lace, stitch after tiny stitch, until my head hurt from watching. And there are no cars, and Italian gentlemen sit and argue over their gelato like it's a movie.

Marks

Picture taken in Venice, Italy, where buildings are marked by the ancient and the only yesterday.

It must be addressed, I am fascinated by graffiti.

I am fascinated by people's need to put their mark on the world, and the thought that the only way to do it is to cover up someone else's mark. True, I know your name, the name you so boldly scribbled on the inside walls of the steps to the top of Florence's Duomo and bathroom stalls, and I have no idea what the names of each builder who made those stairs were. But the stairs are charged admission for and no one is coming to see your name.

Not to say that I don't enjoy tree carved proclamations of love and the mixtapes of nicknames written in bunches in all the normal places, and the not so normal places, and that I don't ache to leave my mark on the world.

But I would rather leave a mark on people. And I would rather leave pieces of my soul. And though I like my name, other people have the same exact one.

The World's Smallest Country

^^Our guide

^^modern in ancient

Our tour of Vatican City, the world's smallest country. First off, meet our tour guide, she is very passionate about the information she shares with people, and loves to call everyone "her dears." We visited a giant pine cone, a room full of maps, the Sistine Chapel ceiling, works by Rembrandt verses the works of Michelangelo, the Pieta, and the real life tomb of the apostle Peter.

The Sistine Chapel ceiling is amazing. Especially the middle where God is reaching out to give life to Adam. The colors are beautiful. Sadly you aren't allowed to take pictures in the chapel, so Google it if you want I suppose.

Seeing the Pieta was the most special part, because that was the moment literally all of my mom's life dreams came true.


#Day8

Roman Holiday

Audrey's

Audrey's

Audrey's

Audrey's in Rome in 1959

My my my, where do I begin? This was my favorite part of the entire trip. I got to walk to exact streets that my hero Audrey Hepburn did when she starred in Roman Holiday (a prime movie, do watch it.) I sat literally EXACTLY where she sat on the Spanish steps eating gelato. Okay, I need to start at the beginning. Just click on the "Audrey's" links to see the original picture.

Yes that is the real life apartment area. Getting to that was probably the most rebellious thing I've ever done, because this Italian lady was really mad and wanted us to leave, so my mom was all like "we don't speak Italian, sorry!" while I rushed up the stairs and took deep breaths and let the place I was standing in just hit me.

Then we posed on the Spanish steps. Cool story about that-- so after we took a couple of pictures I decided I was going to sit on every single corner step in that place just to make sure I sat in the same spot Audrey did. So in order to make it faster we brought up the picture from the movie to figure out which spot she really sat in, and it turned out I had been sitting there the entire time! My soul just knew I bet.

Next was the Trevi Fountain, where Gregory Peck tries to steal a little girl's camera. When you throw a coin into the Trevi Fountain you are wishing that one day you will make it back to Rome. That's not in Roman Holiday, but I certainly would love to return to Rome.

I really loved the Mouth of Truth. They say if you are dishonest and you stick your hand in the Mouth of Truth, it will be bitten off. I still have both hands, don't worry. That part in the movie is adorable.

Finally Gregory takes Audrey on a tour of the Colosseum. 

It was amazing. Go watch Roman Holiday, no matter how many times you may have seen it before. 

Rome-ing

This is the day we rode a train through beautiful Tuscany. It was hilarious because every single time my mom lifted her camera to take a picture, we went into a tunnel. Every time. My dad and I were laughing so hard. We saw tons of artists selling their works, which beats any other type of vendor we passed (all one million of them) by a ton.

The hole in the top of the Pantheon is like 20 to 30 feet wide, and when it rains the water just comes in and drains. You could dance in the rain inside a building that was built thousands of years ago. Lovely.

I really like all of the colorful buildings, can ya tell?

Gelato of The Day: Orange with Chocolate from Giolitti's- Rome's best gelato place.

#Day7

Marketing in Florence

We started out the day with a visit to a street market along the river in Florence. They had everything from flowers, to cheese, to prime over sized sweaters. Then we went to, get this, an Italian vintage store, called Ub. Where there was a wall full of vintage wallpaper rolls and typewriters and everything I love. I just love stores just like that one. And I discovered my favorite Gelato place in Italy, Edoardo's. All of their gelato is homemade and organic, my absolute favorite was kiwi, and the runner up was pear.

#Day5