Ciao!
Well, we have started Easter break with our journey through
Italy! After round 1 of finals, we successfully packed for 11 days in one
forty-pound suitcase and our backpacks.
Friday was our earliest morning yet with a 2:45 wake up
call. Meagan, however, had been up since 12:45 enrolling for next semester. We
got to the airport an hour and a half before our flight to find out that the
line to check a suitcase was a mile long. We finally made it to the front only
to find out we had to take out 3.5 kilograms from Maggs, the suitcase. We
decided it was necessary to name her since she would be our traveling companion
for the following 10 days. We finally got her checked and ran to security 12
minutes before our gate closed. We made it on the flight just in time and
landed in Rome at 7:45 am. However, we didn’t make it to our hostel until
11:30. We got on the bus that was supposed to take us closest to our hostel,
but we ended up 2 miles from our hostel with Maggs and 3 packed backpacks.
Needless to say, it took a while. Then…we walked into our hostel and couldn’t
believe our eyes.
Or noses. It REAKED of body odor and looked like something
out of a horror movie. We had planned on getting ready before heading out for
the day. However, after the discovery of hostel hell, we decided against it.
Instead, we hopped on the bus and arrived at the Colosseum. Brynne and Katie were excited to see it for
their second time, and Meagan had to no clue to expect when we walked inside.
She felt like she was on the set of the real life version of the Hunger Games.
From there, we went inside the Forum and headed to Vatican City. Keep in mind,
at this point, we had been up for 12 hours and had only eaten yogurt and a
croissant, so we decided to stop and grab a box of Ritz crackers for the walk.
We know you’re proud, moms! After winding our way through the halls of art in
the Vatican Museum, we finally made it to the Sistine Chapel where we stood in
awe of Michelangelo’s famous art. Next, we went inside of St. Peter’s Basilica
and got to enjoy a close view of the front of the church since it was cleared
for Easter. The steps leading up to the church were covered in chairs and
outside was decorated with palm branches for Palm Sunday. It was a very neat
sight! After that, we grabbed our first gelato of the trip and loved every
bite! We eventually made our way to Piazza Navona and ate our first Italian
pizza. Then, we went to the Pantheon and got more gelato (we had to make up for
our lack of lunch) and headed to the Trevi fountain to make a wish! We decided
to continue on in order to avoid the hostel and went to the Spanish Steps.
Unfortunately, we decided we had to go back and attempt to get some sleep and
were greeted with the wonderful smell of body odor again. Our towels even smelled
like it, so we decided to forego the shower. Once this decision was made, it
took us two hours to decide how we were going to survive the night. We ended up
sleeping in our rain jackets with the hoods on and inside of our coons (shout
out to Sheri Stinson for the idea) without budging a bit. Watch the video for
the getting in bed process. 
Saturday, we woke up more excited than ever to leave the
hostel, and we got on a train to Venice. Lucky Meagan got to sleep the whole
way. We arrived in Venice and asked the ticket office which bus to take to our
hostel. Once again, the bus people failed us. We were stranded in the middle of
nowhere with absolutely NO taxis, so we just started walking…with Maggs. 
After
a mile and a half, we finally ran into a hotel that called us a taxi for the
home stretch. Already in bad moods, we walked into our second disgusting
hostel. At this point, we began to question why we thought it was a good idea
to save money. Gnats and a crazy lady welcomed us home for the next two nights.
Anyway, we got on the correct bus this time and found out just how out of the
way we went the first time. Despite the complicated start, the rest of the day
was a blast adventuring through Venice. We ate yummy pizza, explored the quaint
streets and enjoyed the atmosphere of the picturesque little island. We
returned to our hostel for an awful night of sleep, but we did shower this
time, no worries. 
Sunday, we got out of the hostel as quick as possible and
found the most fun fruit and yogurt bar called Frulalá for breakfast. After
breakfast, we realized we were wandering around like zombies. Our lack of sleep
was catching up to us and the weather was overcast until the afternoon. Once
the sun came out, we headed to the Grand Canal to people watch, went to a cute
café and sat by the water watching the boats go by. After our final sweep of
the streets, we went back to Frulalá for dinner. As we walked to the bus
station, Katie told Brynne and Meagan that her stomach was hurting. They soon
found out that she was not kidding. Five minutes into the bus ride back to the
hostel, Katie passed out. She fell to the ground with a loud thud and scared
them half to death. Come to find out, they think she was dehydrated and on top
of that, got some sort of food poisoning. Thankfully, she came to relatively
quickly, and there were nice people on the bus who spoke English and gave Katie
water. Finally, they got her back to the hostel, and she spent the rest of the
night recovering.
Yesterday was another early morning as we got on another
train for Verona. It was a cute little town full of Romeo and Juliet movie
sites. We enjoyed the adorable streets and Italian atmosphere. We’re excited to
see what the rest of our adventure has to bring.
Here’s the video:
We’ll keep you updated as the week goes on, so look for
another blog soon!
XOXO,
Brynne, Katie & Meagan
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