PRONTO! HELLO! CIAO!

Hi everyone!!!!!!

I made it back to the US last night...after some fun, wicked, and wild times! This trip has been amazing! And I know you're all looking forward to the pictures! I have over 600 of them, just for you! Haha, I was a good little picture taker! I'll post the slideshow below for your enjoyment ;).

In any event, this whole trip has been filled with so much! I have learned quite a few things about myself too...like, for example, I suck at using maps. And I have a very poor sense of direction. I also will never, ever go hosteling again. If you want to talk about exercise...I got some over this vacation. Lugging a 50 pound bag up 4 or more flights of stairs then taking those same stairs three or four times a day. Climbing up every stair in Italy, sometimes 1000 stairs a DAY! Walking miles and miles every day...it sure made up for all the pizza and gelato I ate, woof! Haha. I go to my weigh in tomorrow at Jenny Craig and I'm not sure what'll it'll hold. But believe me, I feel like I've been running for weeks without stopping!

Today I'm tired and very headachy...my stomach is also turned upside down. I think it has to do with so much travelling and changing time zones. Yesterday was a crazy, crazy day coming back to the US. It started at 4am in Milan and I got home around 6pm to the US...that's over 18 hours of travelling. OI! And included in that trip was a woman who slipped in grease and fell, so I helped her. There was a baby in a stroller who was dropped down the escalator...helped with that too. And being the purser for my flight from Quebec to Bradley (the airport near my home). My luggage was stored up in the crew cabin, and I was literally 1 foot behind the pilot. I could reach out and touch him, I had a few window view from from the seat I was in...AND I was responsible for operating the cabin door. And having had been travelling for over 16 hours at that point I slap-happily gave the safety information in English. It was a little crazy. Not to mention when I was on the plane home, the first mate on our plane happily told me that he thought my English was excellent. I didn't know what to say...so I just said thank you, lol. I don't know where he thought I was from! Perhaps because I transferred in on the flight from Frankfurt to Quebec, he thought I was German?? The flight attendant sure thought I was German...thankfully I know enough to ask for some tea, decline the cream and sugar, and say thank you.

On the way home I also got stopped through customs...my name booming over the loudspeaker. And everyone who I was waiting with was dismissed to go through customs while I was asked to stay behind. Seriously, they made it sound like I had a bomb. What actually happened was that when my luggage was transferred (First from Milan through Frankfurt, then from Frankfurt to Quebec...) someone transcribed the number wrong. So they couldn't identify my luggage. They actually had to bring my luggage OUT of the hold and I had to identify it to four different people! Yes, four. They just kept asking me "Is that your bag? Are you sure that's your bag?" I had TWO LUGGAGE tags on it that said my name and if they want to check inside I had a tag INSIDE that stated my name, a reccomendation from a travel website in case the tags got ripped off. Thankfully though me and my luggage got home safely.

The trip itself was a whirlwind. Beginning in Milan, we went to Naples, Rome, Florence, Verona, Venice and Verenna. I saw so many beautiful sights and learned so much! I have to say if I did anything different, it would be to spend more time exploring each place. Two weeks seems like a long time...to take off work, that is. But in reality I felt like most of what I was doing was travelling! Planes, trains, automobiles! There was very little time to relax...and my head is still spinning from all the movement.

You're probably wondering what my FAVORITE thing was in Italy...and I have a few I'll share. The first was in Naploli, my sister and I stayed at a hostel called Giovanni's Home. The owner Giovanni is amazing...he gave us a detailed outlined map of how to see Naples perfectly in 2 days, he showed us what areas to avoid (due to the mafia, no kidding) and we made a ton of new friends with the people staying there! The sights were amazing and the company was grand, not to mention Giovanni cooked for us and it was literally the best food in Italy that I had. He also told us the best pizza place in Napoli! And it's hilarious because everyone we talked to in Napoli knew exactly where it was. A wonderful local place!

The next favorite thing I did was the Night Tour in Rome with my sister. If you go to Rome, please do this. It's a ghost and mystery tour led by a guide (not that expensive, promise). He took us in all the dark back corners and showed us beautiful, mysterious things, told us legends and we got to see the city lit up at night. It was fantastic! Rome can be very touristy and if you like to learn things and see a whole different side of the city that (almost) no one knows about, this is for you! And don't worry, it's not scary, it's wonderful!

Next another favorite was Venice...oh, I love Venice. The water and the city...it was VERY CROWDED because of Carnival but oh I loved it. Don't get me wrong I adored Florence and Verona too. But there's something about Venice that I fell in love with!

Last but NOT least, was Verenna. My sister and I signed up to do this awesome cooking class and it was the best. I made homemade pasta, this porcini mushroom chicken with wine, saffron risotto...and it was amazing. It's right outside of Milan in the Lake Como area but it's this tiny tucked away spot. And the view was fantastic. Amazing!

And now...the PICTURES! I am not a photographer...so yeah, sorry about some of these! But I think overall they're awesome! ENJOY!!!!

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