Double Homesick All the Way

The double rainbow YouTube vid inspired my title today.  (I have to give a shot out to my best bud Joe Allen for showing it to me a lil while back)  While I was in Italie I of course was homesick for the states, my fam, and my friends, but what was weird was that I also homesick for Tours and my SA crew.  I absolutely adore them and this city!  But here's a quick rundown and a few pics of my trip to Italy with Elise and Mike!

We decided to start off the week in Florence!  Our hostel was about 5 minutes away from the Piazza Michelangelo which is set above the city.  So needless to say I woke up each morning with an absolutely breath-taking view.  I died every time!  We saw all three Davids, including the real one, the Duomo, and of course Ponte Vecchio!  So gorgeous.  There was also a mini Fête de la Musique the first night we were there and so we stuck around a lil while to listen to a few bands and DJs.  Not quite as good as the one in Tours, but still fun to shake my booty a lil bit.  I also met up with my roomie, Ali!  We grabbed some breakfast before I left for Venice.  I think it's the coolest thing to see friends abroad!

 
Then we were off to Venice!  One thing we wished we did was spend another day in Venice.  The city was absolutely gorgeous and one you just want to get lost it.  We of course ate some more gelato and took a lovely gondala ride.  We also bought some lovely venetian glass!

 My beautiful, fellow Italy travelers (and the gondala driver in his stunna shades on his cell phone)

 After Venice we headed to ROME!  Oh my gosh Rome was a good time.  We went to the Vatican the first day and didn't realize it was closed!  We waited in line for the special Mass that was scheduled for the day without tickets and felt silly after we found out what was actually happening.  Since there was a special mass the entire museum and basilica were closed so we moved on to the Pantheon, Piazza Nuvona, the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, and the Colosseum.  The next day we then did the Vatican Museum and Sistene Chapel.  Which, was kind of overwhelming.  Pictures are definitely better than the real thing...except I did like the Final Judgement.  We also treated ourselves to a wonderful dinner complete with a shared bottle of wine.  Mike and I split this delicious pesto pasta and chicken with roasted potatoes.  I died!  It was delicious and of course we grabbed some gelato before we went to the Trevi Fountain at night.  That was definitely my favorite part of Rome.  So romantic (take hints guys) 

All in all it was a great trip with some pretty awesome people.  I am so blessed to have these opportunities to travel to some pretty cool places.  One thing I wish I did was take more pictures of the food I ate.  I could just kick myself for not doing that!