Our next trip was to Italy and there were a lot of places we wanted to visit in Italy, so we decided to skip a little class and have six days in Italy! That was probably the best decision we could have made because we got to see so much and it was so relaxing! The people that went on the trip were just Natalie, Edmarie and I. Edmarie is one of the girls from Puerto Rico and she really wanted to go to Italy, so she joined us! We left on Wednesday morning and didn’t get back until Monday night. It was hard to decide which cities we wanted to visit in Italy, but after talking to a ton of people who have been there, we chose Venice, Florence and Rome!
Wednesday morning we left the Fund around 9:30AM and headed to Madrid. The bus takes an hour to get to Madrid, and then once we are in Madrid it takes about an hour to metro to the airport. Eventually we made it there and flew out at 1:30. We flew into Venice, and our plan was to take a bus into the city, because the airport is pretty far outside the city. We were in line about to buy our ticket for the bus when a little lady in a huge fur coat stopped us. She was like “Oh girls put your money away. I was an empty car and I am going right into the city to get my husband.” (all in Spanish of course!) After talking a little more to her we decided to go with her. She told us all about how she is from Spain but met her husband in Italy (he is a gondolier), so she moved to Venice. She was really nice and even gave us a little tour of Venice and we got to meet her husband!
Venice was so pretty with all the water and bridges and gondolas. We walked around the city for a little bit and then we got some dinner. We ate at this cute little restaurant right on the water, and we all had pasta! It was amazing! We just enjoyed everything about Venice. After dinner we got ice cream and continued to walk around the city. Natalie and I had to catch the train around 7:30 to head to Florence, but Edmarie wanted to spend only one night in Venice and one night in Florence. Natalie and I, on the other hand, hear that there isn’t all that much to do in Venice, but a ton to do Florence. We decided that we would just meet Edmarie in Rome for three days. Venice was really pretty though, but we were glad we didn’t stay over night!
The train ride to Florence was long, but we were so excited! We got off the train, walked to our hostel and checked in. At the counter there were two guys that asked us what we were going to do that night. We were planning on just staying in and resting, but we thought about it and we decided that we are in ITALY and we can’t just go to bed. It turned out to be another one of our great decisions because we had an amazing time! The guys were Ernesto and Hunt and we come to find out that Florence is their favorite city and they have been there like thirty times. Ernesto is a history and art buff so he knew about everything, and Hunt was very philosophical! Ha! It was amazing! I learned so much and we basically saw all of Florence in one night. We saw the Duomo, the Medici complexes, the old bridge and so much more! Hunt and Ernesto showed is this pig like statue and they told us that people put a coin in the mouth of the animal and let it go. If the coin falls out into the grate then you won't be coming back to Florence. If it falls on the side then you will return! Natalie and I both did it and both of ours fell in the grate. So that means that we won't be returning, but it was only our first night there and we really didn't know the city, so we figured that can't be right! haha We did it again later in the trip and they both fell on the side!! YAY we are definitely coming back! They also brought us to the best doner kebab in the city and then to two of the best bars. We had a great night.
The next day we had breakfast and then went out into the city. We were on our way to see the statue of David, but we got a little distracted. We went down a street and there were little shops everywhere! We couldn’t help it; we just had to do a little shopping. I bought a new purse and Natalie bought two! We just went up and down the streets with all of the shops on for at least a couple of hours. When we were done we figured we should go back to our hostel and drop the stuff we bought off. When we got there we saw a sign for a wine tasting thing that was in an hour. It sounded like fun, so we did it! We got to try six Tuscany wines and one dessert wine. We didn’t really have dinner, so needless to say we definitely felt the wine at the end! There was a group of about fifteen people at the wine tasting, and after we all bought bottles and went up to the terrace to socialize. We met people from the US and a bunch from Australia. Later that night we went swimming in the HEATED POOL that our hostel had! It was tons of fun and they also had a sauna. It was a great night!
The next day was our last day in Florence. So we got up and finally saw David. It was really cool, but it was 10 euro and that was the only cool thing to see in the museum. After seeing David we went to the Duomo and toured inside that. It was very extravagant and huge! After that we walked around by all of the Medici buildings. Keep in mind, we saw ALL of this stuff on our tour with Ernesto and Hunt. Therefore, it went quickly during the day by ourselves and we already knew all about everything. We went to the “old bridge,” which has a whole bunch of jewelry shops on it now. It is also called the bridge of love because couples will go on it and write their names. Also, they will put a lock on a huge bunch of locks to symbolize their love. Look at the picture…it makes more sense. One of the last things we did before we left was we ate a cute little lunch. One of the guys at our hostel recommended a place, and it took a while, but we found it. We each had a panini and glass of wine, which were both amazing. We loved the place because none of the tourists knew about it, so it was all Italians. After our lunch we went to another cute little place and got a pastry. We weren’t sure what either of them were, but they were both delicious. We also went up the to highest point in Florence and saw the entire city. It was a great view!
After Florence we got on a train to Rome. It took over three and a half hours, so we slept as much as we could. We got to Rome around ten and found our hostel and just stayed in for the night. We were so tired and we knew we had a long couple of days ahead of us. The first thing we did in Rome on Saturday was headed to Vatican City. We waited in a pretty long line to get into St. Peter’s Basilica, but we finally made it. Inside it was huge and again, very beautiful. We got to see St. Peters resting place, which is right under the altar. It was a very interesting place. We just relaxed and walked around for a couple of hours. It was Natalie, Edmarie, Dave and I. Dave is actually a guy that we met in our hostel in Florence and then we ran into him on the way to the Vatican! How weird! We ended up spending the rest of our time in Rome with him, so it was us four all weekend! After the basilica we went to see the Sistine Chapel. Before we can see it we had to go through a museum that took almost two hours, so we were really exited when we got to see the Sistine chapel. We weren’t suppose to take pictures, but Natalie is brave and did anyways…along with every other person! For sun set we sat on a high point that looked over a plaza. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen! The rest of the day we just saw different sites in the city of Rome. Some of our favorites were the Pantheon, The Spanish Steps and The fountain of Trevi. We also ate dinner at an authentic Italian restaurant and had pasta. Also, for dessert Natalie and I had a crepe and Edmarie and Dave had ice cream! We got back to our hostel late and went straight to bed.
Our last day was Sunday and all we really had left to see was old Rome. The first thing we did was we went to the Colosseum. It was so crazy to see! I couldn’t help but to think of the movie Gladiator. We went in and toured the entire thing! It was great, but really cold, so after we went and got lunch and coffee. We finally got to eat pizza for lunch! It was AMAZING! After lunch we toured the rest of the old city and got to see all of the ruins. There was also this book in a shop that showed how they predicted it actually looked and how it really looks today. That was really interesting to see! We also ate chestnuts that were roasted! YAY Christmas!! We got to see the sun set over the old city, and that was pretty incredible. That night we went back to our hostel and cooked our own dinner of pasta! It was so fun and soooo good!
We woke up around 8:30 the next morning and got on a train to the airport. Our flight was at 11:30 and once we got back to Madrid we had to take the hour metro ride and then the hour bus ride. It was a long day, but an absolutely amazing trip! Italy is my favorite country, so far, in the world and Florence is my favorite city in the entire world. (This excludes Spain, because that is like my home and the most beautiful place ever!) We had so much fun, learned so many new things, ate so many amazing things, met some cool people and saw some crazy cool things!!!! AMAZING!!! I recommend to all!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Side note: I took a really funny picture that completely describes the cars in Europe, especially Italy. There are tons of smart cars everywhere!!! Just look at the picture I think there are five in a row!! There are also some other sweet cars...
On Sunday of that weekend we went to Madrid. The first thing we did there was we went to el rastro, which is the huge market in Madrid. We spent a lot of time there just going up and down all of the streets. Then we got lunch and walked around Madrid. After lunch we had some time to kill and we were all pretty tired so we went and sat in Starbucks. The people that came with us where Jamie, Ryan and Claire. When we were done drinking our coffees we headed to the theater in Madrid. We saw the musical Sweeney Todd in Spanish. It was absolutely amazing. The theater was beautiful and the cast was so talented!! It was rather late after that so we just headed back to Toledo. It was definitely a good weekend!
The next weekend was our trip to Ireland. We decided to go to Ireland because there wasn’t that many sight seeing things, and we just wanted to relax. Plus, it was Natalie’s 21st birthday and she is Irish. We didn’t leave for Dublin until Friday morning, so we went out Thursday night. First we went to dinner with all of the girls, there were eleven of us, and we got Chinese food! It was like a goodbye dinner and it was delicious. After that we headed to O’Briens because we have basically claimed that the Fund Bar, and then we ended our night dancing at Circulo.
We got up early that morning and headed to the Madrid Airport. We got lunch right when we got to Dublin, Quiznos because it’s Natalie’s favorite and it’s the first one we saw since we’ve been in Europe. After lunch we took a little nap to rest up for the night. We got up, got ready and headed out with some of the people we met in our hostel. We went to Temple bar, which is the famous bar in Dublin, and then, another bar and then called it a night. AND our hostel was two doors away from Temple Bar. How convenient, right?
The next day we woke up at a 9ish, which is good because we wanted to sleep in as much as possible. Our plan for the day was to see Dublin and do some tourist shopping. We walked all around Dublin and just enjoyed. It was actually really nice out, cold, but not bad. Usually it is raining in Dublin, but we got lucky. At about 3 in the afternoon we headed to the Jameson Distillery for a tour and some drinks. The tour was really interesting; I learned a lot about whiskey making! At the end we were chosen to be taste-testers. We got three shots, one of Jack Daniels, one of Jameson and one of a Scottish whiskey. We got to take them all and see the difference between them. Then, at the end, we got to pick our favorite, which HAD to be Jameson, and we got a mixed drink with that. It was a good time, but before we left we decided to have one more birthday shot for Natalie. We got a sambuca shot and then headed out, feeling pretty good. 
We then went to the Temple Bar again to start our night, at five o’clock! No judging- it was Natalie’s 21st! The English guys we met at our hostel met us there and we hung out with them most of the night. We made a stop for doner kebabs at about eight, but besides that we spent the whole night at Temple Bar. I can honestly say, Natalie had a great 21st in DUBLIN, IRELAND! We ended out night around three in the morning. It had been a long night!
Sunday morning the English boys showed us the best place to get a full Irish breakfast. It was the first full breakfast/warm breakfast we had since we have been in Europe. AND, it was AMAZING. There was toast, bacon, eggs, sausage and beans. They all tasted different than the stuff in America, but it was so good! And I knew I was in Ireland because when we went to get breakfast all the guys at the place were just drinking beer! Gross! After breakfast we did some last shopping and then headed to the airport. It was a long journey home, but we made it. The best part about the return was that when we got into the city of Toledo there were Christmas lights everywhere! It was so pretty and made me just want Christmas so bad! Ireland was amazing and it was definitely a GREAT last trip. We decided that Italy was our favorite, but Ireland isn’t far behind. And of course Spain is just a given favorite because it’s our home and the most beautiful country! 
