This week has been by far my favorite week of the semester and probably the best vacation I’ve ever been on in my life. I had such a blast with my mom in Italy, and as I sit teary-eyed in the airport waiting for my flight back to Spain, I can hardly believe it’s over already. I’m going to try to go back to the beginning and write a summary of the trip…I’m sure there will be many missed details, and I could never do the trip justice in just one post, but I’ll give it a whirl.
After getting back from Portugal, I ate lunch with Rosa and finished up packing before heading to the airport ridiculously early for my flight to Rome. I was flying RyanAir, a budget European airline that is notorious for being a difficult airline to deal with, so I wanted to be sure I had plenty of time to deal with any problems that might come up. Things ended up going smoothly, although I was amazed by how the airline operated. They examined everyone’s carry-on bags to be sure they fit the strict requirements, and there was no assigned seating. People packed their pockets full to get as much on the plane as possible, and finding a seat was chaotic…people were pushing and shoving every which way to get the seat they wanted. Throughout the whole flight, the attendants were selling different things, and there were bright lights and loud talking the entire time. I was relieved to get off the plane and happy that our checked luggage came through relatively quickly.
I was so glad to see my mom waiting for me at the door, and I think we were both too happy to know what to do for a couple of minutes. Our hotel arranged a nice ride for us from the airport, and we absolutely loved the Bed and Breakfast we stayed at. The room was big, the staff was helpful, and the cappuccinos at breakfast were remarkable. After getting a good night’s sleep, we spent our whole first day wandering the city. Our hosts gave us a good tourist map, and we made our way to as many of the sights as we could, stopping at several exhibits of Roman ruins, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the tomb of the unknown soldier, and many cool plazas. We had so much fun getting lost in the tiny, winding streets of Rome and taking millions of pictures. That afternoon we had our first taste of the unforgettable pizza of Italy and saw the incredible view of Vatican City and the Castle of Saint Angelo at night.
The street vendors and crowds always kept us on our toes, and everyday we got ourselves into some laughable situation or another. On our second day in Rome we took a tour of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum, which was interesting…we thought it was really cool to be in the Coliseum. The guys dressed like gladiators taking pictures with tourists outside of the Coliseum were also highly entertaining…we might have taken a few snapshots with them ;)
That afternoon and the following morning were full of more wandering around Rome…there was never a lack of things to see, and on our third afternoon in Rome we took a tour of Vatican City, which we both loved. We made our way through the Vatican Museums, the Sistine Chapel, and Saint Peter’s Basilica with our tour guide. By the end we were exhausted, but it was really interesting to see everything there. I loved the Basilica and learning about the paintings in the Sistine Chapel, which took ____ about nine years to complete!
We grabbed our last dinner in Rome after the Vatican tour and then headed to the airport to catch our flight to Venice. My mom wasn’t thrilled about the late flight, but everything worked together perfectly, and in the end we were happy to have had the full day in Rome before heading to Venice. Once we arrived, we were unsure of how to get to our hotel. We asked at the public transport office at the airport, and they sold us a bus ticket and pointed us to the right stop. A thirty-minute bus ride got us to the Venice bus station, but we still had no idea where we were going, and it was almost midnight by that point. We asked the bus driver for directions, and he was fairly helpful, but ultimately we had to get a water taxi to our place. We were very grateful to run into two taxi drivers, one who spoke English and another one who called our hotel for directions and asked them to come meet us by the canal where we would be dropped off.
The water taxi was a really nice boat, and I totally loved riding in it. The primary form of transportation around Venice is boat, and it took us a while to get used to the many waterways and bridges that make getting around the city a challenge. Anyway, our taxi driver dropped us off near our hotel, and we were met by one of the women who runs the hotel, which was really nice…we never would have found the place without the help of all of the people we ran into on the way. Praise God for such smooth travels. All week my mom and I were both grateful for His protection and provision everywhere we went.
We went to bed exhausted that night and got up the next morning for our “Venice in One Day” walking tour, which was pretty good, although it was rainy and pretty cold during the whole thing. It was amazing to see the beautiful cathedral in Saint Peter’s square and to learn more about the city built on sandbars and surrounded by water. We especially enjoyed our one-hour boat tour after the walking tour. During the boat tour, we got to see the amazing facades of the grand buildings made to impress those passing by in boat. It was great to see the city as it was meant to be seen and a relief to be in a warm boat after freezing in the rain all morning.
Our last day of vacation was spent doing laundry. Yes…it took us pretty much the whole day to do my one load of laundry. Why, you might ask. Well, it took us a good hour to find the laundromat, which was conveniently hidden three bridges and several windy alleyways away from our hotel, and then we had to put the clothes through the dryer twice before they were actually dry. We also spent time that afternoon figuring out the best way to get to the airport today, packing up, and wandering around the city.
Despite the fact that Venice isn’t very big and we had walked around the whole thing multiple times by that point, it was still impossible for us to easily find our way…even with a map Venice was difficult to navigate. It was certainly the most unique city I’ve ever been to, and we really enjoyed our time there despite the bittersweet tone our last couple of days had. We both dreaded parting ways, and it was a difficult goodbye this afternoon. On the way to the airport, my mom and I marveled at how smoothly our vacation went and talked about how amazing it was that God just planned the whole thing out for us, going before and making the path straight and full of blessings for us. I am so thankful for His incredible mercy and love…it is such a joy to be a child of God. This is the thought that I carry as I journey back to Spain. I pray for continued blessings upon the rest of my time in Spain, but more than that, I pray for eyes to see things as God sees them and strength to follow Him through all the highs and lows these last few weeks here will bring.
No comments:
Post a Comment