Today's a tough day for us ship kids, we have one day of classes before getting off the ship for four days in Barcelona. As I write this, I'm sitting on the top deck of the ship it's probably about 80 degrees without a cloud in the sky. Yesterday we got back from four amazing days in Italy, this one was the hardest to leave so far. I need about a month in Italy to see everything I want to see
Day one I didn't get to go travel by myself because I had a field lab for my international business class. Our field lab was supposed to be in Ghana making chocolate. Instead we went to a solar plant.. Not quite as exciting. We got a tour of the plant for about two hours. There was a cat there so I didn't completely hate it, I really miss my pets. After the tour we went to a farm/b&b in a really small town for lunch. The place was awesome, we had bruschetta, cheese, and eggplant for starters then they brought out this awesome homemade pasta. The best part was that they just kept bringing out more. After we ate we walked around a bit outside enjoying the views. They had dogs there too so I was playing with them. Italy really started off on my good side with all the pets. When we finished lunch we drove back to the port in Civitavecchia where the port agents talked to us about running a port. After that we went to the ship and Sydney and I headed to the train station to get a train to Rome
It was really easy to catch a train and we made it to Rome by about seven then took a cab to the apartment we were staying at in the trastavere district. We met our other friends there who had spent the day in Rome. We went to dinner when we got there, there are a good number of Bentley girls studying in Rome and living right near our apartment so one of them showed us this takeaway pizza place that was so good. I got spinach and mushroom pizza and zucchini and prosciutto pizza. That night they brought us to a club. It was really fun, there ended up being a bunch of SAS students there, it's always really interesting to go places and end up with a bunch of people you know in a foreign country, it makes it seem a lot less foreign.
The next morning we woke up and set out to do some sightseeing around Rome. It's such a massive city, in total I definitely walked well over 30 miles in my time there. Out apartment was like a 15 minute walk from the Vatican but we were saving that until the next day. We saw the
Castel Sant'Angelo, the Trevi Fountain which actually does not currently exist because it's fully under construction so it's empty, we did get to walk over the fountain so I was kind of inside of the fountain, we went to the Pantheon, piazza Navona, some shops. We also got lunch at a little Italian restaurant, I got lasagna. It was so good, all their pasta was homemade. A little while after lunch we met up with Kendal and Brooke who took the train from Florence at the Spanish steps. When we met up with them we got gelato then went to the Colosseum but we didn't go inside. By this time it was getting late so we headed back to meet up with our friends for dinner. We were supposed to go to a really great pizza place but we went to a different restaurant instead. It wasn't too bad but it was definitely pretty overpriced. After dinner we got our stuff and went to a different apartment where Sydney and I were staying with Brooke and Kendal. It was a more low-key night than before we ended up just going to a couple bars and walking the streets.
In the morning Kendal left to meet up with her parents who had just flown in to visit so Sydney, Brooke, and I met our friend at the first apartment where we were staying that night. We went to visit the Vatican in the morning, because of how packed it was we didn't go to St. Peter's but we did do the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. There's so much to see there, I hadn't expected to stay as long as we did. The only shitty part was that it was so packed but overall I really loved it. After that we went to our apartment to change into shorts because it was HOT out and obviously we weren't going to wear that to the Vatican. Then we went to a little restaurant near us for lunch where I had ravioli. Then we walked around some more, we went to this island kind of thing on the Tiber where I got this really pretty watercolor painting from a guy painting them on the street. That night we met up with Kendal and her parents for dinner. It's always really nice to see parents, unfortunately that'll be the last time until I get home and have to see my own again. The dinner was really good we got different appetizers and I got ravioli again (it was different than the first one). It was a great dinner overall huge shout out to the Pratt fam, you guys are the best! When we got back to the apartment our other friends were also back from dinner, the rest of the Bentley girls came over before we went out. About half of them went to a club and half of us went to a wine bar. I didn't want to do the hour long walk so I went to the bar. It was a nice place, we went to a few different bars in the area before heading back home.
The next morning was a tough one for me, we had to be up pretty early to check out of the apartment so I didn't quite get as much sleep as I might've wanted to to sober up a bit more. We also had to carry all of our stuff around for the day which was a struggle. We had some time to kill before catching our train so we went to the colosseum again to take some pics. Then we went back to Trastavere to find a place to eat lunch. I got an awesome pizza with sausage and mushroom, it was pretty depressing to know it was my last Italian meal. After lunch we went to the train station and headed back to Civitavecchia. We got there at around 4 so we just went right back to the ship since all of us were absolutely exhausted from the four days.
Everyone always asks which place is our favorite and there's no way I can ever answer that question, everywhere we go is so different and every place has such distinctive features that make me love it. When we were at dinner Mrs. Pratt asked which place would we go back to which is such a better question. I 100% will be going back to Italy to visit all the different places I didn't have time to go this time around. It was such a beautiful place with the most amazing food I've ever eaten and so much history. I'm definitely a little depressed to be gone.
Day one I didn't get to go travel by myself because I had a field lab for my international business class. Our field lab was supposed to be in Ghana making chocolate. Instead we went to a solar plant.. Not quite as exciting. We got a tour of the plant for about two hours. There was a cat there so I didn't completely hate it, I really miss my pets. After the tour we went to a farm/b&b in a really small town for lunch. The place was awesome, we had bruschetta, cheese, and eggplant for starters then they brought out this awesome homemade pasta. The best part was that they just kept bringing out more. After we ate we walked around a bit outside enjoying the views. They had dogs there too so I was playing with them. Italy really started off on my good side with all the pets. When we finished lunch we drove back to the port in Civitavecchia where the port agents talked to us about running a port. After that we went to the ship and Sydney and I headed to the train station to get a train to Rome
It was really easy to catch a train and we made it to Rome by about seven then took a cab to the apartment we were staying at in the trastavere district. We met our other friends there who had spent the day in Rome. We went to dinner when we got there, there are a good number of Bentley girls studying in Rome and living right near our apartment so one of them showed us this takeaway pizza place that was so good. I got spinach and mushroom pizza and zucchini and prosciutto pizza. That night they brought us to a club. It was really fun, there ended up being a bunch of SAS students there, it's always really interesting to go places and end up with a bunch of people you know in a foreign country, it makes it seem a lot less foreign.
The next morning we woke up and set out to do some sightseeing around Rome. It's such a massive city, in total I definitely walked well over 30 miles in my time there. Out apartment was like a 15 minute walk from the Vatican but we were saving that until the next day. We saw the
Castel Sant'Angelo, the Trevi Fountain which actually does not currently exist because it's fully under construction so it's empty, we did get to walk over the fountain so I was kind of inside of the fountain, we went to the Pantheon, piazza Navona, some shops. We also got lunch at a little Italian restaurant, I got lasagna. It was so good, all their pasta was homemade. A little while after lunch we met up with Kendal and Brooke who took the train from Florence at the Spanish steps. When we met up with them we got gelato then went to the Colosseum but we didn't go inside. By this time it was getting late so we headed back to meet up with our friends for dinner. We were supposed to go to a really great pizza place but we went to a different restaurant instead. It wasn't too bad but it was definitely pretty overpriced. After dinner we got our stuff and went to a different apartment where Sydney and I were staying with Brooke and Kendal. It was a more low-key night than before we ended up just going to a couple bars and walking the streets.
In the morning Kendal left to meet up with her parents who had just flown in to visit so Sydney, Brooke, and I met our friend at the first apartment where we were staying that night. We went to visit the Vatican in the morning, because of how packed it was we didn't go to St. Peter's but we did do the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel. There's so much to see there, I hadn't expected to stay as long as we did. The only shitty part was that it was so packed but overall I really loved it. After that we went to our apartment to change into shorts because it was HOT out and obviously we weren't going to wear that to the Vatican. Then we went to a little restaurant near us for lunch where I had ravioli. Then we walked around some more, we went to this island kind of thing on the Tiber where I got this really pretty watercolor painting from a guy painting them on the street. That night we met up with Kendal and her parents for dinner. It's always really nice to see parents, unfortunately that'll be the last time until I get home and have to see my own again. The dinner was really good we got different appetizers and I got ravioli again (it was different than the first one). It was a great dinner overall huge shout out to the Pratt fam, you guys are the best! When we got back to the apartment our other friends were also back from dinner, the rest of the Bentley girls came over before we went out. About half of them went to a club and half of us went to a wine bar. I didn't want to do the hour long walk so I went to the bar. It was a nice place, we went to a few different bars in the area before heading back home.
The next morning was a tough one for me, we had to be up pretty early to check out of the apartment so I didn't quite get as much sleep as I might've wanted to to sober up a bit more. We also had to carry all of our stuff around for the day which was a struggle. We had some time to kill before catching our train so we went to the colosseum again to take some pics. Then we went back to Trastavere to find a place to eat lunch. I got an awesome pizza with sausage and mushroom, it was pretty depressing to know it was my last Italian meal. After lunch we went to the train station and headed back to Civitavecchia. We got there at around 4 so we just went right back to the ship since all of us were absolutely exhausted from the four days.
Everyone always asks which place is our favorite and there's no way I can ever answer that question, everywhere we go is so different and every place has such distinctive features that make me love it. When we were at dinner Mrs. Pratt asked which place would we go back to which is such a better question. I 100% will be going back to Italy to visit all the different places I didn't have time to go this time around. It was such a beautiful place with the most amazing food I've ever eaten and so much history. I'm definitely a little depressed to be gone.
Tori, I am definitely hungry after all of the great food you had. Love visiting these ports through your words. Enjoy, stay safe. Love Nana
ReplyDeleteTori, you are turning into quite a bar hopper and now also a streetwalker. I'm SOOO proud of you, girl!!! Sounds like the food here was near or at the top of all the other countries. I would love to get back there.
ReplyDeleteLove you and miss you. Gma xoxo
Mmmm italy sounds like a winner to me cant go wrong with pasta!! Luv luv Auntie Kris
ReplyDelete