Italy: Part Two
I kept putting this post on the back-burner but now that it's done, I'm so excited to share! There was so much to cover with Italy that we split it up into a couple posts. Here is "Italy: Part Two." It covers our time in Pisa, Cinque Terre, Rome, Amalfi Coast and Naples.
We left off on Florence on our last post, you can read about our first half of Italy here. From Florence, we made our way towards Cinque Terre. We stopped at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which was really cool to see. There is something strange about seeing a landmark that you've heard of your whole life. We joined in with all the tourists pretending to hold up the leaning tower in their photos. It was almost worth the stop itself. My mom was probably the most accurate at really making it look like she was holding up the Tower of Pisa! Haha!
We spent 4 days in Cinque Terre and spent them all hiking the Italian Riviera Coastline through old bright-colored villages and dreamy vineyards. When other hikers would pass, Addison would make sure to say "Ciao!" She was easily converted to the Italian life! haha! I loved hiking with Addison because I felt like I was getting snuggled the whole way, I got to hear her cute little voice & I got twice the workout which meant I got twice the amount of gelato. haha! The hikes were INCREDIBLE. Cinque Terre is made up of 5 villages and there is a trail that connects them all. Hiking along Cinque Terre was one of the highlights of our trip and a favorite for all of us. It was surreal.
One night we were watching the sunset on the Italian coast together with my family. There were several other tourists around us and we all just sat in awe at the sunset. As soon as it disappeared on the horizon, everyone cheered. I love the passion and life in celebrating the little things - even the sunrises and sunsets. Life is beautiful.
We were so sad to leave Cinque Terre, but excited to visit Rome! Overall, we liked Rome, but it was probably our least favorite place we stayed. But you can't miss Rome, right?! The sites were incredible to visit, and the gelato alone made going to Rome worth it! We loved visiting the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum. The Pantheon was my favorite - it's been standing for almost 2,000 years. Something crazy about going into a building that old. It was pretty cool to have history become more of a reality for us.
We also enjoyed our day at the Vatican - seeing Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel was really neat for us. Addison and I spent a big chunk of our time outside of St. Peter's Basilica because she just needed a little breather. Turns out no matter where we are in the world, the best part is being her mom and getting moments like this.
After Rome, we trained to the Amalfi Coast. We stayed in one of the coolest places we've ever stayed right on the coastline. It really was incredible and we felt a little bit like royalty waking up to these views each morning.
My sister forgot her suitcase on the train when we arrived to the Amalfi Coast. Our Airbnb was 2 hours away from the train station where we would have to pick it up. Renting a scooter was cheaper than paying someone to deliver the bag for us AND it would provide for an epic adventure. Austin and I quickly volunteered to go pick up her bag. It was one of those moments where you're just like "Is this real life?!" I felt like we were in a movie. Renting scooters and riding along the coast is an absolute must - we rented scooters from @cf_chicandfab - they were awesome to work with and delivered/picked up our scooter from our Airbnb!
We were so sad to leave Amalfi Coast (I think we were sad to leave just about every place we went in Italy). We took a bus and a ferry to get to Naples. I had been wanting to go to Pompeii literally since I learned about it in the fourth grade, so I was anxious to get there. It was unreal to see. An entire ancient Roman CITY was buried under 20 feet of volcanic ash. The ash and debris preserved the city and even the bodies of the people who lived there. I felt like we were getting a glimpse of life in Pompeii in 79 AD.
Our three weeks in Italy felt like complete bliss to be together with my family and to share all of those experiences together. Italy truly was a dream and I can't wait to go back someday!
