Wanderlust | Cait Leary

Rome was my second favorite city we saw during the whole trip! Lyle and I loved everything about it. All the roman history was fascinating and in many ways it kinda reminded me of NYC, the best city of all time (according to me)! We saw the Colosseum ( pictures in a different post), saw the Trevi fountain and even though it was under construction it was still awesome!, we took a tour of the Vatican, saw the Roman Forum, ate gelato, saw the mouth of truth, explored and so much more!

Here are some Rome tips:

1. An Italian man on the plane told us you only need two days to explore Rome and then to get the heck outta there and boy was right. Just map it out the day before and you can get it all covered. As much as we loved Rome it was definitely one of the most crowded places of all time and you will want to get out of there.

2. When exploring Rome you can walk everywhere, and we did…but it is LOTS of walking. You can also get around easily on bus. It’s only 1.50 euro, lasts 100 mins, it comes every 15-20 mins, was interchangeable with the metro and it takes you everywhere. Bus 53 does at least and unfortunately we realized that AFTER we walked everywhere but at least it canceled out all the gelato we ate there.

3. if you get lost or have a question about anything, the best place to go is to any hotel you see. The people at the front desk always spoke English and could answer any question we had.

4. Don’t take the roses at the Spanish Steps. You may just think you’re pretty (because they tell you that) and try and take pictures…see below but in reality they just want money and its awkward…although it is funny to watch people interact with the rose people…

P.S. they are also in Venice!

5. Get tickets in advance for things. Our hotel let us print tickets and it was so nice not having to wait in lines.

6. Sometimes the tour guides are the best. We used a tour guide for the Vatican and not only was it easier for her to show us the most important things (because you will be overwhelmed) we got to skip the lines and go straight in. I assure you it is completely worth it. And for the colosseum you get to go to parts that only people on the tours get to go to!

Ignore my hair in the pictures below, I was seriously melting.

McDonalds seemed pretty popular in Europe!

This picture of lyle cracks me up! We loved this room, it was saweet!

Lyle thought I wanted a picture in front of this statue but I was really just exhausted and it was SO hot. Seriously walking around the Roman Forum I just keep running to shade.

Lyle wanted to see the mouth of truth and he told me about how it was something you could win in some video game he used to play. We waited in line and then you put your hand in and if you say something and lie supposedly it bites your hand off haha.

Inside the Vatican

A view from the Vatican

the vatican ^

I loved eating gelato on the Spanish Steps! They were always so crowded but it was so beautiful and so lively and I loved it. Also this chocolate banana gelato was on point.

Love, Cait

Okay I know I’m skipping around a bit but at least I’m still posting about Italy right? I just loved Venice. It was such a nice relaxing spot after all the walking in Rome, Florence and Pisa. Venice was unlike anything we had ever seen. It’s definitely one of those places you have to visit once. It blows my mind how unreal it is. Its pretty low key meaning you just wander and get lost. You wander up and down all the canals and it all starts to look the same. Theres tons of little pizza places and shops and thats about it. First thing we did was climb up the bell tower to see the amazing views Venice had to offer. That seemed to be something we did in pretty much every city in Italy because the views are perfect. You couldn’t hike up to the top though like you could the duomo in Florence but rather an elevator took you right to the top.

We had a water taxi pick us up from the airport (something our travel agent scheduled and it was super nice). They brought us through on the grand canal and he told out there was a speed limit on the canal which is funny because I never even thought of that, although it makes sense…

Getting around Venice can be a little confusing. You can take a water bus (the cheapest way to get around), a water taxi ( a little more pricier) and a gondola (which is a straight rip off, but when in Venice you just gotta). Luckily our hotel was right where the “square” was with the bell tower and such. At night Lyle and I would go to my favorite spot for treats and we would each pick out some and go to the square and share them. (For all our LDS friends you always have to ask about liquor in all the baked goods because most of them had it inn there…just FYI. )As simple as it was its probably one of my favorite memories of our whole Europe trip. They played music and when it got dark the whole square would light up and everyone would meet people there and just socialize. Everything about it was perfect. We also spent half a day on Burano, a local little island nearby that is seriously the most colorful and most quaint place I have ever been to. Thats the next post though. We sent this video to my parents below and it kind of shows our favorite spot although its not super lit because its not dark yet. But we would talk for hours and I remember telling him over and over as we sat there that I never wanted to leave.

Masquerade masks were seriously in every store. It was huge out there and I thought my dad would think they were super funny so these are for you Dad.

A high percentage of our Europe pics are of us kissing or pastries haha. One time I read this quote that went something like “I want pictures of us kissing in every city.” And thats what I wanted too. Kissing pictures as we travel the world… wildy romantic in my head, nauseating in yours. Sorry guys. But every city is so romantic it makes it hard not to.

Speaking of gondolas, I was super bummed they didn’t sing. I guess I’ve seen far too many movies but I told him he should sing because I thought they did and near the end he started to sing and then I felt like I was in a movie.

Love, Cait