Roma!

Hello friends. Guess where I am? Home. It's a very strange thing to be back, but I'm slowly adjusting. 

I realized that I have one last trip to blog about! In my last 3 and a bit weeks in the UK/Europe, I went to Rome and Rhodes for just over a week. It was an amazing trip, filled with just the right amount of hectic sightseeing and blissful seaside relaxation. On this post I'll talk about Rome, and I'll do a separate one later for Rhodes.

I'm really glad I got to see Rome, as mom and I skipped it on our earlier trip. It's really just unreal - ancient ruins appear as if out of nowhere, half buried (but WHY are they buried? I'm still a little confused about that..). Finding affordable accomodation was a little bit of a challenge, but we ended up staying in a really nice B&B (called Roman&Italian) with high ceilings and looking out over a little courtyard. It wasn't in the best location, but it wasn't awful - an easy 15 minute walk to the colosseum and another 15 to get to the centre of town. It was pretty much half the price of most other things I could find, so I was really pleased when it turned out to be so nice.

We crammed a lot into our 4 days in Rome, so here is a sampling of pictures. 

St. Peter's Square, Vatican City

St. Peter's

Roman Forum

Roman Forum

Palatine Hill

View of Roman Forum from Palatine Hill

Pantheon

At the Pantheon

Pantheon

Mosaic detail on St. Peter's dome ceiling

View from St. Peter's dome

Another stunning view - the two statues visible top left are seen from most places in the city and are a real landmark. 

St. Peter's visible over the Tiber

Trevi Fountain - we tossed our coins in backwards over our shoulders to ensure we would come back.

Colosseum

Colosseum - our first afternoon was spent here, in gorgeous  fading sunshine. It was blissful and surreal. 

I would say the highlights of the trip for me were the Colosseum, the Roman Forum, the many pasta dishes, and the Sistine Chapel (still stunning even though it was overrun with people taking pictures are guards yelling NO PICTURES). I definitely suggest going to tuscany or some other parts of Italy in addition to Rome, though, as there is a lot more to the country than only this city, wonderful though it is.

Beautiful Barcelona!

I took a long-weekend trip this weekend to Barcelona. The weather was mostly good and the city is really pretty. There's a lot of green-space; lots of trees, parks and pedestrian paths. Gaudi's architecture is amazing - the Sagrada Familia and other buildings that pop out of nowhere and knock your socks off. It was Sant Jordì's day while we were there, so La Rambla was filled with people buying roses and books, as per tradition. I am so amazed at the fact that I can do this on a random weekend, just jet off and explore the world. I really am so very lucky.

Dublin & Italy

For the first weekend of the Easter break (which doesn't actually include the Easter weekend) I went to Dublin with the Trampoline club for a competition. There were 20 of us and it was a relaxed, fun environment with a lot of opportunity to bounce. My favourite part was synchro bouncing in pink fleece puppy onesies. Yes.

For the rest of the break I met up with my mom in Italy for an incredible 11 days in which we saw Venice, Florence, Siena, Pisa and some little Tuscan towns. The weather was beyond perfect every day and it was amazing to see my mom after 3 months.

Venice: I really loved Venice. It's not like anything you've seen before, with canals instead of roads and boats instead of cars. It's really magical and the light off the water and buildings is gorgeous. I highly recommend it.

Florence: Florence felt more like a big city, which I guess it is. But it was still really wonderful. We saw a lot of art, including Michaelangelo's David, and Bottecelli's Spring and the Birth of Venus. Our B&B hostess was wonderful and made us amazing breakfasts and was like a second mum for the days we were there. Speaking of, we celebrated 'fake' mother's day while in Florence, because it was UK mother's day while we were there. We ate a fabulous meal of pear cheese stuffed pasta. Really, I cannot even describe... 

Siena was adorable, with a lovely piazza/town square where tourists and locals congregate to chill out. We had an apartment with a little garden and it was an easy walk to everything in the area.

San Gimignano
San gimignano is tiny and famous for its many towers. I also found a contemp. art gallery that I loved.

Lucca: In Lucca we rode bikes around the town walls. Fun!

Pisa: We were really mainly here for me to catch a plane back to Edinburgh, but it was really lovely. The tower is SHOCKING even though you know exactly what to expect. Climbing up it you get thrown against the walls because your mind assumes the ground is straight and it's really on an angle. I also ate the best gelato ever to exist.

I have so many pictures from this trip it is really hard to choose. It is such a photogenic country!