And so our Italy Vacation Begins...

Once Rusty's season ended, we traveled to Italy! The timing of Kirsten's trip could not have been more perfect; she was able to see Rusty's last game and then come with us to Italy!

Our flight departed from Athens around 6am, so we had to take the last train that left Lamia, which was at midnight. After multiple trains (including one wrong one) we arrived at the airport...in a zombie-like state since it was past 3am, so we slept until it was time to board.

We landed in Milan and picked up our rental car- a cute little Fiat 500. Renting a car was the best decision ever. I did all this planning and math to find the best way to travel around. I assumed train passes would be best, but Rusty thought a rental car would be cheaper and according to my calculations (cue the palms together, fingers strumming move), it was! I was still hesitant, but we booked the rental car and I am so happy we did. We were able to drive around almost the entire country in our little car (which was diesel, so it got good gas mileage) on our own schedule. And we never had to worry about getting to and from a train station.

I drove the car off the lot, nervously, since I am not very good at stick shift. My jerky driving wasn't really working out. Thank goodness Rusty picked it up faster than I did. As soon as we figured out which direction to head, we were off to downtown Milan!

Needless to say, our entire Italy trip was amazing. I wish I could share every detail, but that would mean 50+ pages of writing and no one would want to read that. So instead I'm going to list a few memorable things from each place we visited...starting with Milan!

   Milan   

Our "Bed and Breakfast" (and lunch and dinner) 

Giuseppe, the statistician for the BYU men's volleyball team, and one of our friends, is from  Milan and even though he was still in Provo, his mom said we could stay at her house! She lived in a more rural suburb of Milan with a vineyard right in her backyard- just how I pictured Italy! She was the nicest lady you could ever imagine and was one of the most memorable parts of our trip because she was such a classic Italian host. She fed us breakfast and even packed us lunches before we left each day! She doesn't speak much English, so to communicate, we would go to her computer and use Google translate. One day Rusty mentioned how he loved the spicy salami pizza in Italy, so guess what?! The next day, she had made an entire spicy salami pizza for us! And I can't forget her boyfriend, who never really spoke to us since he doesn't speak English well either, but was so friendly. We owe her big time! And Giuseppe for setting it up for us!

Duomo

Words cannot do the beauty of this place justice. I was seriously blown away by how ornate the entire building is. And it's set in the center of a main square, so you walk up and bam! This huge, extravagant cathedral is towering over everything around it. I have never been so blown away by architecture in my life. The inside was beautiful as well, but the outside was my favorite.

Note to Self: When random gypsies shove seeds in your hand, drop them or you will quickly be covered in
tons of pigeons and will never be able to feel clean no matter how many times you wash your hands-
 and then the gypsies will demand money. 

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II 

This is one of the world's oldest malls and it is definitely one of the prettiest. It was a shopper's dream come true. Stores, food, and gelato shops all under pretty, arched, sky-light ceilings and elegant gold detailing! 

If you put your heel on the bull in the mosaic on the floor and spin three times, it is supposed to bring you good luck, so of course we all had to do it...

Santa Maria delle Grazie

Houses Leonardo DaVinci's, The Last Supper mural. I always thought The Last Supper was a poster-sized painting. It wasn't until I saw it, that I realized it was a huge mural done right on the wall. So cool! Pictures weren't allowed, but don't worry, we discreetly took some!

This was my casual, "I'm just tying my jacket around my waist" pose haha

Leonardo DaVinci Museum

Leonardo DaVinci's notes and sketches 

Downtown Milan

We had a lot of fun on this lion statue...

This picture makes me laugh because it looks like we were photoshopped in there

Castello Sforzesco 

Last but not least, Fashion 

I had to include fashion because it really stood out to me. I mean, it is the fashion capital of the world, but I loved how so many people we passed walking down the street looked as if they had stepped out of a fashion magazine. I tried to pick out cute outfits to take on my trip- which were limited anyways cause we each only took a backpack- that's right people, one backpack for an entire week! That is the lightest I have ever packed. I was pretty proud of myself. But anyways, I tried to bring cute outfits, but seeing such fashionable people made me want to buy a whole new wardrobe...ahh, if only I had an unlimited budget.


Our trip didn't stop there! Next stop: Lake Como!