I have seen a lot in the past two and a half weeks. My mind is still buzzing from all of the planes, trains, subways, taxis, buses, and escalators I've been on. Also, traveling with anyone's family, even if its not your own, can be taxing on one's patience.
Italy:
After a long flight to Rome which consisted of a mere three hours of darkness, a layover in D.C. and a train ride from the airport, I was reunited with my friend and spent the day walking around like a zombie at the Vatican imagining kicking the disgusting pigeons through goal posts. After a long night of regenerating, it was off to the sites of ancient Rome. We arrived at the Roman Forum bright and early (in my mind anyway) and proceeded to walk through row after row of ruins. Now don't get me wrong, it was very interesting to see the places where Julius Caesar walked and to stand at the exact location of the Roman senate, but once you've seen one column or sculpture, in my opinion, you've seen them all.
After swiping some rocks from Augustus' palace, we went to what was one of my favorite places on the trip, the Coliseum. As epic and grandiose as it seems from pictures, you don't get a real sense of the place until you walk within it's walls. With the hoards of tourists clad in brightly colored fanny-packs, it can be hard to imagine the intense battles and rowdy crowds of ancient Rome, but the history of the place seeps through the holes in the walls that were left during the construction. To the Romans, this was their Yankee Stadium if you will. The place could be flooded to re-enact sea battles and senators had life-long box seats, so to speak. 
Following the sites of ancient Rome, we wandered up north the see the Spanish Steps and eat some authentic Italian food. The food in Italy is very good, but growing up on food that has been processed and preserved, I noticed the difference right away. Italian food is much more subtle than American food. Flavors come naturally and therefore are much less distinct. They also charge you for water in Italy, which I thought was slightly ridiculous.The following day led us to the Vatican again, but this time we skipped St. Peter's Basilica and went to the museum instead. Hannah and I sped through the thousands of sculptures, paintings, rugs, and relics to get to the Sistine Chapel. Unfortunately, when we got there, it was loaded shoulder to shoulder with people drooling over Michelangelo's frescoes. The painting of God and Adam was smaller than expected and after getting claustrophobic, we decided to go sit out in the gardens to wait for her family. When the got outside (finally!) we decided to head over to the Pantheon, which is the oldest dome in Rome. It was one of the best sites on the trip considering how incredibly preserved it was. Upon entering, a rush of cool air hits you and the remarkable circle sky light allows enough light in to cast an eerie glow on the walls. It's amazing to see the craftsmanship that was put into a place built LONG before the use of heavy machinery and computers.
At nightfall, we headed to see some of Rome's famous fountains, including the Trevi Fountain. It was more interesting watching black market workers run from the cops than studying the sculptures, but it was such a bella serata that I didn't mind the crowds. The following morning we went to the catacombs which were filled with hundreds of thousands of bones and mummified monks. After that, we hopped on TrenItalia and headed through the Tuscan countryside to Venice.Venice was nice and humid. After hauling all of our luggage onto water taxis and over bridges and canals, we finally got through the maze of streets and made it to our hostel. The next morning we walked the streets of Venice, climbed to the top of St. Marco's Cathedral, and looked at the famous Venetian masks and glass. We took a ride on a gondola (any boat ride makes me happy) and were taken through the canals by our guide Stephano. Here he is on his cellphone:
That night we went to the water's edge and watched an intense lightning storm before retiring to our entirely uncomfortable beds and making the trek in the morning to the rental car place.Thus began our experience of being smashed into a car with five people and a ton of luggage. Of course Hannah and I had to sit in back with her grandma and all of the crap. We drove through the countryside till we reached the foothills of the Alps and the town of Calvene where Hannah's fifth? cousins live.
Most of them knew very little English and most of us knew very little Italian so there was a lot of confusion, but we managed to get feed and stayed the night for free. The Italians love to eat so we were sitting at the table almost every two hours eating pasta, bread, antipasti, and tiramisu and drink the wine from the vineyard and champagne from Paris. Michaela took us to see some villas and throughout the town and we met the extended family for dinner. Hannah and I stayed in the upstairs apartment of Francesco (the funniest person I ever met who spoke a language I didn't understand) and Flora. After our time there, we drove our rental car to Milan and hopped an overnight train to Paris...to be continued.
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