Halfway through my trip and I could hardly believe it was real! Each day was so busy that there was no real time to digest all that we had seen and done. Sleep had become an acquaintance who I saw less and less often. Even though I was tired all the time I had never felt more alive. I was excited to start every day and see what adventure awaited me. Next stop on the tour Italy!
Venice
If you want to get the most bang for your buck I’d recommend staying outside of Venice and taking a water taxi there. We stayed in Ledo de Jesolo which was less touristy but still close enough to go to Venice for the day. If you are productive with your day Venice can absolutely be done in 8 hours.
San Marco Square is a great place to start, I suggest getting there are early as possible. It will be pretty crowded.
St. Mark’s Basilica, which is located in San Marco Square is gorgeous. It’s covered in mosaics from ceiling to floor. It is free if you wait in line or about 3€ if buy a ticket online. For 3€ skip the line!
You have to decide if you prefer this angle or a million people in your photo
I really enjoyed the Venetian glass factory tour. Venetian glass is prized worldwide, walking around the gallery at the end of the tour left no question as to why. Their work is stunning.
Next stop for me was Doge’s Palace, which is located around the corner from San Marco Square. If you’re like me and appreciate art and history without religion you’ll love Doge’s Palace. You can even go down to the basement and see the old dungeons.
Whenever I think of Venice I think of gorgeous Italian men singing and rowing along in a Gondola so I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. It did live up to my expectations. There was a handsome gondolier who rowed us around the canals of Venice singing to us in Italian. A dream come true.
Rome
As we drove from Ledo de Jesolo to Rome I could hardly contain my excitement. I couldn’t believe I was actually going to see the Colosseum. Seeing the Colosseum and the Eiffel Tower had always seemed like far off dreams. I never imagined that at 21 I would be standing in front of nearly two thousands of years worth of history.
On our first night in Rome, a group of us decided we wanted to have a night out. Cynthia and I were on the hunt for a man since at this point we were tied 2:2. We made a quick stop at Trevi Fountain before heading out.
Trevi fountain is beautiful and definitely worth a stop but you should be prepared for large crowds. If you just need that perfect photo go at 5 am you’ll get the fountain all to yourself.
Later that night 8 of us ended up at a bar called The Drunken Ship, it was fairly crowded with a mix of locals and tourists. This is where I met Mauricio, a handsome and very charming member of the Italian Military. I’ll give you all the dirty details at the bottom of his post!
After a full 2 hours of sleep, it was time for my Italian cooking class. We made pasta from scratch and a really delicious sauce with pork check, white wine, and tomatoes. It was really fun, and if I hadn’t been so hungover I’m sure I would have enjoyed it much more.
The Colosseum
It was finally time for the Colosseum tour! The Colosseum was so much bigger than I had imagined. At 159 feet it’s nearly 15 stories tall!
The Colosseum used to be decorated with bronze fixtures. As bronze became more valuable the fixtures were ripped out of the walls to be melted down for other uses leaving behind these large gouges in the walls. Large blocks of limestone were also removed to construct other buildings such as the Vatican.
The enormity of the Colosseum was astonishing. The fact that all of it was built by hand and held together solely by pressure was mind-boggling. There was no mortar holding the stones in place; all the stones were cut and laid together perfectly in this massive structure. The Colosseum has survived 1,939 years of wear and tear, both world wars and numerous leaders. The Colosseum has seen more history than you or I could even begin to comprehend.
The Vatican
As I’ve previously stated I am not a religious person, so a lot of the hype about the Vatican didn’t particularly appeal to me. I am so glad I went though, the Sistine Chapel was breathtaking.
As the ceiling progresses the paintings become a little less detailed and smaller. Michelangelo realized he had spent too much time on the first couple of paintings. If he was going to fit the 9 scenes from Genesis he had to make the paintings smaller and less detailed. Supposably he painted the last scene in a single day, now that’s a productive day. Seeing the Sistine Chapel was the perfect ending to Rome.
Florence
As soon as we arrived in Florence we went on a walking tour, which told me one thing; this city was not that big. Thank god, while I was starting to figure out public transportation I was happy to know I would be able to walk everywhere in Florence.
The Duomo is the center of town, from there streets break off in every direction like spokes on a wheel. Which as it turns out makes it incredibly easy to get lost!
The Duomo Florence, Italy 
Santa Maria del Fiore
The first night in Florence our amazing tour guide, Jason organized a wine tasting and dinner at a vineyard. I’m not into wine but there was no way I was passing up a wine tasting dinner in the Tuscan hills!
We had all of day 2 in Florence free to ourselves, it was nice to finally sleep in. A few of us decided to go to the Uffizi Gallery in the afternoon. If you want to skip the line book online. We spent about 3 hours inside but you could easily spend a whole day.
On the way back I got the biggest cone of gelato that I had ever seen! And I had been eating gelato at every opportunity.
The gelato probably distracted me and I got impossibly lost for the millionth time on the trip! Remember how I said the Duomo was in the center with streets breaking off in every direction? Well that makes it incredibly hard to distinguish one street from the next.
Those little tourist maps leave off so many streets it makes us directionally challenged people even more confused! Finally after a good hour or so I managed to find some wifi and use google maps. And that’s how I learned that google maps does, in fact, work without wifi! It’s a lifesaver, you can also download directions to use while offline.
Leaning Tower of Pisa
On our way out of Italy, we stopped in Pisa just long enough to get a glimpse of the leaning tower. As it turns out not only is the tower learning but so is the cathedral.
To be honest I have no idea how everyone seems to get those photos of them holding the tower up or with it between their legs. I was just glad I was able to get a photo without 12 people attempting those poses in the background!
The Italian Job
I was starting to get a little discouraged after being unsuccessful for 2 weeks but thankfully in Rome, my unlucky streak was broken. As previously mentioned I met Mauricio at a bar, The Drunken Ship.
He was from southern Italy but had been stationed in Rome through the Military. He spoke just enough english so we could chit chat. We were sitting outside of the bar by a fountain when a man came by selling roses, Mauricio bought me one and then kissed me for the first time.
That’s how it should be done. Just because it’s only for the night doesn’t mean it can’t be romantic.
Soon after we were making out so we decided it was time to leave. Unfortunately, neither one of us had a place to go back to so we had to get a hotel. Which at 1 am is expensive and hard to find but I was determined to get laid.
By the time we found a room neither of us could keep our hands off each other. We quickly undressed and climbed into bed. I grabbed a condom from my purse and put it on him before I climbed on top.
The sex wasn’t anything to write home about we had both probably had two drinks too many to give our best performance. After 15 minutes I was dry and starting to get sore so I decided I would give him a BJ in hopes that he would at least finish.
After a few minutes, he asked me to use my feet. Oh shit, I thought to myself I’ve never done this! So as I try to position myself he goes no no TEETH.
Excuse me what?! Everything I know about BJs tells me teeth are the last thing I should be using. This is still the strangest request I’ve received during sex but he loved it.
Well there we are at 3:30 am when his alarm went off for work. His alarm clock is what ended our fun it is was just as well my throat was killing me from the hour-long blow job I gave him and I couldn’t wait to get to bed.
