Picking up from a couple of days ago, it was a beautiful morning waking up and seeing Lake Garda. We also got 15 minutes of extra sleep. Now I don't quite know what heaven is, or what love feels like, but those extra 15 minutes were as close as I'll ever get to knowing. We then packed everyone into the bus and headed towards Pisa, which was the king of all tourist traps. I mean this whole town is built off of the fact that someone screwed up the foundation of a building. Now as a budding civil engineer prodigy, I'd say that is not very good practice. I don't know, maybe my professors are teaching me the wrong thing, but just taking a wild guess. Anyways, all you need to know about Pisa is that the tower does in fact lean, and after you've stared it for 30 seconds, you should feel free to leave the city and go on with your tour of Italy. The next city on the hit list was Florence. We arrived in the city just in time for dinner and we headed out to Machiavelli's old residence in the Tuscan hills. We were greeted with champagne, which foreshadowed the events to come It was a fantastic dinner as we watched the sun set over the rolling hills of grape vines and old estates. Fast forward through the dinner and all of the people in our tour group had their fair share of wine to say the least. The bus ride back to the hotel was raukus as our tour guide blasted the Beatles and Australians and New Zealanders belted out all of the lyrics. It was a bus ride to remember.
The next morning we awoke early per usual and ventured out to see The David by Michelangelo and tour the downtown streets of Florence. The city had an amazing feel to it. It was not overly crowded with people like Rome or Venice, which alllowed us to walk the streets freely and check out some of the local shops and restaurants. One of the legends in our tour group, a young blonde girl from Wisconsin who was picture happy 24/7, managed to get lost. Our group was very torn up about it. Really deeply troubled about this young girl's well-being, and yet, for some reason not a single person left the spot they were sitting the entire 30 minutes that she was gone. After that minor setback, we shipped off towards Rome and our final dinner with the group (thank the lord the time had finally come).
Everyone ate their food, drank their wine, drank more of their wine, and then headed back to the hotel to socialize and say their last goodbyes to all of their deep and personal friends that they acquired throughout the trip.
THE NEXT MORNING WE SLEPT IN UNTIL 9. It was amazing. Pure bliss. I checked the clock, my heart fluttered, and I ripped the curtain open to see that the sun was actually in the sky before I was out of bed. The group had left for the airport and we were looking to enjoy our last day strolling around Rome. We took the metro into downtown Rome and headed to the Bourghese estate to walk through an amazing art gallery (well I'm sure it was amazing for those who were inside and understood the history of art). Then we headed to a local restaurant that was recommended by our tour guide and it turned out to be the best meal of the trip. My mom and dad were in heaven as this was the only thing on their Italian bucket list that hadn't yet been completed. For the sake of length, we had an interesting time getting back to the hotel, and Ethan basically spilled half of a bottle of ketchup all over his white shirt (typical). Tomorrow we head home after this amazing trip and it's back to reality. Arrivederci!