Hello my friends! I'm back from my trip and have been for days now. I'm just a bit overexhauted and sick though so please forgive my delay.

The trip was definitely fun. However, it was more like drunken woo-hoo fun than it was actually experiencing Italy fun. We did 6 cities in 5 days! I kid you not. We briefly saw Venice, Rome, Vatican City, Florence, Lucerne, and Zurich. It was certainly too much too fast as I could have easily spent 5 days in Rome alone.

We spent a lot of time in the bus traveling from city to city. We probably walked about 10 miles a day just exploring. Other than that my time was spent drinking wine, goofing off, making inside jokes, and just generally acting like a 15 year old. We had a great group and I definitely made some new friends.

My body is hating me now! Most days I went from 7am to 2 or 3am nonstop. Walking and drinking all the way. Sunday and Monday night I slept from 7:30pm to 6am just trying to recooperate. I'm finally starting to feel a bit better thankfully.

Venice was really neat to see but there's not much going on there. A gondola ride is a must. You can easily do the city in a day or two though. Rome is massive and there's much to see and do. I barely scratched the surface. The Vatican was cool. We didn't get to stay very long. I did manage to see the pope and the Sistine Chapel though. Florence was my favorite city in Italy that we visited. It's just more my style. Tons of food, shopping, and sights but all in a very compact package. Cute cobblestone streets, amazing old architecture, very neat and clean...I loved it! Next time I'll make sure to see the REAL David and hike to the top of the Duomo.

On the long drive from Florence to Zurich or tour guide and driver decided to swing by Lucerne for us. We literally only had about an hour there. It was fabulous too though! Reminded me very much of Florence and of Krakow, Poland. The city is on a river and just very laid back. The Swiss are super clean, organized, and efficient...just the way I like it. I think I'd be happy living in Lucerne. Of course the Swiss Alps are comepletely amazing and stunning...too bad I only ever saw them from a plane or bus window. We really saw nothing of Zurich. We arrived there after dark and departed early the next morning for our flights back home. Our hotel was really nice with a great location right on the river though.

Clearly we didn't have enough shopping time...so not many souvenirs or gifts were purchased. The food was good with the exception of gelato...that was just fantastic. ;) I had at least 2 a day. All in all I'm glad I went for the people I met. It also gave me a good idea of what I want to do and how to do it when I go back one day. Next time I'll bring my husband. I didn't exactly get the Italian romance that I would have liked. Haha! Oh well...until next time.