The First Day of Being Nomadic: October 22

I am so excited for fall break. Planning it this week was awful because of the strikes in France and Italy, so our trains were canceled. Luckily, we were able to book a flight to Milan, so this morning I said goodbye to Paris at 4am to make it for my 7am flight.

(Sunrise over the Alps on the plane)

Erin and I were planning on spending an hour in Milan exploring and basically seeing the one church that the city is known for, but we caught an earlier train and instead made our way to Pisa. What’s in Pisa anyways? Well there’s the tower and the most darling Italian town ever, so of course we HAD to go, but finding the leaning tower of Pisa proved to be a little difficult for us. Erin and I are special people because finding the tower is actually very simple. There is a direct bus route to the tower, but somehow we managed to miss the bus stop for the tower and had to stay on the bus for its entire loop! It was not terrible though because we made friends with our bus driver and he gave us a small tour of the town.

(Bus ride in Piza)

We were complete tourists at that moment in time, but when finally, reaching the leaning tower I was flabbergasted. It was so much more than I expected because it wasn’t just the tower, but there is an ornate wall, a bustling market and the most gorgeous church all in the same plaza. It was mesmerizing and Erin and I had tons of fun chatting in French (to avoid the street vendors) and taking pictures. After spending only an hour in Pisa we unfortunately, had to get on our next train heading to Rome. I wish that I had spent more time there, but I am extremely happy that I got to snap some beautiful photos of Pisa!

(Yeah...I was at a loss of words...and still am)

(Erin and I in front of the leaning tower)

(It really is leaning)

(The market. They had some really nice things. I wish I was rich cause I would have gone on a shopping spree there!)

(Peace out Pisa)

We arrived in Rome at 8pm after watching the movie Roman Holiday to psych ourselves up for spending the next three days in Rome. At that point I could not have been more excited to see the city. I have never been somewhere as ancient or historical or intriguing as Rome. Our hostel however proved to be the sketchiest thing alive. Upon arriving at the hostel:

1) 1)we could not find the hostel

2) 2)e could not communicate with the people who worked there

3) 3)our room terrified us

4) 4)he bathroom terrified us

Needless to say Erin and I had a nervous breakdown tonight after fifteen hours of traveling and stress. But the hostel is honestly not as bad as we thought. It has the perfect location, its safe and we are paying hardly anything for it, so we will survive our three nights here. For now, chao!