Author: karenxiao

The Vatican is one of the most visited places in not just Rome but the entire world. Each day, tons of tourists, worshippers, or just curious people come to visit St. Peter’s Basilica and see the famous paintings that Michelangelo painted on the ceiling and walls of the Sistine Chapel. We knew coming in beforehand that The Vatican will be one of the most crowded sites, so in preparation, we got up really early in the morning, got to St. Peter’s Basilica by around 9am, and were able to enjoy the beautiful basilica in mostly peace and quiet before the masses of tour groups and other visitors showed up. Indeed, it was one of the most intricately decorated, larger than life, and beautiful piece of interior architecture I’d ever seen!

After walking through St. Peter’s Basilica and climbing up to the dome, we went to the Vatican Museum to see the Sistine Chapel.

Dora, Anna, and I watched the Lizzie McGuire movie after arriving on our first night in Rome, and the movie got us super pumped up for this exciting city. We also started making a long list of movies that are set in Rome/are about Rome/are related to things in Rome and it just made us realize how much of the world is in love with Rome. So in the next few days we’ll see if we’ll get a chance to fall in love with this city too!

The first afternoon we arrived, we went to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, two of the main attractions of Rome.

The Colosseum with all our friends!

Palatine Hill and view of the Roman Forum and surrounding area

The next day we walked around and got some pretty cool views of Rome from the top of the Vittoriano and then headed to the Pantheon. Around the afternoon, it started to rain, but weirdly, it was perfect for seeing the Pantheon because the Pantheon has a large hole at the top of its dome so when it rains, you just see one large stream of water that comes down like a waterfall. It was pretty cool.

After walking around, seeing the Trevi Fountain (which unfortunately was under construction so didn’t have any water in it) and finding this really nice hole in the wall restaurant near the area, we found a place to watch the World Cup. None of us were particularly into soccer, but tonight’s game was England vs. Italy and where better to watch the game than in Rome itself where there would be tons of excited soccer fans around?

We found a bar in the Trastevere area to watch the game and sure enough it was very exciting! After Italy won, people stormed out and celebrated on the streets, cars honked as they drove by and everyone seemed to be waving Italy flags around. It was definitely an incredible experience to be a part of.

Today was mostly a travel day. We left Florence after lunch and took a short train ride to Pisa to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. The little town of Pisa really doesn’t have a whole lot to offer but it the short walk from the train station to the tower gave us a sense of the town and the nice river that flowed through it.

When we got to the tower, there were tons of people lined around the grassy square taking photos, so of course we did our classic “Leaning Tower of Pisa” photo. Then we climbed the 300 steps up to the top of the tower.

After hanging out for a bit, we had to go catch our train to Rome. The train ride was actually really beautiful – it ran along the west coast of Italy so we got beautiful views of the Tuscany countryside and the coast. Four hours of beautiful water, rolling hills, and sunset later, we arrive tired and ready to rest up for a few exciting days in Roma!

We didn’t have high expectations coming to Florence. We knew that there were lots of art museums and churches to see (this is of course the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and famous for the works of Michelangelo and the legacy or the powerful Medici family), but we didn’t expect Florence to be so beautiful.

Because we only had about a day in Florence (our train from Venice got in about noon and we leave for Pisa/Rome tomorrow), we knew that we didn’t have a lot of time to browse the art museums fully. So we instead followed a walking tour suggested by Trip Advisor and the receptionist at or hotel that took us all around the city.

We started off at some of the chapels commissioned by the Medici family (whose wealth and political and religious influence allowed them commission lots of architecture and art to glorify their family). Many of the ceilings of the Medici chapels were painted my Michelangelo and were beautifully intricate.

Next we set off for the Duomo, the huge dome structure that undoubtedly is the centerpiece of the Florence skyline. Following suggestions on Trip Advisor, we climbed the 400 steps of the bell tower next to the dome instead of the dome itself to get a nice view of the city (and a nice view of the dome next door)

View of the Duomo and surrounding city from the top of the bell tower

After taking a look at the other cathedrals and chapels around the area, we headed off to this small gelato shop called Vivoli hidden away on a street for what Trip Advisor says is the “best gelato in all of Italy.” Sure enough, the gelato was great and the little shop had been owned by the same family for generations.

After taking a stroll and having dinner at the Piazza Della Signoria, which is the center of secular life, with the town hall and a number of sculptures (including a replica of Michelangelo’s famous David), we walked across the Ponte Vecchio bridge up a hill to the Piazzale Michelangelo (clearly this city loves Michelangelo).

From the top of this hill, we got amazing views of the entire city of Florence and sat there (with a bottle of Tuscany wine we bought earlier) and watched the city turn a hundred different colors as the sun set. Though our stay in Florence was short, we really got a taste of the grandeur of the medieval and renaissance period when Florence was the center of artistic and intellectual life, as well as the quaint lifestyle of the Tuscany region with its rolling hills, golden sunsets, good food and good wine.

The hundred beautiful colors of the Tuscany sunset

We realized by today that the entire time we’d been in Venice we hadn’t seen a single car. It’s probably because the roads here are basically alleyways and it would be laughable to try and drive a car here because or all the canals, bridges, and tiny roads. Instead, the people here get around primarily by boat. Instead of a subway or bus, the only form of public transportation in Venice is a system of boats that drive along various stops on the canals.

Today, we set off to explore some of the islands surrounding Venice. A twenty minute boat ride later, we arrived in Murano, an island known for its glasswork. Almost every store on the island sold “Murano glass” which ranged from small handiwork figurines of animals and jewelry to large chandeliers and vases.

Murano glass

Next, we went to the island Burano which is known for it’s colorful little houses. We walked around the island looked around in some shops and then took the hour long boat ride back to the main island of Venice.

The colorful little houses of Burano

For dinner, we tried cuttlefish spaghetti, this type of spaghetti that’s pretty famous here and made with this very black squid. The entire pasta is black and when you eat it, it stains your mouth and teeth black! I can’t say I was a huge fan of it, but it was kind of interesting to try!

Eating cuttlefish spaghetti

After dinner, we walked around Academia Bridge, St. Marco’s Square and along the waters. We soon discovered Venice was most charming and beautiful at night for a stroll along the water or through one of the piazzas where musicians lines the squares and serenaded all the passersby with accordion or violin music. What a great end to our Venice trip!

Gondolas in the Venetian sunset

We arrived in Venice from Barcelona around noon today but by the time we took the bus from the airport, checked into our hostel, and got settled in, it was already late afternoon. So around 4 we set out to find (a late) lunch and explore the city!

Pictures of Venice always show the beautiful waters, but Venice is really unique because of all the hundreds of tiny alleyways and streets and hidden canals that make it such a maze! One second we would be squeezing through a tiny alleyway that seems to just be sliced from in between two buildings and the next second it will open up on one of the tiny canals that leads to one of the dozens of tiny bridges all over the city. I feel like a hamster could be very happy in this maze of a city. I sure feel like a hamster here.

After a lot of winding and turning and bridge crossing we finally came upon the Grand Canal, the widest part of the canal where the Rialto Bridge is. This is one of the more touristy areas of Venice and dozens of the iconic Venetian gondolas lined the shores of the canal waiting to take people for an 80 euro ride along the canals (we opted to spend our 80 euros on better things).

Because we bought round trip tickets into Barcelona, we are doing one day today in Barcelona and then coming back for a few more days at the very end of trip.

We started the day off at Sagrada Familia, probably the hallmark site of Barcelona. It was designed by Gaudi (an architect from the region whose buildings and monuments can be seen all over the city) and construction started around 150 years ago, but was never finished (and still remained unfinished today). You can see that there are still cranes outside, but it sure looks incredible and stands as one of the tallest buildings in Barcelona:

Next we climbed up to a hill near the northern part of the city to a place called Park Guell where we saw spectacular views of all of Barcelona below. The park is actually dedicated to a lot of the architecture and works of Gaudi so also has a lot of unique architectural structures:

In the evening, we went to watch the Magical Fountain of Barcelona which was a cool fountain display timed to lights and music.

I had a 9 hour layover in Geneva on my way to Barcelona so I decided to leave the airport and do a quick one-day exploration of Geneva. Luckily, the city of Geneva is extremely small (the airport is about 7 minutes from the city center) so 9 hours was the perfect amount of time to walk around the city, grab lunch, and see the United Nations building.

With a map in hand, we set off. I had remembered that my friend Megan was in Geneva for an internship at the World Health Organization, but we hadn’t gotten in touch with her before and didn’t have wifi, so we didn’t think much of it. Maybe less than 5 minutes after we got off the train, we spotted someone walking across the street, I called out to her, and sure enough, it was Megan!

She ended up walking around with us and showing us some of the places around the city.

The famous water jet on Lake Geneva

The flower clock

In front of the United Nations