ITALY TRAVEL DIARY!

*video & vlog at the bottom of this post!

 11/17- finally arrived in Italy! It wasnt a rough coming... the plane ride was hardly bad at all (only 4 hours to New Jersey, a 4 hour layover, then 7 hours to milan) but once we got here the jet lag set in. I felt so exhausted and bloated but still had a happy face on and was able to enjoy some QUALITY pizza. We wandered into a little pizza place randomly. They opened early for us even! Then the pizzas came out in the shape of hearts! Italy loves us back haha! I feel super hopeful for the rest of the trip and excited for what’s to come!

 11/18- feeling much better today! We all were finally able to get a good nights sleep. I hadn’t actually laid down in a real bed since Wednesday night (and even then it was only for an hour and a half!) we went to the flea market in Lucca via train because Emma had heard things about it from a local. It was the cutest town and easy to just stroll around. I found the cutest rings and am so excited to tell everyone that compliments me on them that they’re from Italy! Once we were done there we got the yummiest ravioli at this pasta place. It easily makes the top 3 meals I’ve ever had. First would be laduree French toast, second would be this. Candied walnuts on ravioli with ricotta cheese flavored with orange citrus or something. I couldn’t understand all of the Italian. But it was SO good! We went to the leather market after and I picked up a backpack and some Italian leather souvenirs for friends. Then we went to the statue of David and it was so cool. It’s amazing to think that less than half the world will have the opportunity to see it (and lots of other things we are doing on this trip). I’m so lucky to be here. 

11/19- today we woke up and got a little bit of a late start! After we finally got our suitcases out of the Airbnb and into storage for checkout we went to the Duomo in Florence! It was so stunning and colorful! One of my favorite little spots in Florence was the cutest gelato shop with the Duomo right behind it. It was perfect for pictures and so so yummy! It’s definitely one of my happy corners of the world and a place I hope I can go back to someday. We ended up taking the wrong train to Rome so it took 3 hours to get there instead of 1! We weren’t even mad about it though because it gave us a chance to look at pictures and chat. Our Uber driver and Airbnb host were both so kind! I love that when I explore new places I discover that people in the world are good even despite differences. There IS good in the world! Our Airbnb here is so nice. I want my house to look like this someday! The ceilings are so high and everything is modern while still being luxurious and classy. I feel like a queen! The view of the street is amazing too and you can fall asleep to hear little vespas cruising by! It’s heaven!! Rome is my favorite place so far.  

 11/20- Rome is still my favorite so far! It feels like around every corner is a little “square” that just has fountains and statues and people hanging out! It’s so cute and not like any other city I’ve ever been in! I also love the warm colors of all the buildings! In places like New York and Paris everything is white or grey but here it’s all orange and pink and yellow! And they look so pretty up against the blue sky. Today we visited the Sistine chapel which took my breath away! I honestly felt the spirit a little bit while I was there! We also went to the pantheon which was crazy because of how old it was. I think it’s so cool that they built an entire city around it. You just turn the corner from new apartments and shops and then literally there it is! One of the best parts of the day was at the very end when we went out in pajamas and sweats to get some gelato. Me and Lindsey split 2 little cups between us and then decided it wasn’t enough and even got a third haha! But the man working said we didn’t have to pay til we left. On our way out he just told us they were ALL free! It was the nicest thing! Again, so many people are SO nice and there is so much good all around the world!

11/21- today was amazing! The thing I’ve discovered about Italy (or maybe just Rome) is that it’s so GRAND! Paris is beautiful and lovely, New York is energetic, Vegas is just fun and colorful, Italy just has so many things that take my breath away!! Like today right in the morning we went to the Trevi fountain and it was so huge and beautiful! Then we randomly turned down a street and found the most gigantic building ever! It was a huge memorial dedicated to the unknown soldiers that had passed away (similar to the tomb of the unknown soldier in DC). Then we went to the coliseum which was shockingly underwhelming! It was amazing still but so much smaller than I thought it would be. But I loved that everything was really close together. All down one street is the memorial, Roman ruins, and the colosseum. It made it so much easier to picture all of those things existing thousands of years ago! One of the best moments from today was after Lindsey and Bella went back to the airbnb to get some extra rest, me, Emma, and Sydney went out to the Trevi fountain at night in our pajamas. It was so fun to just have the pressure of the day gone, relax in cozy clothes, people watch, and enjoy Rome! It honestly was one of the best times I got to take it all in. And on our walk back we found the Lindt truffle factory and their ice cream is top 5 things I’ve ever eaten. Without a doubt. 

Top 5 things I’ve ever eaten:

1. Laduree French toast 
2. That one pasta place orange ricotta ravioli
3. Lindt coffee and white chocolate gelato
4. Thailand cooking class curry and pad Thai omelet
5. Bowlology peanut butter açaí bowl

(Just to put things in perspective) 

 11/22- today we rode the train to Venice in the morning. I can already tell it’s going to be one of my favorite cities in the world! Literally there isn’t a single car here, it’s all rivers and water. I had absolutely no idea! On our way out of the train station we also ran into some Elders which I loved. The church is true wherever you go! Elders are the perfect little tour guides too because they’re practically locals but actually speak English! We freshened up and then went out and saw one of the prettiest sunsets of my whole life over the canal and I hope I never forget it

 11/23- spent thanksgiving roaming the streets of Venice! One of the happiest things of this trip was finding a smoothie place for breakfast. Every day we’ve struggled because nobody wants to load up on croissants and carbs first thing in the morning since that’s literally all we eat hah! So finally we found this place called Frulala and it had THE best smoothies and açaí bowls on the corner. Also it’s impossible to get around here! Addresses literally don’t work. It’s not just us, that’s a fact. Because everything is numbered by canal district or something and there are no actual street names. My other favorite part of today was finding the most gorgeous department store! It was so tall and open right when you walk in then the sides of each floor had a different section- shoes, bags, etc. and it was all so high end. The best part of it was the roof top though! You could see the entire city from the view and we got to watch the sunset on it. Venice sunsets are some of the best in the world.  Later on we took a gondola ride (and plenty of pictures), shopped, and had pizza for thanksgiving dinner!

 11/24- today we took a train to milan! That took up most of our time but I wasn’t mad about it because on trains you can just sit and listen to music and see the little outskirts of Italy! Milan is very cloudy so far and we haven’t been able to see too much of it but I think it’s going to be one of my favorite places because it’s a city. It’s so cool how it’s full of new and modern buildings and also old cobblestone streets! It’s such a unique place! We all were getting pretty tired by the end of the day so we decided to go back to our Airbnb. It’s SO nice and giant. There’s a room for almost each of us, super high ceilings, a kitchen, and dining room! We really treated ourselves with this one.

11/25- today in milan there was super gloomy weather (my least favorite kind!) but we still made the most of it. Most of our day was spent shopping and browsing. I hadn’t found too much that I was in love with but Emma took us to the cutest store that she remembered from London and I got so many things. We ended up eating dinner at a super random place. That always happens- we’ll go go go until we’re starving and then try to find a really good place but no luck because they’re closed or so far away. So we stopped at a place by the cathedral and mall figuring that it had to be good if it was in such a good location but we were so wrong. It was beyond nasty and so expensive so we were mad! We left a terrible review but then our waiter (Philippo) was so cute and nice and sad looking that Sydney felt bad and started crying about it. We were all dying laughing at it and could not stop! We sat for like 45 minutes just laughing so hard tears came out our eyes at the nasty restaurant!  

11/26- our last day in Italy! I’m sad that this trip is coming to an end and I have to go back to real life but at the same time 10 days has felt like forever! Today me and Lindsey woke up early and Ubered to church! As always, church in a new country was one of the hilights of my trip. The cutest little old men welcomed us along with the missionaries and some ward members that were studying English. The ward was surprisingly so huge too! And it was the primary program so that’s even better. The whole week I had gotten used to feeling foreign and not understanding anything or where to go. But the minute I walked into the church doors I immediately felt genuinely at home and centered. There is truly no feeling like it and I’m so glad that I decided to go! After we checked out of our Airbnb we dropped our bags off at the train station and got some yummy pasta! It was one of the best of the trip and we really lucked out because hardly any places are open on Sunday!

I think that my favorite part of the trip has to be Rome! I loved seeing the Trevi fountain and Colosseum because they’re landmarks that I’ve grown up seeing in so many movies and pictures. It was kind of like seeing the Eiffel Tower for the first time too. You only get so many moments like that in your life! Those times when you’re just like am I really here? Really experiencing this in real life? It exists?! I can’t describe it haha but it’s so so great!!! I loved things about every city though. I loved the art and local feeling streets of Florence and Toca, the big city industrial vibe in Milan, and the uniqueness of Venice- the city that’s literally just a maze of tiny alleyway feeling streets and canals. I’m happy that Italy is checked off my list! 

ITALIA from Madison Pritt on Vimeo.

I wanted to remember allll the memories from this trip so that's why the vlog is an hour long! So so sorry! Pop some popcorn and get comfy if you still want to follow along haha!