a taste of italia

This is what I remember from Italy, but unfortunately I have a terrible memory. I should have written it all down.

MILAN
Day 1: After two short plane rides that nearly busted my eardrums, we arrived in Milan. Unlike in Vienna or Nuremburg (our very, very short layover), it wasn't frigid or snowing, but it was still disappointingly cold. The weather wasn't the only thing that was cold; the whole city seemed to be a little cold and distant. We checked into our hostel and our room had a balcony which was kind of cool. Hungry with no where to eat at around 2 pm (all the restaurants around were closed for the afternoon), we discovered McDonald's. I got a Happy Meal and it made me very happy. We sat outside with a bunch of high school kids who were smoking and being "cool" and such. I felt very uncool. Then, we did a lot of shopping though I didn't buy anything.
Day 2: This morning, we woke up insanely early to go see The Last Supper. It was definitely worth it though. We tagged along with a German tour group (go figure) and went through sliding doors that got rid of the bad air. I felt very important. Then, we checked out the church next to it. While wandering towards our next church, we descended upon a huge open air market where we each bought scarfs for 5 Euro. We also went to some rich family's old house and saw a ton of Madonna and Child paintings. And we went to the Duomo.
Day 3: We went to this huge castle where we did a bunch of museums in there. My favorite was the Egyptian exhibit. We also explored the park next to it and it was very pretty. That afternoon, we took the train to Florence.

FLORENCE
Day 1: Because it was Monday, we were kind of limited in our activities (pretty much everything closes on Monday). We went to the Duomo and saw beautiful stained glass windows that were insanely detailed. We also took a bus to this high hill that overlooked Florence and got a beautiful view. While there, we encountered a Romanesque church that was kind of creepy and dark but cool at the same time.
Day 2: We started the day off early with the huge Uffizi gallery. There was so much srt there - I could have spent all day there! We also went to the Royal Palace and saw the Costume Museum and we went to the Galleria dell Academica and saw Michaelangelo's David, as well as some of his unfinished sculptures.
Day 3: We said goodbye to Florence and hopped on a train to Naples, but not before accidentally going to the wrong train station and having to take a cab to the real one and then sprint to catch our train. Whoops.

NAPLES
Day 1: We tried to get into the Royal Palace but it was closed, and, even though some man assured us it would be open the next day at 9 AM, it wasn't. So, instead, we started our day at the castle near the palace. There were certainly a lot of steps involved. We had a nice view of Naples though when we were done looking at the art. We also went to the National Archeological Museum which had a few interesting exhibits but it was pouring down rain so I was uncomfortably wet the whole time. A part of me just wanted to get back to the Bed and Breakfast where we were staying.
Day 2: Because the weather was so terrible and the Royal Palace which houses so many cool things wasn't open, we decided to do all three sightseeing bus tours in Naples so we could learn about Naples and see the sights without bothering with the weather. By the late afternoon, it had gotten a little better, and we went up and down the main shopping street.
Day 3: We took a day trip to Pompeii which was really cool but it started raining in the afternoon even though the forecast said no rain! Also, by the end, my knees just couldn't take it anymore and I was absolutely exhausted. Luckily, I took a lot of picutres and I can view those from the comfort of my room in the Flow House.

Then it was back to Vienna! We had to fly through Brussels which was kind of bizarre. We also didn't know about the time change so we got to the airport 3 hours early instead of 2. Luckily, it wasn't 1 hour instead of 2. I bought a small Longchamp bag at the airport which is funny because that was my only big purchase and I made it in Brussels of all places. However, I felt it was necessary because my purse right now isn't water resistant at all and it also doesn't zip which poses a hazard for my phone and camera every time it rains.

Overall, I had a great time in Italy. The food and wine were both great (the most important part of a vacation, of course) and I always got served ample amounts of both. My favorite meal was in Naples - I had an absolutely delicious seafood pasta dish. I also really enjoyed the Marinara pizza which doesn't have any cheese so it is lactose-allergy friendly.
My favorite place was definitely Florence and I would go back there without hestiation (maybe staying at a nicer place next time than our gross hostel that stole my leggings and had dead bugs in their sheets, among other things ...).