Throw a Coin into the Trevi Fountain

I know you guys are starting to realize a lot of these abroad check marks are very stereotypical but what can I say, some of these things are just cool to experience no matter how many other people have. I was annoyingly persistent enough to drag my friends to see the fountain during the day and at night and I'm glad I did because it was really worth it to see it both ways. It really is beautiful and there are people throwing coins in all over the place. I tossed in a penny for luck, forgot about the whole wishing part. Oops.

Visit the Vatican

Visiting the Vatican was a bit of a hike since we decided to go on the same day that all of the buses decided to strike BUT it was worth it. The art in Vatican City is so beautiful and the Sistine Chapel really is all it is talked up to be. It's so hard to look at them and picture people painting them by hand.

The above picture is me embracing my inner geek that is obsessed with Dan Brown and the movie/book Angels and Demons. For anyone who's seen it and doesn't get it, that's the wind statue where the second cardinal is murdered. Huge geek points for me, I know.

Visit Big Ben and Eat Fish and Chips in London

Big Ben is a classic tourist thing to do when visiting London and while most people I know tend to shame touristy attractions I like to think that they're popular for a reason so they're usually worth seeing. Big Ben was cool but what I actually enjoyed more was actually going inside Westminster Abby. I have no pictures since the guards in there are hawks about cameras but it is beautiful and definitely worth seeing once.

The fish and chips, how to even describe how good and stereotypical that one was. I love fried fish so this was practically the holy grail of bar food for me. My British friend insisted that I try it before I left for Europe and I promised I'm glad I remembered because wow it was delicious. Thanks Em!

Find the Perfect Leather Jacket

Ever since I retired my 7 year old China town leather jacket earlier this year due to way too much wear and tear I've been on the hunt for the perfect leather jacket to replace it. Tanya took me to the leather market in Florence, which is supposed to be known for its leather, and we hunted for hours before I settled on this jacket I'm wearing in the picture above. 

The man in the shop (pictured below) was beyond confused as to why I wanted a mens leather jacket but after a couple of minutes of him trying to get me to try on women's leather jackets (which are always way too tight fitting and short and stiff) he gave in a found me the smallest sized mens jacket he had. I'm beyond in love with this jacket, it's so soft and warm. Perfect, without a doubt.

Eat Pasta in Italy

This happened to not only be the first pasta I ate in Italy but also the single greatest thing to ever grace my taste buds. We went to Cinque Terre my first day in Italy and Tanya insisted on going to a specific restaurant in the furtherest village just so she could eat this dish again and WOW am I glad we did it. I'm a huge foodie and this was just spectacular. I'm not sure what they put in the sauce but I'd put money on some addictive components being in there. That good.

Visit Cinque Terre

I'm about to spam this blog with everything I checked off when I went to Italy and London with Tanya. First was Cinque Terre. I've been dying to go to Cinque Terre ever since I saw pictures of the five little colorful Italian villages on Pinterest earlier this year. This was the first day I spent in Italy and it was a long one (albeit a very good one too).

Tanya and I took a train from Florence to Cinque Terre and when we got to Cinque Terre it was a little cloudy but not so bad so we figured that, after we ate, we'd do the nice walkway in between the villages that Tanya had done before. So we went to the furtherest village and had The Best Thing I've Ever Eaten (post on that to come) and then set out on our walk. As you can see in the picture below, we had on skirts and dresses and were in general pretty ready for pictures and a nice stroll.

Ha. ha. ha.

After 3 hours of hiking through a forest in the rain in flip flops, skirts, and swimsuits, we finally made it to the next village. Needless to say, we got quite a few "where do these girls think they're going" looks, and a couple "ugh Americans" looks when they heard us speak, from our fellow hikers that were actually dressed in hiking gear and proper footwear. But it was a fun mishap, we definitely got our exercise in for the day, and we destroyed all the good it did us immediately by eating a pizza in that there town. 

Perfect Day!

Give Away my Old Stuffed Animals

This is a small one for me but I'm still glad I did it. I'm a huge, huge horder, so I've been holding on to a lot of my childhood stuffed animals for many years now and they were just taking up room and not serving a purpose so I figured I'd give them to some kids who would appreciate them. Feels good to get them off the shelf once and for all (well, almost all of them).