WHENINROME


Chilling at Pompeii. Wearing a vintage hat, and I ♥ Paris shirt, vintage Levi cut offs and jacket thingy, gifted AA sheer stirrup tights, vintage shoes (not shown here) and leather backpack from Cuoieria Fiorentina

Third Europe post, everyone! Are you sick of it yet? Not me, especially since I'm off to Toronto on Friday and I hear the weather is going to be RAINY. At least I'll get to do more shopping, see Niagara Falls and spend a whole lot of "quality time" with the family. GREAT.

But, I'm actually serious. I can't wait to climb the CN tower and do some great vintage shopping! But until then, guess you'll have to keep reading about good ol' Europe;)

CLICK FOR MORE!

DAY 7 TRAVELING FROM FLORENCE TO ROME

Florence was such a great city and we were all sad to leave. To make up for it, the tour guide made a stop at one of Italy's finest leather goods outlet--Cuoieria Fiorentina!

Oh my god! Words can not describe the overwhelming joy I felt when I stepped into that store. The smell of quality leather hung in the air like a fat baby cupid. There were aisles upon aisles of colour coded handbags, luggage, and briefcases in every leather and texture you could think of. AND they had a whole separate section for jackets. And Shoes!!!

I was literally running up and down the shiny white aisles with probably the biggest smile on my face, touching everything. It was just so fucking magical--it was better than Christmas...better than Disney world, even.

I ended up buying the beastliest black leather backpack there, and it is hands down the smartest purchase I've ever made.

We visited a pottery place after, as well as Assisi and Orvietta on our way to Rome. But honestly, everything was kind of boring compared to the leather outlet. All we did was look at churches and get lost. Yawn.

We finally arrived in Rome just in time for dinner, but not before we got to relax in our posh hotel! Seriously, this time around we were staying at an amazing four-star hotel--Hotel Rouge et Noir. It was definitely a treat compared to our usual sketchy two-star hotels. Then we had dinner in the hotel's dining room--perfect way to end a long day!

Wearing a thrifted Harley Davidson tee and hoodie, vintage Levi's shorts, H&M tights, vintage combat boots and Nine West bag.

DAY 8 ROME, ITALY

Our first day in Rome was pretty long too! We visited so many places in one day--it was a whirlwind!

First place to visit was the Vatican. Everyone had to cover up everything and I was forced to wear jeans on a sweltering day. FUN. At least I brought shorts with me in my fancy new backpack;) Anyways, we toured the Vatican Museum (if that's what they call it) and the Sistine Chapel before heading out to the square that the Pope was in, giving speeches and blessing people.

Then we went to see the Colosseum, a place I've been dying to go to since seeing Jumper. (Hayden Christensen plays the lead--need I say more?) Anyways, it was majestic! It was a bit smaller than I imagined, but nonetheless, it was beautiful. And how insane is it to think that people used to gather here thousands of years ago to watch gladiators fight? After the Colosseum, we went to the Roman Ruins. Can't say it was as awesome as the Colosseum, but it was pretty sweet too.

Next stop was the Trevi fountain. It was definitely not what I expected--huge and crowded with people! The tour guide warned us about pick pockets and I had to wear my back pack in front...not so fun. At least I got to take some good pictures and make my wish!

Our last stop before heading back to the hotel was this artist's square in Rome. It was cool to see so much local art--I even got my caricature done!

This has got to be one of my favourite pictures, ever. I'll let you do the captioning;)

Wearing a vintage shirt and Levi's shorts, Ardenes knee socks, Converse shoes, vintage hat, and leather backpack from Florence.

DAY 9 POMPEII AND SORRENTO

The ninth day of the trip was pretty chill. We spent the day making sight-seeing and shopping stops on our way to the beautiful sea side city of Sorrento, Italy (in which we were only spending one night).

Our first visit was Donadio, renowned coral and cameo jewelers. It was fantastically posh, and all the girls were noses-down on the glass cases, buying lovely little cameos for their moms and aunts. I walked out with three pendants and a chain myself. Coral, turquoise and mother of pearl--no cameos for me;)

We ended up having lunch at the place next door. For 13 euros we got salad, a drink (I had Fanta, mmm) and a huge-ass pizza all to ourselves. And, we got entertainment too. This random man went up to our tables sung us some Italian songs. It was a great lunch!

Afterwards, we headed to Pompeii. It was pretty pumped--I had only been dreaming about it ever since I read about it in those Magic Tree-house books when I was a kid! It was pretty neat--I never realized it was THAT big. Miles of it, probably the size of a small town. We didn't get to see all of it (boo) but we did get to see some interesting places--like their main street, little "shops", and the "lupanare", other wise known as a brothel. Nice art work they had there, too. A full menu of all the positions, oh yeah. We also got to see bodies preserved in ash, and got a bit of free time to browse the stands before getting back on the bus for a long ride to Sorrento.

We arrived a bit before dinner and got some free time to explore the hotel (the fabulously pink Il Faro btw) and the beach. It was very amazing. The beach was so close, and the sailors were cute as hell! My friend Sabrina even got a picture of them...Swoon!

We ended up having a lovely dinner, followed by a failed attempt by the adults to tour the city at night. My friend Janine and I ended up getting off the bus and going back to our hotel, where we met some really rad British people our age, who we invited back to our rooms for a lengthy chat. Way better than having to watch some really long parade and taking the steps back down the cliff, because the bus driver refused to take that many passengers!

All in all, a wonderful night in lovely Sorrento.