adventures of a typical high school student

Hello everyone!

As you all know, I have returned home from Europe so sadly the daily updates of the trip are over. However, I still have a lot to say about the experience and how amazing it was, so today I’m just going to “review” the trip and discuss all of the things I learned along the way. I will do it first by (and I will give a reference to my hotel and the food overall in each city) and then my experience as a whole.

First up: Paris, France.

I think Paris was my favorite city, which I definitely expected; it’s been my dream destination since I was a little girl. Sadly it was gloomy and rainy the whole time we were there, but I still really enjoyed the vibes and everything that we saw. It was a little dirty but much cleaner than Rome, and I always felt relatively safe walking down the streets. There was so much to see on every street corner, and we could walk to it all within 15-20 minutes. The street vendors weren’t as in-your-face as they were in Italy, which I came to appreciate later on. I was just more interested in all the historic sites and monuments in Paris since it was all so grand and I had previous knowledge on most of it. Seeing the Eiffel Tower was definitely my favorite part, as it lived up to all my expectations and was probably the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. The city looked different than I expected but that may also be partly because of the weather; I always envisioned sitting out in the sun by little cafés and people watching, but people were usually inside since it was cold and drizzling while we were there. The pickpocketing incident on the Metro (read about in my Europe day 5 post) scared me off from it a little bit, but we left shortly after that anyways. My least favorite part was either experiencing that incident, or the day tour to Versailles since our tour was overall a negative experience and we didn’t get to see the actual gardens. Walking through the city just gave me such an amazing vibe and I would love to return and see better weather.

Hotel: Hotel d’Espagne- 6.5/10, good breakfast and friendly staff, location was pretty good but it was still usually a 20-30 minute walk to get to most places, room and bathroom were clean but very small and no toiletries were provided

Food: 6/10- mostly attributed to me being a picky eater and not being the biggest fan of French food, we mostly ate sandwiches and burgers so it was just alright but desserts/pastries and bread were AMAZING

Sorrento, Italy

Sorrento and the entire Amalfi coast is definitely one of the most beautiful places I have ever been, and I wasn’t even expecting to fall in love with it. After the craziness of going everywhere in Paris I was glad to have a couple relaxing days in a beach town, but I didn’t realize how cute and entertaining it would be to stay here. The main square was always bustling with life and there were so many streets to walk down and shop for local goods at. There were also tons of amazing restaurants, and everything was close to the shore of course. Swimming in the Mediterranean Sea was probably the highlight of our stay here; it was so warm and the water was a beautiful shade of green. I didn’t want to leave after a day of soaking up the sun there, it was just too scenic and relaxing. We didn’t end up doing a tour of Capri or the other towns along the coast, but that just gives me an excuse to come back someday! The weather was very hot and humid, but it was a nice change from the June gloom of Paris, and it helped me get a little tan at the beach. Walking down the Sorrento streets and looking at the ocean from the cliffs above while devouring some delicious gelato as the sun set will forever be a wonderful memory.

Hotel: Hotel Villa di Sorrento- 9.5/10, bigger breakfast selection but actual quality of food wasn’t as great, VERY friendly staff, rooms were very nice and much larger (especially bathroom), plenty of toiletries provided, great location- right near the main piazza in town and the main beach access, a little outdated though and lots of stairs to get up (elevator was very small so we didn’t take it often)

Food: 10/10- all of the local restaurants were amazing, everything was around the same price and you couldn’t go wrong with a pizza anywhere (the restaurant right next to our hotel had AMAZING pizza); Italian food is my favorite so don’t be surprised by this high of a rating, but it was also really good here and there was such good gelaterias as well.

Rome, Italy

I’m just going to be straight up here- Rome was my least favorite city we visited. There were definitely some things I loved about it and it’s still another beautiful city with a rich history, but it just seemed dirty and overcrowded to me. When we first got there and started walking around the streets were empty, but as soon as we got near the Trevi Fountain (or any tourist attraction) it was suddenly so packed we could barely move. Seeing the Colosseum at sunset was definitely my favorite thing we did during our time here; the day tours of the Vatican and Colosseum were not the most positive experiences and they were both quite exhausting. I think how good a tour is depends on your pace in comparison to your group/guide’s, and how entertaining your guide is, and our guides were not the best. I was paranoid most of the time we were there as the street vendors/scammers/rose guys?? (not sure what to call them) were EVERYWHERE in your face and the train station was especially sketchy. I know it can be like this in any big tourist destination, but I just didn’t feel as comfortable as I did in Paris. However, we had some great weather there (HOT!) and it definitely had its charm; the piazzas were beautiful to hang out in, and there were more cute cafés and greenery. Even though I knew a lot of the historic background of the city and the places we went, I just wasn’t as intrigued as I was with Paris and everything there.

Hotel: Hotel Mascagni- 10/10, we got upgraded to a bigger suite for free (the only downside was we were in a separate building from the main one which meant we needed to use two elevators to get to our room) and it was VERY nice and VERY clean, spacious and all toiletries were provided, breakfast was the best out of everywhere we went and the staff (especially the breakfast cooks) were extremely nice!! The location was also good, it wasn’t the most popular area at night but it was close to the Colosseum in one direction and the Trevi Fountain in the other.

Food: 8/10- food was very expensive here and there were lots of tourist trap restaurants. We tried our best to go to more authentic Italian places but when wandering around and hungry we definitely ended up in some mediocre places (our bad!). It was never bad because it was still Italian food/pizza and pasta which they couldn’t mess up, but it wasn’t the best or as good as I hoped. The gelato was decent but I liked it better in Sorrento.

Florence, Italy

I enjoyed Florence, but it wasn’t the most interesting city. It was much, much cleaner than Rome and very beautifully maintained, reflecting the wealth we saw there. Passing by the Duomo everytime we walked somewhere was incredible (I was in awe everytime I looked up at it), and I enjoyed going to the museum to see David and other famous works, but other than that we kind of just wandered around. There was lots of shopping everywhere but the only other main place we went was the Ponte Vecchio bridge. Again, it was a place with more shopping and expensive goods; however, there was also a beautiful view of the river which made it a lovely place to just go and walk around while enjoying the views. This was also a safe city and I felt comfortable walking around, but after exploring there wasn’t too much to do besides go to a few other museums we weren’t interested in. It’s a very small city so I wouldn’t plan on staying here for long, but I would still definitely recommend coming for a couple days.

Hotel: The Glance Hotel- 9.5/10, this hotel was very modern and clean, the staff weren’t the most friendly but they were helpful and they had an activities hospitality desk person at all times that outlined plans and good restaurants to us, the rooms were fairly small but overall clean and nice, there was a rooftop pool which was beautiful, breakfast was pretty good but not as good as in Rome, and the location was decently close to everything we wanted to see and a lot of the shopping.

Food: 8.5/10- Everywhere we ate was decent, but it was extremely expensive at most restaurants (it was a very expensive city) and nothing stood out to me too much. Again, there was good gelato and a couple meals that were excellent, but my favorite pizza was still in Sorrento.

Venice, Italy

Venice was absolutely beautiful! It felt even smaller than Florence (it probably is but I’m not sure, the reason it may have felt so small could also be because we mainly stayed on one side of it), but there were always more streets to walk down and everything was so picturesque that it made it worthwhile even if we didn’t know where we were going. Our gondola ride on the water wasn’t as amazing as I thought it would be just because it was short and we mainly stayed in one area, but it was still amazing just to be on the water. I loved how the lack of roads made everything just feel more walkable, but it was also kind of a struggle since it was very crowded and all the streets were very narrow. Sitting in St. Mark’s Square (or any other square there, for that matter) and just taking in all the beautiful buildings was so calming and I could’ve easily sat there all day. Similar to Florence, once we walked around for a while there wasn’t much to see; there was tons of shopping and places to just kind of explore and look at, but not much else to actually do. We went to the Rialto bridge a couple times just to look out over the water, but you’ll honestly catch glimpses of the canals from almost every point in the town. I loved it there, but I wouldn’t have wanted to stay too much longer just because I feel like we had tired out most of the must-see attractions.

Hotel: Hotel Antico Panada- 4/10, there were barely any breakfast options, the hotel staff were not the most friendly, the room was tiny and very outdated compared to all our other rooms (to be fair, most buildings in Venice seemed outdated besides the VERY high end ones), the location was decent though; very close to St. Mark’s Square.

Food: 9/10- We weren’t there for very long but most of the meals we had there were excellent, there were tiny little restaurants all around that were delicious, and we had the best gelato ever at a place called Suso (I think?). Stay away from the cafés and gelaterias near St. Mark’s Square or touristy places- not only are they insanely expensive, but they’re also not as good.

Now that I’ve given you the rundown on each city and my opinion, I’ll tell you what I actually gained from the trip. This was my first time ever traveling out of the country, so it was definitely a culture shock going all the way to Europe and into a couple of its biggest and most famous cities. I learned a lot about myself as a traveler (my traveling style- I’m an early bird and I always like to be moving, but I need my rest at night) and how I’m a very different type of traveler than my parents. Paris has always been my main bucket list destination so it was just incredible to start off my first international trip there and I’m so glad I did. It was also interesting to see how different European/French/Italian culture is, from the difference in bathrooms (size and different toilets!) to dining habits to just daily life and interactions. There were tons of things I never realized would be so different in other parts of the world, and it just took me by surprise every time I discovered something new. In a way, the trip also made me grateful to live in such a wonderful country and state where our cities are relatively clean and I always feel safe (not that I didn’t feel safe in Europe) and at home. I’m so thankful to my parents for giving me (and my brother!) the opportunity to go on a trip like this and explore a new part of the world; I look forward to seeing even more of it in the future on my own and this trip made me hungry to do so. Europe, this won’t be the last you’ll see of me by any means: I know I’ll see you again in the near future, thank you for the memories you’ve already given me.

I hope this gave you a more complete overview of what going to France and Italy was like for me! If you would like to read about the details of my trip, check out any of my daily posts from when I was there under the Europe 2019 category. I have one or two more posts related to travel/the trip and then I will be shifting gears into various other types of content covering the rest of my summer, so stay tuned!

-Brooke