For spring break, my parents decided to visit me in my homeland of Rome, Italy. It was a funny trip because they are still under the impression that I am coming home (I am not). It was nice seeing them for the week as I do not plan on seeing them in May when I am "coming home".
It was fun being a tourist in a place that I have been trying to live in. As crazy as it may seem, I had not gone into the Colosseum or seen the Sistine Chapel prior to their visit. We did the typical touristy things, which was ya know, tours. We spent a few days navigating the top sights of Rome, eating pasta, and enjoying their rooftop dining option at their hotel near the Pantheon. Although we could have spent more time in Rome, Pompeii was on the bucket list.
Getting to Pompeii was an experience. It involved me getting to their hotel (which wasn't terribly far but far enough), getting a cab to the train station, connecting to a different commuter style train, before finally arriving in Pompeii. If you are unaware, Pompeii was a city that was covered in ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted (79 A.D.) covering the entire city in ash creating the ghost town we visit today.
We were tired of formal tours by this point of our trip and therefore opted to just walk around the city ourselves. It was incredible! you are able to walk through most of the city freely and explore what would have been homes or places of work from a time in history that I frankly didn't even think had humans on the planet. The road system, art, and buildings were all very complex given the era. The city was also huge and at times, had rough terrain. The sun was out, temperature was warm, and the views were great.
Finally, we went back to Rome to fly out to Paris the next day. Paris is Paris and I don't think I have much to say that you haven't heard already. I love Paris, I wish I could speak French fluently, and I like my food with fried eggs on top of them apparently. I had to switch from "grazie" to "mercie" which was a weirdly difficult thing to do at first but I tested my 7th and 8th grade French knowledge while I had the chance.
We ate delicious food, saw the Tour Eiffel during the day and then glow at night with the sparkles that occur on the top of every hour. We missed our dinner cruise boat due to a fluke in the maps app but I was in Paris so, I didn't really care.
Oh, and there were yellow vest protests going on alongside the climate protests so maximum security was out and there was a little bit of chaos but it just made things more interesting. Plus, a lot of streets were shut down which made them more pedestrian friendly. It was a win-win. I got to see protests, riot gear, and the streets seemed a bit quiet in terms of tourists.