Expenses.

(Estimates)
Flight from Pittsburgh to Rome : about $1,700.
Hotels : about $2,500.
Food, and Dining Out : about $800.
Luxuries, and Leisure Activities : about $1,000.
Flight from Milan to Pittsburgh : about $1,900.


Total expenses were about $7,900. Which isn't bad, considering I was trying keep a limit of 10,000. I was at different hotels every night, and dined out every evening which was the center of most of my expenses.

Map of My Trip.

From Rome, to Naples, to Florence, to Bologna, to Venice, to Trento, and finally to Milan.

DAY SEVEN : June 24, 2011.

       We were at our last destination - Milan, Italy. We were in the Hotel Spadari al Duomo, and it was early morning when everyone woke up. We decided to make this day the most special. We all went to a cafe for breakfast, located near our hotel. Our plans for today were to first, go see the Cathedral. It took over 500 years to build the structure. Also, it is the four largest cathedral in Europe, and the second largest Catholic cathedral in the world. Next, we decided to visit the Monumental Cemetery. It was over-whelming, and it was extremely large. It was over 250,000 square feet. The cemetery had running trams, or you could walk throughout it. It was awesome, and although not many tourists go there, it was well worth it. As our very last attraction in Italy, we viewed one of Leonardo Da Vinchi's most famous painting, The Last Supper. Our tickets had to be purchased three months in advance, so everyone looked forward to it the most. The artwork left everyone speechless. It was in excellent condition, and was so much more amazing in person, than in photographs.

     
     Being nine o'clock already, everyone was absolutely starved. So, we went to dine at Trattoria Milanese, one of the top restaurants in Milan. I think I enjoyed our last meal the best, but I was no where near ready to board our flight that night. I simply wasn't ready to go home. I didn't wanna leave, ever. 

DAY SIX : June 23, 2011.

      I was getting tired of overnight and late night traveling, but loving Italy. We were now in Trento, Italy staying in a hotel called Hotel Aquila d'Oro. We ate breakfast, and were on our way to visit the Buonconsiglio Castle Museum. 

     The castles were amazing. I had never seen anything like them in my entire life. It was incredible, and completely breath-taking to see something so beautiful, and so ancient. After many photographs, we moved on to the Piazza Duomo and walked through the historic walking areas. We also viewed the landmarks there. It was one of the least interesting days, to me, but nevertheless I had fun. We ate dinner at Osteria a Le Due Spade. It was a perfect three course meal, and at an excellent price. It was also accompanied by two different kinds of water and wine, and a bread basket. After our long day, it was nearing eight o'clock. We all returned to our hotel, and gathered our things for one last time. Next stop - Milan!

DAY FIVE : June 22, 2011.

     That following morning, I woke up in Venice, Italy. It was late last night when we arrived at the Danieli Hotel, so everyone went to sleep. Being so tired the night before, we failed to admire this hotel's beauty. It was absolutely incredible! We woke up, and had yet another wonderful breakfast. I was in a wonderful mood, and ready to take on Venice! 

     First, we took a relaxing boat ride on the Grand Canal, through the center of Venice. Then, we shopped for a couple hours. We visited all of the little shops, and even a couple bakeries and cafes. We visited the Palazzo Ducale, and learned of it's history, then we finally visited the Campanile di San Marco. It is originally a lighthouse, to assist navigation in the lagoon. Visitors can be taken to the top by elevator, which is what we did. 

     Seeing that it was close to seven thirty, we decided to eat at Fiaschetteria Toscana. I was getting used to dining on fine Italian cuisine, and now that I'm not there, I really have missed it. This restaurant, though, was one of my favorites, even though it was very simple.

DAY FOUR : June 20, 2011

 After about an hour and a half of driving, we arrived in Bologna at our next hotel. We checked into the Fiera Hotel, and as we did every other late night, we rested until morning. For the first time, we actually dined for breakfast. We ate omelets, bacon, sausage, toast, pancakes, and so much more. It was the largest breakfast of the entire trip. After breakfast, we all took a cooking class. Bologna, Italy is mostly about different foods, so we decided to take a cooking class. We then toured a lot of different factories. We toured different wine factories, and even parmesan cheese factories. It was a very unique way to spend our day. When we finally finished our activities, it was seven o'clock so we went to San Domenico to eat dinner. I just loved Italian foods. Every place we went to, I enjoyed. The food was exquisite at every single restaurant. It was always cooked to perfection. Then, we returned to our hotel room, packed our things once more, and said goodbye to Bologna. We were off to Venice that night, at ten o’clock!

DAY TWO/THREE : June 19/20, 2011.

     When I arrived, I was exhausted. It was two in the morning, and so we had to check in to our next hotel in Florence, Italy. Our next reservations were made at Lungarno Hotel, and it was every bit as amazing as the first hotel. Being so tired, we didn’t bother to take any pictures until morning of our rooms. Once we awoke in the morning, everyone was prepared for our upcoming day at eleven o’clock. We all grabbed quick breakfast – doughnuts, bagels, muffins, and fruit. 

     We shopped at all the local markets to begin with, and then went to see  Piazza della Signoria, the heart of the historic center to view sculptures and many other historic things. After a couple hours spent there, we were all hungry so we chose a restaurant near our next stop, which would be the Duomo. It was a beautiful, traditional restaurant called Ristorante la Giostra. The food was cooked to perfection, and I couldn’t ask for a better dinner. We finished our most delicious meals, took photographs of the amazing restaurant, and then went to visit the Duomo di Firenze.

     It was about seven o’clock when we went to visit the cathedral, and the beauty of this place astonished me. It is one of the largest cathedrals in the world, and I just loved to take pictures of it, just to prove that I had actually seen it for myself! 

     We still had much to see in Italy, which is why we immediately left for Bologna, the third city scheduled to visit. 

DAY TWO : June 19, 2011.

     Because Rome was such a large city, we had much more to see. So we decided to visit a few more attractions before moving on to our next city. Our last breakfast in Rome consisted of the amazing foods offered at the Hotel D’lnghilterra. The room service was gourmet, and none of us wanted to leave. After finishing our meals, we were off to the Colosseum as our last attraction in Rome. 
          


     
     After some time spent there, we quickly said good-bye to Rome, and traveled for three hours down to Pompeii. From the ancient ruins, to Mount Vesuvious, and even to Villa dei Misteri, we ventured around Pompeii and saw as much as we possibly could. After a long day of sightseeing and driving, we decided to dine out for dinner at a most elegant restaurant. We dined at Ristorante President, and were more than satisfied with our Italian cuisines. From the service, to the atmosphere – everything was perfect.

     It was about nine o’clock when we finished our meals. Seeing that it only took about five hours to travel to Florence, which was our next stop, we all boarded the bus once again. We couldn’t afford to lose any time on our trip, because we had much to see.

DAY ONE : June 18, 2011

     Upon waking up from our naps, we agreed to only eat a small breakfast, so that we could dine out for lunch. Most of us only grabbed a bagel, or muffin. The Hotel D'lnghilterra offered an amazing breakfast assortment, but unfortunately we had to settle for a quick one.

     First stop – The Trevi Fountain! It was just outside of our hotel, and it was gorgeous. Legend has it, that if you toss a coin into the fountain, you will return to it one day. Every person in the group tossed a coin in, and after many pictures of it, we moved on to our next attraction. We then ate a late lunch, at Maccheroni , which is one of the best dishes in Rome. The food was exquisite, along with each and every waiter. We were more than satisfied with our meal, and the service.  So our waiter received an excellent tip as a token of our gratitude.

    

     To end our day, we visited the world famous Pantheon and also the Piazza Navona. We visited the Pantheon first. We stayed there, for only an hour or so, embracing its beauty and history. We captured the beautiful marble columns, thick brick walls, and the 43 meter-high structure of the Pantheon in each of our photographs that we snapped. The remainder of our day was spent photographing and viewing the beautiful fountains at the Piazza Navona. We each returned to our hotel room for the night, ordering room service for dinner, and then going straight to sleep at around ten o’clock.

Arrival in Rome -

     Finally, I arrived at my hotel in Rome, Italy at 8:30am. It was an overnight flight, and I was absolutely exhausted, but that didn't stop my adventurous thoughts about my upcoming stay in "The Eternal City". I could hardly wait to start embarking this incredible city. So, to begin, I took many pictures of our stunning hotel room. The Hotel D'lnghilterra was everything a guest could ask for and so much more. The accommodations were extraordinary, and the food was always perfectly prepared. The location of it was also very amazing - it was convenient to all of our tourist attractions. The hotel met every expectation of mine. I was very vigilant about starting off as soon as we arrived, but as a recommendation from our tour guide, we decided to take a short nap before exploring. We called asking for a wakeup call at about ten o'clock so that everyone in our group could get prepared for our day, and soon everyone was asleep. 

Fusilli With Tomato Sauce

Preparation: 5 mins (assuming that the tomato sauce is already prepared)
Cooking: 10 mins

SERVES 4 -

Ingredients:

• 400 g (14 oz) of Fusilli pasta
• Tomato Sauce

Directions:

• Boil your fusilli according to the producer instruction or see the "How to cook perfect spaghetti" link.

-- Take a large pan (higher than wider and better if made of aluminium) and fill with plenty of water. Just to give you some guidance, 1 litre of water for every 100 g of spaghetti (the quantity of water should be enough so that when you add the pasta the boiling should continue). When the water is boiling, add enough salt (about 10 g for every litre of water) to make the water slightly salted; then add the spaghetti and cook for the required time shown on the spaghetti pack. Stir every now and then in order to avoid the spaghetti sticking together. When draining the spaghetti I personally suggest not draining it too much but always to leave it a bit wet; this is quite helpful especially when you have a sauce that can dries quickly once in contact with the hot spaghetti.

•      Finally, top the fusilli with the tomato sauce and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Lincoln's Last Breath

 Abraham Lincoln's Assassination.

*from left, to right*

 (Major Henry Rathbone, Clara Harris, Mary Todd Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln, and John Wilkes Booth)

     

     My mother had told me that I was to look my very best this evening.  She had chosen a most elegant gown from my wardrobe, demanded that I wear it, and did the same for my younger sister.  We were attending a performance at the Ford's Theatre tonight, and my mother was very vigilant about our attire.  When we finally arrived at the theatre, I was in awe.  It absolutely astonished me.  It appeared to be like a palace that a king or queen of some sort would reside in.  As we sat in our reserved seats waiting the performance to begin, I studied the theatre’s beauty for quite some time.  The lights grew dim, and mother tugged on my arm to redirect my attention back to the stage.  I loved every minute of the comical play, and so did my sister.  Moments after it began though, I heard my mother gasp and whisper in a very hushed tone, “God almighty.”  Somewhat frightened, I looked over at her to see that she was looking in the direction of the president.  Instinctively, my eyes followed hers to the balcony where he and his wife were seated.  As soon as I did this, a deafening gun shot rang throughout the entire theatre.  The actors froze in their positions, backstage crew members were gandering through the closed curtains, and the entire audience was filled with nothing but gasps of terror, and eruptions of anger.  The man who fired the gun leaped from the balcony, and darted out the door just as fast as he mercilessly pulled the trigger.  Many men chased after him, but the chaos was far from over.  A doctor who had been in the theatre rushed up the stairs immediately.  Tears began to swell, and spill over my cheeks.  I glanced down at my sister, who was hopelessly lost in the situation, being much too young to understand.  I securely wrapped both of my arms around her, in an attempt to comfort her.   As the doctor examined the president’s wound, the theatre fell silent.  Nothing was spoken, but many tears were shed that evening for our nation’s leader. 

An artist's interpretation of Lincoln after he was shot.