Socks with sandals: Just another Myers Family Vacation

Between exam season, Italian earthquakes, and hoards of directionally-challenged tourists, the Myers family managed to survive their Italian adventure. Back in August (as my mom likes to fondly reflect on), my dad was sticking to his "there's no way we're all going to Italy, that's ridiculous" story. Who would have thought that I'd be meeting my parents and sisters for the first time in ten months at the Mcdonalds in Termini Station in Rome.
Between my mom's determination to interview every single gelato shop we went into and my dad's insistence that no meal can be enjoyed unless it's eaten outside, I'll admit it was a little stressful. Traveling family style is pretty different from the 10 euro hostel and bread and cheese dinners I was used too. But, in the end, I am so grateful that I was able to share this experience with them. We started in Rome, then hit Florence, Cinque Terre, Bologna and ended in Venice. I'll relate some details using a few of the gajillion photos that my mom insisted on taking:

Good ol' Ricky Poo. Rick Steves (travel guide extraordinaire) was our sixth travel buddy. There's only so much I know about the Forum and and Michelangelo's David. Occasionally, we would pause for mini-lessons with Rick. My sisters would pretend to listen while they took ridiculous photos of themselves, my dad would make "that's nifty!" comment, and it would all be followed by my mom's ever-inquisitive "so this must be how it relates to everything else you've ever learned" spiel.

 Second night in Rome and there were already problems. We showed up at a restaurant where I had made reservations buuuuut they gave us an inside table. My sisters and I all tried to hide awkwardly in the back as my dad proceeded to insist on an outdoor table, threaten to leave, then get people who were halfway through their meal to move over and make room for us. To be fair, dad, the meal was actually better outside.

So, yeah, many of these pictures focus on food. We ate very well in Italy. Who knew! Here Lilly and I are enjoying a Florentine steak. They season it with just salt and cook it for about 30 seconds on each side. It was big enough to feed five and is the only steak that I can truly say has melted in my mouth.

One of our best meals was in a restaurant on the cliff side in Cinque Terre. Here we have our waiter, Paolo, cleaning the fish of the day. Highlight of this meal: the gelato with caramelized strawberries on top. My dad would probably say the view.

The start of our Cinque Terre hike. Parts of the trail were closed do to the mudslide so we ending up walking about four kilometers actually up into the mountains. Olivia's Urban Outfitter sneakers were not prepared for that. Lilly and I ended up stripping out of our leggings around a corner in front of as sanctuary to the virgin Mary. I did the last stretch by myself while everyone else took the train.

 Dinner with the Longo's. This was an experience. They wanted my family to try all the bolognese food. It was a four hour meal consisting of tagliatelle bolognese followed by lasagna. At this point we're all full and actually have to take a break from the table to get air. Then came the tortelloni in broth followed by a meat plate with prosciutto and mortadella. I thought Olivia was going to just drop her head into her plate and sleep. Then came a big bowl of fresh cherries and a cookie cake thing that you dip in dessert wine. There was (of course) new wine for every course and special fizzy water to help with digestion. We all left vowing to not eat for three days (which is a huge lie).
The above photo is of me with the family: Antonello, Letizia and Pietro Longo. My family brought Pietro a Sporting KC shirt and he didn't take it off all night. Letizia cried when I left and they've downloaded Skype just so that they can talk with me. I would never have guessed that I could have hit it off with a little kid!

I left my family in Venice with an extra bag full of my things, a couple of blisters, and absurdly full stomachs. I think we can successfully say that the Myers family vacation was bellisima! Lilly and Olivia, I expect you to be able to translate that by now.