Mario and Luigi Take Lorenzo de Medici!

Ciao from Mario and Luigi! We just got back from the beautiful land of Italy! It is good to be flying through the skies of our homeland again, but we really miss the views from the top in Florence!

Here we are looking out over Florence!

 We had a very full month filled with lots of traveling. Our humans weren’t always thrilled about the plane rides, but we enjoyed being above the clouds (though we wish we could’ve flown ourselves!) Our first weekend there we took a bus ride through the Chianti region of Tuscany. We tried around twenty different types of wine and got to see how it was made. The next day we learned how to use the train system and took a day trip to Pisa. You could feel the lean in the tower as soon as you stepped in, and it took Elizabeth and Lacey awhile to adjust as they climbed all of those stairs! 

Chianti from Tuscany!

 

Our human friend Elizabeth in Pisa

Our other human friend Lacey pretending to have the strength of dragons!

  Our next weekend we went to Fiesole, Cinque Terre, and Venice.


 Fiesole is a city on a hill that lets you see all of Florence. It was fun trying to point out landmarks, like the Duomo that we lived beside. In Cinque Terre we got to experience the joys of Italian transportation. From a train strike, to waves to rough to boat through, to a terrifying bus ride through the mountains, we learned to stop worrying and just enjoy what was in front of us. The seaside towns were exactly what you would expect to see on a postcard, and the hike, though challenging, provided excellent photo opportunities. In Venice we got to go on a gondola ride and witnessed a glass blowing demonstration.  

 Lacey and Elizabeth in Fiesole

Lacey and Elizabeth on a gondola in Venice

 

Beautiful Cinque Terre

 The following weekend we took a brief break from Italy and experienced Paris, France. Though our stay was brief, we covered the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Elysees, the Louvre, Notre Dame, and the Locks of Love Bridge. Our personal favorite, however, was Disneyland Paris! You haven’t experienced Ratatoiulle until you spin around on his ride in the middle of France.

 Our last weekend we dedicated to Rome! Our first day we focused on the Vatican City. Being surrounded by the art of artists like da Vinci and Rafael was incredible. The pieces were much larger than we ever expected. We also tried to see the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain but they were under restoration. Our last day we saw the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and the Forum. The Colosseum was our favorite; imagining all the lives lost in that one area was very moving.

The Colosseum in Rome

 In between our crazy weekend adventures we spent many hours in class. For us that wasn’t a bad thing though, we got to learn how to make jewelry and cook authentic Italian cuisine! In jewelry making both of our humans were able to make a ring, pendant, earrings, and a bracelet. To top it all off they were able to keep the pieces they made. We really want them to alter one of them to make them dragon sized, so if you see our humans you should help us convince them that dragons need their own jewelry too. As much as we enjoyed making jewelry, we really liked that every day in our humans cooking class we were allowed to taste all of the food they made. The two of us thought that we would put on a little weight, but daily dragon activities such as flying and fire breathing helped us keep it off.   

It turns out that dragons think tiramisu is tasty!

We definitely recommend a trip to Italy if you ever get the chance!

Mario and Luigi
(with human friends Lacey King and Elizabeth D'Andrea)
Lorenzo de Medici Institute, Florence, Italy