After months of discussion I finally got my parents on board to come visit us in Italy! Collin and I planned out the trip for months. We wanted each day to be incredibly memorable.

Collin and I had both been to Italy when we were teenagers. I came on my first trip to Europe during a study abroad trip 10 years ago. Collin went on a similar trip with his high school class in 2008. We were both excited to visit again and bring my parents along for the ride.

We flew from Spain to Rome to meet up with mom and dad at the airport. It worked out perfectly. I ran to meet them, gave mom and dad a huge hug, and mom exclaims "you're taller!" Now, I'm 27 years old and I didn't know I could grow taller but lo and behold I had - weird right?

We grabbed our bags, talked about our flights over, and made our way over to buy train tickets to our Airbnb. After getting on the wrong train, and promptly getting off before it departed (thank goodness), we boarded the correct train and made our way into the city.

We stayed in a residential part of Rome in an upstairs portion of a Roman couple's apartment. Mom and dad were definitely feeling jet lagged and took a quick nap before we began exploring.

We walked down to a local restaurant and were greeted by an incredibly friendly staff who helped us decide what to order. Collin raved about his pizza and the pasta was incredible! We ended up going back again a couple of times.

The next day we made our way over to the Vatican.

It was definitely warm that day and we tried to shade ourselves with the shawls we brought to enter the church. Luckily the security line didn't take too long and we were soon inside one of my favorite places on Earth, St. Peter's Basilica.

I loved watching mom and dad take it all in. It is an incredible sight to behold.

We weaved our way through the masses of people, stopping at various spots to admire sculptures and paintings.

We walked around a bit more, grabbed some lunch at a spot near Castel Sant'Angelo, and rested our feet.

It was an incredible feeling to remember streets I had walked on 10 years before. I felt a bit of deja vu walking towards Piazza Navona and into the sun drenched plaza.

After relaxing back at the Airbnb we made sure we had our tickets and headed back to the Vatican to visit the famous Vatican Museum. Throughout the summer they offer night visits to the museum on certain Fridays. We were lucky enough to be there on one such Friday and decided to book tickets as I had read the crowds were much lighter at night.

It was eerie walking around a museum with little to no light in certain corridors, surrounded by history.

We walked along admiring each piece until we made it to the most memorable room in the museum.

Afterwards we tried to catch a taxi, which was easier said than done, and made our way over to Trastevere to get dinner. Trastevere has a very hip nightlife and we were pressed to find a restaurant that had room. Luckily we found a great spot and settled in for another delicious pizza.

Check back soon for more Roman adventures!