Travel/Italy

So I thought I would dedicate a page to Italy. I love to go to new places and see new things. I love history and meeting new people. So I thought this would be a great way to show where I have been and where I want to go and I welcome your opinions on my ideas of what sounds like good traveling.

I thought I would start with some places I have been. Last summer I spent nine days in Italy and loved it. I did a tour but focused on Rome, Florence, and Venice. Of the three places I liked Rome the best. Probably because it was a bustling city and you could walk almost anywhere and see history. I liked Venice the least. Although, it was amazing to be on the city built on water for the directionally challenged it was difficult to navigate. Florence would fall in the middle. On one hand I loved the art and atmosphere, it was amazingly beautiful. On the other I prefer a “bigger city atmosphere”. The people were amazing however. We met a lot of great people in all the cities. I expected our hotel rooms to be smaller than they were but they were fine. Some of our American counterparts thought they were too small but I thought they were fine. Smaller than our oversized everything in the US but I have stayed in NYC and the room there was much smaller. We started in Rome but just for a night and headed to Venice next. In Venice there were tons of things to see. We went to a lace making school. It has been around for 100s of years and the ladies all still sew by hand. The things they made were beautiful. We also saw glass blowing since those two things Venice has been known for. It was really neat. The glass blowing was pretty expensive. They of course had a huge market area where you could get anything from food to purses that was crowded with tourist. We went to see some old churches, there are a ton there. I really wanted to see Santa Maria- I have a picture of it in my condo but was unable to because of where it was and how long it would take etc. We ended our day with an authentic Venice dinner and people singing to us. A little touristy I know.

The next two days we spent in Florence. It was beautiful. The architecture was amazing. We went to a leather making shop and the owner showed us how to tell if leather is real or fake since they try to see you fake while there. They also had these Queen Anne jewelry boxes that were made after one of their Queens. I did get one to remember Florence. It was in Florence that I fell in love with bruchetta. I don’t even like tomatoes but it was so amazing I could literally eat it every day. I loved it. I loved the food everywhere we ate. When we ate authentic from the places that the locals at I enjoyed it. Smaller portions but we were completely full. This has to be why Europeans are smaller in size then us Americans. We also went to the L’ Academia. We waited in line for at least an hour to get in. It was amazing. If I get the chance to go back I would visit the Uffizi as well.

We ended our trip back in Rome. I loved it. There were so many things to see. We spent one day in the Vatican. It was amazing. We saw Raphael’s fresco’s, all this amazing art, as well as the Sistine Chapel. It was breath taking. You couldn’t speak with inside. They wanted it quiet. Unbelievable. Everyone should go before they die. We also toured the Colosseum and the Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and many more things. I could have spent a week in Rome alone. My friend actually got her wallet stolen by some gypsies while we were about to tour the Colosseum. What was great is the tour guide saw them chased one down started yelling at her in Italian and then hitting her with the purse she had. Unfortunately she didn’t have my friends stuff but she did have the things of another girl in our group. We were shocked at first, since we don’t normally see that but it was amazing. We had to leave to head back to the hotel but went out later on our own anyway and did the Colosseum. That was one place I really wanted to go. We didn’t get a chance to go inside, so on my next trip to Italy I will have to do that!

Here are some pictures of each city.

Trevi Fountain- Rome

I loved this spot. It was one of my favorites. I went more than once. I loved that there were so many people there enjoying this piece of art. People were throwing coins in and making wishes. It was nothing like what you see in the movies to me.

Venice-

I thought I would love Venice and it definitely had it’s great things. There were a ton of churches in this city. Many were very old and filled with tons of art. They were amazing. Of course we did a gondola ride. Who can’t do that while in Venice.

Florence- was beautiful. My favorite part was visiting L’ Academia where they had Michelangelo’s David. It was enormous. When I saw it I was so overcome by it’s beauty that I began to cry. I loved the L’Academia. They had a huge room devoted to statues only. It was unbelievable. The picture is from the top of a church in Florence overlooking the city. The second was just some cool archetecture in Florence- beautiful city.