We left on Friday (Oct 19) for our week long adventure in Italy. We had it planned out so that we would have about a day in a half of each city we visited, and those cities were: Rome, Florence, Venice, and Cinque Terre.
Our flight left for Parma (home of Parmesan and Parma Ham) at 11am from Stanstead, an airport outside of London and, joyously for us, 3 hours away from Oxford. Ew. We landed in Parma and the airport is so small that it literally is only big enough for one plane at a time. So we were the only plane there, which was quant. From the airport we took a bus to the train station and then embarked on a 4 hour train ride to Rome. I, being so wonderful at directions as we all know, thought Rome and Parma were about 2 hours away. Ha. But on the bright side we saw an Italian hobo and I practiced speaking my Italian to the other Italians in our compartment.
Rome was amazing. I did not really care too much to go there at first, but I am so glad we went in the end. We saw the coliseum, the forum, and we went to St Peter’s Square. I had my first real Italian gelato and I am in love. Then at night we went on a night tour and saw some fountains sculpted by Bernini and the Trevi Fountain at night. They told us a pretty cool ghost story about it, but I’ve been trying to find it again online and no such luck, so I think it might be – shocking, I know – not real. My favorite part of Rome was that all of the fountains were connected to the old aqueduct system, so you could drink out of all of the fountains!
After Rome we went to Florence. Florence was cold but gorgeous. Our hostel was incredible. It was a private room for the three of us with a bathroom and the window was stained glass and our room came with a computer with free internet access, cable tv, and we could call the states for free. Wow, talk about luxery! In Florence we went to the Duomo (the main cathedral), the Ponte Vecchio bridge, and up to the Piazza di Michelangelo where we had an incredible view of Florence. Also, we met up with and had dinner with my friend Aimee from High School, which was really fun! Florence was odd, though, because the museums were closed on Mondays and that was the day we had the full day. Also, we wanted to go to a club at night, but the clubs were also closed on Mondays. I will have to do some research on that. So we had to go to the museums very quickly on Tuesday before we caught our train to Venice and the Acedemia, where the David is, had a very long line. However, the Uffizi, another museum of more importance, had an even longer line so we stuck with the Uffizi because it had more to offer. Lucky us, though, because the section of the Ufizzi with all of the famous artworks like the Birth of Venus was closed. What luck.
So we left Florence for Venice and I was playing around with my camera while we were on the train and I erased all of the pictures I had taken thus far. Oh the sadness. Luckily, Julie and Alex comforted me by saying I could save their pictures on to my computer. So the tragedy was lessened. Venice was….well, I do not really know what I was supposed to see there. We went to St. Marks and saw all of the pigeons. We walked along many canals. We tried on all sorts of fun masks. We got ripped off on a Gondola Ride (the guy said 8 euros and then when it was over we gave him a 10 thinking we’d tip him and then he went, no no no, I said 8 euros, 8 euros, to which we simply looked confused, and then he went EIGHTY euros – bummer). But overall I was kind of unimpressed with Venice. I think I would have enjoyed it more in the 18th and 19th centuries when I could wear a large fancy dress with a matching mask.
Our last destination was Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is made up of 5 towns on the Mediterranean Sea. Our hostel was in the first town, Riomaggiore, but the towns are all within walking distance (you’re supposed to hike along these trials overlooking the ocean) or within very short train rides. We arrived at our hostel where we had booked beds in an 8 person dorm and the hostel owner shook his head sadly at us and said “I am so sorry, but the dorms are not available – I will have to put you in a private apartment with your own kitchen for the same price.” Oh what terrible news.
Cinque Terre was amazing!! The sad part was that it was raining on and off the whole day so we could not hike the trails, but the water was still a gorgeous shade of blue and the towns themselves were so beautiful. They are kind of like tiny Italian fishing villages. Cinque Terre apparently is known for its fresh pesto so I ate very many delicious pesto dishes and even bought some pesto to take home with me. Also, I had the most delicious tiramisu of my life in one of the towns.
We left on Saturday from Turin, which I really would have liked to see more of. I definitely need to go back, the architecture alone was gorgeous! However, it was one of those types of travel days when we went form a train to a bus to a bus to a plane to a bus to a taxi and after at least 12 hours of traveling got back to our flat at 3am. But it was all so worth it!!
Italy was amazing. I cannot say enough good things about it or the people. All the Italians were so very friendly and helpful, and the Italian food was molto bene. I had many pizzas and pastas and some incredible lasagna. I definitely need to go back.
Our flight left for Parma (home of Parmesan and Parma Ham) at 11am from Stanstead, an airport outside of London and, joyously for us, 3 hours away from Oxford. Ew. We landed in Parma and the airport is so small that it literally is only big enough for one plane at a time. So we were the only plane there, which was quant. From the airport we took a bus to the train station and then embarked on a 4 hour train ride to Rome. I, being so wonderful at directions as we all know, thought Rome and Parma were about 2 hours away. Ha. But on the bright side we saw an Italian hobo and I practiced speaking my Italian to the other Italians in our compartment.
Rome was amazing. I did not really care too much to go there at first, but I am so glad we went in the end. We saw the coliseum, the forum, and we went to St Peter’s Square. I had my first real Italian gelato and I am in love. Then at night we went on a night tour and saw some fountains sculpted by Bernini and the Trevi Fountain at night. They told us a pretty cool ghost story about it, but I’ve been trying to find it again online and no such luck, so I think it might be – shocking, I know – not real. My favorite part of Rome was that all of the fountains were connected to the old aqueduct system, so you could drink out of all of the fountains!
After Rome we went to Florence. Florence was cold but gorgeous. Our hostel was incredible. It was a private room for the three of us with a bathroom and the window was stained glass and our room came with a computer with free internet access, cable tv, and we could call the states for free. Wow, talk about luxery! In Florence we went to the Duomo (the main cathedral), the Ponte Vecchio bridge, and up to the Piazza di Michelangelo where we had an incredible view of Florence. Also, we met up with and had dinner with my friend Aimee from High School, which was really fun! Florence was odd, though, because the museums were closed on Mondays and that was the day we had the full day. Also, we wanted to go to a club at night, but the clubs were also closed on Mondays. I will have to do some research on that. So we had to go to the museums very quickly on Tuesday before we caught our train to Venice and the Acedemia, where the David is, had a very long line. However, the Uffizi, another museum of more importance, had an even longer line so we stuck with the Uffizi because it had more to offer. Lucky us, though, because the section of the Ufizzi with all of the famous artworks like the Birth of Venus was closed. What luck.
So we left Florence for Venice and I was playing around with my camera while we were on the train and I erased all of the pictures I had taken thus far. Oh the sadness. Luckily, Julie and Alex comforted me by saying I could save their pictures on to my computer. So the tragedy was lessened. Venice was….well, I do not really know what I was supposed to see there. We went to St. Marks and saw all of the pigeons. We walked along many canals. We tried on all sorts of fun masks. We got ripped off on a Gondola Ride (the guy said 8 euros and then when it was over we gave him a 10 thinking we’d tip him and then he went, no no no, I said 8 euros, 8 euros, to which we simply looked confused, and then he went EIGHTY euros – bummer). But overall I was kind of unimpressed with Venice. I think I would have enjoyed it more in the 18th and 19th centuries when I could wear a large fancy dress with a matching mask.
Our last destination was Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre is made up of 5 towns on the Mediterranean Sea. Our hostel was in the first town, Riomaggiore, but the towns are all within walking distance (you’re supposed to hike along these trials overlooking the ocean) or within very short train rides. We arrived at our hostel where we had booked beds in an 8 person dorm and the hostel owner shook his head sadly at us and said “I am so sorry, but the dorms are not available – I will have to put you in a private apartment with your own kitchen for the same price.” Oh what terrible news.
Cinque Terre was amazing!! The sad part was that it was raining on and off the whole day so we could not hike the trails, but the water was still a gorgeous shade of blue and the towns themselves were so beautiful. They are kind of like tiny Italian fishing villages. Cinque Terre apparently is known for its fresh pesto so I ate very many delicious pesto dishes and even bought some pesto to take home with me. Also, I had the most delicious tiramisu of my life in one of the towns.
We left on Saturday from Turin, which I really would have liked to see more of. I definitely need to go back, the architecture alone was gorgeous! However, it was one of those types of travel days when we went form a train to a bus to a bus to a plane to a bus to a taxi and after at least 12 hours of traveling got back to our flat at 3am. But it was all so worth it!!
Italy was amazing. I cannot say enough good things about it or the people. All the Italians were so very friendly and helpful, and the Italian food was molto bene. I had many pizzas and pastas and some incredible lasagna. I definitely need to go back.
Julie and Alex in the colosseum
the "basement" of the colosseum - sometimes they would flood this with water and have mock naval battles! fun!
oh the colosseum
drinking the Roman water - it was quite delicious, actually
the Forum - oh democracy
st peter's squareI wanted to sit in one of the chairs, but they were barricaded off
Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano(St. Peter's Basilica - I just wanted to look cool by using its Italian name)
throwing a coin in the trevi fountain
this was Julie's 2nd coin so she had to wish to return Rome and find love
Alex's first coin so she was supposed to just wish to return to Romeshe decided she wanted a different wish instead
that's fine, just break traditions, jeez
I wished to return to Rome like you were supposed toha
this fountain is incredible, might I addit's HUGE!
The Duomo in Florence
the inside of the Dome of the Duomo
I tried to make it a little bigger, but it's still kind of impossible to see all the details
but trust me, it was incredible
google it
Ponte Vecchio Bridge in Florence where they sell all of the GOLD!
Ponte Vecchio from a distance
Florence from a distancethe big church is the Duomo
this is how sad I was when I accidently deleted all of my pictures from Rome and Florence
thank goodness Julie let me share hers
masks in Venice!
wouldn't a mask ball be so much fun? I'm going to bring them back into fashion
the Duomo in Venicein St Mark's Square - you can tell because of all of the pigeons!
they wouldn't let us take pictures inside, which is sad because it was incredible
Islamic Influence for sure
Alex running through the pigeons in St. Mark's Square notice how the pigeons aren't flying away
they just kind of casually walked away, if a pigeon can be casual
Canal Canal
on our Gondola ride
Riomaggiore - this is the town in Cinque Terre we stayed in
Vernazza
Vernazza boats
look how cute that town is, sitting on the edge of a mountain overlooking the sea
Corniglia
Manarolasomeday I shall vacation here for one month every summer
and fulfill my dream of swimming in the mediterranean
us in front of Manarola
look how beautiful the water was on the day we left! no fair!!
a church in the mountains
the train station in Torino
look how cool the architecture and monuments are in Torino!
ALPS!!!!!when I visit Italy again, I must see: more of Torino, Sienna, and Cinque Terre on a warm spring day (summer might be too hot)
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