And it sure takes more than one day (or two or three) to see everything the city has to offer! Wow, so much has happened since I last updated I don't know where to start! Well, I guess from where we left off. I'm going to try and keep this one a bit more brief... we'll see how that goes though!
Rome.. we got into Rome after quite the long day of traveling... a night ferry from Greece, and a train ride from hell. Wow, those trains are special! Basically, the air conditioning was broken. we got on and sweat was dripping, but we didn't know if this was normal. We soon found out it wasn't because everyone on the train was feeling the vent to see if air would come out, breaking out anything they could find to fan themselves with and wearing pained, uncomfortable looks on their faces. It would have been absolutely hilarious to watch - I should have taken a video on my cam. They ended up offering people bus rides to Rome, but we stayed on because the train emptied to the point where it was cooler because there were less bodies. Still a six hour train ride w/no heat.. we were not happy travelers!
DAy 1 in Rome - went to see Circus Maximus, Palatine Hill, the Colosseum and the Forum. What was soo cool about those places to me wasn't so much what they looked like (which was still incredibly cool), but the visual you get of what it must've been like to be in them back in the day.. Standing in the Colosseum 'stands' looking down to where the floor was, you could picture what it must've been like and how amazing it must've been to see the kinds of fights that took place there and the energy that must've exploded from the crowd. Circus Maximus basically looks like a huge (huge!) field, with nothing on it except maybe a local running around the beaten track. But when you picture the chariot races that took place and people sitting up on the hill to watch the carnage of horses and people and the chariots went barreling around the sharp corner, it is a pretty amazing thing to imagine! Day 2- We went to the VAtican city and had a tour. Don't mistake my lack of description of this as a lack of enthusiasm though! It absolutely blew me away! Especially the Sistine Chapel... beautiful! I learned SO much and Marie and I were so glad that we did the tour. DAy 3- Trevi fountain and shopping! This was a fun day,. Trevi fountain is this giant sculpture on the side of this building that comes out of nowhere in the middle of the city. An impressive sight! What did we do at night?? Not a whole lot. I ate gelato.. oh did I eat gelato! In Rome, Florence and Venice.. everywhere in Italy! It is absolutely delicious! My favorite combo? Rasperry (lampone), Coconut (cocco) and Chocolate chip (stracciatella). DELICIOUS!
Florence was beautiful! I loved the look and feel of the city more than Rome. With the river running through it and many rolling hills surrounding it, it was much more green and pretty than other big cities. Went and saw Michelangelo's David. I had no idea that it would blow me away the way it did! it was unbelievable- every detail is so perfectly sculpted- right down to the veins in his hands and the pupils in his eyes. And what a beautiful man that David is! We had fun partying in Florence too, which was a bit overdue after four chill nights in Rome! We went to a small bar the first night, to just have a drink or two.. until we befriended the owner and he gave us free drinks and shots all night and introduced us to the DJ so we could request any song we wanted to hear! Gotta love it when you meet someone with connections! The third night we were there Marie stayed home, but I went to 'Space Electronic' to meet up with Laura, a friend and my old roommate from UBC back home. She happened to be in Florence that same night so I went and found her at the bar that her Contiki group was going to. Awesome!
Shoot, I'll do Venice now. We were only there for a day but it had great shopping and was really pretty. I forgot it's the home to Venetian glass (duh).. and a whole hell of a lot of pigeons! I fed them after mustering up the courage.. they're pretty disgusting creatures.. but it was a lot of fun. The pics are hilarious!
OH! Before I go, I can't forget to tell you that I have definitely had the full Italy experience,.. not really in a good way though. In Rome Marie and I were out of our hostel at 6:30 am to get to Trevi before anyone was there (it's super touristy during the day). Well, how would I have known that in the early morning when I was barely awake I would have a major ass-grabbing incident! It was absolutely disgusting, I didn't realize how much it would actually bother me - ugh, it was so violating! And it came out of nowhere.. this guy was walking along because us and chatting to us (or trying, he spoke NO english) and just out of nowhere.. and I shoved him away and had to keep doing so because he tried it two more times! Anyway, not to worry, I'm not traveling in Italy anymore, now that i'm on my own!
I'm in Nice now, traveling solo since Marie left me on August 1st. It was an adjustment for sure but the hostel in Nice is awesome and I've met tons of people! I'll write another update tomorrow about Cinque Terre and Nice b/c I know this one is already super long!
Love to everyone at home! Miss you all!
Lauren
Rome.. we got into Rome after quite the long day of traveling... a night ferry from Greece, and a train ride from hell. Wow, those trains are special! Basically, the air conditioning was broken. we got on and sweat was dripping, but we didn't know if this was normal. We soon found out it wasn't because everyone on the train was feeling the vent to see if air would come out, breaking out anything they could find to fan themselves with and wearing pained, uncomfortable looks on their faces. It would have been absolutely hilarious to watch - I should have taken a video on my cam. They ended up offering people bus rides to Rome, but we stayed on because the train emptied to the point where it was cooler because there were less bodies. Still a six hour train ride w/no heat.. we were not happy travelers!
DAy 1 in Rome - went to see Circus Maximus, Palatine Hill, the Colosseum and the Forum. What was soo cool about those places to me wasn't so much what they looked like (which was still incredibly cool), but the visual you get of what it must've been like to be in them back in the day.. Standing in the Colosseum 'stands' looking down to where the floor was, you could picture what it must've been like and how amazing it must've been to see the kinds of fights that took place there and the energy that must've exploded from the crowd. Circus Maximus basically looks like a huge (huge!) field, with nothing on it except maybe a local running around the beaten track. But when you picture the chariot races that took place and people sitting up on the hill to watch the carnage of horses and people and the chariots went barreling around the sharp corner, it is a pretty amazing thing to imagine! Day 2- We went to the VAtican city and had a tour. Don't mistake my lack of description of this as a lack of enthusiasm though! It absolutely blew me away! Especially the Sistine Chapel... beautiful! I learned SO much and Marie and I were so glad that we did the tour. DAy 3- Trevi fountain and shopping! This was a fun day,. Trevi fountain is this giant sculpture on the side of this building that comes out of nowhere in the middle of the city. An impressive sight! What did we do at night?? Not a whole lot. I ate gelato.. oh did I eat gelato! In Rome, Florence and Venice.. everywhere in Italy! It is absolutely delicious! My favorite combo? Rasperry (lampone), Coconut (cocco) and Chocolate chip (stracciatella). DELICIOUS!
Florence was beautiful! I loved the look and feel of the city more than Rome. With the river running through it and many rolling hills surrounding it, it was much more green and pretty than other big cities. Went and saw Michelangelo's David. I had no idea that it would blow me away the way it did! it was unbelievable- every detail is so perfectly sculpted- right down to the veins in his hands and the pupils in his eyes. And what a beautiful man that David is! We had fun partying in Florence too, which was a bit overdue after four chill nights in Rome! We went to a small bar the first night, to just have a drink or two.. until we befriended the owner and he gave us free drinks and shots all night and introduced us to the DJ so we could request any song we wanted to hear! Gotta love it when you meet someone with connections! The third night we were there Marie stayed home, but I went to 'Space Electronic' to meet up with Laura, a friend and my old roommate from UBC back home. She happened to be in Florence that same night so I went and found her at the bar that her Contiki group was going to. Awesome!
Shoot, I'll do Venice now. We were only there for a day but it had great shopping and was really pretty. I forgot it's the home to Venetian glass (duh).. and a whole hell of a lot of pigeons! I fed them after mustering up the courage.. they're pretty disgusting creatures.. but it was a lot of fun. The pics are hilarious!
OH! Before I go, I can't forget to tell you that I have definitely had the full Italy experience,.. not really in a good way though. In Rome Marie and I were out of our hostel at 6:30 am to get to Trevi before anyone was there (it's super touristy during the day). Well, how would I have known that in the early morning when I was barely awake I would have a major ass-grabbing incident! It was absolutely disgusting, I didn't realize how much it would actually bother me - ugh, it was so violating! And it came out of nowhere.. this guy was walking along because us and chatting to us (or trying, he spoke NO english) and just out of nowhere.. and I shoved him away and had to keep doing so because he tried it two more times! Anyway, not to worry, I'm not traveling in Italy anymore, now that i'm on my own!
I'm in Nice now, traveling solo since Marie left me on August 1st. It was an adjustment for sure but the hostel in Nice is awesome and I've met tons of people! I'll write another update tomorrow about Cinque Terre and Nice b/c I know this one is already super long!
Love to everyone at home! Miss you all!
Lauren
Here's Marie and I looking a little tired at 6:30am in front of Trevi fountain
Me on a bridge in fron of Ponte Vecchio in Florence. What a beautiful city!
Marie and I got up and climbed the hundreds of stairs up to the top of the Duomo in Florence for the best view of the city you can get!
This would be me feeding the pigeons as part of the full experience in Venice. However, I might not have been so happy to feed them had I known I would later have one of them shit on my arm... sick! But hilarious..
Marie and I a few hours before our gondola ride that was the main point of our stop-over in Vencie. It was fully worth the 100 Euros!
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