Italy For the Past Week!

Saturday
What an amazing day! I can’t believe first off that I got to wake up in Rome this morning and just walk 10 minutes to go to the Colosseum. It was even more incredible than I imagined. Luckily, Sam enjoys this as much as I do, otherwise I would feel bad about being so immensely excited! The weather today was perfect… a little chilly and windy, but the sky was perfectly blue, so the pictures turned out great. I was in awe as I walked around inside the Colosseum. As I stood in one area of the arena, I tried to imagine what it would’ve been like so long ago at an actual gladiator event… the roar of the crowd, the gruesome sights in the middle, the noise from under the “stage”, and even the awful smell that probably came from the multitude of people and the dead. I couldn’t do it. I tried so hard to picture it all, but I was just baffled being inside. I know that one day I will have to teach about Roman games, and it is so great to be able to share my own experiences and pictures with my class. I even did a project on Gladiator Combat last semester in one of my history classes and the pictures I found online were not even as good as the ones I got today. Needless to say, I was just blown away. I’m still blown away just to think about it. It is incredible that it is still even standing as well as it is. I am so lucky to have been in the presence of such amazing history. After the Colosseum, we roamed through the Roman ruins that mainly consisted of temples and such. Some areas were in great condition, while others where just the foundations. I couldn’t believe all that we were walking through. There was just SO much and there were pathways all over the place, but we just walked through and saw as much as we could in the time that we had. My only issue was that nothing was marked, so unless I had a guidebook or something, I had no way to know what I was looking at. That got a bit frustrating because I wanted to know what I was walking through SO badly!! It was incredible anyway. It was definitely a beautiful day to walk through the ruins.

After finishing up the Ancient Roman areas, it was about 10:30 and we went back to the hostel to pick up our things to get lunch and get to the train station to head to Siena. Rome was definitely an amazing place, but I was ready to leave and see a smaller place. There is just something about cities that I just can’t connect to, I guess I’m just a country girl, plus Siena is supposed to be gorgeous! So, we get to the train station and all and figure out where we need to go. The route calls for 1 change and the whole ride was 3 ½ hours. Poor Sam got so stressed out with making sure that we got to switch at the right place and all. He is definitely the map man and enjoys figuring out where things are and how to get to where we are going. Good thing because that is not my strength! Well, after that time, we got off the train at Siena. It was like cool, we are in Siena...but what now?! We eventually found a bus stop after a bit of wandering around and asking (the people were VERY helpful here!). So we had directions, but were not exactly sure where we needed to go at all, but we eventually figured it out while exploring some of the streets. We found Piazza del Campo, which is like in the middle of everything. We found our bed and breakfast, which is incredible. The view from my window is incredible!! This is such a beautiful place… I am so glad that we stopped off here. We had dinner at this great little place that was recommended by our B&B manager. I absolutely love the food in Italy. I think it is even better than I expected. Afterwards, we walked through the city center and found our B&B manager’s house to pay for our 2 nights and on the way back we got gelato. Amazing! Gelato has completely transformed my world ☺ So good. After our long day, Sam and I just came back to the rooms to hang out. It was great just to chill out for a while. The next week is going to be very nice because relaxing is a priority for both of us. I told Sam that from here on out, I just want to eat a lot of great food and see a lot of really pretty things. I know that that won’t be hard to come by while we are in Italy. I still can’t believe that we are actually here!!!

Sunday
Today can be summed up as my favorite day by far on this trip, even though I haven’t even gotten ½ way through. Sam and I started out at about 9 and just wandered the town. It was incredible. We found some great churches and streets that had amazing views. I wish that my pictures could do the town justice for its beauty, but unfortunately, they cannot. We walked down the road and these gorgeous buildings and views would just pop out of nowhere! The first church that we saw was so cool. It was great because there was a large open area in front of the church and I just sat there in the Tuscan sun. It was the best feeling to not have any worries and be in one of the most beautiful places in the world. After going inside and hanging out around there, we just kept walking around the city. We made it around to the Piazza del Campo, which is like the center of Siena. The space is gorgeous and is shaped like a seashell. We followed suit and took a seat in the Piazza and just enjoyed the relaxation and sunshine. It is also a great place to people watch because it seems that there were all kinds of people brought together in one place. While we were walking around the town, it was important to keep an eye on what you were walking by or under because there were so many places with incredibly old paintings and artwork on the buildings, but it was just so easy to miss it. Eventually we got to the Duomo, which is Siena’s cathedral. It was absolutely incredible. It was built in the late 1200’s, so it was astonishing to see the architecture and the inside because it was just so ornate. I’m so glad that Sam’s brother recommended Siena because it could have been so easy to miss. Sam definitely had a blast because he loves architecture and there were plenty of amazing buildings here. Luckily we walked down a hill and saw that there was a great view and a path that led to a really neat looking church. Once we got up to the church and went inside, we kept walking up a hill that led to another incredible view of Siena. Sam and I sat there for a good while just taking in the view and the sunshine. We found this raised garden that also had perfect views of the Tuscan countryside. I have never seen such a gorgeous landscape and my pictures just can’t do it justice. After walking around and enjoying that view for a good amount of time, we worked our way back down towards town and to our rooms. We decided to go back and freshen up before dinner, so I took a quick nap before venturing out again. We ate at this cute little place in the Piazza del Campo and then got gelato before going back to the room again to hang out. I’m trying to sample a lot of different flavors of gelato before I leave because it is just so much better than ice cream!! I am going to miss it SO much once I leave Italy. I had coffee and chocolate tonight, which was my favorite so far.

Monday
Monday was a pretty sad day for me. I just did not want to leave Siena for the life of me. Sam and I had such an amazing time there and it was just so beautiful. I can’t remember the last time that I was just that relaxed and happy. It was the first time that I didn’t have a million thoughts and things to do running through my head and that I was overly stressed about everything going on in my life. We went to the train station and got on the train to Florence a little after 11 am. It was fairly easy getting to the hostel from the train station, and we set our bags down around 1. We ventured out to get lunch and I got a pizza at a little pizzeria close by. Florence has these incredible markets that we walk through all the time because they have some really neat things. We wandered towards the Duomo of Florence, which was absolutely stunning. I am awed at how detailed these cathedrals are. After wandering through and around it, we continued our exploration of Florence. We eventually got to the river, which is what I like best in the cities. There was a bridge that was built in 973, but rebuilt in the 13th century. Incredible! It even had stores along the bridge, but they were REALLY high-end jewelry stores. Needless to say, I did not make a purchase on this bridge, but it did offer a great place for pictures of the river! Later, we wandered back over the bridge to grab dinner at a neat restaurant. We sat outside and enjoyed the evening. Our waiter was hilarious and offered a lot of great advice to us, which included his favorite place to get gelato. Of course we had to go there after we finished dinner! The best part about eating dinner in Italy, besides the incredible food, is relaxing afterwards. They aren’t in a rush to turn tables, so we just got to sit and enjoy ourselves before continuing our night. After we got gelato, we wandered back towards the hostel because we were just plain tired.

Tuesday
What an early morning! Sam and I decided to get to the Acadamia right when it opened at 8:15 because the line wouldn’t be bad yet. We wanted to make sure we got in to see this because it is where Michelangelo’s David is. I was immediately surprised at how big it was! I knew that it was going to be amazing to see it in person, but it was even better than I expected. So big and detailed… you could even see the veins in his arm and the muscle definition in his legs. Unfortunately, I don’t know too much about art to have enjoyed the rest of the Acadamia to the fullest, but it was definitely interesting to walk around and see all of the other artwork. Afterwards, Sam and I decided to continue exploring Florence. We made our way back to the water and found this little waterfall. Sam had a hard time letting go of some stress, so I made him let go of the map. One less thing to worry about. I must say, that was a great decision on my part ☺ Our best stories and pictures are just from wandering, so why not? We found the Basilica of Santa Croce. Amazing!! I am so glad that we went through, because little did we know, this is where Dante and Galileo are buried! It was so beautiful inside, and I really enjoyed the courtyard outside too. The architecture and art has been so astonishing everywhere we have been. We also found Dante’s house and where he went to church. It started to drizzle and of course I forgot my umbrella and raincoat in the room, so we drifted back to the hostel. This led to a well-deserved nap. Great decision because we slept through the rain and then got back up to continue the fun in Florence. We walked a different route back towards the water. That is what happens when I lead the way… go towards the water. It was so gorgeous to stand of the bridge and see the orange tint of the Italian sunset and even get to see the snow capped mountains in the far off distance. We found a great place to get dinner and then gelato afterwards. Again, with our tired bodies and full bellies, we just went back to the room to relax.

Wednesday
What a great day! I think Sam got the map out only once to get a general direction of where we needed to get. I love days with no maps. It was a bright and sunshiny day, which meant a perfect time to see Florence from up on the hill. First, we went through the market again because I was determined to make some buys and I did! Yay! Once that was through, we crossed the river and started our walk up. I cannot believe how amazing the view was from up top. It was even cooler to see that there was a very distinct line between the city and the countryside. It was very peaceful up there. We had lunch on the terrace overlooking the city and just enjoyed the sunshine of the day. We also went ahead and got gelato, which was a great addition to the day. We wandered up this path and found a bench sitting in the sun where not so many people went. I felt like it was just sitting there with Sam and Kinsey written on it because we walked directly to it and sat in the sun for a good while. I love just being able to sit and enjoy the sunshine and good company because I knew once I went back to London and the States, it just gets so hard because life gets so stressful. It has definitely done me a lot of good to learn to just sit back and enjoy the simple things. When we decided to keep moving along, we went up his path and it led to a huge cemetery that was really interesting because there were a lot of family buildings where everyone is buried inside. I had never seen a cemetery like this, so Sam and I just wandered through it. Turns out, we were at the back of a church with another incredible view of the city. I was so busy walking around outside of it, enjoying the view that I completely forgot to just go in. Sam went in though and said it was incredible. After taking in the view for a while longer, we decided to start walking down the hill towards town. On the way, we see this small road that seems to lead to something really neat. Sam decides that we should go, so we start walking up this hill. As we continue walking it grows steeper and even more endless. It was just so funny because once we finally got the top the place was closed! So we decided to keep walking and see if there was anything else up there, but there wasn’t. We eventually turned back and just walked down another steep road towards town. We got our last dinner in Florence in a piazza that seemed to be pretty cool. I must say that I will really miss the food in Italy. After dinner, we got gelato again, of course. Then we just worked our way back to the hostel to go in for the night.

Thursday
Today has been a long day. We left Florence and took the train to Venice around 10:30. We got to Venice around 1:30 and set out to find the hostel. Based on the other days, we would come out of the train station and grab a bus to take us to where we were staying, but when we came out of the station, we got to take a boat to our stop. I knew that Venice was a city on water, but it is just so incredible to actually see because it is gorgeous. I love how the buildings seem to have double entrances, one by foot and the other by water. It is hard to imagine how the city came to grow so big since there is so much water in and around it. We got to the hostel and it looked so great from the moment we came in and paid and all. I can’t speak for Sam, but once I saw the room that we were staying in… I was a bit disappointed. It is super small with 7 beds crammed in and the people that we are in here with aren’t exactly the cleanest bunch, but that is okay. We are just going with the flow ☺ When we left the hostel, we found a map to get a general idea of Venice. We started wandering through to get to the tip of one of the islands to be able to see the Basilica from across the water. We then went towards the Basilica and eventually made it there. It was so windy right there on the water, but it was gorgeous because it was just around sunset when we got there. We kept wandering along the water until we found a place to grab dinner. I had fettuccine alfredo, which was incredible. We then just wandered back towards the hostel, but we didn’t find a place to get gelato, which was really disappointing because it is just so great.

Friday
I don’t have too much to say about today, other than the fact that we wandered through the city and really enjoyed it. Sam didn’t even need to look at the map today because we were just walking around. Venice really is a great city to get lost in. We began our day with the breakfast that the hostel provides, which was eggs and toast. Then, we walked to the San Marco Basilica to see the main attraction in Venice. It was absolutely gorgeous inside with gold plated mosaics all over the ceilings and walls. Unfortunately, they didn’t allow pictures, so you will just need to take my word for how amazing it was inside. Once we saw that, there wasn’t anything else that we really needed to see or do, so we just started walking. We went along the water for a while, then found a small park to sit in for a while and just enjoy the sunshine. Afterwards, we found lunch and then got gelato. We took it back to the park we were sitting in earlier and stayed there for a good amount of time. Eventually, we continued the journey to the Rialto, which is a great bridge, built in 1592. Somehow we came to a same dead end that we found yesterday, so that was pretty funny. We decided that it would be a lot of fun to do a gondola ride while in Venice, since it is the trademark thing to do. It was so great! We rode through the waterways and it was extremely peaceful. It was so funny sometimes when people would take pictures of us riding through the water… I have no idea how many pictures we were in today. Unfortunately, our gondolier did not sing to us… Sam said that was just a Hollywood thing ☹. I saw where Casanova lived and also the actual Marco Polo while we were on our ride. Afterwards, we continued wandering through the extremely narrow streets. It was so much fun just to go through them and see what we could find. We found another great place to sit in a piazza where a lot of kids were playing… it was super cute! We worked our way back towards the Rialto because we wanted to have our last dinner on the water. We chose a great place where we had a 3-course dinner. I had lasagna, calamari, and a fruit salad. Afterwards, we headed back towards the hostel and we got gelato! I sure am going to miss that. I can’t believe that we are going back tomorrow. It has been such an incredible, relaxing week through Italy with Sam. I know that once I get back into London I am going to be so stressed and overwhelmed with school and getting back into the groove of things.

Saturday
I can’t believe that the break is over! Sam and I woke up and made our way out to wander for the morning after breakfast. I must say, Venice has really grown on me since we haven’t been using the map. I love just making our way through those little streets. We got to see a different part of the city and sat in a couple different places to enjoy some good old people watching before making our way back to London. I have really enjoyed this week, but I am excited to go back to London and get back into the groove and see everyone. It is just so bittersweet to leave because Sam and I had such an incredible time together going through Italy. The travel back to London was a lot easier than getting to Italy, and once we got to the airport, it was smooth from there. I just know that Sunday is going to be a whirlwind to get back into the groove to be ready for school and such on Monday.

Pictures later!