Hello all, it's been a few days since I've written last. We've been in Venice for almost 3 days now, but haven't had internet (which has been killing me!) so today we thought we'd stop in an internet cafe to get out of the rain! We've been up to a lot since I last wrote, so I suppose I should start back at the beginning...
Wednesday morning, we took our time getting ready, since our train to Venice didn't leave until 11:27. We found our train and seats without any problem, and had a nice 3 hour train ride that ended up being more about 4 hours since we stopped for a long time in Bologna. But finally, we arrived in Venice, and it was sunny and gorgeous! We both couldn't believe we were actually here - the canals and the old buildings in the city are just amazing. Our hotel was just a minute from the train station, which was super convenient. We then decided a good way to start our sightseeing would be with a vaporetto boat tour of the city. The vaporettos are like the city bus system here, except they run on the water! We went all the way from the start of Venice to San Marco square, at the end of the city. St. Mark's is the big tourist area here, and is absolutely FILLED with pigeons!!! Seriously, like thousands of them! It was a little overwhelming at first because they all look like they're going to attack you!
We decided to do the Campanile first - it's the huge bell tower in the middle of the square, and had great views of the whole city. We wanted to be up there when the bells went off, but we were a half hour too early so didn't want to wait. After that, we wandered the back streets behind St. Marks to look for some dinner. And, this is no easy task, I should say - especially for Katie and I. You see, we're definitely perfectionists when it comes to most things, including dinner and gelato - and won't decide to eat somewhere unless it is cheap AND has good quality, which is pretty much an oxymoron. :) So, needless to say, it takes us at least a half hour daily to decide where to eat. The place we decided on was decent, Katie had gnocchi finally (potato dumplings), and I had tortellini. Mmm mmm. After dinner, we also took our time finding gelato, which almost was a problem because the places all started closing around 8 or 8:30! We soon found out that after then, everything in Venice pretty much becomes a ghost town - everything shuts down once the tourists are gone for the day.
We got back to our hotel early-ish, and since we have a TV here, we watched more Italian MTV again of course! I actually somewhat like the MTV here better though - they actually show music videos! :)
Friday, 30 March 2007
Tuesday, 27 March 2007
Day #4 - Becoming true Florentines
Hello again all! It seems like I start every entry with "today was another relaxing day...", but every day so far that seems to be true - and that's just the way we like it. :) Today was now the third day we've spent in Florence, and so by this point it's cool because I feel like I know the city really well and no longer feel like just a tourist. We weren't even using our maps to navigate the crazy streets today because we've figured out the city layout so well. Katie and I definitely agree that we like it better this way, to take our time in each city, instead of being in a new city each day. It's so much less overwhelming that way, and less stressful! :)
Anyway, so today we got up SUPER early - at 6:45 - to eat a quick breakfast and then head off to the Uffizi Gallery, which is, according to my good buddy Rick Steves "the best collection of Italian paintings in captivity." If he says it, it must be true. :) We had heard from many sources about the looong lines there - our guidebook advised to book it a month in advance even, but since we hadn't, we knew our best option was going before it opened. We showed up at 7:45, a half hour before it opened, and still were maybe the 50th or so people in line. We ended up waiting over an hour still to get in, but it wasn't that bad. We then spent over two hours exploring the Uffizi, which had room after room of art, from the 13th to 17th centuries. The first few rooms were all Florentine art - lots of gold gilded alterpieces with the Madonna and baby, Adoration of the Magi, etc. They're cool, but start all looking the same after awhile. Then, there was the Botticelli room, with the Birth of Venus. It's always cool when I recognize a piece of art. After that, just more Italian art - some da Vincis, Caravaggios, Titian, and Michelangelo's only surviving painting. Cool, but by the end we decided we were all art-galleried-out. :)
After the museum, we left (and smiled when we saw the 2 hour long line of people waiting outside) and went to the train station to book our reservation to Venice. (We have a Eurail pass, but some trains still require an extra reservation). We're now all set to leave tomorrow, at 11:27! I'm definitely excited for a new city. :)
After lunch, we walked through most of Florence again, starting off in the market, which is dangerous every time because we always end up buying more stuff! Today I bought another t-shirt - that's now 2 more shirts I have to somehow fit in my backpack... :) It was crowded today though, so we eventually got out of there and headed across the river to the Pitti Palace, which has more art museums and some gardens. We were going to go in, but when got there we saw that the prices were a lot higher than we thought - 11.50 euro for some semi-famous paintings. So, we decided to go back to our hostel instead, for an afternoon siesta! :) Siestas are always a good idea, in my opinion. :)
Tonight, we went to dinner at a place close to our hostel, and I tried the pasta with truffle sauce. I had been SO confused yesterday because I saw the word for truffle - tartufo - is the same as what they called the amazing "death by chocolate" ice cream Christine and I had had in Rome. We were like - chocolate sauce, on pasta? But, we finally found out today that it also means truffle, as in the rare mushroom. Makes a lot more sense. :)
For dessert tonight - a requirement of every day - we found a gelateria that had waffles! So we had warm waffles, with gelato on top, and chocolate sauce on top of that - mmm mmm. :) Tonight we hung out a little bit with some friends we made at our hostel, but now I'm off to bed again - got to get the full 8 hours to be ready for another big day of travel! :)
Until next time,
Debra
Anyway, so today we got up SUPER early - at 6:45 - to eat a quick breakfast and then head off to the Uffizi Gallery, which is, according to my good buddy Rick Steves "the best collection of Italian paintings in captivity." If he says it, it must be true. :) We had heard from many sources about the looong lines there - our guidebook advised to book it a month in advance even, but since we hadn't, we knew our best option was going before it opened. We showed up at 7:45, a half hour before it opened, and still were maybe the 50th or so people in line. We ended up waiting over an hour still to get in, but it wasn't that bad. We then spent over two hours exploring the Uffizi, which had room after room of art, from the 13th to 17th centuries. The first few rooms were all Florentine art - lots of gold gilded alterpieces with the Madonna and baby, Adoration of the Magi, etc. They're cool, but start all looking the same after awhile. Then, there was the Botticelli room, with the Birth of Venus. It's always cool when I recognize a piece of art. After that, just more Italian art - some da Vincis, Caravaggios, Titian, and Michelangelo's only surviving painting. Cool, but by the end we decided we were all art-galleried-out. :)
After the museum, we left (and smiled when we saw the 2 hour long line of people waiting outside) and went to the train station to book our reservation to Venice. (We have a Eurail pass, but some trains still require an extra reservation). We're now all set to leave tomorrow, at 11:27! I'm definitely excited for a new city. :)
After lunch, we walked through most of Florence again, starting off in the market, which is dangerous every time because we always end up buying more stuff! Today I bought another t-shirt - that's now 2 more shirts I have to somehow fit in my backpack... :) It was crowded today though, so we eventually got out of there and headed across the river to the Pitti Palace, which has more art museums and some gardens. We were going to go in, but when got there we saw that the prices were a lot higher than we thought - 11.50 euro for some semi-famous paintings. So, we decided to go back to our hostel instead, for an afternoon siesta! :) Siestas are always a good idea, in my opinion. :)
Tonight, we went to dinner at a place close to our hostel, and I tried the pasta with truffle sauce. I had been SO confused yesterday because I saw the word for truffle - tartufo - is the same as what they called the amazing "death by chocolate" ice cream Christine and I had had in Rome. We were like - chocolate sauce, on pasta? But, we finally found out today that it also means truffle, as in the rare mushroom. Makes a lot more sense. :)
For dessert tonight - a requirement of every day - we found a gelateria that had waffles! So we had warm waffles, with gelato on top, and chocolate sauce on top of that - mmm mmm. :) Tonight we hung out a little bit with some friends we made at our hostel, but now I'm off to bed again - got to get the full 8 hours to be ready for another big day of travel! :)
Until next time,
Debra
Monday, 26 March 2007
Day #3 - A leisurely day in Florence
Hello again everyone!~ Today was another WONDERFUL day - we slept in, we shopped, and we saw some great stuff. :) We started with great scrambled eggs at our hostel, after sleeping in until 9. On Mondays in Italy, all the museums are closed, so we had to find other things to do to take up our time. Luckily, there is a HUGE touristy market close to our hostel, so Katie and I ended up spending a looong time walking through there. I think I've definitely spent more on souvenirs here in Florence already than I have in total anywhere else! They just have so much cool stuff here, like leather, fun t-shirts, scarfs, jewelry, etc, that is better quality than you'd find anywhere else.
Our first sight of the day was the Duomo, which is the gigantic domed cathedral in the center of the town. We had to wait for around an hour in line to climb the dome, but that seems pretty typical in Florence, having to wait for everything. The views, however, were AMAZING - we could see the whole city.
After some quick pizza for lunch, we headed to the Ponte Vecchio, which is the bridge over the Arno River which has tons of gold and silver shops. Katie and I strolled along, licking our afternoon gelato, and picking out our $4000 engagement rings... :) Then, we went across town to Santa Croce Church, which had the tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo. It was also Cathedral #3 of our trip - yes we are keeping count, because we expect the total to be a LOT. :)
After that, we headed across the river to Piazzo Michelangelo, which is a steep hike up to the top of a hill, but sooo worth the view. It has a copy of the David statue in a square overlooking the city - which was just amazing. I really like the look and feel of Florence - so much more laidback, and just more cultured and Renaissance-feeling than Rome ever was... We wandered around a bit by the hill, and then went back across the river for dinner at a random ristorante - this time I tried risotta (rice), since I've been meaning to try it. It was really good - tasted pretty much like pasta, actually. After that, Katie and I sat in the Piazza Republica square for awhile and listened to some street performers. But, again, time for an early night, because tomorrow we're going to get up early to go to the Uffizi! Otherwise, we'll have to wait in line for like 2 hours again, and I think we've had enough of that... :)
Well, I hope you're all enjoying this blog, please comment if you've read it so we know you have! Thanks and buona sera!
Debra
Our first sight of the day was the Duomo, which is the gigantic domed cathedral in the center of the town. We had to wait for around an hour in line to climb the dome, but that seems pretty typical in Florence, having to wait for everything. The views, however, were AMAZING - we could see the whole city.
After some quick pizza for lunch, we headed to the Ponte Vecchio, which is the bridge over the Arno River which has tons of gold and silver shops. Katie and I strolled along, licking our afternoon gelato, and picking out our $4000 engagement rings... :) Then, we went across town to Santa Croce Church, which had the tombs of Galileo and Michelangelo. It was also Cathedral #3 of our trip - yes we are keeping count, because we expect the total to be a LOT. :)
After that, we headed across the river to Piazzo Michelangelo, which is a steep hike up to the top of a hill, but sooo worth the view. It has a copy of the David statue in a square overlooking the city - which was just amazing. I really like the look and feel of Florence - so much more laidback, and just more cultured and Renaissance-feeling than Rome ever was... We wandered around a bit by the hill, and then went back across the river for dinner at a random ristorante - this time I tried risotta (rice), since I've been meaning to try it. It was really good - tasted pretty much like pasta, actually. After that, Katie and I sat in the Piazza Republica square for awhile and listened to some street performers. But, again, time for an early night, because tomorrow we're going to get up early to go to the Uffizi! Otherwise, we'll have to wait in line for like 2 hours again, and I think we've had enough of that... :)
Well, I hope you're all enjoying this blog, please comment if you've read it so we know you have! Thanks and buona sera!
Debra
Sunday, 25 March 2007
Day #2 - Getting cultured in Florence
Today was yet another pretty relaxed day, thankfully. :) I think our goal of not burning ourselves out traveling is working out well so far. We slept in today, and then took a walk back around Pisa to look for souvenirs, but since it was Sunday morning not much was open. We also stopped for breakfast at a little cafe that Michele recommended, but were in for quite a lesson in Italian cuisine when we ordered lattes, and were given glasses of steamed milk! Definitely won't get that mixed up again from now on... :) My croissant there was AMAZING though - it had some sort of marmalade in it, and powdered sugar on top! Almost as good as the croissants in France. :)
We decided to leave for Florence around noon today, which meant the excitement of validating our Eurail passes and taking our first train. However, this turned into quite the experience, since the train we thought was supposed to come at 12:01 never showed, or the one at 12:29, or at 12:54... Since all the signs were in Italian, we were quite confused, and had to ask around to figure out the train wasn't coming until 1:54. So, we spent around 2 1/2 hours outside waiting for our train. And, may I mention - it is 45 degrees and raining this week in Pisa - and I definitely didn't pack for it, since I was expecting 70 degree weather like in Rome! Plus, I hear that it was 78 degrees in Ames today - so not fair!
Anyways, we made it to Florence finally and found our hostel right by the station. It was around 4:30 so we thought we'd try to get into the Accademia before it closed, since we heard there were long lines. Well, the lines were still pretty long, and but we made it in about an hour before it closed and still had plenty of time inside to admire Michelangelo's David...from every direction. The statue is so huge in person, I couldn't believe it! The Accademia also had a lot of other cool Florentine art from the Rennaissance - so like from the 1300s. We also saw rooms full of busts, and some cool old violins and pianos in a special musical exhibit.
We went to dinner tonight at an awesome restaurant we just found on the street - we were STARVING since we're still not used to the whole eating-at-7:00 thing. In fact, most restaurants here don't even open for dinner until 7:00 or 7:30! We enjoyed my favorite part of Italian restaurants tonight - the tourist menu! That means you get bread, primi piatti (first course), secondi (second course, with meat), a side, dessert, and a glass of the house wine, all for 13 euro! I had some pasta with meat sauce, roast chicken, the first salad I've had in FOREVER, and some fresh fruit. We were stuffed, to say the least. :)
However, after dinner that didn't stop us from finding some gelato! Florence apparently has the reputation for having Italy's best gelato, so we had to find out for ourselves. Tonight I branched out and had pistacchio and nutella gelato, which was actually really good, since they were both nut-flavored they went together well. We took a short stroll around Florence and found the Duomo, some busy city squares with lots of street performers, and the high class shopping district. We're taking it easy tonight though, so we came back to our hostel, and now it's time for bed! Buena sera, everyone! :)
We decided to leave for Florence around noon today, which meant the excitement of validating our Eurail passes and taking our first train. However, this turned into quite the experience, since the train we thought was supposed to come at 12:01 never showed, or the one at 12:29, or at 12:54... Since all the signs were in Italian, we were quite confused, and had to ask around to figure out the train wasn't coming until 1:54. So, we spent around 2 1/2 hours outside waiting for our train. And, may I mention - it is 45 degrees and raining this week in Pisa - and I definitely didn't pack for it, since I was expecting 70 degree weather like in Rome! Plus, I hear that it was 78 degrees in Ames today - so not fair!
Anyways, we made it to Florence finally and found our hostel right by the station. It was around 4:30 so we thought we'd try to get into the Accademia before it closed, since we heard there were long lines. Well, the lines were still pretty long, and but we made it in about an hour before it closed and still had plenty of time inside to admire Michelangelo's David...from every direction. The statue is so huge in person, I couldn't believe it! The Accademia also had a lot of other cool Florentine art from the Rennaissance - so like from the 1300s. We also saw rooms full of busts, and some cool old violins and pianos in a special musical exhibit.
We went to dinner tonight at an awesome restaurant we just found on the street - we were STARVING since we're still not used to the whole eating-at-7:00 thing. In fact, most restaurants here don't even open for dinner until 7:00 or 7:30! We enjoyed my favorite part of Italian restaurants tonight - the tourist menu! That means you get bread, primi piatti (first course), secondi (second course, with meat), a side, dessert, and a glass of the house wine, all for 13 euro! I had some pasta with meat sauce, roast chicken, the first salad I've had in FOREVER, and some fresh fruit. We were stuffed, to say the least. :)
However, after dinner that didn't stop us from finding some gelato! Florence apparently has the reputation for having Italy's best gelato, so we had to find out for ourselves. Tonight I branched out and had pistacchio and nutella gelato, which was actually really good, since they were both nut-flavored they went together well. We took a short stroll around Florence and found the Duomo, some busy city squares with lots of street performers, and the high class shopping district. We're taking it easy tonight though, so we came back to our hostel, and now it's time for bed! Buena sera, everyone! :)
Day #1 - A relaxing start in Pisa
We started our trip quite smoothly yesterday, with a flight from Bristol to Pisa. We had booked a B&B right by the train station, and when we arrived were greeted by the very friendly owner, Michele, who walked us to our room, chatted with us in semi-dechiperable English, and then asked if we'd rather have the nicer double room next door - which had a plasma screen TV and leather sofa - for the same price! Heck yes we would! I turn on the TV and what's the first thing on? MTV, showing an episode of Made, in English. Funny the things that are the same halfway across the world. :)
Around 5, we made our way to the Piazza dei Miracoli, and saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa! It was so surreal, standing right there in front of it. Katie and I of course took the obligatory pictures of us "holding up" the tower, as everyone else around us did the same. Then - weird experience - some random Asian man came up and asked if he could take a picture. Sure, we said, we'd take a picture for him. But no, he wanted a picture of him WITH us. Uhh, no.
For dinner last night, we found a nice corner ristorante, and tried some new Italian food - spaghetti with gorgonzola, and spaghettie with salizone (salmon). Oh how I love the food here. :) After dinner, it was pretty cold and raining, so we just took a short walk to a nearby gelateria for some gelato - we've decided in Italy, eating gelato daily is a RULE! Then we went back to our B&B early to watch some more MTV, of course. :) All in all, a good, relaxing day.
Around 5, we made our way to the Piazza dei Miracoli, and saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa! It was so surreal, standing right there in front of it. Katie and I of course took the obligatory pictures of us "holding up" the tower, as everyone else around us did the same. Then - weird experience - some random Asian man came up and asked if he could take a picture. Sure, we said, we'd take a picture for him. But no, he wanted a picture of him WITH us. Uhh, no.
For dinner last night, we found a nice corner ristorante, and tried some new Italian food - spaghetti with gorgonzola, and spaghettie with salizone (salmon). Oh how I love the food here. :) After dinner, it was pretty cold and raining, so we just took a short walk to a nearby gelateria for some gelato - we've decided in Italy, eating gelato daily is a RULE! Then we went back to our B&B early to watch some more MTV, of course. :) All in all, a good, relaxing day.
The adventure begins!
Well hello everybody! So, I had intended once upon a time in January when I arrived in Europe to start a blog with details from my travels, but as you can see that didn't exactly happen... Well, I figure its better late than never to start, and what better time to blog than our spring break, which Katie and I agreed is probably the longest vacation (or holiday, if you will) we will ever take in our lives! So, for the rest of the trip, Katie and I will try to keep you all back home up to date on what we're doing and the adventures we have - I hope you enjoy it!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)