My Italian Experience

I left off with us porting at Venice, which is where the group I had been travelling with kind of split up. I travelled with Alex, Kyle and Dylan from here on out. In Venice we got to ride a gondola, and see San Marco Square including the Basilica, Doge’s Palace and Campanile, where we got an awesome view of the city. We were excited to get pizzas, pasta and gelato, and liked the seemingly low prices. Once we got our first bill we saw that they tag on a cover charge (for sitting in their restaurant) and beverages are really expensive, so they seem cheap when you check out the menu and then you still end up paying quite a bit. I didn’t realize before my visit to Venice that to get around they either boat on the canals or walk, it was just so unique that there were no roads in this city. We only stayed in Venice for one day, but really did a lot of cool things.

Rialto Bridge on the Grand Canal

San Marco Square

A view of Doge’s Palace from the Campanile

Next we headed to Rome, which was awesome - I saw so many cool things, but it was definitely the worst city when it came to tourists. Without planning it, we ended up in Italy during their “free week” where national sights were free - something to do with promoting their history. So things like the Coliseum and Roman Forums were free! And actually since we didn't know about this "free week" we almost got scammed. We were waiting to meet up with Dylan and his friend, Dave who was studying in Rome, when a guy told us about this great deal - a tour of the Coliseum and Roman Forums for only 10 euros. We thought that sounded like a great deal so he gave us a white sticker and showed us to a group. We noticed the tour guide was already talking to the group and no one else seemed to be wearing a white sticker. Alex said he thought we just got scammed so we went to go talk to the guy who showed us the group. He showed us that other people did have white stickers as well (pointing to one person). We luckily got our money back and then Dave told us that the guy was basically asking for 10 euros to show us a free tour. I'm glad we got that figured out and then had Dave as our free tour guide for the day!

Coliseum by day

Coliseum by night (we walked back by for the night view later on)

Inside the Roman Forums

After the Coliseum and Roman Forums, Dave showed us to the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and the Pantheon. During our second day in Rome we went to Vatican City to see St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican Museum, and Sistine Chapel, and we also saw Castel Sant’Angelo.

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

The Spanish Steps

St. Peter’s Square

St. Peter’s Basilica

Unfortunately there were no pictures allowed in the Sistine Chapel.

Sant’Angelo Bridge

Vatican City from Castel Sant’Angelo

Castel Sant’Angelo

The four of us at an awesome Italian Dinner - We had to alternate between pizza and pasta for each meal! That's literally all they eat! - Oh and Gelato, we were doing two-a-days sometimes - it was soo good!

Next up was Florence, we trained in and met one of Kyle’s friends, Anna, who let us stay with her for a night. We saw the Boboli Gardens, Duomo, Michelangelo’s David and Ponte Vecchio. We had a great time and even got to go to Pisa, which we hadn't planned on doing.

Inside the Pitti Palace in the Boboli Gardens

Alex on Ponte Vecchio, the bridge that’s lined with shops

Duomo

We did a walk called the Michelangelo Walk to get this awesome view of Florence

Ponte Vecchio again in the background

The next day we went to Pisa

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Alex didn’t do the greatest job of lining my finger up.. But still cool :)

Kyle, Alex and me – notice the guy to the right of me.. The street was just lined with people posing different ways with the tower.

We all loved Italy a lot, but after the time we spent there we were ready to head to Germany to mix up the entrees a bit from pizza and pasta to meat and potatoes!