Italy!!

Rome
After a 2 hour flight, 5 of my flatmates and I took a shuttle van to Hotel Romae. The driver was really nice, and we spoke Spanglish with him as he gave us a mini-tour of the Coliseum, St. Peter’s etc. It was amazing to see this at night, and he told us to eat at the restaurant a block from our hotel where his friend Massimo worked. The restaurant was AMAZING and I loved my penne with vodka sauce. The hotel was really clean, and all 6 of us fit comfortably. We had a view out on to the street, and this is when I discovered that nearly every window in Italy has real shutters. We woke up early and got tickets for a 24-hour hop-on/hop-off bus, and then went to the Coliseum. It was beautiful, ancient, and massive. We took a tour, meaning that we didn't have to wait in the enormously long lines. Afterward, we discovered our tickets gave us access to the Palatine Hill next to the Roman Forum. This gave us a rather aerial view of Rome, the Forum, and Coliseum. Also there was the Arch of Titus that commemorates the capture of Jerusalem. We then went to steps that I believe Michelangelo or Raphael made? I will find out exactly who it was. After, was the Pantheon and it was beautiful inside, had the tomb of Raphael, and was in the middle of a plaza. The Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain were definite highlights, and very busy. The Spanish Steps are at the end of a high-end shopping street. The Trevi Fountain is a huge, beautiful wall of sculptures where people could sit and eat. One of the Basilica’s we saw was Santa Maria degli Angeli e dei Martiri. It was very open and grand inside, and located across a circular road around a fountain and across a nice hotel. The next day, Vatican City was free from 8:45am – 1:45pm, and the Pope was speaking at 10am. We tried to do it all, but were quite shocked when we arrived to a line of thousands of people for the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel. We paid for a tour, and got in to the Museum in about 45 minutes from our arrival. The Museum had a lot of interesting artwork, including an exhibit of Laocoonte which depicts a father fighting off snakes that are killing his sons. It was interesting because it was on a circular platform so we were able to walk all the way around it. There was a very long corridor fully painted that was a particular highlight as well. After this we saw the Sistine Chapel which initially I was not impressed by because I was not very interested in so many separate paintings, until our tour guide explained the stories it told about the creation of Earth and religion. At the end of the tour I wanted to climb to the top of St. Peter’s because it is the highest point in Rome, but we were tight for time and my flatmates did not want to wait in line. We walked through St. Peter’s, it was magnificent, and we saw the statue of Mary holding Jesus after his crucifixion. It began raining when we were taking pictures in front of St. Peter’s, and so it was time to get on the train to Florence.

Florence
We arrived at the Santa Maria Novella "stazione" late at night and in the rain. Luckily, Liz was able to figure out where we had to walk to get to Corona D'italia and we were there soon since it was only 2 blocks away. The hotel was really nice and clean, and the employees spoke English :-) They directed us to a restaurant on the street that was still open that late on a Sunday, and we were happy to finally sit down and eat. Oddly, there was a couple perhaps gypsies fighting on the street hitting each other and yelling. Then, we randomly stopped in a local convenience store for some essentials. I shared a room with Marilyn and Christine overlooking the San Lorenzo Market. That night we all met up in our room and brainstormed on places to spend the next day since we heard that not many places are open in Florence on Mondays. Liz, Marilyn and I decided to go Pisa the next morning, and meet the rest of the group at 2:15pm for a bus tour and wine tasting to a vineyard in Chianti.

Pisa
Liz, Marilyn and I arrived around 10am to Pisa Centrale, and it was a beautiful clear day in a pretty city (although some streets smelled). We bought our tickets and had about a 30 minute wait to walk up the Tower, so we took perspective shots. Liz had random Italian men ask her to take pictures with them and they gave her a kiss on the cheek. It was kind of weird, but I guess the Italians do not think it is out of the ordinary. The climb up the Tower was somewhat nervewrecking because you can feel yourself pulling toward the low side. When we got up to the top we were nervous to let go of the railing but also afraid to go near the railing because it was not very much support near the edge of the Tower. We got over this quickly though as we discovered the view of the beautiful mountains and the city of Pisa in the valley.

Castello Il Palagio and Greve in the Chianti region of Tuscany
Fortunately, we made it back from Pisa in time for the tour bus at 2:15 to Tuscany. We took a bus ride for about 45 minutes through the rolling mountains and hillsides lined with rows of ungrown vineyards. The castle was perched above and amidst the vineyards from which its employees handpick grapes for wine and olives for 100% Italian olive oil. Everything related to their products is done inside the castle, including bottling. We first went down into the basement to see huge barrels of wine each dated and named for its contents. This was followed by a walk through the inside courtyard where wedding receptions are held, a few blue pieces of artwork as preferred by the owner, and a private chapel. There were two levels with rows of arches delicately draped in with rich green plants. After touring the castle and taking pictures in front of the vineyard, we all went in for a wine tasting. There were about 10 tables for 8 people each, with 3 glasses, 2 red wines with salami and bread with olive oil, and 1 white and pecorino cheese. The woman who works at the castle told us how to spin our glass and judge the strength of the wine based on the arches left on the side of the glass. Also, she said to sip the wine through your teeth and let it sit in your mouth a second before swallowing. The point is to taste the wine, there is water for drinking. This was followed by a small, goldish-colored dessert wine and almond biscotti. We then placed orders to bring some home and piled back onto the bus to go to Greve. This was a small hill town nearby that had a huge black iron rooster, the symbol of true Chianti products. There was an original group of Chianti vineyards, and after proving commercially successful other producers moved nearby and began advertising as Chianti products. Thus, the original group was given the legal right to put the black rooster in order to differentiate itself.

Florence
The next day I stayed in Florence and saw the main tourist sites like Ponte Vecchio, the Duomo, the Uffizi, outside of the Uffizi was a row of famous peoples' statues like Leonardo DaVinci, and San Lorenzo Market. We then checked out and headed off to Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre (Monterroso, Vernazza, Corniglia?, Manarola?, Riomaggiore)
We had a difficult journey to our hotel in La Spezia because we did not realize it was not within walking distance. I decided to walk into a pizzeria and ask for directions. They spoke very little English and eventually the rest of the group followed in and we tried to communicate. They were extremely nice and called 2 cabs for us at the corner of their restaurant. It was a very long drive up the hill, and without their help we would have likely spent the entire night trying to find out hotel unsuccessfully. The hotel seemed nice when we arrived, it had a large restaurant, living room and breakfast area. Then, I found a little bug in my bed which freaked me out. I decided to just suck it up and hope the best for the following day.

We began by taking the local train up to the northernmost town, Monterroso. We walked down to the Mediterranean and I touched it! We had a lot of fun playing around, and then began our 1.5 hour hike to Vernazza. Later, we realized that we should have visited the actual town of Monterroso but perhaps another time.. The hike was rather difficult and hot, and we were not well prepared for it i.e. Marilyn wore flats and I brought my Coach bag. The views were beautiful though, although the walks upstairs were rough, and we met a man working in his mountainside vineyard and selling his wine. We knew we couldn't carry anything, so we stopped to say hello and catch our breaths before continuing. We only passed 1 couple the entire hike; it was very obvious that it was off-season. Vernazza was a beautiful town, and we stopped there to sightsee and eat. Betsy became ill and so left early, later on we found out that we should have sent someone with her because she almost did not make it back safely to the hotel. She believes it is because she drank some of the water, "Montezuma's Revenge". We then went to Corniglia(?) which was another beautiful town carved into the cliffside. The waves crashed and sparked high, and I wanted to take a video on my camera but moreso wished to conserve my batteries for the rest of the walk. We ended up skipping Manarola(?) and going to Riomaggiore due to one hike being closed and us being tired. It was the smallest of the cities, but we entertained ourselves down the main drag until the train back to La Spezia arrived. That night we all played a game in the hotel, and the next morning I left early to meet Michal in Florence.

Florence
I checked back into Corona D'italia because I couldn't get a hold of Michal, almost immediately after which she called and we decided to meet at the Duomo. Ironically, she was staying on the same street as me with a friend. She had already climbed the Duomo, so we decided to walk to Porta Rossa since I hadn't had a chance to do it earlier. We continued down to Ponte Vecchio, and walked the other side of the river to a high view of the city within the valley. We stopped at Basilica di San Miniato al Monte, which is supposedly a big tourist site, and overlooks the Boboli Gardens. Apparently, my friends and I had gone to the wrong entrance of the Boboli Gardens earlier in the week and it indeed was open. So, I was happy to at least see it from a more aerial view before I left. Michal and I walked back to check in with her friends and make plans for the night. It was nice to go see where students take classes there; her friend had a bellydancing class still though so we left without her until later. We ate at Zaza's early evening because I really wanted to try the ravioli with the mushroom truffle sauce (I had eaten it with the walnut truffle sauce earlier in the week). I also had their Zaza's pudding/custard. It was good, but different and somewhat warm. We went to her friend's flat while they ate dinner and then walked out to Very Good near the Duomo for gelato. Afterward, I came back to get some sleep and get ready for the next day in Venice.

Venice
We left early for Venice, although our train was delayed we still made it there noonish. We ran around to find our hotel quickly because we wanted to make it to San Marco by public boat in time for the 2:30pm tour of the three islands, Murano, Burano, and Torcello. After frantically searching for the boat, we made it on in the last possible minute and took a risk by paying them on the street. Fortunately, they were honest and we took the boat ride to Murano's glassmaking factory, then to Burano which is known for lacemaking and where children played in the square, and then the quite Torcello with only 12 residents. We spent the rest of the night walking around and exploring while trying to find reasonably priced food.

The next day, we woke up early and had breakfast at the hotel, checked out, and kept our luggage in the corner of a dark open room for the afternoon. I spent most of the day searching for the perfect mask, which I found to be a pink, white and gold one with a stick and fringe. Unfortunately, it broke in my luggage on the way back, but that is another story. We ran into my flatmates at 12pm in San Marco Square and we all went to lunch at a pizza place. We then walked along the Rialto Bridge back north while shopping and somewhat hoping to end up at the crepe place that Michal and I ate at the night before. I left early since my flight was earlier than Michal's (and my flatmates left the next day), so I ran back to figure out how to take the bus to the airport, etc. It ended up getting me there 2 hours early, and I was the first person. It was a tiny airport, and I know for the future that there is not a great rush to arrive on time. Overall, it was perhaps the best week of my life, and I would give anything to live it again.