Long Absence

Well, sorry it has been so long since updating. I thought I might be able to get one up last week, but it didn't end up happening. I'm going to keep this fairly brief as a lot of stuff has happened in the last two weeks. On the 13th Sara got to Poole. We hung out here and I took her to Bournemouth to look at a place that I will be living in September when my lease is up at the place I am currently living. She didn't make it too long into the night because of the jetlag, but she got to experience "authentic" British weather as it was dreary and rainy on the day she got here.

On the 14th we set off for Italy. We took a cab to the airport in Bournemouth for our flight at 12. We were then in Italy by 3pm (it's a 2 hour flight, but there is an hour time difference). The flight was hilarious because we flew a really cheap airline and they tried to sell you anything and everything. They were selling lottery tickets, smokeless cigarettes, food, drinks, there were even commercials over the pa system. It was bizarre, but we made it into Pisa. While we waited for our train to Florence we had our first Italian food. We also admired the mountain view. I guess I didn't really realize that there were mountains in Italy....Finally we caught our train and headed for Florence. When we got there we had a long sweaty walk to our hotel. We didn't realize quite how far it was or how hot it was outside. We were drenched in sweat from our backpacks and the walk. It was in the 90s the entire time that we were in Italy and none of the hostels except the very last had air conditioning. It was a bit much ;)

After checking in and sitting for a bit we headed up the the Michaelangelo Plaza, which is way up on a hill to see the view. It was pretty nice and we experienced our first gelatos. It was also a bit cooler at night, so that was a welcome change.

Thursday we spent exploring Florence. We started out early and went to a piazza filled with statues to take photos. Then we headed to the train station to make reservations for the rest of our train journeys. Next we walked across the Ponte Vecchio, a bridge with a bunch of expensive jewelry shops on it. Then we went to the Palazzo Pitti (Pitti Palace). There was art there, but mostly I just wanted to look at the palace. It was weird though because the ceilings were just painted on rather than being sculptural like the ones in England and France that I've seen. They almost looked 3D, but not quite. Like a poor man's version of a castle or something. It was weird.

We ate a quick lunch and then headed to the museum that has Michaelangelo's David. It was pretty cool to see it, but the rest of the museum was really small, leaving you wondering why you paid so much just to see basically one sculpture. From there we headed toward the church where we climbed the bell tower to get cool views of the city. There wasn't even a line for that, which was amazing. We then decided to go back to our hotel to try to escape the heat a bit and then head back to go inside the church later.

After a rest we headed back out to go in the church and then go to dinner. We didn't realize that you have to cover your shoulders for all churches in Italy, so we ended up having to wear these silly blue smock things that the people at the church gave us to cover up. It was a very big church, but it wasn't very exciting inside. We then got gelatos and sat in a piazza for awhile to people watch. There were people there on big group tours from America. After awhile we went to get dinner. We ended up with a really nice place. We each got pasta and wine and then shared a tiramasu for dessert. Yum! After dinner we went back to the Michaelangelo plaza again because we weren't ready to call it a night yet. This time while we were up there we heard a band that came and played for awhile. It was pretty nice.

Friday we left for Venice. We had to be out of our hostel by 10, so we slept in and left around then. We went straight to the train station and had some time to kill so we ate lunch. We caught our train and it wasn't long before we were in Venice. our hotel was really close to the station, which was awesome. We got a bit cleaned up and then headed straight out for a gondola ride. It was amazing! The driver was really nice and was telling us all about the buildings and how Venice was built. He also let us pretend to steer the gondola and take photos.

After the gondola we got tickets for the water bus and headed down to the San Marco square where the big fancy Venice church is. It was already closed when we got there, but we got to see the outside. We wandered around in the square, got gelato (the theme of the trip :), and then went up a tower to see the city from above. That was a pretty fantastic view. Look at the pictures and you'll get an idea. I also fell in love with the masks in Venice. They sold them everywhere and i decided I had to have one. You'll know it when you see it. Giant hat and big feathers :) The only problem was having to lug it around for the rest of the trip, but it was worth it :)

The next morning we were leaving Venice already, so we got up a bit early and wandered around the town near where we were staying for awhile. We say some more cool buildings and a nice park. Eventually we had to go back to the train station though and head off for Rome! When we got to Rome we found the hostel without too much trouble, but we'd gotten there earlier than we said we would so we had to call to get someone to come and let us in. But they did and then we headed off for the Colosseum! We paid a bit extra to jump the queue and have a guided tour. It was so cool! I loved being down in the area of Rome with all the Roman ruins. It was really neat. The other cool thing about Rome was that they had water fountains all over the place where you could fill up your water bottle for free. So that was really cool because it was so hot that we went through a lot of water in a day. After the Colosseum we headed back to the hotel so that we could get an early start the next morning.

We headed to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill right away the next day. Our ticket from the Colosseum got us into both of those as well, which was nice. We spent about 3 or so hours wandering through the ruins before heading off to other sites. Our first stop was the Trevi fountain where we threw in coins to make a wish. Then we ate crepes for lunch and headed off to the Pantheon. We saw another columned wall on the way that tricked me, but eventually we found it. It was quite cool and Raphael is buried inside. After that we headed to the Castle next to the Vatican. It was nice and when we got to the top we had another nice city view (another theme of the trip :) We got some nice pictures and then headed down to walk along the river front. We thought we were going to get robbed at one point down there, but all was well, thankfully. It was pretty scary though. Then we got some fruity drinks and continued on our way to the Circus Maximus where the chariot races would have been held. It was pretty unimpressive as nothing is really left. Then we headed home. After cleaning up we went to a Chinese restaurant for dinner and I ate like a starving person ;) I guess it was a longer day than I thought.

I think that will be it for this entry. Here is the link to the first set of photos and I'll try to get more stuff up in the next couple of days. Enjoy!