Ciao bella

So I’m home (for REAL home, as in Canada!) and am finally getting around to writing about my last big trip of the year, two weeks in Italy! As I mentioned in my previous blog, I had originally planned to travel Italy (post-Greece) with Josh but he got a really great job offer (he’s already moved up there and did his first flight this weekend!) so I decided to go ahead and do it on my own.

My trip started in Seregno with my extended family whom we visited at Christmas. It was really great to see them again and get a chance to spend a little bit more time with them. I was happy to be a part of their everyday lives and get to see how they normally live – it really made me feel like a more “immediate” part of the family. And of course we had tons of delicious food (pasta, gnocchi, lasagna, risotto, etc.) I also picked up a little bit of Italian while I was there! It would definitely be a stretch to say I can speak it a little but I definitely picked up a couple phrases, which was helpful as many of my family members speak little to no English. While I was there, I did day trips to Milan (my cousin Robyn and I climbed up the Duomo and did a bit of shopping) and Como Lake (where I wandered around on my own, and took the funicular up to Brunate to get some amazing views.) That weekend, Robyn, her mom Rosanna, her boyfriend Davide and I took a trip to Verona and to an amusement Park called “Gardaland”, situated just outside of a lovely little town called Sirmione. Our first stop was Verona and it was really nice! We got to see Juliet’s house which, although very touristy/commercialized, was really special I thought. The entry way is covered with letters to Juliet, and you can even see her balcony. The town itself was also very charming. After Verona we went to Sirmione, a cute little town situated right on Garda lake. There we just walked around, went for a nice lunch/dinner/gelato and swam in the lake. The next day, we were off to Gardaland where we met up with my other cousin Samuele (Robyn’s brother) and his girlfriend Adelia. I find being at amusement parks oddly comforting (maybe because they’re kind of similar no matter what country you’re in? Or perhaps because Disneyland is practically my second home…) at any rate it was a very nice day spent with my family and we got to go on some good rides. We headed back to Seregno on Sunday night and the next day I was off to Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre is a collection of 5 little villages situated on the northern-ish coast of Italy. I stayed in the biggest of the 5 villages, Riomaggiore, in a funky little hostel called the “MarMar.” I was really impressed – it was very spacious (with a huge kitchen, common space and a very nice terrace.) It was a small scale hostel (only 10 people staying there) but it was just like one big apartment kind of, which was nice because you got a chance to meet and speak to everyone. I met some really nice people there, including a couple from Abbotsford and some very friendly Australian girls as well. I didn’t do a ton on my first day as I arrived rather late, I just wandered around the town, had a nice pasta dinner and sat by the water for a bit. The next day I was up quite early to do the 9km hike between each of the 5 villages. The weather wasn’t super nice but this turned out to be a plus because if it had been any hotter I would have had a difficult time completing the hike. Anyways, the hike was amazing! I stopped in each village for at least a half hour to wander around a little bit. My favourite village was probably Vernazza, which was the fourth one. I just thought it had the most unique geography as it kind of protruded out of the coastline a little bit which looked really cool from high up. Once I reached the last village (Monterosso) I got some gelato/napped on the beach/swam. After spending a few hours there I headed back to Riomaggiore (via train) and since it was raining pretty heavily that night, I just stayed in and hung out with the other people in the hostel. I got up relatively early the next day to head to Florence.

My first day in Florence I just ended up walking around and finding the main things to see along the way. I saw the Basilica di Santa Maria and its famous painted dome which was very impressive. I climbed the bell tower next to the Basilica which had an amazing view of the city (and the Tuscan hills surrounding it!) I saw the Piazza di Vecchio, which is like the main square, as well as the Vecchio Bridge, which is the only bridge that was not destroyed during WWII and dates back to the 1300s. That night I grabbed some dinner with some American girls I met in my hostel (we found a place that had veggie burgers! I’d never seen this in Europe before!) and just walked some more around the city. The next day I debated going into the Academia Gallery to see ‘David’ but decided against it, as it cost 10 euro and there was a bit of a line (I settled for seeing the fake one in the Piazza di Vecchio for free! I wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference anyway.) Instead, I went into an old palace that was the home of a wealthy Florentine family, which was very beautiful and apparently a perfect example of Renaissance architecture. After that, I wanted to go to the Santa Croce Cathedral but en route, I managed to get caught in a torrential downpour of rain and hail. I took cover under the awning of a church but that only covered like, half of me, but by the time I realized this it was too late to try and run somewhere else as being half covered was better than being not covered at all. It was ridiculous though. Once it stopped, I was soaked and thus had to go back to my hostel to change. I did however stop for lunch on the way and went into a very authentic looking little bakery and had a delicious foacaccia bun filled with tomato, mozzarella, olive paste and olive oil – it was sooo good and the people in the bakery were so nice. Anyways, after going back to my hostel to change, I finally made it to the Santa Croce which had the tombs of Michelangelo, Machiavelli and Galileo, which were cool to see. That night I was super tired and just ended up going for a swim (yes that’s right, the hostel had a pool – first time I’d ever seen that!) While in Florence I also took some day trips, to Siena and Pisa. Siena was only an hour and a half away from Florence by bus and it was really nice – similar to Florence but on a smaller scale. I visited the Piazza del Campo, which is the main square (it’s kind of in the shape of a racing track because they hold annual horse races there), the Duomo, as well as a really cool candle making store. Apart from that I just walked around and got getalo, and sat in the main square for a bit. But it was a really cute town. That evening, once I’d arrived back in Florence, I decided to try and find the Piazza de Michelangelo, which I had heard was a good place to watch the sunset. Well, I didn’t have my Florence map with me as I’d been in Siena all day (and I was too cheap to buy another) so I tried to find it by asking people… well, long story short, I took the LOOOONG way around and walked for probably close to 2 hours more than I would have had too. However it was a scenic route and I saw some nice things along the way which was good, and I did eventually find it and got to see a very lovely sunset (it was especially beautiful with the river/bridges in view.) I also did a day trip to Pisa, which was also a really nice town. Unfortunately it was a really rainy day when I went but it had a really pretty river running through it and the tower was of course very cool as well. Since I wasn’t with anyone I wasn’t able to take any of the “holding up the tower” pictures but there were so many people doing that already it would have felt too cheesy I think, so I didn’t really mind.

After Florence my next stop was Rome which, in order to get the cheapest ticket, I had to catch the train at 6:30 AM. I checked into my hostel and then set out to see the Colosseum. When I arrived, I saw several people standing outside with official badge-type things saying ‘Ask me for more information’, or something to that effect. Curious, I asked what they were selling/offering information about. She told me that if we were to buy tickets through her, we could not only skip the line up but also have a guided tour for the Colosseum, Palatine Hill and the Forum, for 20 euro. This seemed to be a good deal as a normal ticket for these sites cost 12 euro already. So I opted for the 20 euro option, and as promised, got to skip the huuuge line up for the Colosseum and go pretty much right in. Our guide was really good as well, he told us all about the events/shows that took place at the Colosseum. After spending some time there, we headed over to Palatine Hill. This is where the brothers “Romulus and Remus” lived (the city of Rome was eventually founded by Romulus – that is where the name ‘Rome’ comes from) as well as many emperors of Rome in the years that followed (like Augustus, for example). Mussolini also had a summer home there, as he apparently thought that if it had been good enough for the emperors it was good enough for him. At the base of Palatine Hill is the Forum, which is basically all the most important structures of ancient Rome (most of them temples) all concentrated in one area. It was impressive but overwhelming, like there was just too much amazing-ness crammed into too small an area. After seeing all these ‘main’ sights, I continued on walking and saw:
- The Pantheon (where Rafeal is buried)
- Piazza di Navona, beautiful square with a lovely fountain in the center
- The Trevi fountain, which was simply the most stunning fountain I’ve ever seen
- The Spanish Steps, which I had especially wanted to see because I have a photo of me sitting on them from when I was 2 (when we came over for a wedding in my Italian family) – so 18 years later, I have the same photo!
- A really cool park that I don’t know the name of, but it was right next to the Spanish steps and had a huge terrace with a nice view of the square below.
The next day I went to the Vatican Museum (which is attached to the building that serves as the official residence of the Pope.) I decided to sign up for another one of the “tours” because, again, for a bit more money you got to skip the line and go with a guide. This turned out to be a good decision in the end because the Vatican is HUGE and I wouldn’t have known what to see or the significance of anything I was seeing. We saw many well known sculptures, none of which had any particular significance to me, but I thought the Belvedere torso statue was interesting because a) although it isn’t certain, it is rumored to be of Hercules, who is at least someone I’ve heard of (thanks to the Disney movie, but still) and b) apparently Michelangelo was asked to fix it up but refused as he didn’t want to tamper with such a well-done sculpture. Apart from that, we rooms upon rooms with walls and ceilings just FILLED with amazing paintings. Going with the guide was so helpful because she was able to point out actual specific people in certain paintings. For example, one painting had Plato, Aristotle, Rafeal, Pythagoras and Michelangelo – had the guide not pointed this out I would just have thought they were random people! She also explained the significance of the figures in the Sistine Chapel paintings. Michelangelo, who painted most of the Chapel at the request of the Pope, was apparently somewhat against the Pope’s desire for extravagance and displayed this in his paintings in the Chapel. The Chapel was of course extremely crowded (with tons of people blatantly ignoring the signs and requests of security to NOT take photos, which I found irritating and extremely disrespectful) which made it a bit difficult to just stand and appreciate the magnificence of it, but it was still amazing to see. I also got to go into St. Peter’s Basilica, which is the main cathedral of the Vatican City. It was impressive of course but I didn’t find it very beautiful necessarily. Also, fun fact: there is a 7 year waiting list to get married there! After leaving the Vatican, I had wanted to go into the actual Vatican “City” to have a look around because, as I had learned earlier that day, it counts as its own separate country (or, as a state, I still don’t really understand to be honest) – but at any rate they have their own license plates, passports and currency. However, when I asked someone how to get into the actual “city”, she looked at me a bit funny and said “what city?” to which I responded, “umm… the Vatican City?” She then nicely informed me that you need special permission to enter (apart from the main Square in front of the St. Peter’s Basilica, which is open to everyone.) I felt like a huge idiot because I had no idea, I thought it would have open borders like most other European countries! Anyway, I obviously didn’t have any kind of special permission to go into the Vatican City and did not get to go in. (I’m quite intrigued to see it though, apparently there are just 900 people living there – and it’s right in the middle of Italy! I find it quite random.) Anyways, after seeing the Vatican Museum I was just exhausted (and it was already late afternoon by this point) so I headed back to the hostel. The next morning I caught an early train to Milan, from where I headed back to Seregno to spend a last couple of days with my family before taking an overnight bus back to Aix on June 24.

Italy was fantastic. Although I would have loved to have seen it with Josh, it ended up being just fine by myself and I met some cool people along the way. My favorite spot would definitely have to be Cinque Terre because it was probably the least touristy out of all the places I saw, and just simply incredible/beautiful. The hike I did there was also super enjoyable: it had the perfect amount of difficulty (I was tired at the end but not exhausted) and it was perfect to be able to stop in each of the 5 villages and have a look around. I enjoyed Florence, but probably would have enjoyed it more if I was more of an art person – I think the main things to do there are to go to the Academia and Uffizi galleries, neither of which interested me very much (especially considering how expensive they were.) But I really enjoyed my little day trips to Siena and Pisa. As for Rome, the word that most comes to mind is magnificent; the age, style and sheer MASS of the ruins were just incredible. And I don’t know if Rome is just an easy city to navigate or if 10 months of traveling has (finally) taught me how to read maps but I found I was able to find my way around on foot very easily, even though it’s quite a big city. It was also fantastic to be able to spend some more time with my family after just meeting them briefly at Christmas. I really felt like I was able to be a part of the everyday happenings which felt nice. Lastly, I was happy to learn that pasta is its own Italian foodgroup - it's not just a stereotype!!!