Italy

Italy has always been a country I have wanted to visit. Italian food has always held a special place in my heart and tummy. Last week (I am writing these in order of the days I visited, but I am not posting them until a couple days later or whenever I have internet access) I finally was able to go. I wished I could have spent longer than roughly 4 days in Italy, but I guess I should take what I can get. Italy was amazing and everything I thought it would be.

The night train we took from Paris to Milan, Italy was bad but not miserable. It actually could have been a lot worse. The cabin was tiny with six beds (3 on each side like a triple bunk bed). Surprisingly I slept pretty well considering I was on the very top bunk. We arrived in Milan around 5am, meaning we were not able to actually see the city. Although I saw the outskirts on the train ride away, I wished we could have had longer to see the city. We took a four hour train ride from Milan to Pisa.

Pisa was actually amazing. There really isn’t much to do expect see the leaning Tower of Pisa, but I thoroughly enjoyed just the walk to find the Tower. The sun was bright, the grass was green, beautiful mountains were in the horizon (which I freaked out about. Man I miss mountains), and my favourite (I am on a British computer, so sadly it makes me spell things the British way. I apologize now in advance. Not that the British spelling is bad, it is just not how I spell it) part was the fact that clothes lines were hanging outside the window. It gave it such a neat feel. Pisa is pretty small, but we actually didn’t find the Tower as quickly as we should of.

On the way to the Tower we stopped at this sweet Pizzeria that had a terrace in the back. I was actually not too impressed with the pizza. I ordered olive and cheese pizza, but the olives had the seeds still in them. I know this sounds picky, but it is actually pretty hard to eat pizza with seeds in it. The meal was redeemed by the fresh pineapple I ordered that was delicious.

Finally we made it to the Tower. And you better believe it is leaning, it is leaning a lot. The pictures really don’t show it leaning as much as it was. It was really funny when we walked up because everyone had the same idea, to hold up or push down the Tower. I’m sure from their camera it looked legit, but from my perspective they just looked silly. Naturally we all did the same thing. I held up the Tower and even booty bumped it. It was cool to see what different poses you get. After about 30 minutes or so of just sitting doing different poses with the Tower, we were finally off to Venice.

After another four hour train ride of watching the beautiful mountains pass by and the sunset behind them, we were in Venice. And of course, once again, we had problems getting to the hostel. The blame should not be placed on us, but instead the non-reliable Italian bus system. After the bus came in between its said times while I was getting us dinner, we walked to the second bus station. There were these sweet guys at the bus station that could tell we needed help. They didn’t speak much English, but you could tell they wanted to help. They even offered me a bench seat when I sat on the ground!

Luckily we ended up on the right bus (only because we hopped on everyone that came by before they told us to get off and try ___, saying a different one each time). Again while we were asking he bus driver if he was going towards our street, this Italian guy came up speaking English. Turns out our hostel was right by his house, so he kindly showed us when to get off and exactly where to go! How nice!

We stayed at a camping site that also had cabins and tents. It was actually really nice. We had three beds with our own bathroom. The only downside was how far away it was from the main islands. We had to pay 2 € a person each time we wanted ride the camping shuttle to the islands. Yes it wasn’t cheap, but it was worth it not to deal with Italian public transportation.

Venice was absolutely gorgeous. No cars are allowed in the city, so all movement is done by either foot or boat. The canals run all throughout the city. The canals, bridges, and streets were all so cute, narrow, and small. Gondolas were riding all throughout the canal! Venice is known for its blown glass, which is just beautiful. There were tons of shops of just the glass. They made everything too. You could get clocks, watches, any kind of jewellery, and even a paper weight all with an original blown art design.

The great thing about Venice was the fact that we could relax. Unlike Paris, there are not a bunch of different sights you HAD to see. Yes there were a couple things you HAD to do, but one of the main things is to relax and enjoy the city. We sat by the canal a couple times to just soak up the sun and enjoy the atmosphere.

They claim that it is inevitable to get lost in Venice. We brought a map our first day, but ended up not bothering to bring it the second day. You could never find the streets on the map, and even if you found one street, you could never find the following one. After eating gelato (yummy!) we started to look for a good gondola ride. We knew it was going to be expensive, but we wanted to get the best one possible. We thought it would be best if we found one away from the crowd. Naturally we found them before we started looking and the moment we wanted one, no one was in site. We ended up getting lost more in the local area of the town. Venice is quite touristy (one of its few downfalls), and it gets a little too quiet when you go away from the crowd. Parts of it were actually quite nice though. I saw so many beautiful flowers on the window seal and a lot of laundry on the clothes line. I felt like I was able to see more of the local life in real life.

Finally we found our way and rode on the best gondola ride ever! We talked him down to 70 euros and not 80 (I know its not cheap, but it was split between 3 people). Our guy was pretty cool. He of course had his blue stripped shirt on with his straw hat and blue band coming down. The ride was so nice! The water was just a pretty sea foam green. We rode on the gondola for about 30 minutes. The last couple minutes we ran into some gondola traffic. One of the guys in the next boat has out his accordion singing “That’s Amore”. It was so cliché and cheesy that I just loved it! Who doesn’t want to hear about a pizza pie hitting your eye while in Italy?

To try and make this long story less long, Venice was perfect. It came at the perfect time on the trip. After tiring Paris, it was nice to relax. I love being in the sun and wearing a dress! The gelato, pizza, and pasta were all delicious! I loved Italy! I wished I could have stayed longer, but I guess that means I have to go back. That seems to be my theory for everything.

I only spent two nights in Venice. I left Brad and Amanda on the 13th to ride on a plane to London by myself (Don’t worry family. I am already back safe and sound from London and I will write all about the UK soon). Although on the plane ride over we flew over the Alps. I know I say this a lot, but they were simply amazing and so beautiful. I thought that was pretty neat.

My photos really don't capture the beauty, but I tried.