ok, well, i am back to school after a lovely holiday in italy and i have really enjoyed getting tired from doing absolutely nothing and then falling asleep during the day to the rest of the italian/tourist world passing by beneath my open window. actually, it happened a few too many times. maybe i should eat some more meat. i'll look into that.
so, i don't really know where to start telling you all about my italian adventure. i love italy, but spain really does still have the place in my heart! haha. (no mum and val, no spanish boys as such, but i just love the language, the culture, the country, the people,... ... ...)
so, arrive home on thursday and the sun was shining... and on friday as i sat procrastinating my school work that i had to do on my last day of holidays, the clouds were out in full force and the wind was howling... reminded me of italy! ha. I am really sorry if the tenses change throughout this blog entry, i'm just going to type as it comes to me instead of trying to make it make sense (as usual, i'm sure you are all used to it by now and i started it a week ago, ha, estoy flojo)
anyways... the sun finally decided to come out on my last day in italy (venice) and i was able to sit in a park on the grand canal and wait for my bus... a beautiful day, very different from 3 days before when i was in verona, certain i was going to freeze to death or drown! see, i didn't bring many warm clothes with me because italy is meant to be warm, and i accidently left my umbrella in como where it had been pouring with rain and i didn't remember until i was half-way to verona with my friend oscar and he realised he didn't have his umbrella either...GREAT. although he did have a poncho. so there we were, quite a sight, two people running through the streets of verona under a poncho with no preripheral vision and having to 'cambio' frequently because our arms were getting tired from holding it up. we get a few laughs and had a few ourselves (especially when we tried to go around opposite sides of a pole... whoops). anyways... i'll get back to verona later... to start with roma!
so, it's saturday the 5th april and an early start to the day. I am in the taxi with schelle and we are both going to heathrow to get in separate planes to rome... hooray! it was easy to find the hostel and there we met rach and i changed into my skirt because the sun was shining... HURRAH!!! (apparently today it was snowing in london). If only i was to know this would be the last chance i would have to wear my skirt. so the 3 lovely ladies wandering the streets of rome enjoying the sun and the amazing history and feel that the city has to offer us. we saw a church with lots of monk bones, an interesting display, and wellust wandered. we went to the spanish steps where we met up with nathan and his friend amanda and then went off to meet tami and gabby in piazza navona for the first of many delicious coffees.
Back to the hostel to change and get ready for take 1 of birthday celebrations... the aussie time zone. We met up with nathan and amanda and went out for dinner, and then a lovely gelato, but didn't end up going out... we're nanna's now. haha. so to bed.
wake up to be 25... HURRAH! so old! (but still the youngest in the room =p) We has some breakfast and went to visit the colosseum. WOW... HUGE, old, amazing. (ok, so i could use better words, but my literacy level has decreased since being away. I would recommend going here if you go to Rome. actually, i preferred the palatine hill, but it is all close together. And so old... especially to think that the buildings in Aus are how old??!!! So, had a birthday lunch and said goodbye to tami... bye ybe!!! and had to give her back her jacket. it was quite cold today. oh well, i can always buy a jumper or find some italian boy to keep me warm! (kidding mum and val!) oh, thanks to everyone who sent me birthday wishes... i had a great day (well few days) i like the whole go away for your birthday thing... righty-oh... some more exploring and eating and then time to say goodbye to schelle. then there was me, rach and gabs. we met up with nathan and amanda again for birthday dinner take 2 and again had quite an early night.
rach and i went to st peters to go up to the top today, but the line was huge... mental note... go earlier next time. so we gave up and met gabby for lunch. after lunch, bye bye to rach and gabby and i explored the streets once again, this time by choosing our direction by which street had more sun! haha. and then bye bye to gabby... then there was one.
so, the next day i try my luck at st peters again before going off to florence. BINGO! 8:30am, not too many visitors. i went into the top of the church and curved my way upto the roof. (wouldn't want to be too tall, even i had to twist my body to get through). it's definitely an amazing church, but not my favourite. After the top, i explored the immense inside and spent some quiet time with/before God and by the time i was leaving, crowds of people were coming in... i think i chose a good time to go. so, definitely recommend if you go to GO EARLY! now... off to florence. ahhh, the rain is out again! hurrah!
and the hostel i ask at has no vacancies... whoops. maybe i should have booked ahead... next time! but they are lovely and show me a place around the corner who does have vacancies and a few lovely americans to chat to in my room. yay. catch up with nathan (amanda is sick) and just wander the streets and go out for a lovely meal (should have had florence beef, but didn't, oh well). i think i like the feel of florence better than rome, but it also is a little bit polluted. tomorrow nathan and amanda are off to slovenia and i am off to pisa and lucca.
I have heard that pisa isn't that great, but i actually quite enjoyed it, although maybe it was just because the sun was almost shining and it wasn't freezing cold. i decided to climb the leaning tower and you could actually feel the lean as you went... i didn't really expect that. it was pretty cool. and i loved the architecture of the whole area there... and it is all marble... that i did not realise. Another lovely coffee and then onto Lucca. i think i would have liked lucca if it wasn't raining the whole time. a lovely city to get lost in and always find new piazza's or a place to hide from the rain and have dinner and then another place to have a gelato crepe (for example). I got back to the hostel just before it poured down. and was going to go out to explore the town by night, but the weather had a different agenda for me... remind me why i did not bring my raincoat??
Now... onto the cinque terre (5 lands, fishing villages over the coast). I have heard that this place is just absolutely amazing, although i'm sure everyone who has told me this has gone in the summer. ha, but actually, i do like it here. I tried to book at the hostel, but they don't take bookings under a week in advance, so wander through and try my luck at a walk-in. €40/pppn... WHAT??? hmmm, do i take this or try my luck at the next village? i'll take it... i don't want to wander around in the rain... what, another room for €20?? SCORE! i'll take it! Do i walk around these 5 villages this afternoon or spend a whole day tomorrow? Today, I'll read and wash and walk the coastal route tomorrow. The next day it rained... and rained... and rained. Maybe i should have walked yesterday... oh well. I caught the train between the villages and looked around a little. I then walked a paved part of the walk and went back. by evening, the rain stopped, so i walked from Varnazza to Corneglia. and it was AMAZING... well done everyone for telling me to come here. off to dinner. i walked into a restaurant just because there were aussie accents coming out the door. there seem to be so many aussie parent aged people travelling through italy... there you go mum and dad, for retirement!?!?
Then... onto Milano... shopping?? fashion?? And i didn't even bring my nice clothes or high-heels. Oh well... I'll meet oscar and find out it's ok to wear jeans. haha. so, meet oscar (who schelle and i met in sweden with some of his friends on a night-train... long journeys, cards... instant friendships... haha)my guide for the next few days. We went to drop my bag at the station but the lockers were full... oh well... no passa nada... it's fun to walk around the versace, dolce&gabana & tag shops with your backpack on. At least the sun is out! Around the city and to the duomo. this place looks amazing from the outside, and I wonder what it looks like from the top... oh, no bag drops here... ok, so, up the stairs with my pack on. it was a bit of a laugh as i couldn't move up the stairs if others were coming down, and it was a common staircase for up&down. but so worth it. WOW!!! the view from the top was FABULOUS!!! i love it! possibly my most favourite cathedral, the view is great, the architecture is great, everything is great! A lovely place to pause from the world (actually, there are lots of places like this in italy, and i love that!). It reminds me a little of the sagrada famillia in barcelona. now, out of the sun... shame, wander more of milan and catch the train to Como where Oscar lives/studies and onto a party for one of his housemates.
i get called mexican as i tried to speak to spanish and had holes in my socks but actually, i was not doing so well. here i am in italy trying to speak spanish with oscar and his peruvian housemate (and failing), as they speaks spanish, italian and english fluently (cabrones!). Well, at least i was able to teach them a new word... plug. no wonder they don't know what it is... they don't have one.
and my first mexican dish in italy... it looks like... ummmm ummmm.... mud??? (or fondly called chicken poo.) it's a chilly chocolate chicken dish and is actually quite tasty. haha. then some apperitivos and off to a party party. a great night with some uni of milan international students from all walks of life. Eating... drinking... and being merry.
next day, the sun was out again... hurrah! and was just spent relaxing and wandering around the lake wondering what it would be like living in the lazy life with the hills, the lake, the amazing scenery and just enjoying the sun... well, until it clouded over, of course.
And tonight, a peruvian dinner with housemates and some more of their uni friends for Renzo's (oscar's housemates) birthday party. -14degrees celsius (renzo's argument against poverty. so we all need to get together and knit woolen socks and send them to the kids there. don't worry renzo, i'll take some socks over when i go).
So, what else to do?? i know, let's go up to the tower/castle and walk through some of the hills?? oh yeah, that's right... IT'S POURING AGAIN! HURRAH! OF COURSE! so what better to do than watch Ocean's 13 on dvd. it's the whole oceans 11, bellagio, lake como like. hey, that works with me! and i haven't seen it yet, so why not?? I need to get out of the house though, so we go and pick up the train tickets to verona and almost freeze and drown getting the tickets. an early night as the train to verona is at 6:30am... that time shouldn't exist on holidays!
so, back to milano and onto verona... oh, train delayed... hehe. I could have been sleeping. oh well, onto fair verona. In Fair Verona we lay our scene... and it rains. i don't think this is how it started for shakespeare, but this is how it started for me. so... we get our 'umbrella' (poncho) and start wandering the streets to juliet's tomb and for a coffee and a sit for a while to give the rain a chance to stop. the rain didn't take it's chance, but we sat at the arena (a mini colosseum) and onwards to juliet's house. and of course a rub of her right breast for good luck. onto a defrost in a a department store where there are more aussie accents (of middle-aged people). and, lucky i rubbed juliet's breast cos THE RAIN STOPPED!!! HURRAH! time for a packed lunch picnic with tortilla chips and beer on the lovely river. now i am starting to enjoy verona more as i am not freezing my butt off and drowned anymore. wander around a bit more and enjoy a dry verona and off to have a GREAT thick hot chocolate... the best i have had in a long time. and onto the train to venice.
when oscar and i met on a train, schelle and i taught him and his friends a card game. so, now that we are on another train trip, i thought it fitting to teach oscar another card game. I'll have to think of another one for the next train trip... whenever that will be.
So... my first experience of venice was by night, and trying to find a hotel at 9:30pm. we managed, so no sleeping in the station for us. hurrah. then wander around the maze of streets that is venice. i am liking venice, although not my favourite place in the world. next day, oscar is back to como to go back to uni (well for one day until he scoots off to granada) and i wander around venice in the sun. well, at least 2 hrs of sun and then of course it clouds over and begins to rain. ha. stupid unpredictable weather. but i found a free vivaldi museum with violins and other stringed/wooden instruments in it. and suprise suprise, when i got out, the sun was shining. a little more wandering, an afternoon nap and then venice by night take 2 - solo.
this time i was propositioneda few times whilst wandering, but i must say, i was never hassled. i don't know if anyone can answer this, but when i went back to st marks, the water was rising from the ground... is this a cleaning method for all the bird poo, or was it flooding from all the rain? hmmm, well, i didn't hang around to find out. back to my hotel to retire to my room and watch an american murder mystery in italian. and an early nights sleep so i could wake up early and explore venice for the last day of my birthday adventure.
ok, so didn't get up early, but that is cool. had my nicest continental breakfast so far this trip (with another great coffee) and read in a park by the grand canal in the glorious sunshine waiting for the ryanair bus. and then my trip was over.
so... highlights of italy...
the coffee, palatine hill, lake como, duomos at florence and milan, and generally just wandering and 'being'.
the annoyances, actually, nothing! i just should have packed my thermals and raincoat. would i go back there?? ummm, maybe one day and explore the south but who knows... as i said, spain still has my heart, so explore more of there first.
and so the photos... ummm... maybe use your imagination to see where you think they are and who is in them!!! haha.
i love my coffee... ha
the lovers walk. and the love locks. apparently people write their names on padlocks and put them in romantic areas... locked in love forever, ahhh, how romantic
the rain...
oh, and since coming back, rach had a bbq in 62MG, it was great. although i am glad i don't still live there, it was nice to go back! doing well rach. and then a lovely birthday lunch for alex. happy birthday alex! my friends from aus the woods are over with 2 kiddies one whom i've never met and one i met once, so looking forward to spending some time with them over the next few weeks too.
righty-oh... off i go! but it has been nice filling you all in with my extrememly long winded ramblings of my last few weeks.
love to you all!
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