Friday October 18th:
Steph and I arrived in Florence on Friday, October 18. We didn't get there until about 10:00 pm because of the train strike that day so the first night was pretty low key, just a nice dinner at a restaurant named Za-Za who has some of the best pizza in Italy.
Saturday October 19th:
Our first full day in Florence included a trip to the Academia, where the statue of David is located. Unfortunately, we did not get any pictures of this because photographs are not allowed to be taken inside the museum. Later in the day we went on a Chianti wine tour right outside of Florence. Here we toured the castle and wine cellars at the vineyard.
Following the tour we tasted 3 wines from grapes harvested at the vineyard. The first was a Chianti, the second was a reserved (aged) Chianti, and the third was a Bianca (white wine). We also got to taste the extra virgin olive oil from the olives picked at the vineyard. This was my favorite part of Florence because of the fantastic views and relaxed atmosphere.
Sunday October 20th:
A morning trip to the Uffizi Gallery started the day off. The Uffizi Gallery is another museum in Florence which sits atop the city. The museum includes many paintings from famous painters including Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Jocopo. Following the Uffizi Gallery, we walked to Piazza Michelangelo which looks over the city of Florence and
is where Michelangelo grew up. The picture to the right is the view from the Piazza with the Duomo located to the left and the Santa Croce Basilica to the right of me and Steph. Santa Croce is actually where Michelangelo is burried today.Monday October 21st:
Our last day in Florence concluded with a hike up 463 steps to the top of the Duomo. This is probably one of the best views of the city. Unfortunately, in Italy, farmers burn dead leaves and sticks in the morning, so the view when we were at the top was a bit hazy. Regardless, it was still awesome to climb through the ancient steps and passageways to see the inside of the dome and how it was actually built.
Venice
Tuesday October 22nd:
Our first full day in Venice came with cold weather and rain. Our first Venice experience was a ride on a gondola, which is the traditional Venetian boat with a man standing in the back rowing. The ride was from one side of the canal to the other side and took about 30 seconds. We could have taken a
longer ride but instead of paying 80 Euro, we paid 50 cents. After walking around for awhile, we went to Saint Mark's square. The church at Saint Mark's is unique because the ceiling and walls inside are not painted, but but they are a mosaic of gold glass tile. When the lights are turned on inside the church, it puts off a gold glow which is an amazing sight. After Saint Mark's we walked to the glass bridge which was just completed days before we arrived. This bridge is controversial because it is modern architecture in an ancient city, but I think it looks really cool.After a long day of walking around in the cold and rain, we decided to take it easy for the night and cook our own "Italian" style dinner. We went to the local grocery store and picked up some favorite Italian items such as olive oil, fettuccine, ravioli, and ragu sauce. It was probably the cheapest meal we had the entire trip, but it was delicious.
Rome
Wednesday October 23rd:
Our last destination of our 1 week excursion throughout Italy, was a three day stop in Rome. Our first day included tours of ancient Rome including the Colosseum, Palantine Hill, and Capitoline Hill. The picture above is the Capitoline Hill at dusk.Thursday October 24th:
Today we walked to the Vatican City. We spent a majority of the day here, seeing sights including St. Peter's Basilica, an
d the Vatican Museum. The Vatican Museum is very big with the main attraction being the Sistine Chapel. The Sistine Chapel is an amazing sight, and was definitely the highlight of the Vatican for me. Another highlight of the day was a small pizza place outside of the Vatican. This is the first place in Italy that I have been to that serves pizza with buttered crust, it was fantastic!To wrap up the end of a long day, we stopped in Campo di' Fiore for an evening cocktail. Here we enjoyed some cocktails at an outdoor wine bar with many musicians playing amongst us. The best of the musicians was teenage boy who played the violin, and the worst of the musicians was a woman who tried to sing opera, but couldn't actually hold a note. All in all the experience was very entertaining.
Friday October 25th:
Our last day in Rome was spent walking around the city to see many different sites. We saw the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and
Trevi Fountain. The Pantheon is probably the most incredible site in Rome in my opinion because of the massive size of the concrete dome. It is also one of the few ancient Roman buildings that is still structurally sound and standing today.After walking around to those three sites, we toured the luxurious shopping district with stores including Prada, Louis Vitton, Dolce & Gabbana, and Gucci. This was at the request of the girls of course. For the most of this tour I waited outside because supposedly when wearing shorts and a t-shirt in the store, the security guard will tend to follow you around.
Finally after seeing everything, and shopping, we found the Hard Rock Cafe. This was an awesome time because this was the first cheeseburger I had since I got to Italy in early September.
