italia

ok, so i have a feeling this is going to be quite long...

so italy. wow! it was absolutely amazing! i loved it and just couldn't believe i was there sometimes. walking around the colosseum i was like, seriously, this is the colosseum, i was expecting to wake up from a dream. but it was real!

so i was up early wednesday morning. my flight to venice was from dublin, so i had two choices. take the bus or fly to dublin. i chose to fly, as i'd rather sit in the airport than on a bus for 4.5 hours on the windy irish roads. and then switch to the airport bus once in dublin. so unfortunately my flight was at 10am to dublin and my venice flight wasn't until 4.30. but i was ok with sitting in the airport for about 5 hours. i sat by arrivals for the longest time just watching all the happiness and reading/journaling. then i went upstairs to eat and allll over the news was the turkish airline crash that had happened earlier that morning, now that was the first i heard of it. which was interesting because as i landed in dublin a flight to amsterdam was boarding. not the best news as you are waiting for a flight. the flight was fine, nothing exciting. i landed in venice at 7.45 and was like eeeeee! i'm actually here! and then went to catch the actv - their public ferry system on the canals, but of course had juuuust missed the 8.10 one. so had to wait until 9.10, and i chatted with a nice american couple who were living in limerick, she was over on a fullbright. so that was fun talking with her. so we finally reached piazza san marco around 10.30 and even though it was dark it was awesome to finally see it. i wondered around and found my hotel quite quickly.  i didn't get lost! yay! so it was 11 and i was starving but couldn't find anything open close after my little wander, so just went to bed!

piazza a san marco

i was up bright and early thursday morning and ready to explore venice! the first thing i did was head back to piazza a san marco! so i could explore the basilica. and wow! 

inside basilica san marco

so i was a bad kid and took a picture from the upper part of the basilica. i just didn't know where to look, the ceilings were all amazing, the walls were all bare but it added to it, the floor was incredible and just all the detail everywhere. it looked from further away the upper parts of the wall and domes were just frescos, but upon closer looks they were all mosiacs. and i was just blown away. after walking around i went up to the museum and to get a closer look at some of the mosiacs and the view from the square. 

looking out towards the lagoon

after being completely awestruck from the basilica i wandered about, i decided not to go to the dodge's palace and instead wondered along the canals for most of the day. 

gondolas around san marco

i first wandered around san marco and then decided to head over to the grand canal. so i wandered through the cute little alleys and crossed adorable little bridges passing amazing shops. until i ended up along the grand canal.

view of the grand canal from the rialto bridge

so i wondered more. if you didn't notice i just like to walk around and see what i can find. i walked allll over venice and decided i was going to cross all 3 bridges crossing the grand canal. so i pretty much walked everywhere! i had an amazing lunch in campo santa margarita and at at a little table outside evjoying the sunshine and had the best pizza and a fab glass of wine. i then continued to wander and just popped into shops that were amazing. i wish i had more time to head out to murano - where they blow glass, but i enjoyed the shops and everything was so incredible. and then later on i stopped and got gelato and ate it while people watching back at san marco piazza. i attempted to watch the sunset, but it wasn't that great and then found a cute place for dinner. i wasn't very adventerous at night, and i was tired from my day of walking so i d just went back to the hotel and relaxed. 

i was up super early on friday to head to florence - i was catching the 8.40 train to florence, and my hotel was about a 30 minute ferry ride along the grand canal from the train station. so i was luckily able to see a gorgeous sunriseish while waiting for my 7.50am ferry. it was cool their main source of public transport is a ferry system with stops all along the grand canal, so instead of a train. i enjoyed the trip along the canal getting to see everything from it and all the gorgeous buildings !

sunrise is my favourite time of day

so the train wasn't bad i arrived around noon in florence and after dropping my bags of at the hostel i immediately headed to the duomo. duomo is the italian term for church but one of the best known is the one in florence - whose official name is basilica di santa maria del fiore, and it was amazing!

the duomo

and inside - wow! again i was speechless. it was incredible. much less intricate and ornate than san marco, and it was really only one long room, instead of little smaller ones off it it. 

i loved looking up at the fresco on the dome though. 

view of the dome taken from the upper gallery while climbing up to the top

so after exploring the duomo i headed over to galleria dell' academia to see michelangelo's david  and omg. he was amazing. i was good and didn't take a picture though i should have. the woman was really good at keeping people from taking pictures. but i seriously sat there and just looked at him for about 20 minutes. the statue was a lot bigger than i expected and i also loved the half-finished sculptures leading up to david. the rest of the gallery... it was only ok. i'm not the biggest renaissance art fan, but i can appreciate it. so after the david i wandered about again, through all the markets selling a lot of leather good and such, i did buy a wallet. and had a great lunch and decided to head back towards the duomo as it was getting to be about 5 and i figured the view from the top of the dome would be gorgeous at sunset. and i was right!

florence at sunset

after this i headed towards the river and just enjoyed the view and decided i was slightly hungry so i stopped in a cafe for a cannoli and a glass of wine. it was here where the place was quiet and my waiter was talking with me, and he asked me to meet him for a drink later. i decided why not. how many times are you in italy and get asked out by an italian? i was of course being careful (sharon joked with me not to talk to strangers because we had rented taken on saturday night... not the best film to see before traveling on your own. haha) and met him outside the duomo later on. we went and had a drink in a bar and then walked towards ponte vecchio where we made out for a few minutes, before he became slightly sketchy (wasn't liking his wandering hands) and i told him to feck off and made sure he wasn't following me before walking back. so there is my amusing italian guy story. he wasn't even that cute. haha. 

ponte vecchio - taken saturday evening

so went back and crashed. i was so excited for pisa! a summer camp friend of mine who i hadn't seen since 2006 has been teaching english in livorno for the past few years and so we met up in pisa and spent the morning talking and catching up! i loooove being able to see random friends all over europe! and so the weather was GORGEOUS, about 70 and sunny. so i got there early so i sat by the tower people watching and journaling and just soaking up the sun. marveling over the tower, it reallly does lean! the cathedral there was gorgeous! once i met iz, we just walked around with 2 of her friends and talked, had lunch and gelato and just explored. i was sad to say goodbye to her!

 

it really does lean!

so back in florence i headed over to santa croce this gorgeous basilica in florence where some of the most famous - michelangelo, galileo, machiavelli, and marconi amongst others italians are buried. and the inside was even prettier than the duomo! but a lot of the alter was under renovation unfortunately.

outside santa croce

after that i was running short of time, so i decided to head to the uffizi and see some amazing italian art. i didn't get a chance to go to piazzale michelangelo, which  offers some of the best views of the entire city, but i figured i had seen a gorgeous sunset the night before. so the uffizi was awesome. 

view from inside the uffizi of the building

i enjoyed seeing the birth of venus by botticlli, a few davinci's, doni tondo - michelangelo's only finished surviving panel painting and many others. i was running out of time here, so it was very fast and trying to see the most famous works of art here. after the uffizi i hung around palazzo vecchio and had dinner over looking the square and enjoying the atmosphere. i walked around a but more and then headed back because i was up super early the next morning for roma!

i arrived in rome around 11 and headed to my hostel and dropped off my bags and headed to the colosseum!!! i wandered a bit going into a gorgeous basilica - santa maria maggiore and then saw my first view of the colosseum!!!!

eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!

where i was just so giddy i was skipping. no lie. i was told to avoid the long lines at the colosseum to go to the roman forums first. the ticket is for the forums, palatine and colossuem and once you have the ticket you don't wait on line. so i walked right into the forum and of course the weather was kinda eeeeh in rome. a drizzly misty rain i'm oh so used to from ireland. which wasn't too bad. the forum was cool walking around it because this was pretty much where ancient rome deveolped. it was the market/centre of government/everything. 

forum from the palentine hill

then i headed over to the colosseum and had no line!! when the line looked to be about a 20 minute wait. and omg. there are no words. 

looking into the colosseum, the platform was where the floor was and the mazes under it show the underground tunnels where the beasts would be hiding and such.

i was just in awe. i was first surprised at how small it was, i was expecting it to be slightly bigger. but it didn't really bother me. i was just imagining what it must have been like and just having my colosseumgasim. 

i <3>

so after i recovered from the amazingness. i headed over towards the momument to vittorio emanueke II   and wandered about and poked throught the little museum there and the tomb of the italian unknown solider. 

view from the monument and the italian flag!

the monument - it can be seen from all over the city. it was impressive!

and then i continued wandering around and by now it was raining harder and i was starving! so i had a great lunch and it was raining even harder and was about 5. so i decided to skip trevi fountain and the spanish steps and i had a headache and was cold and wet. so i went back for a nap, which was greatly needed. i was running around the city and just needed some downtime. so i just relaxed and after my nap went out for a quick slice of amazing pizza. the food omg, i seriously gained like 10 pounds in italy!! 

so monday i headed towards the vatican! and was quite excited to be visiting the smallest country! 

piazza a san pietro and the basilica. 

so i had to wait about 10 minutes to get through security and then i was in st. peter's. and wow. it was gigantic! and unbelievable. and so many things to look at!

looking into the basilica

after just enjoying the basilica i headed outside to join the line to go to the top of the dome. which was about a 45 minute wait, but gorgeous view. i climbed the 562 (i think, with the elevator it is 320, but i'm hardcore and walked up the whole thing) and enjoyed the view. 

i love this photo. view from st. peter's basilica

after enjoying the view i was getting excited to see the sistine chapel! i also mailed a few postcards from the vatican post office! so i made my way to the vatican museums and was completely surprised there was no line! yay! and i wondered throught the museum taking in some amazing tapestries, the map room, admired raphael's work and then finally!

kinda blurry, but i was the sneakmaster extradionare keeping my camera in my purse and taking shots because they were amazing with the no photos rule here. 

the sistine chapel was incredible. didn't know where to look and just wish i was taller to take in the detail! i loved it. i spent about 20 minutes here just admiring it. 

after that i contined though the museum, but only saw a small part of it because i had a lot to do before catching my flight home. i consulted my map and headed off towards the pantheon. i stopped at a few smaller places and enjoyed them and got slightly lost, but the pantheon was awesome!

pantheon

now of course right after this it starts POURING. like buckets. i remembered my umbrella today so the umbrella vendors left me alone today. but by the time i was at trevi fountain it looked like i went swimming in trevi! but i still loved it!

trevi fountain 

and the last thing i needed to do before heading to the train station was eat gelato on the spanish steps! so i headed there and the rain was still heavy until i got about 10 feet from the steps. so i poeple watched and ate my gelato and enjoyed it. 

yummmmmy gelato!

so i hopped on the metro, ran back to my hostel to grab my bag and catch the train to the airport. my flight back was fine and i got back to cork around 11.30, unpacked and crashed. i was exhausted and had work the next morning. 

i absolutely loved italy! i would love to go back again and just travel around the country with a car and just explore. being in italy made me want to re-read eat, pray, love again. it is one of my favourite books, so i can't wait to read my copy at home! i attempted with my non-existant italian, but i kept wanting to speak spanish! oops! and i really enjoyed the time alone to just think and be. and to get the opportunity to travel to some pretty amazing cities. i totally recommend traveling alone and just enjoying life. 

if you want to see more pictures let me know and i'll send you my picasa link!