All Good Things Come To An End

Well looks like my wonderful trip is over, I leave to come home tomorrow morning! It has been so wonderful and I have learned so much & seen so much! Ill have to continue summarizing the past few days since I didnt get a chance. Thanks for sharing in the fun with me on my ventures! Im looking forward to seeing you all soon back at home!

Florence

Here are some pictures of some of the sites of Florence. This place had a lot of character and lots of good shopping! Here are some pictures looking off one of the bridges, the Duomo which I really liked because it was different than any of the other cathedrals I had seen before. It wasn't uncommon to see famous sculptures all around too. We went to the museum where the David was. The picture of the David I have posted is not the original, it's a replica. However, where the replica is, is where the David was originally placed. Seeing the real David was as amazing as everyone says it is. It is huge, and beautiful. Unfortunately I wasn't daring enough to sneak some pictures, so I don't have a picture of the real one. The food was also amazing here. Probably the best yet. We found this really good Italian restaurant that we ate at three times just because it was so delicious and the guys who worked there were really cool and nice to us. Florence was a great place to end the trip!

The Trevi Fountain

This was one of our stops at the Trevi Fountain...it was huge just like everything around here seems to be. I couldn't get pictures of the whole thing in one shot. Legend has it that if you throw a coin into this fountain, you will return one day to Rome... so I did it of course, and lets hope this is true:)

Vatican City

Here we are in front of the infamous Vatican City. It started raining while we were here-something we didn't expect for Rome. Unfortunately due to the short amount of time we were in Rome, we didn't get to go inside because the line to get in was too long. Seeing what we saw however was really cool. I was most excited to see the huge colonade in front, and it was really neat seeing it in person. It was actually a little smaller than I imagined it.

The Pantheon

The Pantheon was one of the places I looked forward to seeing the most. It really is a marvelous structure. The coffered ceiling was really cool and impressive. The individual coffers are a lot larger than I imagined them. The oculus in the center is also really cool. It would have been neat to be there on a really rainy day to watch the water come pouring in through it. A lot of my pictures of the interior unfortunately didn't turn out because the lighting was bad inside so I don't have that many pics to show. It was everything I imagined though, and I can now see why this is one of the structures that is most studied in architecture.

The Colosseum

The Colosseum was amazing to see in person! It's hard to believe that ruins that old still exist. We took a tour through the inside & it gave a good idea of what it must have been like to really be there back in the day. It was pretty much like I imagined it only a little smaller. Enjoy the pictures...

A Day In Rome

So after Venice, we planned a day trip to Rome. It was a very interesting trip. It started a little bit shaky, and ended a bit shaky, but all the in between and seeing the awesome sights was great. The day started off with me & the girl in the picture above, getting on the wrong train. It still went to Rome, only it was the Eurostar, which is nicer, quicker, and more expensive, instead of the cheaper, slower train. This wouldn't have been a scare except for the fact that the rest of our group was on the other train with our group tickets. So me and Rachel arrived in Rome not knowing if the rest of our group stayed on the train, or got off cuz we weren't with them. Luckily the train ticket checkers had mercy on us when we told them the situation & didn't make us pay more money. We were there for 2 hours by ourselves waiting for the other train to arrive with our friends on it. It was a bit scary & not gonna lie, I was a bit nervous being in a foreign unfamiliar place with only one other person. Luckily our group ended up showing up so we were relieved! After this, we got on a double-decker tour bus, and hit up the main tourist attractions in Rome. We figured this was the best way to get around and see all of the main sites in only one day. Everything for the rest of the day went well except my main complaint was that the service was crapy and the people here were not friendly at all! We had restaurant owners raise there prices on us, and got ripped off royally at the restaurant we had dinner at. It put us in a really bad mood unfortunately. So if there is one bit of advice I would give to anyone visiting Rome, it would be to bring your own food and not depend on anyone to serve you with a smile. Other than that our day was well spent!

Day 2 in Venice

Our second day in Venice we went back into town where we basically just went through town on foot & shopped, shopped, shopped. We also found the Rialto Bridge and shopped around it as well. The highlight of the day however, was going on a Gondola ride! I have been looking forward to it for so long, & I finally got to do it. It was awesome-probably one of the best 30 minutes of my life. The Italian gondola man that we had was way cool too! He’s in my pics wearing the typical striped shirt. He even kissed my hand at the end of the ride-they weren’t kiddin when they said Italian men are romantic! Haha Don’t be jealous Wade :) That night we had a nice dinner where I had the biggest Calzone of my life. The food here is wonderful-probably the best yet on the trip.

Day 1 in Venice

Our time in Venice was short unfortunately. I fell in love with the place from the moment I arrived! We checked into our hotel which was a few streets over from the train stop, so carrying our luggage around in the heat was a blast….haha. That’s when I regretted having so much stuff. It was all good though, I made it. After we got settled in we took a short train ride into town and walked around and got acquainted with the town. We took a water taxi to get around the first day and got to see a lot of the sites from the water. We stopped off by Saint Mark’s Cathedral & square-which was very cool & then shopped around at all the cute shops & booths that are set up on the streets. Then we had our first dose of real Italian food at this nice restaurant in this ally way. It was delicious! This place intrigued me so much, and I think it was because it all lies on water. Venice is just how it looks in all the pictures-simply charming & loaded with character. It was just how I imaged it. It’s so cool that there is water everywhere, and aged buildings that look like they’re floating & how boats and walking are the two main ways to travel anywhere within! I love Venice…check out the lovely pics!