So time has been hard to come by which is not a bad thing but i thought it was high time that i updated starting with the beautiful Venice.
VENEZIA
I simply loved Venice, from the moment we stepped off the train the night we arrived. You walk out of the terminal and its simply wow. It almost doesnt seem like a real place, like its a movie set or a theme park or something. We then dragged our bags to our accomodation in Canareggio. The canal that our place is on is gorgeous. It was in this really cute little courtyard. I got to practise my Italian right away as the lady at the desk didn't speak any English. We then pretty much put our bags down on the ground and turned around again to find somewhere to have dinner. We ended up choosing a place with lots of crowds walking by so we could sit and watch the world go by.
The next day we just simply decided to wander. Everywhere you look is amazing. We ended up finding the Rialto area and then wandered through the many shops and canals and somehow found ourselves in San Marco's square. By this stage it was the heat of the day and there were thousands of people around. You couldn't really see the square much. We then started walking back through the many shops selling Masks, Glass wares, souvenirs etc. We then got lost in the maze of canals, even buying a map didnt help us too much... luckily though we happened to stumble across what become our favourite spot in Venice. Il Fondamento di Nuovo. Its a sort of boardwalk except not made of board right on the sea. It was so pretty and best of all it was shadded by the walls of the city. We ended up coming back here most days on our way home. Also because we could find our way back to our accomodation from here no worries. We sat at the waters edge for a while and let the water spray our feet. Our time in Venice was really sooo hot which tired you out quickly but it was hard seeing water everywhere and not able to go for a swim to cool down. In our accomodation we left the fan on all day so that when we got back late afternoon the room would be cooler. Most of our days in Venice followed this same sort of thing. Mornings wandering until early afternoon where we escaped for the afternoon. Then an evening usually with pizza (and on many cases some complementary Limoncello which we loved!)
We walked up to the very end of the island the next day were we had our packed lunch in the park and avoided the heat of the day. The views back towards San Marco from here were pretty awesome. I was also pretty happy to visit San Elena down the bottom there too. (hehe Im a saint). That evening we had a pretty amazing picnic at the end of our accomodations canal/street. We bought these folded pizzas from the corner store and walked down the end to a pier and watched the sunset. Was simple yes but still amazing!We were saving the next night, our last night, for one of the restaraunts along the 'fondamento' in our favourite spot.
The next day was spent shopping for souvenirs and presents for our families and friends back home. Shopping here is quite fun as there are so many little stores. They must do well because there were soo many and alot seemed to sell similar things. I then got a few opportunities to actually speak some Italian (most Italians had heard my accent and then gone straight back into English) when we tried to send somethings home to the post office and in a few of the shops.
Dinner that night was definitely a highlight for our time in Venice. The resteraunt was right on the water and it was great. After dinner we strolled back towards the Canareggio district where the shops were still open, music played and people strolled around like us. We then got some gelato and enjoyed our last hours in Venice.
ROME
After a long train ride through Bologna and Firenze we arrived in Rome. It definitely wasnt any cooler than Venice. We had a bit of hassle getting into our hotel after being given the wrong room, it was pretty late by the time we got there so we stuck pretty close to the hotel that evening, opting to do some much needed laundry.
The next day was Sunday so we headed to the Porta Portese down the south of Rome in the Canareggio district where there were some Flea markets. It wasn't so much a tourist place and was definitely attended by locals. It was definitely a good place to learn abit more about Rome. Erin got some good bargains.
So then after a look through the many market stalls we headed up through Trastevere, stopping for some gelato and across the river to the Campo de Fiori where there are usually fruit markets (except on Sundays). We had lunch here at the Il Nolan which we had to go to! We then continued up to the Piazza Navona another gorgeous square which used to be where the Roman games were held back in 90 AD (I learnt lots of Roman history while in Rome) anyway the square has these three huge fountains making it pretty spectacular. The next stop was just as amazing. The Pantheon. Now to be honest I've heard of the Pantheon but I never really cared much about it.. just thought it was a monument.. bit like the pathenon in Greece cause as a kid I got them confused.. actually I think I thought they were the same thing. Anyway the Pantheon is amazing. We rounded a corner and were just so taken aback. After walking through thin streets and little squares you walk around a corner and there is this huge amazing structure infront of you. When you walking inside it is pretty amazing too. I was really pleasantly amazed/surprised. We then had a similar reaction when just a few streets away we came across Trevi Fountain. It is just sooo big it takes up pretty much the entirety of the square it is in. The walking then continued as we headed up to the Spanish Steps and then up the steps to the Rome Metro where we caught a train back to our accomodation..
The next say we got up early to head to the Vatican Museum. Id recommend anyone to get up early and head there. It was amazing. There are some pretty amazing works of art there. I really liked all the Greek and Roman mythology behind most of the things too. The place is huge though. By the time we got to the Sistine Chapel we were starving. we ate breakfast at about 7am to get to the museum when it opened at 8am and we got to the chapel around 12:30pm. The Sistine Chapel wasn't as magnificent as we had been told all the time. Still amazing but every room had been and it wasn't as large as I immagined and you were crammed in like sardines to get in. Still it was something I wont forget anytime soon.
Our plan for that day was to go to the Basilica also but by the time we got out it was pretty close to 40 degrees celsius and there was a very long line so we decided to do it another day. So we decided to go back to our accomodation for the afternoon to rest and to get ready for an evening in Roma.
We ended up right in the middle of town for dinner. Just up from the Altare della Patria a big white national monument. We had some pretty entertaining waiters at this dinner. It was a pretty funny dinner just for that alone! After we escaped the waiters we walked around some of Rome at night to see some of the monuments lit up. We then finished at the Trevi Fountain where we had some gelato (hey when in Rome!)
Stay tuned for Part 2 of Rome.. for photos see my facebook page :)
