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The Readers Digest Trip to Italy: Screw the journey, it's about the destinations. Left Calgary at 12.45 after a super delayed departure. Damn planes. The flight was long and boring and it didn't help much that I sat beside some of the most pompous Americans I have ever met. Thankfully though I had a window seat and I could scope out the mountains and eventually, Seattle. Got into Seattle and tooled around the airport a bit as I had some time. Urm.. I had a lot of time. Plane didn't leave for about 7 hours.Got to the plane, sat beside a cute old lady who turned into this crazy boozehound who took all the free booze bevies from the cart when the flight attendant came around. She looked innocent enough. I watched quite the plethora of movies including Ms. Sweden, Finding Neverland (about twice), Friends, Sponge Bob and some other one which must have been riveting seeing how I can remember it so well. Finally got to Kobenhaven (Copenhagen for all of you) and kicked it for a couple more hours doing.. urm... nothing. At this point I hadn't slept in a bit and was kinda tired of not being to my destination. Got on the plane and sat by this Finnish guy who thought I was American so he didn't talk to me until he saw a Canadian flag of mine. Moo wa ha ha. He wouldn't shut up after it. Hot damn. Palle helped me from the plane to the luggage area to the bus to the train station where he showed me my hotel and vanished. He was like my secret guardian angel making sure I was there safely. Awesome wicked fun. Got to the hotel, found my room and Aaron and sighed a deep sigh of relief. I was in Milan. ==== Milan sucks. It's stinky and dirty and nothing like the fashion mags and runway models make it out to be. The one impressive thing about Milan was covered in scaffolding which kinda killed it for us. Meh. That's ok, cuz we were going to Padova to rock it up. Got on the train and landed in this quaint Italian town. Now this town is what Italy is suppose to be. Found our hostel with the help of some university students who were rather intoxicated. Erm, they didn't actually help- they kinda pointed but it was our collective directional skills that did most of the navigating. Thank God for knowing which way is north. Found the hostel, made our beds and decided to walk a bit. We walked and walked and uh, walked until we got tired. Got back to the hostel and figured we needed some food. Duh. Couldn't find any but had some good ideas from the dude at the front desk as to where to go. Ended up not using his advice but asking a random Italian couple on the street (well, Aaron did as he has this amazingly bold way with people to just walk up and uh, talk to them) and they pointed us to a restaurant down the street, first left, second right, next left and the place in the middle of the buildings. Found it and enjoyed the most expensive meal of our Italian experience. Who knew you had to pay a table charge and a bread charge and to have water and to have a server and probably to walk through the door too. Back to the hostel and off to bed. Got up quasi early, enjoyed breakfast at the hostel and rocked it to Venice. The train took us right to the front steps of the grand canal and damn was it grand. We managed to speak english loudly enough that another english (or german or something) lady came over to us and offered us her two boat passes which was going to save us a chunk of moola. Well ok! Took those and began our tour of a city on the water called Venice. Went to Lido and wow oh wow oh wow. *If you ever go to Venice, go to Lido. Just do it. Like seriously.* Tooled around Lido checking out cool fun buildings and ocean and beach and Aaron bought the most expensive Snickers bar I am sure he will ever purchase. But damn it was good. Got back onto the boat and went to the lovely and intriguing city of Venice. This place was everything I thought it would be... and more. It wasn't as dirty as people had warned me about, but it was as expensive. *You can purchase a "condo" if you will, for only 25,000 euros which really, isn't all that expensive*. Not sure if any of you have ever heard this, maybe I made it up to make myself feel better about the experience, but, I was shit on by what must have been a giant pigeon. Attacked from behind, he left his mark on my jacket hood and backpack. Really, it's suppose to be good luck. I mean, it had to have been. We tooled around Venice, through the streets and in and out of stores, visiting San Marco Piazza and then on a beautiful gondola ride. Ok so you go to Venice and what is the first thing you think of? Ok well for me it's the gondola ride with some hot Italian singing sweet serenades to you while snuggling with your honey. (Yes, I live in a fantasy world at times...) We were approached to take a ride for a cheap 120 Euros. Ha. We walked away. Then another dude came up to us and said he would do it for 110 Euros. Double ha. Then, the last dude came and said, how much would you pay?. We hummed and haaed until we and him collectively came up with 80 Euros. The ride was roughly 30-40 minutes but was tres interesting. Who knew Marco Polo was more than just a game? (Megan's blonde moment number 673 on the trip). Continued touring Venice and then headed back to our beds in Padova. Found some people speaking english at the hostel who invited us along for pizza. MMm pizza, Fanta and awesome Italian tv. Next day was suppose to be our day to Florence (Firenze). Well, erm, who knew that the trains would be packed? Damn Easter getting in the way of things already. We were unable to make it on a train until the next day so today was the day for Padova. We trekked it back to the hostel, begged for our beds back and hoofed it all over Padova for the day, checking out this wicked awesome cool little place. Went for dinner to a buffet type place called Brek and had the weirdest pizza of our lives. Artichoke hearts, black olives, ham and mushrooms. We ate, ok Aaron ate, everything but the Artichoke hearts. I ate everything but the artichoke hearts, black olives, and mushrooms. ==== We were to be at the train station for our uber, and I mean uber, early train. No problem. Ok yah it was a problem. The buses gave us, or me, a bit of a scare when they weren't showing up when they were suppose to. Made our train with about 20 minutes to spare and made it to rainy Firenze, Toscana (Tuscany). We dropped our bags off at the eclectically painted Archi Rossi hostel and borrowed the hostels umbrella and quickly made our way back to the train station (which was koinkily-dinkily only about 2 blocks from the hostel) and went to Siena. Ok so it wasn't that great. It could have been if it wasn't raining and the buses were on time and taxis were in abundance and uh... yah. This was our worst day I do believe- and Aaron might disagree or hey he might agree. We were cold, wet, tired and uber frustrated as we missed our train which was going to take us to Pisa so we could get the famous snapshots by the ol' Leaning Tower. Meh. Who needs that when we know there is a hot shower at the hostel screaming our names? Screw Pisa and Siena, back to the hostel. Showered and went to a place called Foccacia for dinner. Aaron had a calamari and spinach sandwich and I had a sausage and cheese one. MMm. Night over? Hell no. We went to the Ponte Vecchio for the pictures and a quick jaunt around the town. This was a beautiful town at night. Had some fantastic gelati and then made it back to our pillows and warm beds. Next day was full on Firenze. Had a kick ass breakfast with some equally awesome coffee cake which was recommended by some friends of Aarons who had tried it before and suggested we make the dash for it if we saw it- boy were they right- and it wasn't the first time they had these wicked suggestions. Firenze here we come- back to Ponte Vecchio so I could take some photos and then we walked to Piazza degli Uffizi (where cool things like Michelangelo's David, an outdoor sculpture gallery and tons more) and then to the Piazza del Duomo and down the streets and back up some other streets and then to Piazzale Michelangelo which offered a fantastic panoramic view of the city. Then back down to the hostel where we grabbed our bags and grabbed the train to Rome. Rome Rome Rome. ==== The train ride was semi long but highly entertaining as two American chicks who were still drunk and hung over and high and all that good stuff from the night before. They offered some laughs. We played Scrabble, discussed how Canada just switched to the 24 hour clock after being on the 23 hour clock for the past lifespan of the country, how Italian men are kinda silly and uh... annoying, and then how we sat with the Godfather. Yes my readers, the Godfather. This guy looked like he was straight from the movies. See, we had a little cabin in the train here. Enough for 6 people. Mr. Godfather got on at a later stop and sat with us. We didn't think he spoke a word of english until he got up to get off and he offered us wellwishes for our vacation. Well this made us feel kinda dumb but man we laughed. You follow? Maybe you had to be there. Got to Rome, found our hostel and I burst out into tears. Now, something you have to realize here is that I am not one to stay in hostels. I have sooo rarely done the hostel thing that well, I just wasn't kosher with them. I was more of the "this is my vacation/holiday thing" where as Aaron was like, "this is traveling". So yah. Got to Yellow Hostel and automatically recognized the party scene and started the waterworks. Who would have thunk that this place would have been the best place we stayed at for the whole trip? And who would have thunk that at one point I could have actually seen myself staying there for longer due to how much I loved it? Aaron got aces in my book on that one. Anywho- got our linens, made our beds and went for dinner to a quaint pasta place (there were only 4 times we ate pasta... nope 5) on our whole trip. Odd.) and enjoyed our food. Went back to the hostel and crashed. I got to sleep in the next day til about 10 and then it was full on Rome. We enrolled ourselves in a tour called Romeing Tours. Now at first we were slightly hesitant about this tour but enjoyed ourselves to the nines. Saweet. I have so much useless/useful knowledge up in my ol' head now because of the expertise of our Fabio looking tour guide. Who knew that someone could make Roman history fun and exciting? Guess it helps when you actually get to see the places first hand instead of reading about it in a book. Saw places like the Circus Maximus, Mouth of Truth, the place where Julius Caesar was killed, the Roman Forum, the mysterious Jewish Ghetto and the Pantheon, Colosseum, Il Vittoriano (aka- the White Cake) and tons others. In the span of this 4 hour tour we saw and learned more than we would have if we did it by ourselves. And on this lovely tour we met Olivia from England and Teresa from Edmonton who we chummed around with for the rest of the day. After the tour ended, we had some dinner and walked around aimlessly, but still in awe of where I was. I was in Rome. Eventually hoofed it back to the hostel where we watched the tail end of some movie and then to bed. Now on that tour, we came across a lot of random ruins. Just random ruins in the middle of the city. Kris pointed out one area where a swag of cats lived. Now, ok. Stray cats in the city- no biggie. Well, when there are 30,000 stray cats in the city because of Amnesty Internationals continuous feeding... that is a story of interest. Back about 20 years ago, Rome had a rat problem, so cats were brought in. The cats rid the place of the rats but found solace in the continual feeding from Amnesty therefore they could kick it in the sun, on the ruins, doing nothing all day and be safe. Well, now Rome has another rat problem because these cats are so freakin lazy. Ha. Ha. Ha. Suckers. Next day was full on Vatican Tour. Olivia left us and went back to England so Teresa kicked it with Aaron and I. On this Vatican Tour we went to St. Peters Basilica, the Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and tons more. We managed to hit St. Peters Square before the Pope kicked it which was lucky in a way. It wasn't as crowded and we were able to go into the Basilica. After the tour, we went back to the hostel and got ready for our night on the town. Tonite was the Pub Crawl which started with a tour of some more famous places in the city along with some scary stories. We saw Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and then 4 pubs, 4 free shots, and wicked drink discounts. At first I was super not impressed with the whole pub crawl thing as I may have been a bit of a stick in the mud. Holy crap- lots of drinks later, Teresa and Aaron and I found ourselves stumbling through the streets of Rome in search of our hostel. A taxi eventually took us back there and we slept like babies til the morning. Morning came and Glenn from England joined our little threesome and we decided to do full on Rome. We found a cheap pizza place which we thoroughly enjoyed twice over, then did the Palentine, Colosseum, an expensive streetside cafe, then to the Pantheon and eventually back to the hostel as it was rainy and Teresa needed to get to the train to head to Florence. We went for dinner to the same pasta place we had been to the first night in Rome and then took Teresa to the train and then watched Top Gun and then bed. Ahhh bed. Next morning we checked out and headed to Naples for our trips down south. We didn't know exactly what to expect from Naples but knew we had a kick ass accommodation coming at us. A place that I had found and booked. Well. Got to Naples and found a taxi after a confusing conversation with the hotel dude on the phone who have us directions. Taxi driver ended up not knowing where he was going, and then charged us extra because we were tourists. Nice. Found the hotel but found that it wasn't what we wanted or expected. Uh where was the beach? Big beds? Uh... what was this? Crappy dump. Aaron had a few words with the dudes running the joint and we hightailed it out of there and on to find the 6 small rooms hostel. It was pouring with rain, we were tired and cold and wet and didn't really know exactly where we were going but knew that we were being farked with from the various locals. Apparently they don't take too nicely to tourist. Who knew. Found the hostel but they didn't have any spare rooms. So we went to Giovanni's and found a spare room. And hey- with a view of the beach. It was comfy enough- it's not like we were spending a lot of time in the room anyways. Ended up going for pizza to the best little place called Sorillo Pizza, thoroughly enjoyed it and hoofed it back to our room where we crashed hard. Now, Naples was sketchy. So sketchy in fact Aaron kept a knife with him. This place sucked. Pompei was our destination the next day. Got there, found a fantastic panini place and had the best tuna panini of my life and then we entered the city of Pompei. Now for only 10 Euros, you too can walk around this city which was once covered in lava. Now, if you want to tour this place, be my guest, but bring entertainment. We were bored out of our skulls. Now maybe I don't have enough appreciation for old things like that but holy man were we bored. So we left. Went back to the gates and decided to head back to Naples and maybe find some shopping as I hadn't bought anything. Got back to Naples and en route back to Giovanni's I had my "ahha" moment and decided we needed to go back to Rome. This place sucked. Rome it was!! Booked the train tickets and hotel just in time, the Pope kicked it that night and all the hotels bumped their prices about 50%. Went back to Sorillo for pizza (this night it was to be tuna on my pizza) and then back to the hostel to write some postcards and sleep. Mmm sleep. Got a fairly early train to Rome and found our hotel which was uber close to Yellow Hostel, dropped our bags off and began our venture to Vatican City. We had found out about the Pope dying it from Christian at Giovanni's so we figured there would be something to see at Vatican. Mourners had already begun to arrive and had begun their celebrations of his life. Something that I earlier was hoping wouldn't happen while I was in Rome, I was now embracing. We managed to get a couple copies of the official Vatican newspaper and then hung out, just people watching for a couple of hours. We went back to the hotel for dinner to the same pasta place as we had enjoyed for 2 nights prior and then back to the Vatican at night. Slept in a little which was awesome. After our prep, we randomly tooled around the city and I got some shopping done where I found some Italian leather shoes and some Murano glass rings which was something we had both been looking for, and then to the Vatican again to check out the hustle which was the media. They were like vultures. Aaron was interviewed by the American network ABC and I was interviewed by NBC. No idea if it made any airtime but I know Aaron had some good things to say- as he usually does. We eventually found our way into a line which took us back into the Vatican City walls- and 5 hours later, in to see the Pope lying in state. Fantasically amazing. The 5 hour line up was long and sometimes chilly, (and it didn't help that I really really had to use the washroom) and pushy- but, in the end was amazing. I can say that I was one of the first thousands of people who saw the Pope. We were quickly ushered out of the view of the Pope and we made it back to the Metro, then to the hotel where our night ended with more CNN. The next day we layed it low just kinda hanging out. Today was my last day in Rome before I busted it on to the night train to Milan. We went to the Borguese Museum which I thoroughly was not impressed with. Not that fact that we went, but like the museum itself. Got real bored with all the statues and paintings. Maybe I need to be more cultured - who knows. I know Aaron really liked it which was good. I mean, glad he enjoyed it! Went to a church afterwards which has a crypt full of bones. Ok so you're thinking, "duh of course it has bones". Well my fine feathered friends, this place had like skulls and skeletons and crazy bones all in weird positions representing weird things. I can't even explain it to you- but it was odd. After that we went back to the Vatican and watched the madness, thanking each other and commenting on how lucky we were that we got to see him earlier on before the mounds of people arrived from all over. We found a cafe and had pizza where we chatted with a rather chatty American and then we went back to the hotel to grab our stuff and took it to Yellow where Aaron was going to be staying for the next 2 nights before he headed to Greece. I prepped myself for what was suppose to be a first class train trip to Milan and we headed to the train station. Said Ciao to Aaron, sobbed a bit cuz I didn't want to go home and then began the adventure of a lifetime- home. Well. This train trip was nothing like how it was suppose to be. Talk about confusion. I didn't get first class, or even second class for that matter. I was standing, yes, standing with tons and tons and tons of stinky sweaty people for about 8 hours while the train made it's overly slow way into Milan. To top that, we were an hour late so I was stressing that I was going to miss my plane. Got the airport after a hefty taxi ride, made it on the plane, slept for about an hour or so, got back to Kobenhaven and then had about 2 hours which I spent converting Euros to American dollars and talking to Scott from Calgary. Who knew it- another Calgarian in Kobenhaven, on my flight. Got on the plane and had 2 seats all to my self! Wahoo! This meant I could stretch out and do my thing and my thing I did. The flight seemed like it would never end. Like- never. Watched the movies the Incredibles, Spanglish, Sleepy Hollow, Oceans 12 and uh... played some random games and listened to some music. Just an idea of how much time I had on this flight. Got to Seattle and parted ways with my new Canadian friends and then found a quiet place in the corner of the airport to cry a little. I didn't want to be in Seattle, I wanted to be either back in Italy with my bestest partner in crime or back home in my bed. Not in between. Found a hotel brochure, called them, booked it, grabbed a taxi and got to the hotel. Opened my room door, sighed, and crashed on the bed. Had a great shower, went for a run (cuz I suddenly had energy) checked my email and fell asleep watching tv. Woke up the next morning in a panic because I didn't know where I was, decided to check out later and just stay in bed longer and then went shopping. Ahhh sweet Seattle shopping. Spent way too much, went to the airport and checked in and hung out reading the highly informative and interesting New York Times and then got on the plane that seated about 75 and got into Calgary and had my family welcome me with open arms. And wow. That is my trip. Holy crap. I'll see if I can post a couple fun key pictures on the site... maybe in a couple days. Ciao. Posted by Bella at 12:52 AM# 0 Comments:
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