Spring Break 2013: Italy

Monday, March 3rd, 2013, 

Italy,

For my spring break I went to Italy with 5 other girls on my trip! We went to Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence, and Rome.

First stop was Venice!

After spending the night in the airport we finally made it to Venice, and what a city to start off in! It was so beautiful! 

It is such a unique city because they do not have any cars.  They only get around by boat or walking. We were only there for a little over a day, but we basically saw the whole city!

We checked into our hostel then started exploring the city! We went to a pizza place that our hostel lady suggested and we loved it! We all got marghreita pizzas and house wine it was delicious especially since we were so tired! After the wine we were all feeling even more tired, so we all got an espresso shot at an Italian café and it was awesome! Right after that we were all awake and ready to go! We went on a gondala ride through the city.  It was something you always see in the movies, so actually doing it was like a dream! 

Throughout the whole city everywhere I turned there were really beautiful bridges and water! 

After the gondala ride we walked to Santo Marco, which was like the main square in the city right by the ocean. Here is a church in Santo Marco.

Next up is Cinque Terre!

Cinque Terre is a chain of 5 villages with a trail connecting all of them.  Unfortunately, since our spring break was so early (late February) it was still pretty cold in Italy.  As a result, it snowed in Cinque Terre (first time in 3 years—just our luck!) and we weren’t able to walk the trails because it was unsafe due to the possibility of erosion. Luckily, we were still able to see the 5 villages via train! We stayed in Monterrosso. 

It was raining almost the entire day, but we didn’t let that stop us! It by far is one of the most beautiful cities I’ve ever been to even with the rain! 

All throughout Europe couples lock locks to gates and throw away the key as a symbol of their love for each other.  I think they are really cool so I’ve been taking a lot of pictures of them that you will probably see throughout the rest of the blog! 

Sun came out for us for a little bit! 

The morning we left we got up early to walk up to the top of the hill right by our hostel and wow was it worth it because the sun was out!

Next up is Florence! 

Florence is an incredible city and it really captured my heart! Maybe that’s because some of my good friends from high school were studying there and it was really good to be able to spend time with people from back home!

Basically the center of the city is the Duomo which is one of the largest churches in the world, according to ‘tour guide Tom’ aka one of my friends from school! It was a unique looking building but gorgeous!

I kind of felt like it looked like it was a drawing using color pencil because it didn’t look real!

We went to the top of the duomo on a really sunny day we were in heaven! Also, the views were incredible!

My favorite part of Florence was going to the Piazalle Michangelo to watch the sunset.  This was basically a plaza at the top of the city. 

 

After the sunset we walked around the city.  This was the view from a popular bridge in Florence that sells a lot of expensive jewelry! Definitely didn’t buy anything but I at least got a cool picture!

Last but surely not least was Rome!

We stayed in a hotel in Rome because it was just as cheap as the hostels and wow was it awesome! We somehow got basically the honeymoon suite as one of our rooms so this was our view…

First, we saw the Panthenon! 

Then we walked over to Trevi Fountain and made a wish as we threw in our coins! 

It was so weird just going to the Trevi Fountain. It amazes me every time I see a famous place or monument because it seems so casual going to them but as I post these pictures and reflect back on my travels thus far it was SUCH A BIG DEAL to go there!!! 

The second day I was in Rome the pope retired and flew out on his helicopter.  We had heard he was flying out at night and we were going to go try to see it, but it turns out he flew out in the afternoon.  Oddly enough, as we were walking back to our hotel after the Trevi Fountain we saw a helicopter go over the capital at the same time the pope supposedly left.  So, I may have seen it! 

I unfortunately didn’t get a picture of the helicopter, but here is a picture of the capital! We saw it go over the left side of the capital. 

The next day we went to Vatican City.  First, we went to the Vatican Museum.  This is where the popes used to live.  I never thought of Popes being like Kings before, but this building was absolutely gorgeous and clearly had a TON of money invested into it.  For example, this was one of the ceilings. 

This is a hallway. 

Next was St. Peter’s Basicallica.  This was the first Catholic Church ever.  However, it burned down at some point in history, so they had to rebuild it, but it is a very similar replica.  The statues in there and the altar was unlike anything I had ever seen.  Definitely much more lavish than churches in the States that’s for sure! 

The next day we went to the Coliseum and Roman Forum! 

When the Coliseum was being used for fighting, there was a stage covering all of the rocks and grass.  The rocks used to be cages to keep the live animals that some humans would fight for peoples entertainment.  Attending these games were a very big deal during the time period and where you sat showed a lot regarding your class standing, with the wealthy watching from the front row and the poorest watching from the top.  

Here you can see they put part of the stage on.   That is what it would have looked like.  

I cannot remember what Pope put it here, but he put a cross in the Coliseum to remember all of the Catholics that died for their faith in the Coliseum.  

After, we went to the Roman Forum, which is basically Old Rome.  

It was simply amazing walking through the Roman Forum. Being the history nerd that I am, being able to walk the same streets in one of the oldest cities in existence was incredible. How much history has passed through those buildings.  Erin, a friend on my trip, sent her Dad a picture of the Colisium and his response was “if walls could talk…” We laughed a lot at that, but it’s really true.  How much those walls have seen, the good, the bad, and the brutally violent.  It is incredible.

On our last night we went to the Spanish steps.  I still have absolutely no idea why they are called the Spanish steps I was wondering that the entire time.  My only guess was that the Spanish gave the steps to them, but I have no idea.  I definitely need to ask Google that.  

View from the bottom. 

View from the top. In the distance on the right you can see St. Peter’s Basillica.

On our last day we got up and went to mass in Latin at St. Peter’s Basillica.  While I didn’t exactly get anything out of it because it was in Latin, it gave me a lot of time to really think about where I was.  In the oldest Catholic Church ever.  I still can’t believe that I was there it was really one of those wow moments where there are no words. 

After mass we went to the top of the basilica and were able to see all of Rome!  

View from the top of the inside of the basilica! That’s the altar. 

Vatican Museum!

Now, it wouldn’t be a trip to Italy if I didn’t talk about all of the FOOD!!!

I basically ate, besides steak, my favorite food for every meal: Margareta pizza!!! Also, normal ice cream will never taste the same after having gelato!!! It was so goooooooood!

One of my good friends from school studied in Rome for half of a semester, so she sent me a list of everything to do in Rome and I would say about half of the recommendations were gelatos shops! Aaaaaaand I think we went to all of them!!!