I went with my roommate John and our friend Corey; we left Friday the 14th early in the morning to get to Venice. When we landed it was sunny and warm, by the time we had checked in our hostel (seemed sketchy at first but turned out to be great!) and started walking around, it must have been close to 70 degrees. It was like leaving New Hampshire and landing in Florida. We met a friend of Corey's and walked around for the day seeing the sights but actually more or less just walking around aimlessly; there isn't a ton to specifically see in Venice (besides San Marco basilica, square, and the Doges palace) so the first day we spent just admiring how unique the city itself is. I knew about all the canals and boat rides, but didn't quite understand that there were NO roads and NO cars anywhere. So that was really cool to see. We walked around that night to a copule wine bars but again, just sort of took everything in. Sat in San marco square around midnight, we were some of the only people there so that was really cool.
The next day we saw the basilica (incredible) and Palace and ended up leaving in the evening to spend the night in a small town called Ferrara, where Corey's friend was studying abroad. It sure beat sleeping in the train station/on a train, so we were thankful. We went out there and met some Italian guys from the south of the country that she knew, and played 3 on 3 soccer against them in the street around 3 am--a really really unique experience and a ton of fun (we beat them 5-1...score one for the red white and blue).
The next morning we woke up way too early and headed to the train station to take off for Florence, where we were going to stay with one of my best friends from home, Sean. We got in fairly early and hung out at his apartment for a bit (we were exhausted) and then eventually went out to check out the city a bit. We tried going to a soccer game but there was something wrong with the ticket system so we ended up watching at a bar for a little bit. We got a great dinner that night at a place all the study abroad kids love--their specialty is a blueberry steak that I know sounds really weird but was actually delicious. I got to catch a bit of the Kansas-Texas Big XII Championship game at a bar which was great for me because it's basically the only part of the NCAA tourney I saw...even though it wasn't the actual tournament yet, I'll still count it.
The next day we took a day trip to Siena, a really really cool smaller city/big town. It's broken up into 17 districts (contrade) each represented by an animal and all the areas really represent their district proudly with flags hanging everywhere. This is mostly for the famous horse race there that takes place in summer called the Palio, where riders represent their districts--its apparently quite violent and corrupt, even today. It takes place right in the main square, which was described by some famous author (I forget who) as the most beautiful square in Europe.
We had a beautiful day and the surrounding areas were amazing to see--the hills of Tuscany, small villages, small mountains, even overlooking the town itself was amazing because it was so old and seemed very genuinely Italian. That also happened to be St. Patrick's Day, so when we got back to Florence there was quite the party going on (it happens to be one of the biggest destinations for American study abroad students, so that explains that). I got to watch my buddy Sean sing "Sweet Caroline" for karaoke and dedicate it to all the Red Sox fans at the bar, so that was great.
The next day (still only Tuesday) we climbed to the top of the Duomo in Florence, which was FANTASTIC. The views from the top were amazing--though terrifying at first since you're just kinda up there with a relatively short fence stopping you from falling. THen we went to the Accademia gallery where Michelangelo's David is. After seeing the copy of this in Piazza Vecchio, I didn't expect to be as impressed as some people say. However, once I saw the real one inside, I was pretty amazed--it really is an absolutely incredible sculpture. Eventually we walked around a bit more and got an incredible dinner at a restaurant with incredible food that overlooks the Ponte Vecchio and the river. My roommate John still talks about the meal all the time because it was so good. To top it all off, it was free because my friend's program has a meal plan that includes some tickets to restaurants all over the city, so that made it all the better. Before we went out that night Sean decided to give me a mohawk, so I had to deal with that for about a week until I got sick of it.
Wednesday Corey left to go to an area called Cinque Terra that is basically 5 fishing villages along the coast, and then went to Milan after that. We stayed back and went to the Uffizi Gallery, a really famous art gallery in Florence that was very interesting. We went out again that night and had a great night at a pretty cool club.
The next day John and I took off for the last leg of our trip, down to Rome. We met up that night with one of his best friends from high school and her boyfriend and we got a great dinner and saw Trevi Fountain at night, which was really cool. We were exhausted so we called it a night pretty early so we could wake up for our 9:15 am tour of the Vatican museum. When we got there it was already absolutely packed with people who didn't reserve tickets or a tour; I imagine the line was at least 2-3 hours long already. Thankfully we paid a good deal extra to get a great tour, and that ended up being slightly delayed so we got a free tour of the Coliseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill the next day too. The Vatican was incredible--huge, filled with works from the most famous artists, and packed with people. When we finally made it through everything from the Hall of animals to the Raphael rooms, we got to the Sistine Chapel which was much different than I thought, but nonetheless incredible to see. Michelangelo's work there is some of the most amazing that I've seen before. After that we got to see St Peter's Basilica for a little bit, but not too long because they were closing to start Easter preparations (that was ok for me because I was going back for the Easter Vigil mass given by the Pope!). We trekked all over the city for the rest of the day to different churches and squares, eventually coming to the Coliseum where the Pope was doing the Stations of the Cross. It was a beautiful ceremony if not for the pouring rain; however, it was still absolutely packed.
We woke up early--again--the next morning to walk through Palatine hill, Roman Forum, and the Coliseum in the rain. We had the same tour guide from the day before at the Vatican, an older man named Michael who is probably the most knowledgeable person I've met (he had an answer for every question and knew an absurd number of dates) so that was great. Seeing the ruins that have been there for hundreds and thousands of years was incredible. All that stuff blows my mind, just trying to think back to what it was really like 1000 years ago. Can't imagine there will be much like that in America in the year 3000 or 4000. That night we met up with our friend Tom and he and I went to the Easter Vigil Mass at the Vatican in St Peter's given by the Pope. It was almost entirely in Latin/Italian, but it was still incredible to be there with probably 20000 or 30000 people. I got a picture of the Pope from really close on his procession out, so that was definitely a very unique experience. The mass lasted till after midnight so we just called it an early night as we were both exhausted.
We finally flew back Sunday after a tiring but amazing week. Its finally starting to hit me how cool it is that I was in Italy for 10 days--not an experience that many people have. My time here has been flying by so quickly that I don't think I will fully appreciate being here and what that means until a month or two after I'm back in the US--which I have to say I am looking forward to, especially seeing friends and family. More updates to come soon on my family's visit and my trip to Paris!
