Well, in fear of leaving this blog until it's almost time for our next trip, I thought I'd sit down and tell you everything about Italy, just one day after we've returned! Amazing! An up to date blog entry, who'd have thought?! We got back late last night from what has been my favourite trip ever. I love Italy! It was a place I'd always dreamt of going, but i tried to keep my expectations fairly vague, cos you can get disappointed by loads of places you visit, I find. So, my main expectation was 'interesting trip, hope i come back with good olive oil and biscuit tins'. Am pleased to report that I have a nice biscuit tin on my kitchen bench, know all the right olive oils to buy nowm despite not bringing one back, and had such a lovely time, in such an interesting country. We went to Italy for ten days out of our two weeks school holiday period. School ended on the Wednesday, we moved into our new apartment on the Thursday, cleaned the old apartment on the Friday, then shopped and packed, ate as many Easter eggs as possible and jetted off to Italy from Heathrow on Sunday morning. We landed in Rome on Easter Sunday, possibly not our best travel decision as all shops were closed and all action was across town as people listened to the Pope's Easter address, but we managed to get on and off the plane and into town with very few hiccups, so we were feeling quite proud of ourselves. No night's asleep on the airport floor for us this time. We wandered around Rome that first day, had gelato #1 (of approx. 25 - not kidding here) and explored bits of the city. It was raining that day and hilarously, as soon as the rain started to pour down, Nigerian men with handfuls of umbrellas would jump out at you on the street, selling them to tourists. Very strange, but much appreciated. It got me thinking...what do these men do when it isn't raining? What do they sell? I found out at the end of our trip, when we returned to Rome with the sun shining...stay tuned for 'the big reveal' later in the blog...or scroll down. It's not that exciting. :) So, on that first day, the idea was just to get a sense of Rome, a feel for the place. I have to admit, i wasn't a fan immediately. It looked initially just like the other big European cities we've seen so far. Very dirty, lots of homelessness, tons and tons of graffiti, dirty underground rail network, etc. After wandering for some time, we did encounter several ruins from Ancient Rome and some amazing architecture though, which immediately set this city apart from the others. Everywhere you walk in Rome, you encounter something quite incredible in amongst the city landscape. More on that later. When travelling, Ross and I like to amuse ourselves with a game that Stef and I actually came up with back when we took our snow trip to Mount Buller last year. Stef and i spent less time snowboarding and more time drinking hot chocolate, eating hot chips, falling on our arses and faking injuries to take chairlifts we shouldn't. It was during this time that we started our scoring system 'Best hot chocolate'? "Kooroora Kitchen." Laziest staff "Cattleman's Cafe" Friendliest ski hire place? "Georges Ski Hire". So, Worst Italy experience? "Rome Tiburtina Station". Why? Because the whole building was undergoing refurbishment and Ross and I arrived, with an hour and a half to wait for our overnight train to Venice at ten o'clock at night, to find a station with no roof in some parts, no walls in the parts where there actually was roof, homeless people had set themselves up on all the waiting "room" seats, and everywhere I tried to sit down, there was poo!!! Actual faeces. It was horrifying. Luckily (and i use this term loosely), we wandered away from the station for a bit and found a late night kebab shop to have a drink and wait in. That was really our only major upset in our trip to Italy, other than the few mandatory 'getting lost and yelling at each other' s...but they're to be expected ;) Our itinerary, for those interested was: Day 1 - Land in Rome. Take night train to Venice. Day 2 - Arrive in Venice early in the morning. Three days in Venice. Day 4 - Train to Florence. Three days (ish) in Florence. Day 6 - Train to Naples, then extra train to Sorrento. Day 8 - Train to Rome. Three days in Rome then fly out at night on Day 10.
Right...embarassing as I read over the opening line of this blog, when you consider that it is not a fortnight later and I am finally getting around to writing more about Italy! Not as embarassing as the fact that when I was in Italy I kept saying: 'We'll wait and send out postcards from London, Italy's mail service is meant to be really slow'...not as slow as me apprently, since I only made it to the post office this past weekend. Apologies to all, but count yourself lucky I thought to write to you at all!
OK, so back on to Italy...then I promise a bit of a blog entry on 'London Life' (excellent alliteration Allie!)
OK, so our first train trip within Italy was pretty interesting. We sat smack dab in the middle of a stereotype; a dirty, smoke stained train with four elderly Italian men, each dressed exactly as you imagine when you think of elderly Italian gentlemen. The carriages were not unlike those in which Harry Potter heads off to Hogwarts each year, three people one side of the little room facing three others. It actually wasn't bad at all. We arrived in Venice ludicrously early and were freezing cold in the station, waiting for things to start opening when I sighted a sign for McDonalds, due to open a half hour later (for breakfast). We decided to take a walk to McDonalds (cleverly marketed as 'the only one in Venice', following the little signs of the cobbled streets and getting excited (just slightly, as it was too cold and we were too groggy from train sleeping to be truly, honestly excited) as we listened to the water lap against the docks by the streets. Inicidentally, we never made it to McDonalds. The signs appeared to be more aimed at ferries than humans on feet and we never found it, settling instead for the creepy dim back room of a vending machine storefront, where we drank terrible vending machine coffee and shivered as we read our books. When daylight started to break, we made our way back to the station, quite chuffed (yes, I do live and work in London, home of Enid Blyton and all out-of-date phrases) to see everyone else from our train, still hungry, tired and shivering at the station - fools! if you'd only wandered off the beaten track, you too could've partaken in vending machine comforts. We purchased a 'Rolling Venice Card' and learned our first, most important travel lesson about Italy. If you ask, there is always a map, a discount and a guide book that they do not advertise. Very odd, but very true. The discount card we purchased entitled us to three days of unlimited ferry access between all of Venice's islands. If you are reading and do plan a trip to Venice, please listen carefully. People will tell you Venice doesn't live up to expectations and isn't that good. Those people are wrong. Venice is simply incredible. On google maps, if you look at Venice, it looks as though you can travel from island to island on foot, as each of their waterways is named with a street name, and this is just the beginning of the beauty and uniqueness of Venice. The place is beauty and quaint, idyllic photographs at every corner. BUT, you must purchase a ferry card to truly enjoy Venice. It is the way the locals get around, and it's the only natural way to experience the place. We spent three days hopping on and off the ferries at our leisure. The other 'hot tip' I have for Venice is that you should try to stay on a neighbouring island, rather than the main island where the tourists swarm. We stayed in the loveliest boutique hotel on Lido island, about ten mins from San Marco Square on Venice Island, by ferry of course! My favourite place of all (and possibly my favourite in the world) was Burano, a tiny island famous for gigantic never ending biscuits shaped like donuts (I'm serious, Ross and I ate away at that biscuit for four days...throughout our time in Florence and the early portion of Sorrento!), lacework, and bright, multi coloured houses. It is tiny, peaceful and enchanting. We also checked out Murano, the neighbouring island famous for brave and beautiful glasswork sold the world over, and Cemitaro.....a bit of a mistake as Ross showed me it on a map and said 'Look at this little island. There's nothing in our guide book about it...but all the streets are in a grid pattern and there's trees everywhere. It looks so well planned.' It was. It was also Venice's CEMETERY. Grid pattern understood. My favourite parts of Venice included the markets, the surprise Passover celebration we stumbled over when visiting the Jewish Quarter, and the French Fries pizza. Not delicious, but different. For me though Venice was all about turning a corner and finding yet another stunning canal to take a photo of, yet another boat to watch sail by, yet another gelato to eat... but that was all of Italy, to be honest. We left Venice on Wednesday morning and took a short-ish train trip to Florence, travelling through the Tuscan hills (gorgeous - we're planning to return) on the way. Florence was an interesting place, particularly as both Ross and I had only really planned to head there because all tours do, and guides tell you it is 'unmissable' and because of Michelangelo's 'David'. Our trip to Florence was to be a bit whirlwind, including a bike ride, a line up to see 'David', and dinner with two friends we've made from Adelaide, through teaching here in London. Ross probably summed our visit up best when he said 'We f**ked up Florence'. Not a nice phrase, particularly, but when I think back on the deep and excruciating pain in my bottom from riding my hired bicycle over bumpy cobblestone Florence streets, getting extremely lost on the way to our picnic looking out over Tuscany, where we actually ended up in a neighbourhood park, looking over at a loony lady cooing at pigeons.....I'm inclined to agree with him. Florence was such a confusing place to explore and we did get very lost, but you'll be happy to hear we did, eventually, find our lookout, walk through the gorgeous woods, look out over Tuscany's fields and olive groves, and marvel at the sheer beauty of the walled city. We also gazed at Michelangelo's 'David' and marvelled at the fact that it really is an unmissable piece of art, even for the uneducated and un-artsy us. Florence is such a beautiful city and meeting up with Lelita and Ryan for dinner was so special, so all was not lost! A favourite part of Florence was sitting at dusk on the Ponte Vecchio (the famous bridge, made up of gold and silversmith's stores, still with traditional timber fronting) and listening to some excellent busking. From Florence we took our longest train trip, about five hours to Naples, then a local (hilarious and highly dangerous) train to Sorrento. The train to Naples was fairly uneventful, though a sweet but completely English language-less couple took to us and we had lots of conversations using a series of dramatic nodding and wild hand gestures. Their main concern for us was that Naples is a really dangerous area, with a significant crime rate. They were adament that I hide my jewellery and that we follow them everywhere. They were lovely, despite the paranoia reminscent of Japanese people! From Naples, the only public trasport method to Sorrento's gorgeous coastline is by the Circumvesuviana train, a heavily graffitied, hurtling ride that stops and starts at about forty local stations on an incredbily long-seeming 1 hour journey. The train feels a bit unsafe, and there is some risk, considering Naples is the centre of Mafia-esque organised crime in Italy and children are trained to keep an eye out for tourists as ideal victims of pickpocketing. I definitely felt my uneasiest in Naples area. From Naples, our arrival in Sorrento was an absolute breath of fresh air...figuratively and literally. Our hotel was actually a monastery high on the cliffs with the famous postcard views of Sorrento's coastline (for a good likeness, head to Eddie's Pizza Parlour on Phillip Island ;) ) down below. The area we stayed in is known as Sant'Agnelo - we had again opted for a place just put of the main street tourist madness, and were so thankful for it. Sorrento is a busy tourist area, but Sant'Agnello, a ten minute walk away is pristine and peaceful, and the place we stayed was lovely. Sorrento itself has less to do than other parts of Italy, but is a great base for the two main areas we wanted to check out; Positano, a village built into the cliff face and rambling down on to the sand, and Pompeii, the famous Ancient city whose ruins survived the eruption of Vesuvius (fitting, as our return to London at the end of our stay in Italy was just hours before the 'Volcanic Ash' madness.....I have to tell you, I felt quite the expert!) We took a rollercoaster style bus ride along the curling coastal roads to Positano and lunched there on the Saturday, looking out over the cliffs and the ocean and breathing deeply. I spent the whole time in Sorrento breathing deeply; the incredble smell of lemons and oranges is constantly on the breeze. On the Sunday, we headed to Pompeii to visit the ruins. It was here that we found the 'hot tip' I found online (and had earlier experienced in Venice) once again came in handy. In Italy, you must always ask for maps, guidebooks and any additional discounts...they exist, but not unless you ask! Pompeii was quite incredible, and as it was our first visit to ruins, it was both challenging (to figure out what each pile of rubble was as we stared at it and the hundreds of school children clambering on it) and really interesting. I found the fact that homes have been names based on signet rings (presumably belonging to the owners) found on the sites, and the amazing 'Beware of the Dog' mosaic particularly interesting. I think most other people found the paintings of varied sexual positions decorating the walls of the Pompeii brothel most interesting...ok, I did too. ;) Pompeii is quite an exceptional place, with building amazingly still standing and incredble remnants that have been lovingly restored. It is challenging to imagine the great city as it once was, but a worthy challenge. There were plenty more ruins awaiting us in Rome, so we headed there late on Sunday night and made our way, awkwardly, to our hotel. I had booked the hotel in Rome on Last minute, like our other accomodation, but because Rome had had so many awful reviews for hotels, I went with a 'Mystery Hotel' and happily found out we were to stay at the Sheraton! Hoorah! The only bad news was that upon reading reviews, numerous people reported the 'difficult' or 'challenging' or 'f**ked' journey one had to take should they choose to travel from the local tube station to the hotel, just a five minute walk away, on foot. Ross and I were incredulous. Up on our high horse, we looked down at these tourists, these unseasoned travellers and mocked their whinging 'Must be British' we concurred and felt quite brave and reasonable in comparison...until the torrential downpour as we got off the train, coupled with the RIDICULOUD walk from the station to our hotel! I have never been so saturated or confused in my life. How can one five minute walk be comprised of so many significant dangers - random homeless people living under overpasses, aforementioned overpasses, massive trucks flying along the highway, daimly lit back streets, etc. If it hadn't been for a lovely Australian couple yelling across the busy highway from under their drenched umbrella 'You guys headed to the Sheraton?', we would have been seriously stuffed. They later informed us that they had recognised the expressions of confusion and anger on our faces as not unlike their own from a few days earlier, when they'd arrived. The hotel was totally confusing to get to, but once there, the service and surrounds were exceptional and we had a lovely stay. Rome itself had had me worried, after the other European cities we'd visited. So many of them are so dirty once you leave the city centre, and of course, Rome has this to it too, but Rome is quite honestly one of the most amazing cities I've ever visited. The incredible tall buildings with their intricate detailing, coupled with fabulously dressed store windows, men and women, and the ancient ruins at every corner make for a fabulous city. We loved the food, the energy and the identity of Rome. We also love Aperitivo. What's that? Another 'hot tip'? OK then. I'll comply. When in Rome (excuse the pun...no seriously, please do), the best thing to try to do is find a bar where 'Happy Hour' or Aperitivo is happening. From about six until eight at loads of bars all over the city, (and other cities in Italy too, but we figured this out all too late) there is a massive, compliementary buffet of beautiful foods (salads, breads, pizzas, frittata, olives, etc) all of offer, when you buy a drink. The first drink is always a little more expensive, but the buffet that you get is so good, it's all worthwhile. We ended our three days in Rome, having explored Palatine Hill, the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps and other tourist spots, with perhaps the most fabulous experience of all; people watching outside a little bar in the Trastevere area, famous for food, music and neighbourhood atmosphere. Our last day in Rome featured the UNMISSABLE Vatican City, with its incredbile museum. We always planned a visit to the Sistine Chapel, but really had not expected the incredible galleries and museums that the Vatican also possesses. Ross adored staring up at the Sistine, while I loved laughing at people as they were escorted out when caught taking photos. For me, a favourite was the Raphael Rooms, with their intricate wall and roof paintings and the incredible religious imagery they possessed. I also loved sending a postcard from the Vatican post office and 'Pope Hunting' (short lived and unsuccessful) Our trip home from Italy was that evening after the Vatican City, and was really quite uneventful, especially when you consider the Volcano that was about to burst forth and knock the UK airports around! We landed late the night before, made it home and didn't hear about the madness until an announcement at the tube station stopped us in our tracks: 'Good afternoon everyone. Please do not make your way to Heathrow or any other airports. All flights in and out of the UK have been cancelled due to Volcanic Ash'. Hilarious. Right...you've bee patient, all of you. 'tis time for 'the big reveal'...just what do the umbrella men sell when it isn't raining? Tissues. And if not tissues, then they thrust long stemmed red roses at you as you protest using such lines as 'Is gift, it gift! You are beautiful! Please! It's end of my shift, is gift for you!' You refuse, then upon being forced to take the rose/s...the men turn to your significant other and say 'Just a coupla euro sir...just a little something for my roses for your lady...' Con artists! But clever. :)
