Florence 2

July 4, 2007

Today our last day of being over seas. It was a sad day. We had to get in a few more tours before we could call it quits. We went to the Academia, this is where Michelangelo’s David stands. It is a beautiful piece of work. Everything is in perfect proportion with the exception of his hands and feet. This is because he was to be portrayed as a boy in adolescents. Where his hands and feet have begun to develop but he has not yet gained his stature. I thought this genius. I loved seeing all the unfinished sculptures. It is always nice to see another artist work process. Something so many people seem to miss by only gawking at the finished master piece.

We then headed to Ufitzi, this is another extremely large museum. We only seemed to focus on some key pieces. One of which is now a favorite of mine and this is the painting of Venus.

Florence

July 3, 2007

Today in Florence, we basically just shopped. That’s really all there seems to do in Florence. I walked through the town looking at jewelry wishing and wanting. Listening to some of the other girls pick out the wedding rings they want and all that kind of good stuff. Lol.

We walked by the duomo and that is pretty much the only educational thing we did for the day.

Rome

July 2, 2007

Rome in a day.

I started off on a 6:30 am train ride from Florence to Rome. It was beautiful to see the sun rise over the tuscan mountains that were covered in fields of sun flowers and wine vineyards. When we got there we decided to take a bus tour through the day. This was a double decker bus with the top half open allowing one to see all the sites. I loved looking at all the old architecture and how it was built in circular fashions. It was a great way to do Rome. We could stop and get off where ever we wanted to and then just hope on the next bus whenever we were ready to see the next thing.

Our first stop was the Coliseum. Which I have tons of pictures in. It was cool because you could see all the way down to the ground level. It was just amazing to think of all the bloody history that had gone on there.

We also saw the Olympic track field.

The temple of Hercules.

Beautiful floating columns.

The pantheon. This was the first site of coffered ceilings. Also the hole at the top is 30’ in diameter and is completely open. It started to sprinkle while we were in there and you can feel it from the outside. It is very interesting design.

We saw the steps designed by Michelangelo.

The Vatican. It was too bad the Sistine Chapel was closed for renovations so we decided not to spend the time waiting in the huge line. Maybe some other day. After all I did throw a coin into Trevie Fountain, and the story goes if you do that then you will one day for sure return to rome. We will see, we will see.

Florence Day 1

July 1, 2007

Today we arrived in Florence. As we walked to our hotel on the small sidewalks and busy streets one would find it very easy to get lost. Luckily, we made it just fine. After getting into our rooms, which were fashioned oh so Italian Tuscany with terra cotta tile flooring and Romanesque furnishings, we were able to unpack and relax. We then walked through the markets moving from one vendor to the next always trying to bargain the best price. This is pretty much what we did all day. Then we went and ate at this quaint Italian restaurant. Where we were fed well and we could enjoy loud conversation. Luck for me there was a family of four sitting at the table right next to us. This family had a bold ten of eleven-year-old son who seemed to simply be infatuated with me. He watched me eat my entire meal, which I would have to say was slightly awkward. He even put his sunglasses on and turned his chair around as to have a better view, yet be a little more inconspicuous. All I could do was laugh. People here did not seem to have any problem staring. This was the day that I let myself be conned into buying a nice leather jacket. Luckily the guy later took us out for a night on the town.

Venice Day 2 - Lido Beach

June 30, 2007

Today was one of the best days of my life. Myself and 4 other girls went to the beach called Lido on the outside of Venice. We had to catch the Vapperetto, which is like a water public transportaion. While I was in line to buy tickets to Lido a man came up to me with two tickets that he said was good for three days and they were leaving that day so they were still good until 4:30 in the evening and I could have them. So the girls and I only had to buy three tickets and we just split that price between the five of us. It was meant to be. It was beautiful to get a perspective of Venice from the water. We even took it out side of Venice to the outside island that had the Mediterranean Sea on one side and the lagoon which Venice floats on the other. It was about a 40 minute boat ride. We made it to Lido and walk to the other side of the island to reach the beach, about 10 minutes and we were at sandy beach with clear warm water. It was great we spent about 4 and a half hours just laying in the sun and playing in the water. We also met some nice gentlemen that had rented a paddle boat with a slide on it so Stacey and I went paddling with them and played on the slide it was great fun. I could not have asked for a more perfect time. After the beach we headed back into Venice did alittle more shopping, had dinner and went back to the hotel to shower, pack and get some good sleep before we left the dreamy city early the next morning. I cannot wait to come back to Venice. It is a beautiful city and was everything I had imagined.

Venice Day 1

June 29, 2007

Our first day in Venice. Finally, hot weather it was so nice it felt like being back home in Cali with the salt water in the air and a cool breeze with the sun beaming. We took another train out to our hotel and at first walked into the wrong hotel thinking that it was ours. I was really excited because it was a nice hotel with a great modern lobby. Then we found out that we actually had to walk further to our hotel which was about a 10 minute walk with out luggage but lucky for us we had to haul our luggage all the way there at noon, with the hot sun beaming down on us. We made it to the hotel, showered and headed back to the city of Venice. It was so nice to be there. The canals were everything I thought they would be.



Romantic gondola’s cruising around and water way taxi passing by. Beautiful Murano glass shops on every corner and mask venders on all the streets. The first day we just wandered into the city. Taking pictures at the great sites. We found a great little mask maker that absolutely loved me. Mostly I think just because I was blonde. Then Stacey, Mikell and I just wandered around soaking it all in. Seeing the cute apartments with laundry hanging out the windows and little kids playing futball on the streets against the buildings. It was a very relaxing fun environment. We found this cute little restaurant with tables set up along the canal and umbrellas shading them. We had our first authentic Italian meal. We ordered gnocchi, lasagna, and vegetable catalone and all shared. They were all so good. This was a great day on the other side of the world.

Going to Italy

June 28, 2007

Today was our last day in Paris. So we took the time to go shopping!!! It was great because starting on June 25 the entire country goes on sale. I am so glad that I did not end up doing any clothes shopping in London. I got great deals on some really cute things. I ended up getting 3 summer dresses and a belt for a total of 35 euro.

After a long day of shopping headed back to the hotel, crammed in our finding of the day and headed to the train station to catch the over night chunnel to Venice, Italy. It was about a 14-hour train ride. We were assigned to little bunkers on the train that housed 6 people. It was very interesting how they fit 6 cots into a 6’ by 6’ bunker. In addition, room for our entire luggage.

We had a fun room it was 4 of us original girls plus Stacey met up with us after finishing her internship in London and we had a nice girl named Sara that was from Paris. She spoke minimal English but had fun with us crazy girls. We watched Pride and Prejudice on my computer and then headed to bed. It was a fun trip. It was a little hard for me though it made me sick to have to sleep on the moving train. But all in all we made it to Venice nicely.