Easter Break: Week 2...

I spent the second week of my Easter break fulfilling my dream of travelling to Italy! After a really rough first night the week was fabulous, and I’m already planning my return trip sometime in the next few years. Anyone care to join me?

Here’s how the week went:

Monday, April 13:
Our flight arrived in Pisa, Italy at about 11:40pm on Sunday, April 12, which gave us more than enough time to get our checked bags and make our way to the bus stop to catch the 12:20am bus to Florence. To my very unpleasant surprise, I had a text from Amanda waiting for me when I got off the plane. It read, “Call me AS SOON AS you get off the plane. Emergency with our reservations.” That was the start of my travelling nightmare. When I called her, I found out that the Eurostudent Home hostel in Florence had screwed up our reservations and didn’t hold five beds for us. Instead they only had one left, which thankfully Amanda had arrived early enough to claim. To make matters worse, the owner was a complete jerk and had been arguing with and yelling at Amanda and was threatening to bar us from staying there the rest of the week. That part wasn’t my biggest concern, though. If he didn’t let us crash on the floor in the hostel, we were going to be sleeping on the streets that first night! Thankfully, Stephanie Carroll, a friend from Grove City, was studying abroad in Florence. I gave her a call once we got on the bus (which I’ll remind you was supposed to leave at 12:20am, but didn’t actually leave until 1am) and luckily her roommates had stayed in Florence for the weekend and would let us sleep there if we didn’t have any other options (even though it was against her program’s rules).

The hour long bus ride to Florence was filled with lots of nervous tension. Each of us tried to sleep as we weren’t sure what we were going to do when we arrived. There was this super annoying girl on the bus who was from Boston but studying abroad in Galway. She was having a conversation with the guy sitting next to her, but she might as well have been telling stories to the entire bus she was talking so loud. Apparently Galway is the best city in Ireland. And, everything is so awesome, like seriously. Ugh.

We finally arrived in Florence at 2am. Amanda met us at the bus station and, super nervous, the five of us walked to the hostel together. It took so much effort for us to keep our tempers under control, especially because we had an email from an employee of Eurostudent Home saying they would keep five beds for us. Fearful that arguing would get us kicked out, we kept our mouths shut and let the owner (who was a complete nut) think he was in the right. The hostel could have been decent, but all I could see was everything wrong with it. It was dirty and hot. All the guests we encountered that night were drunk and really into publicly displaying affection for the complete strangers they had met at the clubs. Gradually all five of us made it into Amanda’s three bed bedroom to try an sleep. Amanda and Baz shared an army cot sized bed, Kari and I slept in two chairs in the room, and Kara slept on the floor. I didn’t get much sleep that night, partly because the chair was really uncomfortable, partly because it was so hot in that room, but primarily because there was a drunken girl in one of the other beds who kept coming in and out of the room. The final time she came in she brought a guy with her…I’ll spare you the details. I have never felt so disgusting in my life. All I could think was I wish I had stayed in Dublin with my parents.

I could not get out of that hostel fast enough the next morning. That whole night I had been sending up prayers asking God to please provide somewhere else for us to stay because there was no way I was going to stay there ever again. Steph was a lifesaver that morning! She recommended Hotel Orchidea Locanda, a budget hotel, and at 9am Kari and I set out to find it. We hadn’t showered, we’d been sweating all night, and we were dead tired. Any other country and I would have just felt gross, but since we were in Italy, probably the most fashionable country in the world, I felt like scum. We wandered around for about a half hour looking for the hotel because I figured it would be better to speak to someone face to face rather than going to an internet café, looking up a phone number and then trying to explain our situation over the phone.

We had nearly given up finding the hotel when we spotted a small sign and doorbell on a building. We anxiously rang the doorbell, entered and building and walked up the stairs. I think Kari and I were both praying as earnestly as ever that there would be five beds open at this place. God answered those prayers! We walked into the cutest, cleanest, Italian decorated lobby and were greeted by this lovely Italian woman. We explained our situation and asked if she had five beds open for Monday and Tuesday night and possibly Thursday and Friday night. Like I said, there was no way we were going to spend another night in the Eurostudent Home. Praise the Lord she had five beds open for each of those nights! The first two nights she had two single rooms and a triple available for us. The second two nights she had a quad and a single open for us. We were ecstatic! Even more exciting was the fact that she let us check in early and use the showers that morning. This place was 1000 times better than the hostel and it was only going to cost us 4 euro more per night.

Things looking up, Kari and I quickly walked back to the hostel to tell the other girls and grab our suitcases and get out of there as quickly as possible. I wasn’t able to get my deposit back from the hostel, but I was more than willing to eat that cost. All of us agreed that the nightmare of that first night was actually a blessing in disguise because it led us to our fabulous hotel.

Even though we were all exhausted from that very long first night, we quickly showered and set out for a day of adventures and sight-seeing in Florence. It was a beautiful day for it – sun shining and about 70 degrees. Our first stop was an Italian café called Cucciolo for lunch. I had a delicious pizza Mediterranea with fresh olives, peppers and tomatoes and lots of mozzarella cheese. Italians definitely know how to do their pizza. After lunch we decided to head to a market Kari and I had passed while searching for the hotel, but along the way we stumbled upon Festival del Gelato. I had been emailing Stephanie about my trip to Florence and she told me not to hold back when it came to gelato, so I just obeyed her orders and got my first cup of gelato. My first three flavours were banana, cappuccino and Nutella. So creamy and delectable!

Gelato in hand we headed to the market so Kari could find a designer bag. From there we walked to the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, the cathedral in Florence in Piazza del Duomo with the signature dome designed by Brunelleschi. Across from the cathedral is the baptistery with its golden doors designed by Ghiberti. The exterior of both the cathedral and baptistery is very ornate – Gothic style of architecture and built out of a variety of colours of marble. The interior of the cathedral was a lot less impressive than what the exterior had led me to believe, but it was still beautiful. We spent only a few minutes inside the cathedral and then joined the line to climb hundreds of steps to the top of the dome. That’s right mom, I conquered my fear of heights…well maybe not conquered, but I did it. That’s not to say that my palms weren’t sweating and I wasn’t shaking, especially when we had to walk around the inside of the dome on a super narrow walkway. It was a long hike up to the top, but one well worth it. The views of Florence and the surrounding hills of Tuscany were breathtaking! After a long climb down, our next stop was the baptistery. The interior was stunning with its mosaic ceiling depicting numerous stories from the Bible. Amanda, Kari and I sat on the benches with our heads tilted back trying to take it all in.

In need of a break, we walked back to the hotel for a bit and then down the street to an Irish pub to use their Wi-Fi. We sat outside people watching for about a half-hour before picking ourselves back up and walking to another Piazza in the city. In this Piazza there was a huge clock tower, a fountain with a huge Neptune sculpture and lots of replicas of other famous sculptures, including The David. We spent some time here taking pictures of each other imitating various sculptures. From the piazza we walked to the River Arno and across Ponte Vecchio, the most famous bridge in Florence, and then up another hundred stairs to Piazzale Michelangelo. Piazzale Michelangelo is a lookout point that looks over the city of Florence. This was probably my favourite place in Florence, especially since we watched the sun set from there. As I sat there taking in the view, I was so thankful that God had blessed me with this amazing opportunity to spend spring break in Italy and that He had brought us there safely and had provided a comfortable place to stay. Oh Italy, how I love thee!

After watching the sun set we walked back across the river to our hotel. Earlier in the day we had gone to a market down the street and bought bread, salami, lettuce, strawberries, Prosecco and other treats for dinner. We just hung out in the triple room for a couple hours, and, exhausted, we went to bed early, excited for everything our next day in Italy held!

Tuesday, April 14:
We awoke to another perfectly blue, sun-lit sky on Tuesday with temperatures in the 70s again. A perfect day for a bike tour of Tuscany! Unfortunately, the bike tour would have to wait until Friday because of a slight mix-up. We were told to go to the wrong meeting place for the tour. When we discovered the error, Baz and I sprinted along the River Arno to the right location, but we were too late. I’ll be honest, I was pretty upset about the mix-up, but knowing that I only had this one week in Italy, I wasn’t going to let it ruin my day. So instead of doing the bike tour, we spent the day going through the Uffizi museum and the Galleria Academia, seeing some of the most famous paintings and sculptures from the Renaissance, including the Birth of Venus and my favourite, Michelangelo’s David. I think most people say this, but it was way bigger than I realized. The sculpture towers over everything in the gallery. The detail in this gigantic sculpture was astonishing; Michelangelo thought of everything, like the veins in David’s hands and arms.

Having had our fill of history and art, we went back to the hotel to get spruced up for dinner. I finally got to see Steph that night and thank her for saving us that first day in Florence. It was so good to catch up with her, to hear all about her experience in Italy, and to see where she’s been living and studying, as well as meet her roommates. For dinner, Steph took us to a quaint, reasonably priced Italian restaurant called Anita’s. I had a special kind of spaghetti with a couple glasses of the vino bianco de la casa and some tiramisu for dessert. As if that wasn’t enough, we decided to go to Festival del Gelato again for our daily dose of gelato. On our way there we stopped in a church where the organist was giving a “concert.” We walked to Piazza del Republica to eat our gelato and listen to this Italian street band. We also rode the carousel in the piazza after finishing our gelato. I felt like such a kid, but it was so much fun! What a great day!

Wednesday, April 15:
Another warm and sunny day in Italy…perfect for walking around Rome! We got up early enough to catch a 7:49am train to Rome for a night (a roundtrip ticket was 84 euro!!). We arrived in Rome at about 9:30 after a picturesque train ride through the Italian countryside. I would love to live in a villa there! It was so beautiful!

From the train station in Rome, we took a bus to Piazza Fiume and then walked to our awesome B&B, L’Incanto di Roma. I had been praying over and over on the train ride that the B&B would be nothing like that first night in the hostel, and God blessed us again! The B&B was perfect. When we arrived, we were warmly welcomed by the owner, Laura. She thought of everything for us – maps, bus numbers, metro instructions, and guide books. The house itself was super clean and very organized. When Laura was showing us the kitchen, she discovered that none of us had experienced Italian coffee yet, so she sat us down and made us each a cup. It was really strong, but I think I actually like it better than American coffee. Another huge plus was the free internet access. I will definitely be staying at this B&B the next time I’m in Rome.

Knowing we only had a little more than twenty-four hours in Rome, we didn’t waste anytime getting settled in and then embarking on our tour. We hadn’t really eaten breakfast though, so our first stop was lunch at a small restaurant down the street that Laura had recommended. I had four-cheese pasta here.

From the restaurant, we walked to the bus stop and took the bus to the Pantheon. Kari’s aunt happened to be in Rome the same day as us, so we had to walk past the Pantheon and head straight for Piazza Navona. I loved this piazza. It was buzzing with tourists, school groups and Italians. There were a number of restaurants with outdoor tables scattered around the perimeter of the piazza. The piazza itself contains a couple of fountains. Art dealers also set up various stands in the middle of the piazza. Kari met her aunt here for a few minutes while the rest of us ate gelato and enjoyed the music from an Italian accordion player. This is when it hit me that I was actually in Italy fulfilling my dream of travelling there some day!

The rest of the day was spent walking around Rome to the major sites and attractions, such as the Pantheon, Piazza Venezia, the Roman Forum, the Coliseum, and Palatine Hill. It’s hard to pick a favourite, but if I had to, I think I would say Palatine Hill. The most exciting part of the day though, was walking around the corner to Piazza Venezia and seeing the Coliseum just down the road. We all stopped in our tracks and stood there with our jaws down to the ground. We paid for a guided tour of both the Coliseum and Palatine Hill. Palatine Hill is where the ruins of all the emperors’ palaces are. It was so cool walking on that hill knowing I was walking where the likes of Julius Caesar had walked, I was taking in the same view (give or take a few buildings) that the emperors took in. Awesome!

With sore and dirty feet, we walked to the bus stop and took the bus back to our B&B. We washed up a bit and then went out for dinner. I think we ate at an Italian mafia restaurant or something. It was so sketchy and we were the only people eating there until this other guy wandered in by himself. The owner/waiter practically threw our food down on the table. It was just really weird, and the food wasn’t all that great, but it was cheap so I couldn’t complain too much. After dinner, we of course made another gelato stop before going back to the hotel. We watched a Christina Aguilera concert on TV before calling it a night. It felt like such a long day in Rome with all the walking we did, but when you only have two days in such a huge and historic city, that’s the way it has to be!

Thursday, April 16:
We were up really early on Thursday because we had to pack up, check out of our B&B, go to the train station to store our luggage and then take the metro to the Vatican City to see the Pope (except we didn’t actually see him, just the place where he lives). We paid 35 euro for a guided tour of the Vatican museum. I’m pretty sure it was a rip off, but I guess it was worth it not to have to stand in line for hours. Before the tour, we grabbed a light breakfast at a café. I ordered hot chocolate and got hot chocolate pudding. It was delicious, especially dipping my crème-filled croissant in it. Not exactly a healthy breakfast, but oh well!

The Vatican Museum is humongous! We barely even scratched the surface on our tour, but we did get to see some of the highlights: various works by Raphael and Da Vinci, a purple marble royal bathtub, the Pinecone Courtyard, the Hall of Maps, and the Sistine Chapel. The chapel wasn’t exactly how I had imagined it, but it was still spectacular. I got kind of frustrated going through the chapel because people were being so loud and disrespectful, and they were taking pictures, which was strictly prohibited. I think that the Sistine Chapel is something you should have to make a journey to see for yourself.

When we finished our tour of the museum, we exited into St. Peter’s Square and then went into St. Peter’s Basilica. This, too, is humongous! I didn’t know where to look half the time there was just so much to take in. Pictures were allowed here, so I took as many as I could because I know Grandma and Grandpa would love to see this place. St. Peter’s Square was still set up for Easter. It would have been awesome to be there on Easter Sunday, but I’ll have to save that for the next time I visit I guess.

From the Basilica we took the metro to the Spanish Steps where we also ate our lunch (although not while sitting on the steps because that is no longer allowed). I ate the messiest pizza ever. Seriously, I felt like a child on her first birthday with cake all over her face and hands and arms and everywhere, except this time it was pizza cheese, sauce and grease. I had to take a few minutes to get cleaned up before walking to Trevi Fountain. We made sure to take out our coins before getting to the fountain because there are a lot of pick-pockets there. I threw in three coins at the fountain – one for me, one for my parents and one for my Italian roommate Laura.

All of our site-seeing done, we walked to the nearest metro station, stopping for gelato on the way. We caught the 5:30 train back to Florence (another beautiful ride, which I spent listening to some Chris Tomlin songs while being super thankful that I got to go to Italy) and walked back to our hotel in the pouring rain. Feeling cold and tired, I stayed in for the rest of the night. A couple of the girls walked to a café to grab some dinner. When they got back, we started to watch Wedding Crashers, but I fell asleep almost instantly.

Friday, April 17:
We successfully found the meeting point for the Tuscany Bike Tour at 10am on Friday. The guides – Mary from San Diego, Keith from Dublin and Erin from Texas – were awesome and the day was definitely worth the 60 euro we paid for the tour. The tour started across the River Arno where we were picked up in vans and driven to a castle in Tuscany. The castle is also a winery, which we got to take a tour of. The tour included samples of the winery’s signature chianti wine and their award-winning olive oil. Delicious!

We then got our bikes (mine was named Lance Armstrong) and began our ride through the Tuscan hills. It had been a little bit rainy during our tour of the winery, but thankfully it cleared up and we were cleared to ride. Tuscany is just as beautiful as everyone claims it to be. I wish I could put its beauty into words for you. Our first stop on the bike ride was this small, roadside Italian restaurant. We had the most amazing Italian feast there. For appetizers we had bread with olive oil and fried pizza crust. Then we had salad with the reddest, freshest tomatoes I’ve ever seen or tasted. Following that was my entrée of Tuscan soup and then fresh fruit with whipped cream for dessert. Of course there was plenty of red wine throughout the meal and a cappuccino to top off the meal. Good thing I didn’t drink too much because we still had over half the bike ride to go! The rest of the ride was either flat or steep (14% and 17% 1km hill). Baz and I were the only two from our group to attempt the ride up the hill. I was doing alright until this girl stopped dead in front of me. After stopping it was nearly impossible to get going again! I walked for a bit and then eventually got back on the bike to finish the hill. At the top of the hill we stopped for refreshments and then finished our ride back at the castle. At times it was hard to take in the scenery when you’re so focused on staying on your bike and the road, but this was a great way to see Tuscany!

Since it was our last night in Italy, we decided to go somewhere a little nicer and more expensive for dinner. Stephanie recommended Gusta Panino, a small, family-run restaurant. The service was great and the food was amazing. I had the best gnocchi I’ve ever eaten. And my pork, mixed salad and wine were delicious too! We also had complimentary Prosecco to start our meal, which is one of my favourite drinks. At the end of the meal, Amanda and Kara tried Grappa, a drink we had learned about on our wine tour. Basically, it’s 45% alcohol. They both finished their small glasses, but with disgusted facial expressions. Kudos to them for trying and finishing it!

After dinner we made our last stop for gelato. It might be my imagination, but I’m pretty sure that gelato was the best of the whole trip. On our walk back to the hotel, we stopped at Stephanie’s apartment to hang out for a bit, to thank her for showing us around and all the travel tips, and to say goodbye. I couldn’t believe that she only had six days left in Florence before going back to the States! I’m going to be freaking out when it comes down to that for me!

Saturday, April 18:
Saturday morning we slept in as we were all tired out from such a full week. We then packed up, did some quick souvenir shopping and then went to the bus station to catch our bus back to the Pisa airport. The rest of the day was spent in some form of public transportation. Our trip ended almost the same way it started in that the 12:20 bus from Dublin to Belfast didn’t show up until 1:20. By that time so many people had gotten in line that we were afraid we weren’t going to get on the bus. We did and finally got back to campus at 4am. Such a long day!

I LOVE ITALY!