I think I was meant to be Italian...no honestly, after being in Italy for 8 days I was beyond convinced that I was meant to belong to that country and people. They love the same things I love (family, friends, food, history, a belief in faith and hope, their identities) are loyal to the things they love, and seriously have the most gorgeous country in the entire world (well from what I've seen so far) I could have spent the remainder of the trip in Italy and I reminded the boys of this on a regular basis. And while Italy was probably the most emotionally trying time of the trip (think two missed trains, a phone call in tears home to the parents, and "missing" hotel rooms)it was also the most sensually overwhelming in the most wonderful way imaginable. There was not a city or place I didn't love while we were in Italy, though Florence was a bit crowded for my taste at this time of the year, and I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will return there on multiple occasions. Hey, its the first place I've thought, wow if I could go anywhere in the world on my honeymoon this would be it.
Now to be fair, I went to Italy with what some could already call an obsession, and that fondness only grew as we reached our first city, Milan. Getting to Milan was an adventure in and of itself as we somehow misplaced Mike's Eurorail pass while moving out of the apartment. Luckily it wasn't a big deal, but the two hour line to try and get new tickets caused us to miss our initial train and lose some of the precious time we had in Milan. Because of the time delay we had less than 18 hours in this city but made the most of it by eating our fill of Gelato, visting the Duomo, "fashion alley", and the most beautiful mall in the world where we proceeded to spin on the "Bull's Balls" for a bit of good luck, and having our first taste of "real Italian food." Tradition has it that if you spin on a fresco of a bull on the floor in the middle of the mall you'll get good luck, and trust me when I say EVERYONE does it there, so much so that there is now a hole where the bull's balls should have been. We left Milan early the next morning, knowing to walk the block this time instead of take a taxi, to head off to Venice.
If I could create my own heaven, I would most certainly make Venice at least part of the backdrop. I have NEVER loved a city more, and despite what everyone says about it being somewhat creepy,I was mesmerized by every aspect of this city on water. The moment I stepped off the train I was enthralled and wanted to see and do as much as humanly possible in the time we had there. The first thing you should know is that there are NO cars in Venice (minus the one at the random casino that was decorated, but we didn't really know why) Everything is done through boats including police boats, ambulances, and buses. The city started out on an even higher note when two strangers gave Mike and I their tickets for the water buses which meant only Kenley needed to get his. We hopped on at the train station stop and made our way down the canals and over the bridge to our hotel, with me taking pictures non-stop the whole way. Getting into our hotel was a bit tricky as there wasn't anyone at the reception desk and we were assigned to a room that was actually the breakfast room, but we eventually found our way and got settled in. We spent the next 3 days wandering through alley ways and canals, eating great food, making our way to the glass island of Murano and the lace and colored house island of Burano, braving rain storms, and buying more souvenirs than I had on the entire trip before. We had great conversations with the most random people, took full advantage of Italy's potable water sources, and witnessed some great thunder storms. I absolutely can not wait until I get to go back to this city on the water and finally get to have my gondola ride!
Getting to Florence was probably the most emotionally trying time of the entire trip for me and resulted in this first major meltdown with a phone call home to Mom and Dad early in the morning for some encouraging words and a reminder that this trip was all about discovering myself and my inner strengths (I would NEED these words as the rest of Italy continued) Without too much detail, I ended up hopping off our initial train and rearranging for us to be on a different one in order to make our way to Florence. Once again, this way a city we had way too little time to explore, and was one of the first that I explored primarily on my own. Known to be the leather capital of Italy I was determined to find Dad's gift here so I spent much of my time figuring out how to dodge the rain while finding an Italian leather pouch (didn't quite happen, but wound up with a great alternative!)We saw the main sites of the Uffizi and the main shopping centers, the Duomo, and Michelangelo's Pavilion for sunset and while it was EXTREMELY crowded I can see why people love the city for its beauty. I would definitely enjoy visiting again during the off season and getting some more time to go in and out of all the great jewelry stores!
From Florence we were off to Rome and I once again fell in love with a city! Rome is a crazy place with so much history its next to impossible to have enough time to see everything. Because our hotel was literally right down the street from the Colosseum we headed off to see that first. We all decided to skip the lines and go on a private tour which turned out to be a great decision as we met an awesome tour guide who we also met up with the next day for a tour of the Vatican Museum, St. Paul's and the Sistine Chapel. We learned the history, saw the sites, and also got a great tour of the forum and Palantino. Walking through the forum was simply amazing as you were literally walking through history and able to touch and experience so many great sites. That night we visited the Trevi fountain and Spanish steps where I made my wishes, threw my coins, and fended off the WAY too pushy "rose guys." We once again had great Italian food and woke up bright and early the next morning to visit the Vatican and Sistine Chapel. It amazed me that so much power rested in one tiny city surrounded by a wall, and that so much art and beauty could be housed in such a small place. The Sistine Chapel was all I had hoped it would be, and despite the fact that they warned us not to take pictures I managed to sneak away from the group and snap a few for my collection. Because I was feeling pretty miserable during this time I spent a lot of my nights in the hotel room avoiding the rain storms, and while this was yet another emotionally trying portion of the trip, I managed to get in as much as I could. The final day we ventured out to see the Pantheon and a couple of other sites and enjoy our time before the rain started coming down in buckets. We spent our final night tucked in our hotel room listening to the rain, watching BBC World News for the millionth time, and enjoying the Chinese food we managed to have delivered to our hotel.
Leaving Italy was the first time I was truly sad to leave a country, and despite our 2 hour delayed plane ride, everything about the place made me love it and I think more than anywhere else on this entire journey up to that point it allowed me to discover who I was, what faith and spirituality meant to me, and how much I love my parents and best friend and how lucky I am to have them there for me when I need them the most. Italy is number one on my must return list and I can not wait to share it with those who I love as I know it will only make the place that much more amazing. There isn't possibly enough room on this blog to put all the pictures of the amazing time I had in this country, and I can't wait to go home and start learning Italian!
Posts
