The rest of my Italy trip

May 6, 2007
My morning started at 7:30 a.m. when I decided to turn off my alarm clock and reset it for 8 a.m. at which point I begrudgingly got up and got ready. I realised that so far I've taken 214 photos, haha, I'm a little camera happy. I wanted to head to the Ponte Vecchio first, so I left my hotel and went to the left followed the river passing the Ponte Vespucci and Ponte alle Carraia as well, when I finally made it to the bridge it was definitely a sight to behold. Since it was so early there weren't that many people out, so that was really nice. Although, there was a random race going on as I passed the bridge, it was pretty cool, I think it was sponsored by some fitness organisation and it ended in Piazza Duomo, which is where I wanted my next stop to be. I know the race ended there, because as I was climbing the 414 steps up Campanile di Giotto, or Giotto's Bell Tower, I saw the race end. At any rate, I am getting a bit ahead of myself, I went in search of Il Duomo but managed to come across Piazza Signoria and Palazza Vecchio first, so stopped off there first and took loads of photos of the statues. The line for the Uffizi was outrageous, so I did skip that, BUT I did end up seeing both replica's of the David. After I left Signoria, I went to Il Duomo and it was pretty incredible. I saw everything and as I said before, I went up the Tower, all 414 steps, and let me tell you that the Italians were not the ones to believe in lifts, nor do they seem to have a problem with heights (yes I have met some actual Italians in my adventures). I, on the other hand, am doing everything that forces me to face my fear of heights and well the results both times have been spectactular. Though one thing I've realised is that none of the musuems take credit cards, only cash. At any rate, definitely went for a bottle of water after that little journey, then went to the museo dell'opera di Santa Maria del Fiore. I spent a good bit of time in there listening to the guide and taking photos. It was then I realised that I was pretty hungry, so I headed to a serve yourself lunch bar and that was really good, but a bit more expensive than I wished. I then went off to Piazza S. Croce and saw a few things there and then was ready to move onto Giardino di Baboli. Of course, by this time it has decided to thunderstorm, oh well, I went anyway!! The garden even in the rain is beautiful. Of course the garden is not actually paved, so the bottom of my pants got soaked and my sneakers got trashed, but that's quite alright, because it was well worth the view and there were cats just randomly wandering the garden! I was going to go to Piazzale Michelangelo, but there's not sunset and it's already 6:35 p.m. I think that I'm just going to change and go explore the city centre a bit and get food. I know now why the Italians eat late and eat so much. They eat late because they're to busy shopping and walking around their beautiful cities and they eat so much because they eat late and they eat leisurely and because they've done so much walking!
Later: It would figure that when I went out for dinner it was absolutely gorgeous again. Oh well, such is Italy. I walked all the way back to the Ponte Vecchio before realising the prices back at the place I had eaten the previous night, and tried to to eat at the previous night, were cheaper. I tried the first place I went last night but it was closed, so I ended up at the same place, but it was absolutely incredible food and the servers and manager remembered me from the previous night and were really nice to me, ha... not that they weren't the first time, but they stopped over to see how I was etc. Now it's 10:23 p.m. and I've got to read my lines a few times through then off to bed, I think I'm more exhausted today than I was yesterday!!

May 7, 2007
My alarm went off this morning at 7:45 a.m. and I fell back asleep until 8:30 a.m. Hahaha, oops! Well I was definitely exhausted! Once I started moving I did it quickly. I had a quick breakfast before checking out and heading out to catch the bus to the train station. I caught the bus and got off at what I thought was the appropriate stop and then questioned myself because the train station doesn't have its name sprawled all over it and it looks completely different in the daytime. However, I was correct and I got my ticket to Venezia Mestre instead of Saint Lucia, (Saint Lucia is the main stop, they're one stop away from each other), for 30 euro. Then waited to see a bin number come up for it, it still wasn't coming up at 20 after so I was getting a bit nervous as were a few others. So I went to ask and apparently it wouldn't come up until 7 minutes before the train came, which of course would make for a mad dash to the train plus it's an Italia Eurostar. So of course when the bin number came up it was a flood of people to 9, I finally get to my assigned seat only to find that there is somebody in it. Of course the Italians speak Italian and I know a bit, but they speak fast and it's hard to catch every word or even know every word. So I politely explained that I knew very little Italian and was not very good, did he know English. Of course he didn't, so I struggled through a detailed conversation about how there was another woman in my seat, but she disappeared, we could figure it out when she got back. She finally got back and turns out she had a cast on her foot and she did speak English. I looked at her ticket and found that she was definitely in the wrong seat, so after a very lengthy (but friendly) conversation, it was determined that she would move and I would help her with her luggage when it was time to get off at the stop. Right now we just made our first stop at Bologna, the ride has been gorgeous from what I can see, loads of trees and a crystal clear sky then the rest of the trip has been spent in tunnels. As a side note I love Italian TV with American shows with Italian voice overs and Italian radio.
Later: As I was riding the bus back from Venice to my hotel, I realised that I had definitely taken 3 forms of transportation in one day: train, bus, and traghetto. At any rate, back to the train. The woman from first class, the one who was in my seat earlier, came back to 2nd class and sat behind me and I found out that she was from Russia and that she was doing two different cruises and that she broke her foot over here, she talked a lot. We ended up getting off at the same spot and I stayed with her until we got to the taxi's,then she thanked me and we headed our seperate ways. I was going to take a taxi, but the driver told me it was just as easy to walk. So walked under the underpass, found the roundabout but took the wrong left 3 times, lol. I wouldn't have minded so much had it not been 70+ degrees and I didn't have so much weight on my back! Yeah, the weather is absolutely gorgeous, I'm tanning as I walk. I hope that tomorrow I'll be a nice golden brown. I found the hotel and was a bit worried just by looking at the exterior, but never judge a book by it's cover, because it's absolutely gorgeous inside and my room is adorable and has a balcony. I dropped my stuff off, changed my shirt, then went off to catch the bus. I headed to the island and enjoyed the view, falling even more in love with Italy. I arrived in Piazzala Roma and bought my ticket from the ATVO office for my trip home Wednesday morning. Then I went and bought a ticket to the island of Murano. It was so nice being on the water and there are boats and bridges everywhere! LOVE IT! I got to the island and walked into all the glass shops, everything was beautiful and unique. I headed back to the main island around 5:02 p.m. and then walked around a bit more and decided to head back to the hotel to get an early night, so I could get an early start. now I'm off to look at an itinerary for tomorrow and read my script a few times before bed. I want to see as much as possible and be in the sun as much as possible, therefore BIG bottle of water and an early morning!

May 9, 2007
I went out in true Venetian style, lol, 3 modes of transportation: train, traghetto, bus. Ha, I figured instead of catching a bus and potentially missing my bus to the airport, I should probably just catch the train instead. Then of course I needed to go by traghetto to get to Piazzala Roma, but was a nice way to say goodbye. I am seriously going to miss that place. So I am now sitting in Treviso airport with about 40 minutes til boarding and there is absolutely nothing to occupy my time with, so I figured I would write. I didn't write an entry last night because when I got back to the hotel at 10:30 p.m. I passed out, mind you, that was after a 12+hour day.
May 8th in review: I awoke at 5:38 a.m. thinking my phone had died because there was sunlight poking through the windows. I was apparently wrong and woke up at 7:30 a.m. with my alarm. I got ready fairly quickly and was out the door a bit after 8 a.m. I got the 6/ bus instead of the 6, either one takes you to Piazzala Roma, but I apparently caught it the wrong way, it still went just took the long way, 45 min or so, but that's okay, because I was in no hurry. I got there and my goal was to find San Marco. I knew it was going to be a long walk, considering it is across the island but I was ready for it and loving the sunlight. So off I headed following the signs and ended up finding Rialto first, which was absolutely gorgeous. I took several pictures from the bridge and bought a new pair of sneakers from a shoe store, since mine were ruined by Firenze thunderstorms. I spent a fair bit of time wandering Rialto before continuing my search. Eventually I found my S. Marco, but I truly think the signs take you the longest way possible, ha. Though by the end of the day I was a pro at navigating from Rialto to Marco to Roma. I was quite shocked at how quiet Italy is in the morning, 8-9:30, but by 10 a.m. or so the streets are filled with tourists and tour guides, it's crazy! The first thing I saw was the main square with the bell tower etc. I decided to go up the bell tower because it had the shortest line and I was thinking to myself, very sarcastically, I wonder how many stairs this one has, BUT this one had a lift! It gave a beautiful view of Venice and the surrounding islands and if I can remember their proper names I'll label them in the photos. After I got done in the square I just wandered up and down each way as far as I could go. I got a slice of pizza from a vendor, which was very good and very different than american pizza. It was getting quite warm and I was getting a bit tired of walking so I decided to catch a boat to the island of Burano. I caught the boat at 4:15 p.m. and it was about an hour long ride. The ride was really beautiful and I got to see loads of islands and be on the water, I loved it. Then as we pulled into Burano my batteries died, go figure. So I went off in search of batteries and explored the island at the same time. I didn't stay to long, only an hour and ended up catching the next boat back. It was another hour long boat ride and I arrived back in S. Marco around 7:30 p.m. By that time I was tired and hungry, so I walked back to Rialto and found a restaurant right next to the traghetto stop. I had dinner and really surprised myself with this choice, pasta with lobster and when the dish came out, it came with half a lobster. Good, but interesting, especially since I just tend to stick to shrimp. Then I grabbed a vaniglia gelato (actually quite nice, I was hesitant because I don't like gelato in the states, but completely different in Italy) and headed back to Piazzala Roma. By the time I got back to the hotel it was 10:30 p.m. and I was completely wiped! A few things I realised on my trip to Italy 1) public restrooms close at 8 p.m. and cost 1 euro 2) it gets light really early 3) there is always traffic, so if you're a light sleeper bring ear plugs 4) museums only take cash 5) Venice is beautiful 6) Italy is truly my new love

So it is now 10:10 a.m. and I am on the plane back to the UK, flying over the Alps which is truly a sight to behold, and I can't believe that I just spent the most incredible 4 days ever in Italy. I can't believe it's over, I'm already contemplating when I can go back.

Today: I apologise for how long it took to get this up, with everybody getting ready to leave and people leaving, it's been a bit crazy around here. Hope you enjoy and should have the photos up soon too.