Italy

[sakura_blossom]

I posted a little while ago in a graduation thread that I was going to Italy, but now that I have the full agenda and everything I thought why not post where I'm going.

Tomorrow, June 17, I'm leaving for the Philadelphia airport at 3:00 p.m. for an 8 hour plane ride and a 6 hour layover in Paris = 14 hours @_@

We land in Venice and spend the night that day relaxing and going to the ocean to swim a bit. We spend 2 days in Venice, 4 days in Rome, 3 days in Florence and a day trip to Pisa. Along the way we're visiting museums, church's, go on the gondola, and all this unique and once in a life time things to experience.

I'll make sure to take pictures (maybe I'll be in one of them ^.^) and make sure to show the sites and what not. I just still have to pack...

PS: I am now a graduate student from High School, graduation was on June 13, 2006.

[C0MPL3X]

I want to go to Italy again ;_;
Hope you have fun. Roma, venezia, firenze definitely left stronger impression to me than other europeon cities.

[Spilled Milk]

O.O luuuuuuuucky!! Itally is awsome! I bet you'll have an awsome time!
you're going to Itally and only spending 10 days there O.O
That seems like a long ways to go for such a short time! I'd atleast make it 2 and a half weeks XD
well you'll be busy lol!

[sakura_blossom]

I want to go to Italy again ;_;
Hope you have fun. Roma, venezia, firenze definitely left stronger impression to me than other europeon cities.

Thank you, so you have been to Italy before? It's definitely giving me excitement just thinking about going there in a couple hours.

O.O luuuuuuuucky!! Itally is awsome! I bet you'll have an awsome time!
you're going to Itally and only spending 10 days there O.O
That seems like a long ways to go for such a short time! I'd atleast make it 2 and a half weeks XD
well you'll be busy lol!

10 days is a decent amount of time to spend in Italy, we get to go to 4 cities and do so much in so little time so I'm not in the least upset over 10 days there. Though especially since the trip itself cost *cough*$3,000*cough* so of course no complaining ^.^

Though a trip to Italy is a once in a lifetime opportunity for myself so before I know it the trip will be over and I've got to experience as much as I can and enjoy myself while I'm there. I'll definitely be busy throughout the 10 days, and I'm sure myself and the others who are going on the trip will all be satisfied with what they'll come back with.

[Spilled Milk]

ah yeah you're right. I'm just one of those people who likes to take as much time as possible with things XDD
I'm so excited for you! have fun!

[Griveton]

Congratulations on your graduation, and good luck on your trip.

Italy is beautiful. Once you're in Venice, stay away from the restaurants in the tourist areas. Those places usually are either terrible or terribly expensive. Usually both. Try walking around the smallish streets, you'll probably find really good places. The best Penne Rigate Alla Rabbiata I've tasted in my life was in a smallish restaurant lost somewhere in a lost alley.

Oh, and try to take a boat to see the glassworkers. There is a chance they're gonna try and make you buy an expensive thing (my dad ended up buying a really, really expensive flowerpot), but you don't need to. The glassworking tradition of venice is impressive, and watching those artisans work is something you should do.

In Florence, well, just walk around. You're gonna love it. It's my favourite european city, and a strong contender for my favorite city in the world. If you're into shopping, you might wish to look for boutiques and tailors. You'll find some really good pieces of clothing for good prices.

[sakura_blossom]

Congratulations on your graduation, and good luck on your trip.

Italy is beautiful. Once you're in Venice, stay away from the restaurants in the tourist areas. Those places usually are either terrible or terribly expensive. Usually both. Try walking around the smallish streets, you'll probably find really good places. The best Penne Rigate Alla Rabbiata I've tasted in my life was in a smallish restaurant lost somewhere in a lost alley.

Oh, and try to take a boat to see the glassworkers. There is a chance they're gonna try and make you buy an expensive thing (my dad ended up buying a really, really expensive flowerpot), but you don't need to. The glassworking tradition of venice is impressive, and watching those artisans work is something you should do.

In Florence, well, just walk around. You're gonna love it. It's my favourite european city, and a strong contender for my favorite city in the world. If you're into shopping, you might wish to look for boutiques and tailors. You'll find some really good pieces of clothing for good prices.

Well thanks for the congradulations and the tips on Venice and Florence. In Venice I did go to the glassworkers place and our tour group got a small deminstration of the glass blowing and how they created the glass objects that they made. I decided not to buy a glass item there, rather I went to a side store and bought 4 glass fish for only 5 euro and a decorated mask for 15 euro, the glassworkers place was so expensive, it was simply ridiculous. I loved Venice, our group stayed in a hotel on the outside skirts of Venice and took a boat to get to actually step foot into bigger more of a tourist like attraction of Venice. We went into a museum where the paintings on the dome-like structures, paintings and maps were simply gorgeous and the rest of the day afterwards was left for touring Venice and shopping. Everyone was great in Venice and had such a great personality a place I'd like to visit again. The only problem with Venice was the flooding showers in our hotel room..

Florence was a great city, my friend told me before I went that Florence is very brown and she is very right. Our group while in Florence saw a deminstration on leather items and I bought a wallet (for myself) and a little leather box for my mom, they were definitely high quality leather. My one friend while in Florence when we went shopping and bought some pizza bought a 350 euro leather jacket. We also went into churches and museums, along the way getting to see the carvings and sculptures and of course the statue of David and simply it was HUGE and so detailed, from the top of his head down to his toes on his feet it was just 'wow'. The hotels were the best I think I've ever stayed in in my entire life, the shower didn't flood and it had a massage nozzle. I just loved the overall atmosphere of the city.

Rome was just ok to me, we stayed in the intercity and it reminded me much of New York City. I really enjoyed getting a tour of the coliseum as well as going to the Vatican and walking in and getting to see the Sistine Chapel, took 2-3 hours wait to get in but it was worth it, the painting of Adam and God in the Sistine Chapel was different seeing it in person. Also we went to St. Peters Square on Saturday night, we say the Pope's building and his room light was on but we didn't saw him come out at all. Though the square was beautiful and we were there a day or so ago when Italy won against Australia, soccer (football) over there is as important as water to them, I'm looking forward to see how far they go in the World Cup.

Sorrento was great as well, we stayed there for a night and I bought some of the limoncello and I got to see lemon trees for the first time. I just went and shopped, we were only in Sorrento for 2 hours and then went to sleep at the hotel so I didn't get to experience as much there, but Sorrento is a small city so there wasn't as much to see and what I saw I did enjoy.

Pompeii was amazing, I loved walking a city that they didn't even know existed until around the 1600's and excavation after excavation as they find new information and sites in pompeii and the pottery and buildings and roads it was simply great. Then came Mount Vesuvius, being me I'm getting all excited about going to the Volcano and climbing to the top but oh did I not take in any consideration of the climb itself. So starting the angle of the hills to climb are literally at a 75 degree angle and it wore me out to say the least, but it was worth it. I walked with my one friend and after 25 minutes I'd say I reached the top and I saw clouds, we were above the clouds and then the crater was humoungous! I saw some steam rising from the Volcano, and the crater is the size of town. The view was gorgeous, and I took 50 pictures while up there it was breathtaking. So the time came to go back down, it was better than going up until I realized when I walked down the hills that at one part I tried to stop and I failed, I have a few scrapes but oh well it was all worth it in the end ^.^

So I'm back in the United States, not much jetlag at all but a little tired, I do not recommend Air France by the way. When coming home from our trip we had a small layover in Paris so the layover was 2 hours we were supposed to board at 12:30 but then our flight was delayed until 1:40. 1:40 came around and I never walked through the doors until 2:25, so then we had to go outside get randomly checked and then take a shuttle which took another 15 minutes to get to the plane, another 5 or so minutes to sit down and an 8 hour flight getting home taking 11 hours.

Other than the plane ride I had a blast, Italy was simply amazing! I would love to visit there again and I already miss it. I broke my camera before the Vatican but my memory card is perfectly fine (thank god) and so I have 700 or so pictures, but of course I'll just post a few once I connect everything.

[Dennis]

sakura_blossom, I am quite glad that your Italian excursion was a good one. I am quite jealous of you; my brother spent two weeks in Italy in the summer of 1999 and I have wanted to go ever since then.