It was finally our Spring Break, and it started last Thursday. It took a crazy long time for it to get here because Easter was so late this year, but it was really nice to have this break right before we leave for home. It is so crazy that we only have 2 weeks left in London! I love London, but I cannot wait to get home!!
Anyway here is a break down of the past week or so:
Thursday (London, Rome):
Today we had a class trip to the Cabinet War Rooms before our break 'officially' started. I wasn't really looking forward to it, especially after my recent visit to the Imperial War Museum. The things that we see are really interesting, but also pretty depressing. However, I actually really enjoyed the War Rooms. These were rooms built specially for WWII to protect the Winston Churchill, the Prime Minister at the time and his cabinet from bombings. The reason I liked it so much was that the rooms were, for the most part, left the way that they were during the war. It was a really unique way to learn about the British governments involvement in the war. Included in the field trip was a museum about Winston Churchill's life. This was also really informative, and they had many artifacts and information about his life.
But after that was said and done with it was time to get on a flight to Italy! Luckily this time we took an EasyJet flight (much better then RyanAir!!) and the process of getting to airport was not such a hassle as the last time Mom and I flew to Rome. It was actually really easy, and we even had some time to kill. But by the time we made it to Italy it was already pretty late, and by the time we actually made it to our hostel it was even later. So basically we just had time to get something to eat really quickly and then go to bed.
Friday (Rome):
So this pretty much the first time that I had stayed in a hostel the entire time I had been traveling in Europe. We stayed in a YMCA in Bath, but that was actually really nice. And the hostel we stayed in Rome, the Mona Lisa, was most definitely not. The guy who ran it was kind of an idiot and the profile on the website we booked it from was totally not right. And so long story short, our hostel sucked!
But luckily we didn't stay in it at all during the day (we weren't allowed to anyway...), and instead we explored the city. We didn't use any public transport at all, so this equaled A LOT of walking! First we found the Trevi Fountain. I had seen it before with Mom, but this time I threw a coin in and made a wish (I'm not going to say what it was though, so that it comes true). We spent a little time here taking pictures and just checking out the incredible carvings that made up the fountain, but after this we were a little hungry and so we got our first margarita (cheese) pizza of the trip. And I'm not kidding when I say this but I'm pretty sure we ate at least one everyday of our Italy trip. I love pizza but this was a little extreme. Its just that its seriously the cheapest thing on the menu! Oh, and there was A LOT of gelato as well. I'm pretty sure we had one each day as well. But to be fair, it is pretty much the best food on the planet.
The Trevi Fountain
After the Trevi Fountain and the pizza, we walked over to the Spanish Steps. I wasn't really all that impressed with the steps. I thought they would be larger and give a better view, but really all you could see from the top were the people crowded on the lower levels and the really annoying guys trying to sell you crappy toys and souvenirs. Not really my idea of a good view...
The Spanish Steps
Then after only a short while at the steps, we moved on to Vatican City. I thought it was going to be REALLY packed because of the Easter weekend, but at the time we went, in the early afternoon, there really wasn't a giant crowd. Most of the people in the courtyard were waiting in line to see inside St. Peter's or the Vatican Museum. Unfortunately, it was sold out so we didn't get to take part in the extreme line for the sights. But we did spend some time in the courtyard, which was set up for a service later that night. There was a crazy amount of chairs set up. And we tried to get as close to the inside of the building as we could...but this wasn't very close.
Vatican City
Since the service wasn't for several hours later and we didn't have any transport (other than our feet) we went on in search of our next sightseeing adventure, some Roman ruins. Well, after walking for about an hour and a half, we came upon some ruins and spent some time taking pictures. But we really didn't know what the ruins were of, so it wasn't that meaningful. However, just up the block were some more famous sights, Il Vittoriano and the Piazza Campidoglio. Mom and I had previously seen these sights on our trip, but this time we actually climbed the stairs to the piazza, and saw the pattern on the courtyard and the replica statue by Michelangelo in the center.
The Piazza with a replica of Michelangelo's statue
Pretty much after seeing all these sights (and walking to ALL of them), we were pretty much exhausted. So it was onto another late dinner, and then back to our scurvy hostel. I wasn't too thrilled about staying there two nights, but luckily this was our last one.
Saturday (Rome, Pisa):
The next morning we got up pretty early. This was mainly because the idiot who ran our hostel told us the water would be turned off at 7:30 the next morning. But it never turned off. The only thing that happened was that he sent people up to use our 'private' bathroom. Aaarrgghhh...and that wasn't even the worst of it. We had asked him like 12 times if we could leave our luggage at the hostel until we left to get on our train later that afternoon, and he had said yes. But then when it came time to leave our stuff, he said we could because he had to 'clean'. Yeah. Right. Whatever, we are leaving a terrible review on hostelbookers.com, so at least hopefully some people will be saved from staying there.
So with ALL of our luggage in tow we made our way to the Pantheon and the Colosseum. And as you can guess, this was not the most comfortable or enjoyable walk of my life. But we made it and we saw both of the sights. The Pantheon was new for me, it was sooooo big! And we were wondering what happens when it rains because there is a giant hole in the ceiling...fun things to think about. And the Colosseum was just as spectacular as before. Amazingly huge and crowded with tourists and vendors. I am already tired of people trying to sell me things and we only just got here!!
Views inside the Colosseum
Pantheon Views
Luckily, it was almost time to catch our train to Pisa. After a quick lunch we got on, and after about 2 hours we were in Pisa! And most importantly, our hostel was AWESOME!! Ok, not really that awesome but still like a million times better than the last one, so we were pumped.
Sunday (Pisa, Florence):
There was another perk included in the hostel. They offered a free tour of Pisa to all guests staying there. This was really nice for us because we actually didn't have any idea of what we wanted to see, apart from the Leaning Tower. The tour left from our hostel and took us near the river, tons of old churches, and other historic buildings. We learned what an important part the large University plays in the city and about a smaller school where only the super smart can attend and they get all of their tuition payed for.
Eventually we made it to the area where the Leaning Tower was located. I hadn't known before I visited that the Tower was originally supposed to be a bell tower for the nearby church. We also learned some more fun facts, such as, the bells in the Leaning Tower can not be played all together for fear that it will cause the Tower to collapse and that they have actually stabilized the tower using the help of engineers and architects.
The tour was really nice, but it was also really long so once it was over it was time for a pizza and then on our next train to Florence.
The baptistery and church near the tower
The Leaning Tower!!!!
This train ride was really short, only taking about an hour or so. And then we quickly found our next hostel, which was also really nice. The guy running the hostel was hilarious and he gave us some tips on places to visit and eat at. For the first night we visited the replica of David and the old bridge, just like Mom and I did on our trip. Then we did something new. We trekked up this giant hill to get really beautiful views of the city. The trip up the hill was awful, but we went at a really good time so we got pictures of the city in both daylight and at dusk. It was so beautiful!
Views of Florence
Monday (Florence, Venice):
Today we basically spent the whole morning shopping in the markets of Florence. We were looking for souvenirs, but some of the people who were selling things were really creepy. I don't really enjoy people standing over my shoulder while I'm trying to look, so I probably would have bought some more but because of the creepiness I didn't. Oh well...
But after a quick lunch, we had a bit of bad luck. We had originally thought that all of us were on a 5:30 train to Venice. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Anna and I were actually on the 4:30 train and Emily and Renae were on the 3:30 train. But this was bad news because that meant by the time we checked the times, Emily and Renae had already missed their train!!!! And then when we went to see what we could do to get on the same train, we learned that all the trains were sold out for that day!!!!! The woman said that they could ask the conductor when the train came in if they could get on. But because Anna and I had to get on ourselves, we had no idea if they had gotten on!!
I did get a picture of the Tonarelli Tobacco Shop
before we left Florence though!!!
It was a pretty stressful situation. For the whole ride, we had to worry whether they had joined us or not. Because if they hadn't, we wouldn't have anywhere to sleep that night!! So imagine our relief when we saw them running toward us when we arrived in Venice!!! Definitely a relief, and to top it off our last hostel was also excellent. So we really only had one crappy accommodation, which in the long run was pretty amazing.
We spent two days in Venice before heading back to London for the Royal Wedding!!! I'll let you know what happened in my next post!!
No comments:
Post a Comment