Friday, May 9, 2008

ITALY!!!!

This was by far, my biggest trip yet, I went to Italy for TWO weeks! It was absolutely fantastic! Pam, took me with her, I felt so lucky to be traveling with her, she planned the whole thing, and she speaks fluent Italian, and had many friends for us to visit, and stay with! The basic outline of the trip was....

Ragusa
Taormina
Naples
Pompeii
Rome
Florence
Venice
Brescia
Como
Switzerland
Milan




Ragusa! Pam served here on her mission. It is little really tiny little city, built in the hills of Sicily. It looked completely different than I thought Italy would look! I really fell in love with it. I am so determined to come back someday, I even got a card for a really pretty hotel there! You can sort of see the city behind our heads in the photo of me and Pam. I had massive allergy issues while I was there, but I was SO excited about being in a new place, that I just kept going and going along with Pam! Something else I really enjoyed seeing were these stairs I have heard Pam talk about for years! She used to tell us stories of needing to hike these stairs every day. There are SO many of them, they just keep going and going and going! Oh! and I got several Real Italian meals! that, was awesome! three cheers for good food!




We only briefly stopped in Taormina, and we only stayed the night in Naples (though we did take to morning to walk around and see it) so then on to Pompeii, an ancient Roman city, that has been preserved because of a massive Volcano eruption!!!! We got to see, perfect roads, mosaics, buildings, public toilets and much more! however, this definitely wasn't the end of the Roman ruins we saw while in Italy!




ROME! Is exactly what I thought Italy would look like, and SO different than Sicily, it is not hard to see why I was so surprised at what Sicily looked like! Rome, was beautiful, and I got to see things I have dreams for YEARS about seeing, but it was too chaotic for my taste! Here are photos of me at the Trevi Fountain, we are throwing our coins in, to insure our return to Rome again someday! Also, the Mouth of Truth from Roman Holiday! For those of you who havn't seen it, it is supposed to bite your hand off, if you are a liar! oops!

The COLOSSEUM!, I was So excited to see it, you can tell I am going a little crazy in the photo there I was absolutely ecstatic, that is, until we were told that we don't get the Student discount, because we aren't member of the EU!!! We were upset about that for a full 10 minuets!!!!
oh! and we almost got robbed in Rome! but that is a story to be told in person, so be sure to ask me about it ;)
:D we went to the top of that Dome, you see in the Basilica there, and it was SO packed at the top (I included a picture, that is the one with all the people in it), we couldn't move for almost 1/2 an hour! It was frustrating! but, obviously we made it down because then it was off to....








Florence, and Venice kinda seem really similar to me in my mind.... Though TOTALLY different, I loved both. Venice is for sure my favorite city on the main land. The city is totally pedestrianized, you aren't even allowed to have bikes there! but really, with the number of bridges you have to cross over to get anywhere any form of transportation except walking, isn't very practical! We did do a gondola ride, which cost almost 100 dollars! I found the city just as Romantic as it is made to seem in the movies :) I had no Idiea that it was as bautiful as it was though. I felt like there was something pretty to take a picture of around EVERY corner! I couldn't put the camera away, as a result, everywhere I went I was blatantly screaming "I am a tourist!!!" with how many pictures I took! Venice is a lot like a maze, because maps were almost useless, because it took you too long to figure out WHERE you were, before you could finally decide which way to go! Seriously? you could have some sort of MASSIVE hide and seek game there, it was fantastic! In this picture I am feeding the pigeons! How fun is that? I really got a kick out of that, and it was only a Euro!


Next was Bresica! Then Como, where George Clooney lives! and no, we didn't see him, but we heard about him, and saw picture of him everywhere! Como, was very relaxing, just what we needs after way too much walking, and stress in too little of a time..... Como, sits right on the edge of Lake Como, and everything about it, is idealistic.... we actually drove into Switzerland for an afternoon, to see one of Pam's Friends! I got to see the Alps! They are the BEST mountains I have seen, since the last time I was in Salt Lake!


It was then off to home! well, sort of... On the way back, I got to see both sides of the English Chanel from the Plane window, which probably shouldn't have made me as excited as it did.... :D, but oh well!
So, there is Italy in a nutshell! Isn't it obvious that there is so much more I haven't told? I wish I could add about 5 times the pictures as well!
Until next time!



1 comment:

Meg said...

Oh my goodness you are amazing! You are doing all these crazy things and seeing so many wonderful places! Are you sure you are over there to go to school? ;)