We are back from our trip and are busily catching up with everything. We loved our vacation so much, but being gone for 2 weeks makes it very hard to get back to reality! Especially with jet lag. We arrived home on Sunday around 11pm and had to go to work bright and early Monday morning...or should I say late in the afternoon Italy time. We're a little bit off our clocks, but trying to get back into the swing of things.
Europe is such a beautiful place, we really enjoyed traveling around it and seeing some amazing things! I felt like I was on the Bachelorette traveling the world, except that I already had my Prince! There's too much to blog about in one post, so I'm going to split it up into 2. The first part will be Frankfurt, Germany and the many places we visited in Italy.
We didn't think we'd be able to see much of Frankfurt because we didn't stay there, we only had a layover there before we arrived in Venice. It was about a 5 hour layover so we decided to leave the airport for a while to see some things, and we were sure glad we did!
We took a taxi to the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew. It is a gorgeous building, inside and out.
We walked around and found this little square that we thought was super cute. Since we were in Germany, we made sure we tried some Schnitzel and wieners, so we found a little cafe in the square to eat. It was delicious! We also found these weird looking trees everywhere, and some oddly dressed people...like the gold men. Pretty neat! There's also a very cool bridge to walk where couples lock their love, so me and Jeff pretended to do this...unfortunately we didn't have a lock with us. What a beautiful place! Even after a 9 hour flight, and it being about 3 in the morning Calgary time, we still enjoyed Frankfurt, Germany. It felt great to get up and move, instead of sitting in the airport. We took a taxi back to the airport and were ready for our flight to Venice!
Arriving in Venice and making our way to our hotel was an adventure. We thought our hotel was fairly close, but we ended up dragging our luggage through what seemed like most of Venice. There were a big number of bridges to go over which conveniently were all just stairs. We ran into the guys that give you roses and expect money (which was laid on my mom's arm when we wouldn't accept it!). Not to mention it was almost morning our time and we didn't sleep the night. Although we were all in good moods still (I mean, we were in Italy!), we couldn't have been happier when we made it to our hotel at last!
After getting through the traveling day we were all so excited to be where we were. Venice was my favorite place of the whole trip! I've always admired pictures of Venice and it is just what you would expect. I felt like I was in a dream world and could have walked around it for days. Unfortunately our trip only allowed 2 sleeps and 1 full day there. We had 2 delicious Italian meals by the water streets and rode the Vaporetta (water bus) to visit San Marco Square. We rode up the elevator to the top of the Campanile tower and had a terrific view. We heard the bell ring on the clock tower and visited the Cathedral and Doge's Palace. It sprinkled a bit that day, but didn't bother us. We also stopped at the Rialto bridge which gives a great view of the city and has some good shopping. I purchased a watch - my first item of many to come! Jeff also bought a few ties while we were on the square (his first ties of the 7 he would buy on the trip).
We ate some great food like Risotto and Gnocchi, and gelato. We saved the gondola ride for the evening, which we heard was the best time to go. This was one of the highlights of our trip for me! Very romantic and absolutely gorgeous!
I probably could have stayed there the whole week, or at least another couple of days. I enjoyed Venice so much and would love to go back some day!
We were sad to leave Venice but very excited for the next part of our journey. We took a train to Florence, which took just a couple of hours. The trains are a great way to get around in Europe and very comfortable. We had a table and played some cards...or at least the others did while I slept a bit. We were in Florence in no time and then rented a car. The car came with a GPS, which came in handy and got us to our hotel called Anglo American quite easily. After dropping off our things we were eager to see Florence. We had 2 nights, but almost 3 full days here.
Our first stop was a pizzeria which was very delicious. We then walked the streets, passed the river and waterfall, and came to a gorgeous Duomo which takes your breath away at one glance. We went inside and then climbed up the 414 steps of the Campanile. The steps were steep and it was such a tiny space that you would have to squeeze up against the wall to let the people coming down pass by. Although tiring, the view was worth every step! After wandering around Florence some more and stopping at the big market there, we went back to our hotel for a rest and decided to have dinner at the restaurant there. It was a great meal with just a few struggles in communicating with our waiter. Or maybe he just knew that we would each want our own apple pie instead of sharing, because it was amazing! For the evening we separated from our parents for a bit and went for a little walk. It was starting to settle in that we were really in Italy and it wasn't just a dream!
The next day we drove to Pisa, Lucca, and Volterra. These are all hill towns that are quite close together. Our first stop was Lucca. We had a little bit of trouble at first with direction because our GPS kept leading us to dead ends! When we finally found the Lucca signs we decided to just follow them instead of our GPS so that worked well.
Lucca is not very well known, but is Italy's most impressive fortress city, encircled by a perfectly intact wall. We decided to rent some bikes and bike the ramparts. This was one of the highlights of our trip as well for me. Jeff and I rented a tandem bike which I've never been on before, but was super fun! My parents rented a golf cart type thing and they had fun as well. The view was breathtaking and the ride was a lot of fun. We got to see an overview of the town and watch all the locals running and walking the same path. We also walked around the town and found a cute little square where we ate some yummy sandwiches and listened to some music. I found Lucca to be very charming and not so crowded, which I liked a lot.
Pisa was our next stop, only about a half hour from Lucca. We didn't stay in Pisa for long, but we wanted to make sure we saw the leaning tower! It really is leaning and of course we had to take the pictures of us holding up the tower. We also visited the Cathedral and the Baptistery while in Pisa.
Volterra was everyone's favorite place, and my second favorite (after Venice). I was really excited to see Volterra because it is where part of New Moon of the Twilight Saga was filmed! In fact, we have a picture of the clock tower that is on the cover of New Moon. It was so neat to see the square where Bella runs to Edward to stop him from showing himself in the light! The drive to Volterra is beautiful and the streets are adorable. We saw the Roman Theater and visited a few stores, which Jeff loved because they were very unique. We also found this amazing chocolatey dessert and bought a chunk of it - which we all ended up fighting over! We got to Volterra later in the day so we decided to eat dinner there. We ate at a restaurant called "Ristorante Enoteca del Duca," which was one recommended by Rick Steve's travel guide. We referred to this book often in our trip! We were all glad we found this place because it was very delicious! I made a risky move and ordered the Beef Tartar which was interesting to say the least but very good, and everyone else loved their meals.
We had a wonderful day visiting so many places and drove home in the dark, back to Florence.
The next day we had the morning and afternoon to spend in Florence, and then we returned the car and took a train to Rome. On our last day in Florence we did a ton of shopping! This was the day we spent most of our money buying clothes, shoes, boots, jewellery, etc. I was surprised by how good the shopping was and so unique, especially the boots! We also visited the Accademia to see the Statue of David. Jeff really wanted to see this statue because he had heard it's an "emotional experience." We all didn't care to much to see a naked man but it turned out to be pretty cool. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, so unfortunately you will have to go see it yourself to have that emotional experience. Haha! We made fun of Jeff about this for a while. Anyways, we had a great day until we got on the wrong train to Rome! We took the slow train which ended up taking 5 1/2 hours instead of the 1 1/2 it should have taken. So frustrating! When we got to Rome we went to McDonalds of all places because it was right across from our hotel and we were starving.
Rome was the craziest, busiest place of all, but a must-see. In Rome, everywhere you turn is some cool looking old building. We had to do Rome in a day so we took the hop-on, hop-off bus to get an overview of the city. It was fun to travel around on this open top bus on a gorgeous, sunny day. It was so busy everywhere but we made sure we went into the Colosseum, which was amazing inside! We were so glad we didn't miss out on that one. We also visited the Trevi Fountain and made a wish as we threw a coin in. We climbed up the Spanish Steps as well and found a fountain by it where you can drink the water. We also found a great spot for a late lunch where we ate right across from the Colosseum.
This was the end of our independent travels across Italy. The next day we would get on a cruise! We were all excited to have some time to relax a little bit more in the next part of our trip. I have to thank my parents for all the planning they did for that first week. Jeff and I helped with picking hotels and gave our input on where we would like to visit but my Dad did great in having all the paperwork ready and booking the rental cars and trains. I cannot thank my parents enough!!
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