When in Rome...

So from France we had a brief stop in Switzerland. We stayed for only one night in Lucerne, but it was magical. We went to bed in the evening and woke up to find it snowing, and the city all white!! We couldn’t play long though as we had a date with a train to Italy!!

Lucerne, before...

...and after the snowfall!!

Italy was great, if only for the warm weather we had. After coming from the snows of Switzerland it was quite nice to see the sun come out for a bit. Our first stop was Venice, that magical city of canals and gondolas. The best part in my opinion is that there are no cars anywhere, all transport and logistics are done via the canal system that is embedded throughout the entire town like a blood supply. One minute you are walking down a metre and a half wide alley/road, turn a corner and you are crossing a mini canal bridge, which is always a nice surprise.

We visited churches and palaces (like we always do), we walked into every store that sold ‘carnival masks’ and finally bought some, found a butcher (which is actually a notable achievement in Venice). We also ate black spaghetti (dyed black with squid ink, a fact that Roy and I kept from the girls until after they had eaten it!). We visited two of the other islands of Venice, Murano where the famous Venetian Murano glass originates (obviously) and Burano, famous for its lace manufacturing, though I couldn’t bring myself to go into the lace museum. I never found out which island is famous for the blinds though… get it? *cue drum roll that indicates a punchline*

We haggled for a cheap ride on a gondola and managed to get ourselves a pretty sweet deal as our gondola followed behind some Asian tourists who had paid for the deluxe package which includes a singer and a guy with a piano-accordion. So we were able to enjoy the atmosphere without the discomfort of having two strange men in our boat serenading us with big grins.

On our last night all four of us went to the Venice Casino. Talk about out of place! When we got there we had to go and register ourselves, where they take your photo and passport details, then they made Roy and I exchange our coats for suit jackets (nice). When we finally got in it was like stepping into a James Bond movie. Extremely rich well dressed men sitting at card tables with the odd eccentric zillionaire, picture if you can, a red velvet blazer, a little stereotypical French moustache (not the handlebars) and a really bad comb-over… I rest my case. We got kicked out of the high rollers room for loitering I think, but we did manage to see a 500 Euro note! Yes that’s right they do actually exist! They are purple and equate to about AUD$835… scary! If you asked me to guess what song was playing in everyone’s heads that night when they looked at us I would say the song from Sesame Street… “One of these things just doesn’t belong here, one of these things just isn’t the same…” and so we left.

P.S. the place really needed more Bond girls! (Other than the ones we brought with us of course)

The Rialto Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice

The island of Burano, one of the islands of Venice

Someone must have let their kids choose the colours!

Squid ink spaghetti!!

I guess St Mark's just wouldn't be the same without the pigeons... although i wouldn't miss them to be honest...

Yeah, we forked out some cash for a gondola ride on the canal, but it was totally worth it!

Our next stop was Florence (Firenze) which unfortunately didn’t really meet or exceed any of my expectations. A great deal more beggars and poor people, including very persistent gypsies (and no before you ask, I didn’t get any of their tears). Most of the piazzas are in need of a little TLC most of everything is actually, but it was still full of character. We checked out some famous art in two smaller than expected galleries, we saw Botticelli's ‘Birth of Venus’ and Michaelangelo’s ‘David’ among others. We hung out at the Ponte Vecchio Bridge and took photos of the sky and clouds that look just like they do in many of the paintings of heaven. We took a day trip out to Pisa where we went up the famous tower, reopened after about 10 years, which was another tick on the list.

Otherwise we just hung out around Florence or cooked dinner in the world’s most pathetic excuse for a hostel kitchen while being given cooking advice from an overbearing Sicilian mobster (not sure if he was serious or just used it as a pickup line). We went out late one night with a new friend from our hostel and got gelato, then sat in the Piazza Della Signoria listening to a busker put on a mini concert of really good Simon & Garfunkel covers.

Looking down the river Arno in Florence

The view from Ponte Vecchio in Florence, looks just like the paintings

The postcard snap of the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore.

Like a classic tourist, Jo holds up the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Whoa!! that really is leaning!!

The view from the top of the leaning tower

The least cool guy in the world, holding the cooliest packet of chips in the world - HEEEEEY!!

From Florence we headed to Cinque Terra (roughly translated to mean “Five Villages”), where five little villages, obviously, are all situated along the western coastline. There is a 12km walk that we did that takes you from the first village (Riomaggiore) all the way to the fifth (Monterosso). We had spectacular weather as you’ll see from the Photos. We then caught the train back to the first village, where we were staying, trying to catch the sunset. There’s just something so great about watching the sun set over the water. All in all a really great day and my favourite part of the trip!

The village of Manarola, in the Cinque Terre

The Cinque Terre coastline.

The village of Vernazza

Finally was Rome! Where we did all the usual tourist haunts so I won’t go into too much detail. The Roman Forum, the Palatine, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Coliseum (from the outside), loads of piazzas, a bunch of churches and of course Vatican City. One day we actually got out of Rome and headed down to the ancient port city of Ostia Antica. It is no longer in use as the past hundred years, give or take a thousand, of silt deposits have moved the actual harbour about 3km away. But the city has been excavated and is in really good condition. You can walk around the entire city just like you would walk around in a normal one. You walk down paved streets, past temples, schools, shops, bars and residences, about 5 bath houses and mosaics galore. The size and the preservation of the complex just give you an amazing feel for life in those times. While we were at the old port Roy and Liz did some things on their own like quad-bicycling around the city and going to the zoo. Another great thing about Rome was the gelato store with 100 flavours!!! Which I think we managed to get to every night! When in Italy you have to have coffee and Roy and I tried ‘cafe ristretto’ which is an even more concentrated form of regular espresso, described by the guide book as “not for the uninitiated”… Great actually! While the girls had what could only be described as a literal translation of ‘hot chocolate’, which is exactly what it was.

The Roman Forum

Some AWESOME hot chocolate!! Practically just melted chocolate, literally HOT chocolate!

After travelling the world, Jeremy finds a monument dedicated to himself

Random good bits over the past 4 weeks!

* Cino is my new favourite soft drink, I think we get it in Australia; it’s like coke but with more bitter and less sweet.
* Liz asking a French winery worker if they spoke English: “Je m’appelle Anglais” (translates to “My name is English”)
* Not getting robbed in Rome! Or anywhere else for that matter!
* Buying 1.5litres of wine for 3 Euros! It wasn’t even goon either!