Italia

While Sam was visiting me in Paris, we took a trip to Rome and Venice for 5 days.

We left bright and early on Friday, June 12. After a delayed flight, a bus ride, and a long, hot walk, we wound up at the B+B we had booked. It was absolutely incredible! Free internet, air conditioning, our own marble bathroom. We headed out to explore Rome, wandering to the Colosseum (which was about 15 minutes from where we were staying). We wandered around the outside of the Forum as well, not willing to pay the ridiculous admission fees. For dinner, we found a cute little restaurant. Because of traveling, we hadn't eaten a ton during the day, so when we showed up at 6:30 for dinner, we were the only ones in the restaurant. Sam had clams, I had veal, and we shared calamari and shrimp. After dinner, we got gelato and then headed back, since we had woken up before 5 to make our flight.

On Saturday, we got on a Hop-on Hop-Off bus tour at the Colosseum. We took it over to the Vatican City, where we went to St. Peter's. On our way from there to the Vatican Museum, we ran into our friends Walter and Dan who were on trip to Rome with their program from Venice. We knew they were there but hadn't made plans to meet up. We chatted for a little while and then headed off to the Vatican Museum. After a twisted walked, we wound up in the Sistine Chapel, which was so crowded that it was hard to really appreciate it. After a quick lunch, we went to send postcards from the Vatican post office. As were wandering from there to Castel St. Angelo, we ran into Walter again! We took some pictures and hopped back on our bus. We had planned out a route to see Piazza del Poppolo, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain, but because of the Gay Pride parade, they weren't making all the stops. We still made it to the Trevi fountain. Unfortunately, when we got to the Pantheon it was closed for a private service. We walked to Piazza Navona and then ate dinner by the Pantheon, hoping that it would open after the service (which it didn't). We then began the hike back to our hotel, took some pictures of the Colosseum at sunset and packed up our stuff to head off the next day for Venice.

Because of the Gay Pride parade, our tickets had been extended for an extra day, so we rode the entire bus route before heading to the airport to catch our flight to Venice. We saw basically all of the touristy sights in Rome then, and worked on our tans/melted in the sun! We got tickets on a train from Termini station to Fiumicino (Leonardo DaVinci) airport. Again, our flight was delayed, so we had a snack and I started to do some work. After a quick 45 minute flight, we were in Venice! Luckily, we made the water taxi right after our flight landed and got to see some of Venice before getting to San Marco where our hotel was. Despite a detour due to a closed Piaza San Marco because of mass, we were able to find our hotel fairly easily. Then we headed out for dinner and of course gelato and wandered around a little bit.

Monday morning we were set to met Walter at the Doges Palace where his class was going in lieu of class. We wandered over there around 10 and headed inside with his class. After going to so many palaces in Europe, this was just another one. However, it did have a really cool dungeon. Walter's class was set to do some more stuff that afternoon, so Sam and I went shopping for souvenirs. We hadn't bought anything in Rome because we were told that Venice would be cheaper (which it was). We bought lots of miscellaneous Venetian souvenirs...scarves, masks, Murano glass. A quick stop at the hotel and we met Walter for dinner...and gelato. Then we hopped on a Vaporetto to the island where his school is, San Servolo. After hanging out there for a bit, we headed back around midnight.

Tuesday morning was our last one in Italy. After breakfast, we headed over to St. Mark's. It was gorgeous inside, but most of the special rooms had separate admission fees. We wandered around the Piazza a bit and then decided to try to find a museum, because our admission to the Doge's Palace included admission to a few others. We picked the closest on the map, but when we got there, we couldn't find it! So instead, we got lunch which we ate sitting on one the many bridges. We then picked up our suitcase and headed to the bus station to go to the airport. We sat in the airport for a while before we could check in and then when we finally went through security, they confiscated my laptop lock because they told me I could strangle someone with it. Oh Italy! At least our flight left on time. After another bus ride, we splurged on a taxi and made it back to my apartment early Wednesday morning.

Despite how unbearably hot it was, it was a great trip. It was definitely awesome to see Walter too, after not having seen him since January. Unfortunately, I had to come back to the real world immediately and start studying for the final that I took Saturday.

Now I'm down to 5 days and 1 more final. This may be my last update from Paris... I am unbelievably excited to get home! And then a week from Thursday, I'll be in Boston!

See you soon!