Venice, Florence and Rome - Italy

The five of us flew on a pretty empty plane to Venice on the. It's hard to believe we had been to 7 countries in just under 3 weeks! We caught a water taxi to our hotel...well the canal near our hotel. And after a bit of searching we found the hotel in a very narrow street. We then went exploring before going to a restaurant called 'San Trevaso' which was recommended by our hotel. I had the best damn prawn pizza EVER! It was a great first real Italian foodie experience. 

We pretty much only had that day in Venice as we were catching a train to see my relo's for lunch the next morning. So we decided to wander around Venice with no real purpose other than to soak up what it had to offer. We got lost many a time in the tiny streets, hit a few too many dead ends, crossed the Rialto bridge about a thousand times and sweat off a few kilos in the heat. We finally made it to St Mark's square and it was beautiful. 

After our long day of exploring, we decided to have a drink. After walking out of a cafe full of rude Italian men, we found a cute little cafe and had a hot chocolate. 

On the Rialto

At about sunset, we went on a Gondola ride. There were several moments where we all thought we were going to fall into the canals but somehow our Gondola man kept us afloat. It was really nice.

We then went on an adventure to find one of the top rated pizza place's in Venice as stated on trip-advisor. By the time we found the place it was closing. As disappointed as we were, we still managed to find some good italian food for din din. Our first and last night in Venice ended in gelato and a ridiculously long walk home after getting lost a few times. All in all, I really liked Venice :) 

My fav photo of the trip

The next day we caught a train to Treviso, about half an hour away from Venice. Both my Nonno and Nonna are from Treviso and I really wanted to see the area and some of my family. My dad's first cousin Franco and his daughter Vanessa picked us all up. They both spoke pretty much no english and I barely speak Italian soooo it was a tricky start. Luckily Franco's other daughter Nikoletta could speak pretty good english so she was our translator for the afternoon. 

Franco took us for a drive past Nonno and Nonna's old houses and then we went back to his house for a HUGE lunch consisting of pasta, meat, veggies, fruit and two types of cake...look we were pretty full. It was really great to meet them all (And we didn't even meet the whole family). 

That afternoon they dropped us back at the train station so that we could catch a train to Florence. 

The Fam

We arrived in Florence around dinner time, so we grabbed a bite to eat (I had a yummy meat cannelloni) and then we walked to the famous Space night club to check out what it was like. We decided to save our big night for the next night... 

The next day was Florence sightseeing day. We pretty much grabbed a map from our hotel and tried to go to most of the big icons on the map. Let's just say we saw a lot of churches that day. 

But really, we did see some cool things like the spectacular main cathedral of Florence - Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore in the Piazza del Duomo, which had this cool crypt underneath. Then we walked to the Palazzo Vecchio (the town hall) and climbed the tower to see this amazing view over the city. While we were up there the palace bell began to ring. It's really cool hearing/seeing all of the many church bells go off at the hour. 

Outside the Palazzo Vecchio are all these replicas of famous statues such as the statue of David. Lucky we saw that because we didn't get a chance to see the real thing (the lines were crazy long that afternoon). 

Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo)

Palazzo Vecchio

View from the Palazzo Vecchio tower - the Duomo (it's HUGE)

We then went for lunch and I had such a good meal. For entree to share, Josh and I got this Italian bread topped with Tuscan sausage and melted cheese. Man that was so good. Then I had gnocchi for lunch. Not as good as Nonna's but still really good! 

That afternoon we did more sightseeing including; the Pitti Palace which had nice gardens and a costume museum of old royal clothes and; the Ponte Vecchio (old bridge). 

Pitti Palace

Costume Museum

Ponte Vecchio

Randomly found a Da Vinci Exhibition...

After some amazing gelato we decided it was time to get ready for a big night out. After dinner we found a place called 'fish pub' that was playing the Confederation's Cup soccer (it was Italy vs someone) and had 5 shots for 5 euro. Perfect for the 5 of us. We ended the night at Space...danced a bit....lost Jas for a bit. The usual big night out. 

At Space!

The next morning we were off to Rome! 

We got into Rome just after lunch and were finally reunited with the Ness and Christine :) We all caught a bus into the city and did a walking tour of the Colosseum (with sunburnt Paolo) and the Forum (with nice guy Tom). 

Inside the Colosseum

The Forum

We then went to see the beautiful Trevi fountain which was packed with tourists like ourselves and then got a gelato to enjoy on the Spanish steps. We waited forever to catch a bus home in which an older smelly bogan couple were having a domestic. The woman had armpit hairs as long as a girls fringe. It was gross. To top it off, we got off at the wrong bus stop. BUT it was a fantastic day in Rome. 

Trevi!

Spanish Steps

The next day we got up early for another sight-seeing day! We went inside the amazing Pantheon, walked to the Piazza Navona, saw the Italian law courts and the Saint Angelo building, all on the way to the Vatican.  One peice of advice - if you're going to have lunch before the Vatican - don't eat near the Vatican. Too touristy and possibly had the lamest pizza ever (I do realise that every meal has been either pasta or pizza - but hey it's Italy!) 

We had a guided tour through the Vatican museum, Gallery of Maps, Gallery of Tapestries, Raphael's Rooms and then the Sistine Chapel. We then wondered through the HUGE and BEAUTIFUL St Peter's Basilica (with no Pope in sight). 

Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

Vatican

Vatican Garden

Raphael's Rooms

Sistine Chapel

St Peter's Basilica

After that we were pretty pooped so we wandered Rome until we found a Gelato shop and a park and we lay down and ate and things were good. We looked at our map of Rome and decided to tick off a bit more sight-seeing. We finally made it back to the Piazza Navona to have an apple spritz at a bar and some dinner at La Scalletta (Josh and I shared smoked mozarella, carbonara and veal saltimboca - holy moly it was good). 

The night doesn't end until we find gelato and we found the biggest gelato place ever (which had Kit-Kat and Kinder flavours mmmmmmmm) 

Me as Pinocchio...

The next day I slept in until lunch (sight-seeing is tiring). Josh and I then went to meet our good friend Lotte at the Trevi fountain (big mistake - too many tourists as mentioned above). Once we found Lotte we went exploring for a trip-advisor top rated take-away pizza place. Yep, trip-advisor was right. It was reallllyy good. 

Again we went for a drink and then enjoyed gelato on the Spanish steps until it was time for Lotte to go home. Josh and I walked back to the Piazza Navona to meet Bren and Laura and on the way walked through what is probably Rome's most expensive shopping streets. WOW how I wished I was rich. 

At the Piazza there is a church and we thought we may as well check it out. Seriously, these random, not well-known churches are AMAZING inside. Everything in Rome is just so huge and grand and it's out of this world. As you may know, the night ended with Pizza, gelato and an early night in for an early flight to Switzerland. Man I LOVED Rome. Oh and all of Italy too!!!!