Italy Trip

After working my brains out for 2 semesters and summer term at school and my two jobs I finally took a needed break. Two weeks before winter semester ended my roomate and I decided to take a trip to Italy. We made our plans and then the day after finals left for a wonderful two week trip. We were up until 4 am the night before finalizing our plans (we still didn't have a place to stay at our first stop, in Rome, because of all the hullabaloo with the new pope's mass which was scheduled for three days after our arrival.

We finally suceeded in finding a cheap hotel by the train station for our first night and then had three hours of sleep before we left for the airport. We arrived in Rome, found places to stay for the other two nights we were there and then dashed off to see the sights. All we actually did was follow a little map that was handed out to us and happened to stumble on the ruins, the Trevi Fountain, and a plethora of other sights. It was amazing. We saw the coloseum, the forum, the Vatican, the Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, and so many other wonderful things. My favorite was our first night out when we went to the ruins for the first time. It was so quiet. The tourists were all asleep of partying but Cassie and I were able to walk around the forum, Coloseum, baths, and temple of the vestile vergins while they were lit up.


The night sky was clear and the moon and stars shone round the ghostly monuments to a ruined civilzation. The night was still as we sat and reflected about this once great city and all the history involved in it. We did plenty of walking, that was for sure, but it was wonderful. And of course made sure we had plenty of time to play around and take pictures with random statues strung throughout the city. Before we left Rome we took a side trip to Tivoli where the ancient politicians and wealthy Romans would take their holidays. Then we headed to Florence.


Florence was the perfect combination of warmth, art, and friendliness. We were able to stay with a friends family for our five day stay there. We didn't expect it, but they would feed us breakfast, dinner, and then pack us a lunch for our touring around the city. Anna took us to an amazing outlook of the city on a nearby hilltop. The hills were a vibrant green with large terra cotta villa's speckling the landscape. As you can see in this picture there is a huge cathedral (I believe the third largest dome of it's kind in the world).

We also toured the once prominent Medicci family's property, including this bridge and half of the buildings on either side of it. Now this bridge is known for all the gold and jewelry sold on it. Another one of the Medicci family mansions is now the Ufizzi museum. Cassie and I were able to avoid the long 4 or 5 hour wait to get in through depostiting $50 on a bancomat card. When we did this, they automatically gave us two tickets to go to the front of the line. It saved us plenty of time, plus we were able to see great works of art by Donatello, Michaelangelo, Rembrant, Coravaggio, Botticelli, and more. While in Florence we also had our first taste of Gilato, YUM!