Italy

After saying a somewhat sad goodbye to France, we packed our bags, caught a plane, and set off for Italy…

*             *             *

Our first taste of Italy was Venice, the half-sunken city of masks… 

  …Piazza San Marco, and some very, very much needed coffee...

  

…It felt a little surreal to walk along the tiny cobbled streets of venice, to see the arching bridges, and listen to the soft lull of the canal waters. With no cars, bikes, little european scooters, or even skateboards, the city manages to capture a lilting stillness that is magical to some and simply artificial to others… 

...although, to be perfectly honest, I'm not sure if the quietness of the city was due to the lack of vehicles or the fact that I couldn't hear very well at all thanks to a bad case of swimmers ear (curtesy of too much time in the mediterranean ocean :]). 

After a day and a half in Venice we hopped on a train to Florence…

…First on the list of sights to see was 'Il Duomo di Firenze'- the largest cathedral in Florence, and a major inspiration in Renaissance architecture… it was very neat to see some of the places where DaVinci, Michaelangelo, and Dante were born, raised, and worked.

 

...way up in a mountain

way down in a valley

I know i'll be happy

any place anywhere

I don't care

any place is alright

long as you are there…

We climbed a little ways into the tuscan hills in order to see the florentine skyline from a distance… the orange buildings made a rather pretty contrast to the verdant countryside and soft blue mountains in the distance…






...this little bike with flowers outside an antique shop was very possibly my favorite stop in Florence...

…the Arno river…

...we took a day trip from florence to see some of the tuscan countryside, as well as a few surrounding towns (and their cathedrals)...

            

…After two and a half days in Florence we boarded our last train and headed out to the long-looked-forward-to city of Rome...

….walking through the central part of Rome, where the history and culture are wholly inescapable…

…there are stories written in the ruins at every turn- ancient structures, tumbling marble buildings, half-forgotten courtyards…. it was impossible not to feel overwhelmed by the richness, the oldness, and the mystery of who and what used to be...

 
    … visiting the colosseum and the roman forum…

…we headed over to see st. peters basilica and the vatican… that, up there, is about a four-and-a-half-hour-long-line, in absolutely full sun, on a very hot, very muggy, very uncomfortable sort of day….  So, we thought up a better plan- a much better plan. Go sit down by the cool, peaceful river under the shady trees, and wait until the pope was giving his address to see the vatican, at which time no one else would be in line as they would all be watching the pope…. a  definitely very-much-better plan...

… the spanish steps were interesting to see, although they were also packed with tourists and street vendors….

... in fact, it was pretty much impossible to go anywhere in Rome without being mobbed by overly- determined street vendors selling everything from scarves and hats, to roses and parasols, to pictures with dressed up roman gladiators. (the gladiators and the rose-sellers were actually a little frighteningly forceful, we had to work rather hard to avoid them)

…by our last few days in Rome, we both had colds and were really done with the constant noise and bustle of tourists and vendors, and looking to do just about anything in order to find a few moments of quiet by ourselves. What better than to swap out roman people for roman animals… yes, we went to the zoo :)

Giraffes, lemurs, and bears… and scarcely any people at all. A perfect reprieve from the crowds...

The zoo turned out to be a small portion of a massive public park, an old estate donated to the roman city. It was definitely more of a young-local-family-place than a noisy-tourist-place, and thereby much more quiet and peaceful. 

we explored it on foot first, and then rented one of these fun little go-bikes (they were sort of a cross between a bike and a go-cart….) 

 …our last day in rome, we headed over to see the vatican museum. (during the pope's address- this time we were welcomed by a very short fifteen-minute-long line, and were able to enjoy the splendors of art and history inside)

...in a far away land

on a tropic sea sand

if your hand's in my hand

I won't be blue…

 The time we spent in europe was a really incredible adventure, we both thoroughly enjoyed it and learned so much about other cultures and peoples and by contrast, our own.  While I at least still feel that I could be quite at home in a european country, I definitely find that I have more appreciation for some of our customs, freedoms, and responsibilities here in America than I did prior to our trip. (for example, we both now have a special appreciation for the ability to walk into a coffee shop and know that the waiter is not going to yell at you. But that's another story.) 

… Perhaps some day we'll find another opportunity cross the atlantic again and explore a different corner of this majestic world. I'm certainly hoping so…