Italy in a Nutshell

Unfortunately, my procrastination on the blog is going to result in some high-level summaries of some of the places we've been lately. Perhaps my subconscious is shirking off any type of activity that distantly resembles responsibility. I'd like to think I was simply embracing the way of life here in Italy -- I'll get to it when ever the heck I feel like getting to it! Nevertheless, time in Italy was spent and needs to be written about.

Overall, I'd say the experience was a mixed bag. Our mistake was to start with one of the most beautiful places I'd ever been -- Cinque Terre. This is an area of Italian coastline that is really five small villages that are joined by a very hot, rickety local train line or some of the most beautiful hiking that exists.

These towns are indescribably etched into the stone mountain side resulting in steep, winding streets and sidewalks that seem to lead everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. There are also many terraced grape vineyards with small wineries nestled along the cliffs. The hiking was as beautiful as it was perilous -- many places had trails that were only about 18 inches wide had foot traffic going in both directions. Falling off would result in a long slide down a cliff (landing on some picnickers or sunbathers, no doubt). No railing or safety measures here. We skipped the wineries (the hiking was too challenging and all we really wanted was more water) but opted for many lazy afternoons under an umbrella or lazing in the warm ocean. In short, it was heaven on Earth.

To be fair, many beautiful places would pale in comparison to Cinque Terre, so it's only normal that we were somewhat let down by Florence. Florence was generally dirty, with a run down semi-suburban feel. Our big mistake was to disregard some advice to purchase museum tickets in advance (we'd been standing in line for several months at this point, why get fancy now?). This would prove to be a huge mistake. Getting into the museum that houses Michelangelo's David would prove to be over three hours of standing in the hot sun -- only to spent about 30 minutes in the museum itself. We were plagued with long lines, odd museum hours and an oppressive heat that was most easily escaped by going back to our apartment. In the end we didn't see much and weren't too sad to leave.

Our final stop of Rome was better in ways, not in others. We got off on a bad foot by getting incorrect directions from the Hotel website who insisted it was an easy walk from the train station. It would have been, had they provided the correct location on the map, not one that was over two miles in the wrong direction. The locals spoke only the most basic English and no one could really help us. We located an Internet cafe, where AC discovered that he never received a confirmation of our reservation. In addition to not being able to find the place, we're not sure if we even have a reservation! We found ourselves back at the train station (we were out of cash and every ATM we tried wouldn't take our card) and saw an ad for our hotel! Let's just say this ad resulted in a huge misunderstanding with the hotel that still makes my blood boil, so I'll write about it separately. :)

Rome itself was just beautiful. We started our time in the Vatican, where the Pope is treated like a rock star, and the treasures of the church are like none I'd ever seen. AC explained that many of these riches were actually stolen during the Crusades, a fact that the museums categorically overlooked. Other highlights include The Coliseum and the vast ruins of ancient Rome (like nothing I'd ever seen), the Sistine Chapel and all the other amazing places you'd expect to see on your first time to Rome. If you've never been, it's a must-see place.

One last observation about Rome was the food. In other Italian cities we had found a nice variety of cuisines to choose from. Rome was 99.97% Italian food. This would normally be great, but after several weeks I felt as if I had to eat one more slice of pizza I would explode ... the button off my shorts to be specific. It was a carb-laden time, but we were sad to see Europe go, and equally excited to get away from the Euro and awful exchange rates.