Day 19 – Saturday August 28th

Today is our last day in Florence before the night train to France and then off to Champagne. We slept in today so we could relax a bit.

Denise, Allyson and I went into the Basilica and then stood in line to walk up the 436 steps up to the top of the Duomo.



After the long walk, which has you circle the inside twice and then the outside deck, we took some pictures and then headed back to Mercato Centrale.
We grabbed lunch as a cute restaurant on a side street – I had gnocchi again but this time in a pesto
– and we learned that the whole dipping your bread in olive oil pre-dinner is an American thing and not a traditional Italian thing. The woman took away our dipping plate and bread while we were eating. We had coffee and split a tiramisu and then walked around the market. The leather goods are fantastic, from coats, to every kind of bag, to wallets and belts. I wanted to get a jersey but passed, maybe I’ll get a French one?
We went out and walked down the high-end shopping street and then walked to the restaurant outside of the Uffizi museum to have dinner at the delicious restaurant again. After dinner we headed home, grabbed our bags and hailed a cab. We got to the train station in a jiffy, got on the train and waited. We got off in Milan around 10:45 and connected onto our Paris line sleeper car for 11:35. We rode in two separate pairs in 6 person cars. Andrea and I had the very top row of the 3-sided beds. It wasn’t too bad either.

Day 18 – Friday August 27th

Today is day 2 of Florence. We got up early, around 7:00 and walked to breakfast at the café down the street called nabucco – they gave us meal vouchers for one pastry, one sandwich, one coffee and a glass of orange juice. Then we headed south towards Galleria degli Uffizi.On the way we walked by the Duomo again and then ended up in Palazzo Vecchio and in Piazza della Signoria. The Uffizi is U shaped with the bottom of the U South, lying on Fiume Arno (Arno River). On the West side of the Uffizi is Ponte Vecchio – the famous bridge (Old Bridge), lined with shops.
In the 1500’s the Medicis booted out the bridge’s once buthers and tanners and installed the gold and silvers shops still seen today. You can see along the top of the bridge the Medicis’ protected and elevated passageway that led from the Palazzo Vecchio through the Uffizi, across Ponte Vecchio and up to the immense Pitti Palace.
After taking 4 hours to walk through Uffizi, we grabbed lunch and then headed down across Ponte Vecchio to Piazza Pitti and the Giardino di Boboli. The woman was rude. She asked Allyson is she was under 25 and Allyson said no, she was 26 but I said I was. She asked for proof, I pulled out my ID and she said no sorry. Allyson paid for her ticket with a 20 – the woman couldn’t make change and seemed appalled that Allyson would ask her to, so Allyson paid for my ticket as well. I went back to see if she could use my international student ID card ISIC and she said ohhh no, sorry only EU citizens get the discount. Like it just felt like we were being discriminated against. We paid 10euro each and headed into the gardens.
They aren’t as well kept, as I would have imagined, a bit wilder than I would assume. We walked through and then sat in Palazzo Pitti, talking about the history. Afterwards, we walked east, grabbed some gelato and hopped in a taxi.
We rode east up the hill to Piazzale Michelangelo getting a fantastic look of the city. From there you can view all the sites that Florence has to offer.

We went back to our hotel for a Siesta around 6:00. Around 8:00 we went out for dinner. We ended up just walking back to Mercato Centrale for dinner. We ate at ZaZa’s, which I guess is the sound a bee makes when it stings your butt cheeks – the picture for the restaurant it a little boy with two bee stings on each of his butt cheeks.

They owned the restaurant we ate at last night too, La Mamma’s or whatever. I had ravioli with walnut cream sauce. We drank 2 bottles of Chianti and just hung out and chatted. We’re hoping to sleep in tomorrow, and then climb the Duomo afterwards, but tomorrow is our last day in Florence!

Day 17 – Thursday August 26th

Today was our travel day to Florence. We had a 9:27 train from Venezia to Frienze Stazione di Santa Maria Novella. We found a new way to get from our hotel to the train station, which involved only 2 bridges so we were happy girls. The train ride was about 2 hours and we grabbed a taxi in Florence to our hotel. Our hotel is cute and quait. It’s apartment style living, with adorable rooms, which are way nicer than I expected.They have cute painted vintage looking art on the walls and quaint furniture. The walkway from the main door on the street is adorable, full of plants and a little chair and tale set-up.
Camilla, our landlord, gave us some great dining and sightseeing tips and then we headed out. We walked about a block South of our hotel to Piazza del Mercato Centrale to grab some lunch. We ate at Pepó – a cute little trattoria with mintish green walls and pigs stamps, blackboards and chalk. Allyson and I splite the wild boar taglioline and I had Tomato soup known as Pappo de pomodore.
After lunch we headed farther South and saw the Piazza del Duomo, or the giant brick dome with 8 white ribs that towers over the city.
The Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore is a beautiful green, pink, and white, church made from marble. East of the Cattedrale is Piaza San Giovanni where the Baptistery stands – they used to baptize all of Florence back in the day. The doors are bronze by Lorenzo Ghiberti called the gates of paradise.After checking that out we headed back north just east of our hotel to Galleria dell’Accademia. We spent over 2 hours in academia looking at David and other renaissance art. It was interesting that they layout was mediocre. Denise, Andrea, Allyson and I talked about how Italy differs from America, and even France, with a pride in their art and history, and a drive to excel. Allyson analogized Italy to a rich kid living off their trust fund and now that trust fund is running out but its all they have. They seem to lack the understanding that tourism is a huge part of their survival and they don’t yet know how exactly to capitalize to the fullest with it. Like we were talking about how Italy's reputation far exceeds the reality that the people live in. It seems they are completely segregated, based on influence in the world and even language, from the rest of the modern world. They hold a lot of pride in their history yet can’t seem to keep it up. We’ve had interesting experiences thus far with the people and it’s given me a different perspective on Italy and Italian people.

After Accademia we headed back to the Duomo and had Aperitivos – Rossinis (Strawberry bellini’s) – and then walked back up to Mercato Centrale and ate and La Mamma de Frienze. Allyson and I shared fried lamb chops and rosemary potatoes, and we had Kir Royales, which were deliscious. Denise and Andrea shared a greek salad and beef tenderloin. It was a delicious dinner, but yet again, the bread was bland, chalky and sadly, is an Italian concept I neither like nor appreciate (I learned that it was rude to sop up the leftover juices off of my plate, but in Italy they purposely do not salt their breads so that it will be a blank canvas in which to house the other flavors).

Day 16 – Wednesday August 25th

Today was our day trip to Verona. Denise, Allyson and I caught the train at 9:50, so we headed north out of our hotel to stazione Santa Lucia. We hopped off in Verona. The main goal was to see Casa di Giulietta. We grabbed a taxi and went. Verona is just West of Venice. Casa di Giulietta is from the 13th century and quaint, with her famous balcony (although it was added in 1928) and extremely romantic.
The entrance to the courtyard is covered in multilingual graffiti left by lovers from all over the world. Now they ask you to write a letter to Juliet and leave it in the mailboxes that are placed in the courtyard. Its customary to take a picture with the bronze statue of Juliet, and hold her boob – strange but whatever. It shocked me how they had capitalized on the Romeo and Juliet story. There is a store called Club Juliet and inside they embroider anything you could want – from bibs to aprons to towels to hot mits and chef hats – with your name or with a saying.
They whole 2-floor building is covered in their art. After Juliet’s house we walked down the street northwest towards Piazza Delle Erbe. We stopped in Piazza dei Signori and took some pictures of Dante’s statueand the surrounding buildings and then walked just north and saw Arche Scaligere. We learned that this family had commissioned their tombs to be built next to this church.
We ate at a cute resturant in town and then headed back south towards Arena di Verona.
The arena was vast and now has regular opera shows of Aida and Madame Butterfly. We walked by Palazo Della Gran Guardia, which connects eastward with the first version of the city wall on our way down Via Roma toward Castelvecchio.
The castle sits along the Fiume Adige that runs in a giant sideways S through Verona. Ponte Scaligero was a beautiful bridge that connects the South dwelling castle with the northern bank. After a full day we made it back to the train station at 4:30 and were back for dinner at 6:00. We had it in our minds that we wanted to eat at the adorable trattoria for our last night. We had walked by it many times and really wanted to see it. We headed down towards Rialto on the northern path to catch our gondola ride.
We had some proseco and took a 45-minute tour of the grande canal. Afterwards, we made about 3 concentric circles trying to find the restaurant, never did and finally just went to one we had seen earlier. I had gnoicchi and wine, and for dessert sgrappinos again. They were not as good as the first time - warmer and thicker and less lemony fresh. We went home, packed and went to bed.

Day 15 – Tuesday August 24th

Today was our Basilica and Murano day. We got up early in hopes that we could beat out the crowds from the Cruise Ships at Piazza San Marco so we wouldn’t have to wait for hours to get into Palazzo Ducale or Basilica di San Marco. Allyson waited in line for the Basilica while Denise and I went into Doge’s Palace or Palazzo Ducale.


It was beautiful and was the official resident of the 120 doges who ruled Venice from 697-1797. We saw Scala d’Oro or the sumptuous Golden Staircase with stucco 24-carat gold leaf framing frescoes up to the 2^nd floor – designed by Sansovino and finished by Scarpagnino in 1559.We also saw Sala dello Scudo – or enormous globes and painted wall maps showing the known world in 1762 tracing Marco Polo’s travels to China and the mythical Uncharted Lands of the People Eaters. We also saw Doge’s Apartments furnished with rich brocades, impressive fireplaces, triumphal friezes, gilded ceilings and works of art. After reveling at the huge piazzetta and the quayside, done in pink and cream stonework and the large loggia with an arcade of columns and 36 sculpted Istrian stone capitals, Denise and I headed to meet Allyson in the line for the Basilica.

We got in right away. I had to pay 2 euro for a shawl for my shoulders and my knees. We walked in and just to the right is Pala d’Oro – the dazzling jewel encrusted gold screen commissioned in Constantinople in 976 but added to at later dates. It boasts 250 panels bearing 1,927 authentic gems and cloisonné plaques. The lighting made it hard to see, but it was glitzy and shone beautifully. We went into the treasury where the glittering riches are kept including precious chalices of rock and crystal enameled by medieval silver and goldsmiths and reliquaries from Venice’s eastern conquests including parts of the true cross. The flooring is a magnificent array of mosaic multi-colored stone on uneven levels in geometric designs. When looking up you can see the Ascension Dome depicting the New Testament.

After the basilica we walked due east along the river front out into Castello to San Pietro di Castello church and plaza. There are two ways onto the little island and this eastern area is more quaint and cute than other parts of Venice. We believe that more of the Venetians live out on these parts, its much quieter and more lived in, not as touristy. We walked through Giardini San Isepo and grabbed a quick bite to eat on the waterfront. We wanted gnocchi but they were only serving it to the workers who were doing construction so we ended up splitting grilled eggplant, zucchini and peppers, caprese salad, and 2 pasta dishes – one spicy spaghetti with Adriatic shrimp and another one.

We then caught the boat at Giardini station and headed east then north around Venice to the island of Murano – home of Murano glass.
We were there for a short time, after we saw glass blowing demo and bought some beautiful glasses, we went back to the mainland and relaxed before dinner.

Day 14 – Monday August 23rd

We woke up around 8:00 and had breakfast, I had a croissant, I had a roll with brie, hard boiled egg and smoked meat, and orange juice. We left our hotel in Dorsoduro and headed east to Piazza San Marco.
We spent the day looking around and then walked along the waterfront to Harry’s Bar and got a world famous Bellini aperitif where Ernest Hemmingway used to hang out. It was opened in 1931 by Arrigo Cipriani but named after an American who funded the enterprise.From there we walked in a North and then Westerly walk to Cannaregio into the Jewish Ghetto. The word ghetto originated in Venice, derived fro getto (casting) due to an old iron foundry here. In 1942 many jewish refugees reached Venice after expulsion form spain and in 1527 were obliged by law to move to this landlocked island. Subject to curfew to prevent fraternizing with local women, they slept behind locked gates, their island circles by an armed patrol boat. Today 33 jews still live there, while 450 reside in other parts of the city. In the ghetto Denise and I split the Ghetto panini, just grilled vegetables. It was alright, but the LemonSoda we had was great.
After lunch we walked west and looped around south past the train station and back to our hotel. We then walked south of our hotel to Santa Croce area. The are is a peninsula like area on the south side of Venice. We walked out east and stopped at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum. Its home to more than 200 works of art focusing on the avant-garde movements such as Cubism, Futurism, and Surrealism. The museum is set up somewhat in her old house and throughout the show you can see photos of her living in her house with the various art pieces in her different rooms. Outside in her sculpture garden is a wishing tree where people have attached wishes to the tree, gifted by Yoko Ono.
The gallery was strange, there is a whole segment on her daughter’s art and a story of an untimely death yet you don’t know it’s her daughter until your done and read it in the café afterward. The whole thing was very un-cohesive to a degree but she had works by Chagall and Picasso and Marini and Klee. After the museum, we rounded out eastward to the tip of the area and circled back and up northwesterly towards are hotel. We ate pizza at a recommended pizzeria called Pizzeria ai Sporivia. We got Proscuito pizza with mushrooms and artichoke and a spinach and ricotta and onion pizza. They were good, but by no means life changing, and a bit thicker. We tried to go the a geloteria down the street known for having a specific dessert but they now longer had it. After having had quite a bit of wine, we walked home and went to bed.

Day 13 – Sunday August 22nd

I woke up today around 7:30 and went out and had breakfast. I was the lone wolf in a breakfast room full of canoodleing couples. I had a croissant, a piece of bread and nutella, and a sandwich with brie and smoked meet. It was very delish. After breakfast I took a nap and waited for my Mom, she arrived at 11:00 and we took a moment and then went and had lunch along the waterfront by our hotel – mussels and caprese salad.

We walked around and did some mild shopping and then went back to the hotel. Allyson and Denise showed up around 5:00 and we recollected and then headed back out for dinner. We walked along the tourist path towards academia on our way to san marco plaza, we never made it but we did cross the grand canal at academia towards our destination, we decided to stop and eat dinner.

Allyson and I split the cuttlefish ink risotta and Denise and Andrea shared sea bass and grilled vegetables. We then walked home, got some gelato, and passed out around 11:30.