Family Vaction - Italy 2009

Recap:
Overall it was a great trip and no one killed each other. It was a once in a lifetime trip. Two weeks was a good amount of time to see everything. I would have to say I liked the coast the best and climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa. It was good amazing to have the chance to see so much. I would like to go back to Venice, Florence, and the Coast one day. There is so much history and art there.

Food – It was just ok, but very expensive. You had to pay for water and the basket of bread. Pizza was ok, just thin thin crust and tomatoes and chunks of cheese. Gelato was not as good as what I thought it would be. It was full of flavor, but I like our ice cream better. Pasta was very fresh and homemade. Sauces were mostly good some bland some very flavorful. Wine was great almost everywhere.
People – The people, for the most part, were all very nice and helpful. We had a few waiters that did not seem like they liked their job and the taxi drivers were not the friendliest. A lot of people knew English, which was very helpful.
Weather – The weather was perfect. It was about 80 to 90 everyday with no rain. On the coast there was a little haze but the weather was still good.


Milán – We did not spend much time here, but we really do not need to. We saw the Doumo “big church” and went to mass. The mass was in Latin and Mike and I had the opportunity to bring up the gifts. We were in the right place at the right time I guess. We also saw the “Scala” which is a very famous opera house with a museum. In the museum we saw original costumes made by Picasso. Also in Milan we saw the mall and lots of upscale stores.  We all took a spin on the "Bull's Balls".

Vencie – It is hard to believe this place is built above the water. I thought it would smell bad, but it did not. You have to walk everywhere because there are no cars or roads. It was pretty crazy. My mom did not like walking over all the bridges. The sea food was great here. We saw St Marks Basilica which our guide told us is also called “early ransack” because everything used to build and decorate it was stolen. We saw the Doges “Duke’s” place with the world’s largest oil painting, the bridge of sighs, and the jail where Casanova escaped from. We saw some other churches and took the elevator to the top of the bell tower where you could look at the whole city and see the other islands.

Florence – Beautiful city with lots and lots of scooters. We saw many churches and burial places of dead artists. We saw the David in the Academia and the Uffizi museum. We walked around the “old bridge” and saw the Boboli Gardens. The Gardens should be just called an Arbor because all it was was trees; I was a little disappointed. We also climbed to the top of the Doumo (400 something stairs) and got to be right next to the frescos that were painted on the center doom. Nights were a neat experience to just walk about and see the street performers.

Pisa & Lucca – We got to climb to the top of the Leaning Tower. It was the weirdest feeling ever and very disorienting . The cemetery and the church there were cool to see as well. Lucca was an old medieval town. We went to a few churches and climbed on the city wall.

Rome – I think Rome is like New York. Lots of tourist here. We saw the Vatican with the Sistine Chapel and St Peters. I could not believe how big St. Peters was and how big all the statues were. It is a must see. We climbed to the top of the church here as well. We also did the Scavi tour which takes you 3 stories under the Church of St. Peters where you can see his bones (very small). One day we went to the Roman Forum and were told that there are still 8 layers of ruins below what you could see. We did the Coliseum, Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain.

Posotono – Beautiful but lots and lots of stairs and winding roads. Great views everywhere. The beach was made of little pebbles and not sand which was cool. There were jelly fish in the water so we only got to put our feet in. They said the jelly fish would be gone by the end of June. The towns on the coast were small but full of shops and activity.

Capri – We took a ferry to the island of Capri and it was awesome. Our car was a little convertible with a fabric top. We literally took a “chair” lift to the top of the island. It took 12 minutes and was a great view. We did the blue grotto which was cool, but not worth the amount we paid for it. Also, we saw more churches. One church had blood of a saint which would liquefy 2 times a year. It was a little creepy to me.

Pompeii – there was a lot more there then I thought there was going to be. We saw houses, temples, theaters, bathing places, restaurants, and even a brothel. All you saw was walls and floors they took all the artifacts and put them in museums which kind of stunk. The city was huge and we did see some of the casts of the bodies that they had found. There were too many tourist there and it was hot in the sun, but cool to see once.