Day 8 - Florence to Rome

Florence

I woke up in Florence after about 3 hours of sleep - it was brutal. We were heading into town that day to actually explore the city, and I was excited to check it out but really could have used a lot more sleep. I remember being in much better shape than the others that I was out with until 4am the night before (they had had quite a bit more to drink, I think) but I felt very worn out and like I couldn't get my brain functioning correctly again.

I was also feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the different emotions over the last several days - good and bad. I was experiencing a lot of new things and some things I hadn't experienced in a long time. I guess you could say I was hitting my wall. I shed a few exhausted tears on the coach on the way into town, then forced myself to get it together and enjoy the day.

Florence is a beautiful little city, and is the birthplace of the Renaissance so it has a lot of history related to art and science. 

We started off at a leather shop, where we got a demonstration on embossing leather and how to tell if something is genuine leather or a fake. Then we had some time to check out the shop and buy things if we wanted to. I actually really liked several of the bags there, but they were on the pricey side so I decided not to buy anything. We had a little time before a walking tour, so we left the shop and most people got a bite to eat in a little shop. 

We met up with our tour guide, who was a mild mannered Italian woman who knew a lot about the history of the different sculptures and areas of Florence. We walked past several sculptures created by Michaelangelo and through the city. The city was very crowded - even though it was a Monday morning, it seems that tourists were out in full force. 

To be honest, I don't recall many of the details of the walking tour but at the time I found it interesting to hear the stories of the different things we were seeing. As with most things on this trip, I wish I had had more time to process everything I was seeing and learning - I think by the second week I was kind of hitting an "information overload" point where I just couldn't keep all the details and stories straight anymore. I will have to learn them again next time I visit Florence...

Legend has it that if you rub the nose of this wild boar, you'll return to Florence. Danielle and I hopefully will be back!

The tour ended by the "Duomo" cathedral, which is the main church in Florence and is one of the prettiest I've seen - probably second only to the Notre Dame in Paris. The entire Duomo looks like the following picture, but we didn't actually see it from this angle (I lifted this image off of a Google search!).

Despite only seeing a part of the Duomo up close, I was very impressed. It had such amazing detail - and the different colors/pictures were all mosaics, not paint. It was a very large church and very pretty. 

All of the colors and designs are made from tiles - even though it looks like paint from further away

The tour covered most of Florence - or at least the main sights. We walked around a little after the tour, then found a nice outdoor restaurant to get a pizza for lunch.

I heard somewhere that Florence was the place to get pizza in Italy - even moreso than other areas, at least. I was not disappointed. I ordered a margherita pizza and it was amazing! Food in Italy is very simple - it is made with fresh ingredients and it's not loaded down with extra toppings or seasonings. You just get the basic, fresh flavors of a few simple, quality foods. That definitely worked for my pizza - it was made with very thin crust, fresh mozzarella, marinera, and basil. 

Such a simple and delicious pizza!

By the time we were done with lunch, it was getting close to time to leave Florence. Danielle and I stopped for our first taste of gelato - I got Nutella and vanilla, if I recall correctly. It was very good though I was pretty full from lunch!

Conclusion on Florence:

Florence was a neat place and we were not there long enough. I had a lot of fun on the first night there, but I wish we had spent more time sightseeing. I feel like I got enough of a taste to know that I'd love to spend more time there. This city has so much history and it was impossible to absorb it all in the few short hours we were there. Admittedly, a well rested mind would have made it easier to do that - but I think even then there would have been too much to see in the time we had to see it. I am very glad we stopped there, though. If the legend of the boar is correct, I'll be back someday anyway!

Rome

We drove a few hours on the coach and arrived in Rome. Since it was already late in the day, we did not go to our campsite and instead went straight into the city for a walking tour led by Sarah. She brought us to a few of the more popular sightseeing areas and gave us a little time to explore each of them.

First stop was the Trevi Fountain, which is arguably one of the most famous fountains in the world. The legend holds that if you throw a coin over one shoulder, you will return to Rome. If you throw a second coin over the other shoulder, you will fall in love. I don't believe there is a particular order to it, and you don't have to fall in love IN Rome. 

We had a little time at the fountain, so I made my way down and threw a euro over each shoulder. I figure I probably have more control over returning to Rome, but it was worth a short to wish for both. 

In front of the Trevi fountain, right before or after throwing in my coins

Next, we walked to the Spanish Steps. They are fairly well known and regarded as a place to visit when in Rome, but I don't think there is any huge historical significance behind that. The steps are pretty and they are a place to sit and hang out more than anything. We had a little time to relax there, though I needed cash so I ended up spending the majority of that particular stop visiting an ATM.

The Spanish Steps

Phil, Danielle, Kris, and Kayleigh on the Spanish Steps (they did not know I was taking this picture)

The area around the Spanish Steps

Danielle and I in a kind of awkward selfie by the Spanish Steps

After leaving the Spanish Steps, we walked through several streets of Rome and ended up at the Pantheon. The Pantheon is so neat because it's so old - it was built in 126 AD and it's still standing and looking good after almost two thousand years. It's kind of mind blowing, honestly. I can't fathom any building being that old, especially considering how young everything in the US is in comparison.

The building was pretty massive and we were able to just walk in and check it out. 

The ceiling inside the Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon - so many details!

The obligatory picture to show I was really here

We then walked to the Piazza Navona, which is a fairly well known city square (or plaza). There are a lot of street vendors there, and it's just a pretty place to hang out. We broke up the walking tour at that point, and Sarah pointed us in the direction of some reasonably priced restaurants. We ended up sitting outside for dinner, which was very nice since the weather was good and there were some musicians playing Italian music nearby. 

I ordered the gnocchi primavera, which was very tasty. I love gnocchi but gnocchi in Italy kind of blows other gnocchi out of the water.

Of course, we had to follow up dinner in Rome with more gelato, especially since the guys missed out in Florence (and the girls weren't complaining about more gelato, of course).

We met the tour group back in the Piazza Navona and it was time to walk back to the coach and head to the campground.

The Piazza Navona

By this point in the trip, I was not feeling very well. I had started to get a sore throat in Florence, and staying out until 4am probably didn't help. By the time we got to the campsite, I was completely ready to crash. I was rooming with Danielle and Aynar and the rooms were really these weird little cabins. I got my own bedroom, because I was not feeling well, and that was kind of nice. But as soon as the other girls left the room to find WiFi and I flushed the toilet, I found that it wasn't working properly - it just kept running. I was about at the end of my energy for the day, but had to walk back to the main camp area and find someone to try to fix it. They weren't able to, so they moved us into a new cabin. Which was complicated, since the other two girls were not there!

Thankfully I found Danielle and we moved our stuff and left a note for Aynar. I about had a breakdown in the process (involving throwing my sleeping bag on the floor in frustration and swearing) but Danielle came to the rescue and we moved into the new cabin. I crashed pretty quickly, but unfortunately had trouble sleeping because my throat was so irritated. I guess Contiki cough is real, because I certainly had it by that point!