Spring Break in Italia!
April 2013
On Easter Sunday, I departed for the country I have always wanted to visit...Italy! I had two weeks off for Spring Break and decided to take this opportunity to travel alone (something I have never done) for the first four days and then meet my Mom in Tuscany to start our Gate 1 Tour for seven days. There is no way to describe the time I spent in Italy. I feel so fortunate to have been able to share this experience with my best friend, my mother. We had such an amazing time that I decided to go back in July!
Here are some of the pictures from my time in Italia! I have to give a shout out to Gate 1 Travel. This company makes traveling easy...
1. Never picked up a bag the entire trip
2. All tours and transportation planned and paid for
3. Excellent tour guides at each attraction
4. All breakfasts and many dinners included in the price
AND 5. A tour manager, Alessandro, who we can't speak enough good things about. He stayed with us the entire trip and made sure things ran smoothly for his 12 Angels...a nickname we got as there were only 12 ladies on the tour.
Check them out if you want a great tour at a great price!
March 31, 2013 (Easter Sunday) - Vatican and Big Bus Tour. These are some of the pictures from the Big Bus Tour that I took around Rome to get familiarized with everything.
The crowds outside the Vatican on Easter Sunday afternoon. While I missed the new Pope's mass, I did make it to see the outside of the Vatican. The line to get into St. Peter's Basilica was something I have never seen. I asked a security guard about how long he thought it would take and he said, "too long".
After taking it all in at the Vatican, I walked to the booth for Roma Christina Big Bus Tours and started the tour after first stopping in a cafe for a quick bite and some prosecco!
Tiber River
The "Wedding Cake" Building
One of the many piazzas in Rome with a beautiful fountain
View of the Vatican from the top of the bus, which was freezing cold!
The line to get in...that I passed due to the Roma Pass. If you visit Rome, this pass is definitely worth the money.
The cross in the Colosseum
The "Gladiators" outside waiting to take tourist money for a quick picture.
Break for lunch down the street at a cute cafe' - Caffe' Propaganda
The Roman Forum
The place where Julius Caesar was burned in 44 BC
The garden by the Vestal Virgin house
The Vestal Virgins were in charge of keeping the sacred flame burning that was not allowed to go out.
That night, I decided to go have wine and dinner in the Campo de' Fiori area in the pouring rain.
Dinner that night...Carbonara and prosecco
Italian men...enough said! I deleted the phone number...just in case;)
My extremely small hotel room in the Vatican area
I could barely move in the shower
Blowdryer??? This would never dry all of my hair!
April 2, 2013 - Vatican Museum, Food Tour and Train to Venice
The line outside of the Vatican Museum...I bought my ticket online months ago!
The ceilings inside the Vatican Museum were absolutely amazing
You couldn't take pictures inside the Sistene Chapel. It was so beautiful inside and peaceful. Even through the crowds of people, the artwork and spirit just takes over you inside.
Leaving the museum in the cab...the line circled all the way around the block.
I signed up to do a food tour of a neighborhood, Testaccio, through Eating Italy (appropriate name). It was a fantastic tour filled with many great tastes of Italy and some vino!
Tiramisu in tiny chocolate cups
Volpetti Piu - #3 ranked pizza in all of Rome
Non-Catholic Cemetery
'
John Keats mysterious tomb
Testaccio Market - perfect place to escape the pouring down rain that happened while we were in the cemetery
Bruschetta!
Our tour guides: Kenny and Jean Lucca
Dess'Art - My favorite Italian dessert (well, one of many) - cannoli
A museum that used to be a slaughterhouse
Monte Testaccio - a mountain made of fragments of the clay pots used to transport olive oil in the Roman Empire era.
The restaurant where we had lunch at the bottom of Mount Testaccio
The window with that displays the build up of the "pots"
00100 Pizza - This was heaven...called suppli (fried risotto ball)
Our last stop...Gelato!
This was an egg nog flavored gelato with fresh whipped cream on top (this place was famous for it)
Next, a fast train to Venice (Venezia) - took about three hours
Look at all of the sheep!
Arrived at the train station and took a boat to the Rialto Bridge area where I stayed for the next two nights. The hotel, Pensione Guerrato, is about 800 years old. It was a small hotel with a very hospitable staff and yummy breakfast! They helped me when my purse was stolen...more to come later!
Dinner - Slice of Venetian heaven and a bellini in a bottle!
April 3, 2013 - Murano, St. Mark's Square, Harry's Bar, Tour of Grand Canal, Pub Crawl, Pizza, and Discoteca (my big mistake)
I woke up early and took a boat to Murano (about 10 minutes) and walked around to look at all of the beautiful glass. I even stopped in a shop and got to watch a demonstration for free. I ended up buying a ring and thought about buying a gorgeous necklace (I ended up buying it when I went back in July).
Murano glass demonstration
Murano glass shop
I took the boat back to Venice and walked around to see St. Mark's Square where I did some shopping for a Mardi Gras mask or a Carnavale mask. I stopped to have a bellini at Harry's Bar and then took a Grand Canal Cruise.
Harry's Bar - famous for the first bellini. A little pricey but worth it. I sat at the bar and got to taste a lot of drinks the bartender made AND he gave me free appetizers which were yummy!
Doge's Palace
St. Mark's Basilica
St. Mark's Square
On the Grand Canal tour
At 6pm, I met up with Alessandro and did the Pub Crawl. I found out about Alessandro from Rick Steves Italy book. He said great things about his pub crawl and it was a great recommendation. We had a lot of fun! One of my friends from Abu Dhabi happened to be in Venice at the same time so he joined in the group too. I got these photos from Chris...thanks Chris! This was the night my purse got stolen with my iPhone inside. All of my pictures from this and a lot of my trip were gone:(
Alessandro discussing life in Venice...very interesting conversation.
24 hour clock
After the pub crawl, I went out with Chris and a couple that we met on the tour, Jalane and Bill from South Carolina. We stopped at a few places for vino in search of this bar that one of the locals recommended. We never found it but did find some delicious gelato. We all decided to head back to our areas and hotels around midnight. There was a pizzeria right by the hotel so I stopped in to get a Diet Coke and a slice of pizza. I ended up meeting two local guys and we stayed and talked for awhile. They were going to meet some friends in the Santa Margarita area so they asked if I would come...of course! We met some of their friends at a bar and then headed to a disco. I had a clutch purse in the disco and suddenly it was gone...taken so quick. The guys and security were so nice and helped me out. I decided that if all I got taken was a cute clutch, quite a bit of cash, my iPhone and some cute lip gloss then I was lucky. Someone needed it more than me. I wasn't going to let this ruin my time in Italy. The next day, I would take the train to Florence to meet my Mom for the tour...so all was good!
Continued in the next post - Gate 1 Tour with my Mom!
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