Italy Part III of IV- Venice and Rome

Venice was wonderful. The scenery was amazing. I've never seen a city with more bridges than roads and water literally everywhere. If you ever get to go to Italy, go to Venice. I bought a Venetian Carnival mask and Jo and I had the most AMAZING pizza either of us had ever had. And that's saying something- I'm from Long Island.

We, realizing our time was short in Venice, and Italy in general, realized it was our civic duty to eat more gelato before collapsing into our beds. The next morning we got up, and being the thrifty college students that we are, made a delicious breakfast of eggs, bread and sausages, and then packed our lunches and headed off in search of (gelato, um..er..) St. Mark’s Cathedral and the other Venetian sites to see.

After meeting some English tour reps and chatting about Italy for a while (we were experts by now) My Venetian vanity took over and I bought some “very cool” sunglasses with orange lenses and white rims. Chanel. (or fake Chanel). Of course they’re cool! We, my eyes now protected and Jo still stuffed from the amazing amount of food she’s able to tuck in at lightening speed, dawdled down to the Rialto, which is the first bridge built in Venice, and we sat around and basked in the sun for awhile.

As we sat on the steps leading down to another canal, pigeons (Jo’s favorite animal) approached us and tried to make friends. Jo shooed her map at them and they just fluttered their wings for a second as if to say, yeah? I can shake things at you too!.

We glanced to the right and we saw a tragetto, a sort of commuter gondola, picking up passengers and ferrying them (for 50 cents) to the other side of the canal. We deided, because we weren’t going to pay sixty euros an hour on a private gondola, to jump on and standing (because you cant sit) and laughing and taking pictures, we made it to the other side without falling in (much to the amusement of everyone else on board).

Upon arriving at the other side of the canal, we realized that we had no reason to be on the other side, so we found a bridge, crossed back over, and continued to explore all of the tiny streets and canals that made Venice so wonderful to behold.

We explore a bit more in the student district, got another gelato, (they were only a euro each). And lounged around a bit in Campo Santa Margherita as the sun slowly set. That night we wandered around looking for dinner and new sites and ended up eating at a tiny restaurant full of very old Italian people playing cards and yelling at eachother. We went home early (via a gelato shop for one last goodbye scoop) because the next morning we had to be on a bus at ten after six to get to the RyanAir airport for our flight to Rome.

(Go grab some popcorn or coffee or something or if you have to go to the bathroom go ahead, now's a good time. We're just riding on the bus.)

Bleary eyed, incoherent, and blustering, we went from a leisurely, quite slow pace on the bus (while you were getting coffee/popcorn/bladders emptied etc.) to checking in at the ryan air bus stop with passports flying, conformation numbers being wipped out and bags being organized and zipped to get on the plane. After a delayed flight (we still arrived on time because apparently planes go slow on purpose... I bet I could get from the states to Spain in a hour if they wanted..) we arrived in Rome, or a bus station of an airport, an hour outside Rome with a Rome derived name as was the case.

One more RyanAir bus later (and very interesting music on board aka Prozac fm- ask us and we’ll explain it to you) we found our hostel and some interesting roommates. We headed straight out using the Roman Metro where Italian metro etiquette educated us on how Spaniards do it incorrectly. (apparently one is supposed to crowd the door before one’s stop despite all of the free space not right by the door). Arriving at the Vatican, we went inside to see some of the most amazing statues and paintings and murals in the world. How can one describe the cistene chapel and it’s collection of loud, picture taking, non-revering tourists? (all ignoring the shhh that was mechanically sounding every minute or so).

(Hercules w/ Medusa's head. Cool.)
In a span of six hours or so we saw the Vatican (not just one room mind you), St. Peter’s square, St. Peter’s Basilica, The Pantheon, The Trevi Fountain (we threw pennies in guaranteeing our return to Rome) and denied the offer of blessed yellow flowers from about thirty men. That night, after our hostel’s free pasta dinner (not as typically Italian as we would have liked), we trundled down to the Coliseum and the Roman ruins with our legs and feet aching and
throbbing.
(Trevi Fountain)

(Pantheon.)
(Colluseum at night. Really cool)

With our must see list exhausted, we rewarded ourselves with chocolate fondue before heading back to the Freedom Traveler and trying to avoid our interesting roommates, we collapsed, knackered, into bed. The next morning, Victoria, almost bumping into a semi-naked australian man in her first waking moments and Jo, still trying to avoid the stupid American boys in our room snuck down to breakfast and prepared to go back to Spain.

Tomorrow: "Bilbao and San Sebastian" or "Why we like Northern Spain" or "No amount of rain will stop us from doing anything because we're HARDCORE!"