Italy Part III: Rome (New Year’s Eve)

**Warning this post is extremely long and is only our first day in Rome.  Feel free to scroll through and just look at the pictures if you don't want to read the whole thing**

Coming into Rome was an entirely different experience than anywhere we had been in Italy so far.  The train station was gigantic and filled with stores once you walked past all of the train terminals.  We figured out how to get to our hotel, which ended up being a much longer walk than I expected, and took a couple minutes to breathe before heading out to check out the city.  Our hotel was in the perfect spot (I have to say J did a great job of picking out our hotels!).

After we dropped off our luggage and headed out to adventure.  Being New Years Eve we weren’t sure what was going to be available for us to see the next day so we wanted to see whatever we could when we arrived.  First we headed over to the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument, which is home to the tomb of the Unknown Soldier and a gigantic building.

We wandered down the back half of the building to a piazza and then towards the amazing ruins.  Being there in person and seeing how amazing it is now only makes you wonder what it really looked in its prime.  After taking it all in we headed back towards the main road that connects the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument and the Colosseum.  We stopped to take a look at the Trajan Market, which just like the ruins, one can only imagine the impressiveness of the building when it was brand new.

From the Trajan Market we could see the Colosseum directly down the street and decided that it had to be our next stop.  Along the road (which had minimal cars, at this point pedestrians were the majority on it) we could tell they were setting up for New Year’s Eve Festivities.  (Side note:  Before we left on our trip I had Googled our options for New Years festivities and found that either near the Colosseum or near the Piazza del Popolo were our best bet for a fun evening.  We decided prior that we would definitely go for fireworks near the Colosseum for a truly memorable evening.) 

When we made it down to the Colosseum there was a long line to get in, but all over there were tour groups trying to get you to pay to go in with them.  We decided to give it a try since it included a guided tour of the Colosseum and we were guaranteed to get in that day.  The tour ended up being pretty informative and although we would’ve made it in without the tour group (the whole line went in while the tour guide was giving us a talk about the exterior of the building), it was definitely money well spent. 

When we decided we were done checking out the Colosseum and surrounding area we pulled out our map and figured out the next best route to take to make it to the places we had in mind.  Since we were passing the hotel on the way, we stopped by to grab water bottles we had purchased earlier and set out again.

Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain where we threw in coins together and took in the amazing sculptures.  Unfortunately not many of our pictures of the fountain came out clear due to the lighting.  From there we traveled across the Via Del Corso where there were Christmas lights strung from the Vittorio Emanuele II Monument all the way to the Piazza del Popolo! 

We came upon the Pantheon by mistake, what a cool building in the middle of a small Piazza, but couldn’t go in for another hour due to a New Years mass being held.  We decided to come back later, so we headed to the Piazza Navona.

The Piazza was nothing like what I expected, while it was a normal square, the empty space we had seen in other Piazzas was filled with midway games and shops.  What a fun experience!  We had some drinks and split a ciambella (pretty much a giant donut) with Nutella.  MMmm!

We were able to make our way back and into the Pantheon (along with a huge crowd!).  Such an incredible building, J was curious what happened when it rained (since there is a hole at the top), little did he know we’d find out on our last day in the city!  We ate dinner right outside the Pantheon, not our favorite meal, but definitely an awesome view!

We still had plenty of time to kill before midnight so we decided to make our way to a couple more sights.  We made our way to the Piazza del Popolo, which is a really nice square, but since it was cold out we didn’t end up spending too much time there.

On our journey back to the hotel to warm up temporarily before heading to the New Years festivities we stopped at the Spanish steps.  People were clearly beginning their New Years celebrations early as many people were sitting on the steps sipping out of bottles of champagne. 

We warmed up back at the hotel and threw extra layers on and made sure to put minimal things in our bags just incase.  We thought our journey from the hotel to where we wanted to watch the fireworks would take five minutes so we left around 10:30 thinking we’d have plenty of time to hang out before midnight.  However, Italian police had put up fences to control the crowd and so the road that would’ve taken us there in two minutes was blocked off.

J and I felt like sheep as we shuffled down the crowded streets, shoulder to shoulder with strangers.  The closer we got to where we wanted to end up, the more crowded it got.  As we got to the main road we started to hear loud bangs, but weren’t sure of the source.  Then when we broke from the crowd it was easy to see what the noises were; the fireworks we had seen street vendors selling on every corner during the afternoon (everything from firecrackers to M80s!) were being lit and set off in a large empty area surrounded people waiting for the festivities to begin.

The fireworks were loud and scary; to me they sounded what I imagined a grenade sounds like when it explodes. We made our way to the other side of the crowd but were still pretty close to the fireworks area.  I was actually taking a video of the fireworks when one exploded and a fragment hit me in the hand!  Man did it kill, but luckily for me my hand was fine the next morning.   After that scare we decided to move further away from that area.

This drunk guy was egging the crowd on and ended up having fireworks and champagne bottles thrown at him

The countdown to midnight began and we yelled along with the crowd.  Fireworks went off in either direction (professional and nonprofessional).  I didn’t think the sight could get any cooler, but then people started to light and release floating lanterns.  It was a real life version of the movie Tangled (but far fewer lanterns)!

So many people said Happy New Year to us!  Well more to J than me, every time I turned around someone was talking to him.   We waited about two hours before heading back to our hotel in order to miss out on the crowds.  I can’t even tell you how quickly the two of us fell asleep.

Definitely the most memorable New Year’s Eve ever!  I’ll write more about the rest of Rome in my next post!

Italy Part II: Florence

This entry is a little longer than I intended so if you don't feel like reading all of it please flip through for at least the pictures of everywhere we went.

Leaving the station in Florence J and I immediately whipped out our map and found out that our hotel was basically around the corner.  A short walk across the busy roadways (it was weird to see cars instead of boats!) and through a Piazza and we were at our hotel.  Diagonally across the Piazza our hotel was in was the Santa Maria Novella, a beautiful church that’s exterior was different from any of the other churches we saw throughout our trip.

We put our luggage in our hotel room (the nicest place we stayed by far, but also the worst show situation because you would only get halfway through your shower before you had to turn the water off and let the tub drain  so you didn’t flood the bathroom) and made our way to the Duomo (a really short walk!).   For Florence we made a list of places we just had to see and since our first day was only a half-day we kept our list small.  The Duomo was on the top of our list and when we got there we made the decision to make the long, cramped journey up to the top of the cupola (463 steps).  It was so well worth it.

Exhausted from our long and cramped trip up and down the Duomo, whose only way down is the same way you went up! We grabbed some delicious pizza and drinks before heading over to the Uffizi or the statue gallery.  It was getting dark outside and next to the Uffizi is a museum that is opened late called the Museo di Palazzo Vecchio.  The museum, which is an old palace, is incredible.  The Italians really love detailed and lavish décor.  It was beautiful.

From the museum we made a brief trip over to the Arno River and caught a glance at the Ponte Vecchio at night.  The purple lights that illuminated the whole bridge were very pretty, but I do wish they had been a little less colorful so you could see the fun colors in the bridge.  We did some minor wandering around the city before settling on a place to eat dinner right across from our hotel called Il Grillo.  The food was very good.  We both helped ourselves to first and second plates here, Part II: Florence the appetizer was delicious: salame, prosciutto, fried brie and toasted bread.  After dinner we grabbed gelato in the piazza and headed back to the hotel.  We had sometime to Facetime our families and relax our tired feet before we both fell right asleep.

The next day was our full day in Florence and we wanted to take advantage of it.  We had the concierge order us tickets to the Accademia the day before and we got the earliest visiting time (at the recommendation of J’s aunt) to beat the crowd to see David.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of the huge and immaculate statue.   From there we went to the Mercado Centrale, which if you’ve ever been to NYC it is kind of a more pleasant version of canal street, but the merchants were just putting up their things so instead we went into San Lorenzo (a really beautiful church).

From there we headed to Santa Croce, a church known for being the burial sight of Galileo, Dante, and Michelangelo. 

Even though we were both a little hungry, we decided to go to the Palazzo Pitti.  This building is an enormous building, with a more gigantic garden.  I can’t even begin to explain how fantastic this entire site was.  Walking through the palace I kept thinking to myself that people actually used to live there and how it reminded me of so many scenes from the movie Everafter.  The gardens were just as impressive.  I felt like I was in The Secret Garden because J and I were constantly finding different nooks and pathways.  Even though much of the garden was bare due to the season, it was amazing and I can only imagine how beautiful the entire place is in the spring.

From there J and I grabbed some panini for lunch and dropped by a chocolate store to get some snacks for later.  He got chocolate and almond bark while I got a chocolate covered meringue.  Then we traveled across the Ponte Vecchio for the first time and wow…I mean just wow.  The entire bridge is window after window of jewels.  Diamonds, pearls…you name it.

We then walked down into what I would consider the shopping district in Florence.  Since Italy’s Christmas celebrations are not over until January 7^th, all of the streets were still decorated, as were many stores.  We also came across a square with a carousel, which was also where we first experienced beggars that would approach you for money (could’ve been worse, you said no and they walked away).

We went back to the hotel for a quick breather before heading out to dinner.  Unfortunately a restaurant J’s aunt recommended is actually closed all of December and January and since it was later in the even most restaurants were filling up fast.  We found this little place and had a great dinner before heading back to the hotel and passing out from all the walking.

While we did a lot in Florence I think we could’ve used another full day in order to really see everything the city has to offer (or a whole week if we had the time).  We said our farewell to Florence the next day as we made our short trip to the train station and hopped on a train headed towards Rome!

Italy Part I: Venice

Like I said previously, J and I's trip to Italy was absolutely fantastic.  Finally we've managed to sort through the 2,200+ images and pick ones we want to share with our families and friends. It is even harder to choose pictures to share here because I don't want to go overkill with them, but I also don't want to leave things out.  Hopefully I've managed to accomplish this.

We arrived in Venice midday and were both exhausted having not slept at all on the flight.  I thought that the dramamine would've made me fall asleep (it usually does) but I was wide awake the entire flight.  We took a waterbus to the Piazza San Marco and lugged our suitcases through the square and to our hotel (only 2 streets over!).  The streets were fantastic, basically the size of an alleyway, but in a city that doesn't use motor vehicles and has so many waterways, big streets don't really make sense.

The rest of the day we wandered the Piazza San Marco and the streets around it.  We found ourselves right next to the Rialto Bridge!  We both starting hitting a wall so we went to eat and at first we thought that we would be in and out (because our server was going pretty quickly, the opposite I've been told about any Italian restaurant), but when it came time for the check our waiter disappeared and it took us nearly an hour to get our check.  We got back to the hotel and tried to stay up but both passed out.  I managed to sleep and get myself on Italy time, but J unfortunately woke up at 2 and was wide awake for the rest of the morning with nothing but Italian TV to watch.

The next day J and I didn't really make a plan for what we wanted to do other than we glanced at a list of places that J's aunt and uncle gave us of places they went when they visited Italy.  In the Piazza San Marco we could not go into San Marco because backpacks were not allowed and J had his with him, but we were able to go up into the Companile, or the bell tower in the piazza for a terrific view.  We wandered to the waterfront and opted not to go to the Naval museum.  We found a grocery store and bought ourselves a makeshift lunch of an assortment of meats and bread.  Down near the waterfront we sat on a ledge and just enjoyed how peaceful the entire city was.

The rest of the afternoon we spent getting happily lost among the side streets and coming across piazzas.  We made our way to the Arsenale which is basically Venice's military base.  It was an interesting building but definitely not my favorite.  Onward we went with just a general idea of what direction we wanted to go to.  Found a few interesting shops in the quietest corners, like a mask-making shop where you could watch them work in the window front, a Murano glass store (Murano is a small island next to Venice known for its blown glass), and a pet store!

We were pretty close to the Ospedale SS Giovanni e Paolo (Venice's hospital).  What a beautiful building.  The detail on the outside of the building was just incredible.  Definitely my second favorite building (first being San Marco).  The two of us were running on empty at this point so we made our way back to the hotel to take a quick breather and then headed out again.  We wandered the streets filled with shops until they closed (around 7).  Unfortunately for me we found a yarn shop(!) called Lellabella after it had already closed and I knew that we'd be gone before it opened the next day.

Dinner was at a restaurant near our hotel and now I'm kicking myself for not taking a picture, but the ceiling was covered in milk and cream pitchers.  It was awesome!  Unfortunately this was not our most successful dinner experience.  I managed to get us water and my food (which was small but awesome) in Italian, but J ordered his own food.  He wanted Spaghetti in bolognese sauce, but what he got was polenta with cuttlefish in ink sauce.  I know I know....not even close to what he ordered, but we were both caught off guard, we didn't know what to say (and have them understand what we were saying).  The food was black as night, but tasted like meat sauce (yes I tried it!).  It was not, however, spaghetti with bolognese sauce and thus J was not happy with his dish (do you blame him?).  To make up for the odd meal we headed out for gelato and ended up not only near the Rialto again, but near a chocolate shop where we each got something tasty to munch on back in the room instead of ice cream and some vino.

Back in the room we ate chocolate and drank the wine and it was the perfect way to end our first full day in Italy.  The next day we were up early and on a waterbus before most of Venice was up.  Waiting for our train at the station we decided we needed to make a better plan for what we wanted to see in Florence and Rome so that we would see more of each city than we did in Venice.  When our train pulled into the station and we hopped on, we were excited for what awaited us in Florence.