Wow, oh wow! The time
has arrived and that time is Spring! It is also a wonderful time for
universities students around the world because of two words and that is,
‘spring break’. What is so awesome about the spring break here in Brighton is
that it is practically a month long!!! The girls and I have been planning Itally
for a few months; It seems just like yesterday that we all were sitting around
in my flat booking our trains!! Now I am currently sitting in my flat about to
write about my experience and I am so excited to share it with you!
First stop: London-Gatwick
Airport.
Getting antsy by
watching the clock it was finally time to meet in the courtyard and I was out
the door with my bags in hand. We hopped on the train to head towards London
and before we knew it, we were sitting in the airport waiting for the gate to
be announced so we could go through security. Once it was shown on the screen,
we all grabbed a quick lunch then headed over to our gate to board. Savannah
was seated behind me and luckily I had an empty seat, so we got to sit next to
each other to our next stop which was Rome. Fast forward a bit, we arrived to
the airport and we decided to split a cab. Immediately, I noticed that the cars
drive on the right side of the road…which seemed foreign to me since I have
gotten so used to the cars being on the left!
Next stop: The Yellow
Hostel.
Once we arrived, we
did the normal shindig like check in, but welcomed by a minor hiccup. One of my
mates accidently made a booking mistake and we ended up having to find another
hostel for her that night but it was thankfully just around the corner. After
we all settled in our rooms and such, we were all starving and I had one thing
only on my mind…..PIZZA!!!! There was literally a pizzeria on every corner and
we had one just down the street from our hostel. We got pizza for 2 euros and
it was soooo delicious. Once our tummies were satisfied from pizza, we walked McLaren
to her hostel. On the way over, there was a homeless man who meowed and crawled
towards us like a cat too, it rattled us a bit. Once we composed ourselves, we
left the hostel and ran across the street to try and avoid Catman; He knew that
we were totally avoiding him and he stuck his head up and meowed…again! No
thank you!! Thankfully, that was the last encounter of Catman.
The following morning
we were off to explore Rome and what was pretty sweet was that our hostel was
in walking distance of everything we wanted to see. We made a small pitstop in
a café where I bought something that I didn’t recognize. If you know me, I am
not very adventurous with my food so this was a big step for me. To my
surprise, it was a freakin’ pizza sandwich! IT WAS SO GOOD (I want one right
now, ugh the struggle). We walked and walked and turned a corner and BAM! The
Colosseum was right there, in front of my eyes!
It was so neat to see something
in person that I have learned about in school or seen photos of online; I still
can’t wrap my head around that I saw it! Since the queue was so long, we got
advice to go to the kiosk to get tickets for the next day and we ended up
getting a great deal because we got tickets for the Palatino Gardens as well. After
the gardens we were off to what I was most excited to see, Trevi Fountain and
on top of that we got our first cone of Gelato! Gelato for breakfast? Don’t
mind if I do. To my dismay, when we got to the fountain it was sadly being
renovated. There was scaffolding covering 99% of it.
How could I live without
being like Lizzie McGuire and making a wish and meeting a popstar right after????
With the disappointment of the failed attempt to see the fountain, we headed
over the Pantheon. It was pretty impressive to see in person. Once we went
through it, we had 5 hungry girls on the search for some decently priced lunch.
We finally found a place to eat and with perfect timing too; it started to
rain. I ordered some pasta and I believe that is what everyone else got as
well. Luckily by the time we all finished eating and paid for our meals, it
stopped raining. Booyah, that’s what I am talking about! As we were on the way
to explore some more, we passed by a sign that said 150 Gelato Flavours. How
could we pass up this opportunity? So of course, we got our second round of
Gelato. I got this berry flavoured scoop and chocolate chip scoop, might I say
that it was delicious.
Next stop: The
Spanish Steps.
Taking a few wrong
turns and missing the alleyway we were supposed to go down, we eventually made
it to the Spanish Steps. We walked all the way to the top and my legs weren’t
happy but man, the view was lovely and to top it off… so was the sunset. At this point, I made it goal that everywhere I go, I have to make it a priority to find a viewpoint to see the entire city.
Since our legs were tired of
walking, we all decided on taking the tram back to our hostel to give our legs
a rest. That night, we decided to go to the event that the hostel was hosting, “The Rolling Bar”, at this event we got a few drinks and had the opportunity to
meet other people as well as getting to visit two locations at night. The first
stop was a view point of St. Peter’s Square! We sat and admired the view, as
well as talk to our new friends. Next, we were off to the Colosseum! It was pretty awesome being able to see it at
night. The evening ended like any other night full of memories and stories.
Staying out late wasn’t the smartest choice (although so worth it), especially
since we were going to wake up early for our tour of the Colosseum the next
morning. Of course like any day, it was morning and we were all so pooped.
We
grabbed breakfast, where I had another pizza sandwich and we were off for our
tour. It was really neat to see the inside of the Colosseum and see history
sitting right before us; like Katie said at one point, “Guys, a lot of people
died here,” which was very true, we even tried to eavesdrop in the group tours
but most of them weren’t speaking in English so there wasn’t really any point
to do so. Afterwards, we headed back to our hostel to grab our bags to head to
our next location. As we were walking to the train station Katie noticed that
we were heading to towards the wrong station, so in panic we ran into a local
who directed us to the right way which ended up us running than hopping on a
metro aand having to run through the station sprinting to the platform making
it to our train with seriously one minute to spare, PHEW! I was sat next to
McLaren and the whole time we chatted while admiring the beautiful scenery on
our train ride.
Next Stop: Florence
or like the Italians say it, Firenze.
Exhausted, we got to
Florence and of course we struggled to find our hostel. We had to pop into a
Hotel to ask for directions and they kindly gave us a map leading us to a spot
we walked by already (of course). This hostel was a little different it was
called, Locanda Daniel. Danielle and Mclaren were in one building but Katie,
Savannah, and I were just down the block in our own little flat! It was pretty
cool! It had its own kitchen, bathroom, and room with three beds. The negative
side of things of being in a different building is having to get in contact
with the other two with the struggle of not being able to connect to wifi. Once
we were settled in, we thought it would be a good idea to go ring the bell of
the other building; what was funny was on our way I look into a restaurant and
inside sitting there is Danielle and McLaren. It all worked out perfectly and I
even got a yummy pizza…so I was pretty stoked about that.
We also got another
cone of gelato, which was actually in my opinion the best gelato I had the
entire trip. MMMmmm, I want some right now. After we ate, I decided to plan the
next day with McLaren and Danielle so we were off to their building, which had
workable wifi. Along the way, we actually ran into Chris, who was someone we
met in Rome! Small world! We talked to him for a bit and said our farewells. We
got to their flat (which you had to walk up these killer stairs to get there)
and we were on to planning. Once we had what we wanted to do the next day, the
girls walked me back and we ran into Chris, again!! What’re the odds. The next
morning, we woke up a little later then we hoped but we caught up on the sleep
that we lost from Rome.
 |
| The View from the Hostel |
Us three headed over to D & M’s building to have
breakfast and the view from the hostel was beautiful, you could see the Duomo!
We somehow ended up in a doggy pile at one point that morning but is made me
realize how much I appreciate the four girls that I get to travel with just a
bit more. After talking to the receptionist about wifi and getting that all
fixed, we were all off for our adventures that day. We headed to the Duomo
first where I got the chills just listening to the church bells ring, it was so
loud but it was so magical. We tried to see ‘The David’ next, but the queue was
killer and apparently the first floor was closed so we thought it was way too
much to pay just to see that one exhibit, looks like I just got to go back and
see. We did happen to see the fake David and got pictures with it, so we didn’t
TOTALLY miss out.
Next we were off to see the Ponte Vecchio, which was a lovely
bridge that was recommended by a few different. It was super crowded that we
decided to not stay long, so we got quick pictures and we were off to the
Bardini Garden.
It was such a beautiful walk to the gardens with a bunch of
cute alleyways and homes. We got a great deal to see both Bardini and the more
well known, Boboli Garden, so we were off to a good start on the garden fix.
Although nothing was in full bloom, it was still so beautiful and we even got
to see an amazing view of Florence, view check and holy crud, it was so beautiful.
Thank you pinterest for suggesting us here, if you’re even in Florence
definitely make your way to Bardini Gardens, you will not regret. It isn’t a
trip to a new city without getting lost which did happen on our way to Boboli.
Since the Boboli Gardens was so huge, we decided not to hit very much of it and
find a spot to plop down and just rest a bit, which was quite lovely.
At this
point of the evening, we had a group of pretty hangry girls so we were off to
find some dinner. We settled at a restaurant close by our hostel and I got
Penne with meat sauce, it was alright to be honest but I was so hungry that I
didn’t care and of course we had gelato for dessert. We than headed to our
rooms to rest up a bit, but later explored the street markets to get some
souvenirs and look around, then ended it watching the sunset at the Ponte
Veccio Bridge. Later that night we ended back in our rooms and chatted the
night away. It was such a great way to end our time in Florence and I am so
happy that I got to spend my visit with such lovely mates.
 |
| taken by Katie Busch |
To be continued…
#nowplaying: Sugar by
Maroon 5
No comments:
Post a Comment