Italy (Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome and back to Milan)

Italy

We finally arrived in Milan at 8 am night on Monday the 18th, a long time after leaving Copenhagen. Fortunately, all 5 of our bags (my 3 from being abroad and my parents 2 carry-ons) arrived and we took a taxi to our hotel.

What we did:

Tuesday, May 19th

We woke up early, got a big breakfast at the hotel, took the Metro to the Central Train Station and got our train to Venice. My parents got 1st class Eurorail tickets so we sat in pretty nice chairs with decent air conditioning. However, the train broke down in Verona, so we had to get on another train (that was already full) to Venice and so ended up standing for most of the rest of the ride in an un-airconditioned crowded 2nd class car. After arriving in Venice, we took the Vaporetto to our hotel, which was in a great location right next to the Rialto Bridge. After settling in to our hotel, we walked to Piazza San Marco, went into the Basilica San Marco, climbed up to the top, walked around the plaza, got gelato and went into the Ducal Palace. Afterwards, we just walked around that area a little big, got dinner by the Grand Canal at a very touristy (but pretty) restaurant,

Wednesday, May 20th

1. Breakfast at the hotel
2. Took the vaporetto up to the old Jewish Ghetto and walked around a bit and then crossed the Grand Canal and walked around Santa Croce area.
3. Went into the I Frai (a large church)
4. Got lunch on a canal
5. Walked over to the new Calatrava bridge (it looks like a fishtail)
6. Took the Vaporetto around the back side of Venice to San Giorgio Magiori, a famous Palladio church
7. Took the Vaporetto back to Piazza San Marco, walked around, my parents bought some glass
8. Took a break and got some gelato, bought some venetian marbled books
9. Back to the hotel and dinner at a restaurant relatively off the tourist path (although this is of course impossible in Venice)

Thursday, May 21st

We had a mid-morning train to Florence; so after breakfast, my mom and I went out to a bakery and to the market to get some food for lunch on the train. Then we went to the train station and boarded our train for Florence.

Thoughts on Venice (in no particular order):

1. Venice is pretty much exactly like how you expect it to be, there are little canals everywhere and you are constantly running into the stereotypical arched bridges and cute little corners. Venice was very beautiful, picturesque and photogenic.
2. I thought it was pretty cool how there were absolutely no cars in Venice. I had never really realized/thought about that before, but there would be no way to drive cars since you would always be coming to bridges etc. Also, there weren’t really any mopeds, which made walking around a lot nicer.
3. I loved all of the old twisting, narrow roads and didn’t really have a hard time finding my way around since the Grand Canal was a good landmark.
4. The food in Venice wasn’t that good, our second dinner was pretty good, but other than that, nothing special.
5. I thought the buildings were very cool, not just because they came right up to the water but the way they mixed Italian architecture with Eastern, Byzantine and Ottoman influences. I thought the more ornate style also helped make the city more attractive and pleasant to walk around.
6. Piazza San Marco was very beautiful, but I really didn’t like how there were no places (besides the restaurants) where you could sit in the square. It seems like the really discourage people from using the square as a public meeting/hanging our place since you aren’t supposed to bring food and eat it there and as there are no benches. (This is very different from Copenhagen where they try to make the squares good for people to hang out in).
7. One of the first things I noticed about Venice/Italy in regards to Denmark was how everyone tried to sit in the shade, whereas it is totally the opposite in Denmark. Of course, this makes sense as it get hot in Italy and as the Danes are without sunshine for most of the winter and so appreciate it more, but I just thought the contrast was interesting.
8. In all of my travels, Venice was the best city to get souvenirs from since the city is known for so many things such as glass, paper marbling, carneval etc and there are lots of artisan shops.


Florence

What we did:

Thursday, May 21st

We arrived in Florence from Venice (fortunately nothing went wrong with the train this time) in the early afternoon. We rented an apartment in Florence, which was right across from the Duomo, and about a 10-minute walk from the train station. We got to the apartment, and the owner who was very nice and helpful let us in and showed us around. It was very hot that day so we rested inside for a bit and then just went out and walked around Florence for a while, down to Ponte Vecchio. We stopped for dinner at a random touristy restaurant and then headed back to our apartment.
Friday, May 22nd

1. Breakfast in our apt
2. Went to the Duomo and stood in line before it opened, but the line moved pretty quickly once the Cathedral opened
3. Climbed up the to the top of the Dome (400+ steps) which was cool, once we got high enough, the steps were actually in between the two layers of the dome.
4. Lunch at a bar
5. Walked over to Piazza Signoria and the Loggia dei Lanzi, got gelato
6. Went to the Uffizi Gallery where we had already booked our tickets, so we didn’t have to wait in the long line
7. Walked over to St. Croce, got gelato at Il Vivoli
8. Walked across the Arno and over to the Pitti Palace and then back to our apartment
9. Dinner at a nearby restaurant recommended to us by the owner of the apartment we rented

Saturday, May 23rd
1. Got up early and went to the Accademia, which really only has David and nothing else, but David was really cool to see
2. Went to San Lorenzo, a famous church built by Brunelleschi, unfortunately, the attached Laurentian Library was closed (it has some really neat steps by Michelangelo), also went to the attached Medici Chapel (by Michelangelo)
3. Went to the nearby Central market, got lunch and food for a dinner in the apartment.
4. Walked around, got gelato/drinks/coffee at Café Gilli
5. Walked back to the stalls outside San Lorenzo to get a couple of souvenir leather purses
6. Back to the apartment and made dinner (pasta, pesto, prosciutto, bread, fruit and veggies, wine, biscotti and limoncello)

Sunday, May 24th

1. We got up early and caught a local train to Pisa
2. Got to Pisa and walked to the Leaning tower, the Cathedral and the Baptistery
3. Got lunch at a bar
4. Took a train to Lucca, walked around, got gelato, walked on the wall
5. Took a extremely crowded, hot, slow local train from Lucca to Florence
6. Ate dinner in the apt with pasta and bread we bought in Lucca

Monday, May 25th

1. Took the train to Siena, got a very crowded bus up to the historical center of town
2. Walked to Il Campo and got lunch, walked around Siena and to the Duomo
3. My parents bought a really nice hand painted Tuscan bowl
4. Got good gelato
5. Took the train back to Florence (no a/c)
6. Dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Tuesday, May 26th
After waking up two mornings in a row, we slept in a bit and then Mom and I did a little shoe shopping for sandals. Then we walked up to the Ospedale degli Innocenti (foundling hospital) which was a very important Renaissance building from 1424 by Brunelleschi again. Then we walked over to Santa Maria Novella, the only Renaissance church in Florence to have its façade completed during the Renaissance (the other churchs all had their facades put on in the 18th century). After lunch we went to the Baptistry, across from the Duomo. Then we walked over to Il Vivoli for gelato again and walked around for a bit and then got a rest at Piazza Signoria at Café Rivori for drinks. Then just Dad and I went to the Palazzo Medici, the first of many Renaissance palazzos in Florence and italy. For dinner we ended up going back to Antico Noe since it was the closest and best place we had been to so far.

Wednesday, May 27th

1. Got up and took the train left from Florence to Rome at 11:30 with great scenery
2. Took a prius taxi from the train station to our apartment, it was very large but a little older and not as modern inside, but it had great wood beam ceilings.
3. Walked around, over Piazza Navona, to the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain and up to the Spanish Steps. Both the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps were full of Barcelona fans. Walked around the area next to Spanish steps, back to apartment, showers and dinner downstairs (with no wine due to the soccer game.)

Thursday, May 28th
1. Up early and walked over to Capotiline Hill, walked around to the Forum and Palatine Hill, then over to the Colesseum where we skipped most of the line because we had Roma passes
2. Took the Metro down to the Baths of Caracalla, the Metro was really croweded and hot
3. Got a late lunch
4. Back to apt, rested, got showers and out to dinner

Friday, May 29th

1. I got up early and walked over to Il Gesu, a great baroque church, then I walked over to Trastavere, wandered around there a bit and walked up a big hill to San Pietro in Monotorio, and to Bramante’s Tiempetto.
2. Met my parents at a recommended pizza place for lunch
3. Walked over to look at two more famous churchs, a little farther out
4. Back to apt, and went downstairs (in the other direction 2 steps) to dinner

Saturday, May 29th

1. Spent most of the day in Vatican City – went to the Vatican Museums, got lunch in the museum (whose cafeteria had the typical Danish series 7 chair!)
2. Went to St. Peters
3. Got gelato at Giolitti, back to apt, dinner etc.

Sunday, May 30th

1. Got up and had breakfast at the Piazza della Rotunda (just crossaint and very weak cappuccino), walked over to Giolitti for another cappuccino (much better)
2. Got a taxi next to the Pantheon to the train station
3. Took train to Milan fortified with bread and wine
4. Checked into hotel in Milan and got the rest of my luggage
5. Walked over to the Milan Cathedral, went to and walked around the nice shopping area next to it, got dinner
6. Back to apt and another reorganizing of the luggage to fit within the 50 lb limit per bag
Monday, June 1

1. Left Milan early plan to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt to SFO!


Thoughts on Florence/Tuscany

1. Florence was much, much louder and not as pleasant as I was expecting
2. Hard to walk because even mopeds and bikes seemed to go everywhere, even on “pedestrian streets” which made it harder to walk around since you had to keep moving over to let them by
3. It was very hot which probably negatively influenced by perception of the city
4. Florence was very small but had a ton of old Renaissance buildings I had learned about in my classes which was cool
5. I didn’t think Florence as a city on the whole was very pleasant or very pretty. Although I like the idea of the simplicity of Italian buildings as compared in French buildings, I felt that in person, they were really flat and 2 dimensional which made the city less interesting to walk around. Part of this I think is because when you see pictures of building, it is usually of the whole building, so you can appreciate its simplicity but when you are just walking, you really only notice the ground level unless you are always looking up (which is hard to do when walking around), and so you can’t appreciate the simplicity as well.
6. I was surprised by the lack of small cobblestones in Florence, the streets and sidewalks were mostly larger flagstones which actually were a lot more comfortable to walk on than cobblestones.
7. I still don’t really understand how one small city can (and could during the Renaissance) support so many large churchs. Especially now that not everyone goes to church, what do they do with the smaller churches, it seems like it would be very expensive to keep them up even if no one is using them. Also, who is responsible for keeping them up? The city, the parishoners or the Vatican?
8. The food was much better in Florence than Venice but I ended up eating pasta the entire time because as I discovered, Italians don’t really eat much chicken and tend towards meats that I don’t eat (which is I guess basically anything besides chicken, turkey or pork).
9. The tourist gelato places weren’t anything special, and were expensive. Il Vivoli which was recommended to us was really good, but it wasn’t as special as I was expecting.
10. The hills around Florence were really pretty, and when we took our day trips, it was incredible how they looked exactly like all of the pictures and paintings one sees. I think overall, Italy was the one place that looked exactly like its representations.
11. Another reason Florence wasn’t as pleasant feeling of a city was that there wasn’t a lot of work paid towards making the major squares really pleasant to be in. Like in Venice, there weren’t places to sit in the squares and in the Loggia dei Lonzi on the side of Piazza Signoria; you couldn’t eat which was kind of annoying.
12. We didn’t really do anything in Pisa except see the Cathedral, leaning tower and Baptistery, so I don’t really have much impression of the town. Also, we went on Sunday so everything was closed.
13. Lucca was a really nice, cute little city. It is one of the few cities in Italy to retain its old medieval wall, which is 25 feet thick or more and has a path on top that goes around the medieval core. Lucca was much quieter than Florence or Pisa and was more what I expected from Florence. However, we went on Sunday so there weren’t really many people out and most of the stores were closed but I still really enjoyed it.
14. Siena was definitely older feeling, especially in terms of architecture than the other places we visited. I liked how it was located on a hill because the up and downhills gave the city more interest. Also, on the bus ride down to the train station, there were really great views of the surrounding hills.


Rome:

What we did:

Wednesday, May 27th

4. Got up and took the train left from Florence to Rome at 11:30 with great scenery
5. Took a Prius taxi from the train station to our apartment, it was very large but a little older and not as modern inside, but it had great wood beam ceilings.
6. Walked around, over Piazza Navona, to the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain and up to the Spanish Steps. Both the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps were full of Barcelona fans. Walked around the area next to Spanish steps, back to apartment, showers and dinner downstairs (with no wine due to the soccer game.)

Thursday, May 28th

5. Up early and walked over to Capitoline Hill, walked around to the Forum and Palatine Hill, then over to the Colesseum where we skipped most of the line because we had Roma passes
6. Took the Metro down to the Baths of Caracalla, the Metro was really crowded and hot
7. Got a late lunch
8. Back to apt, rested, got showers and out to dinner

Friday, May 29th

5. I got up early and walked over to Il Gesu, a great baroque church, then I walked over to Trastavere, wandered around there a bit and walked up a big hill to San Pietro in Monotorio, and to Bramante’s Tiempetto.
6. Met my parents at a recommended pizza place for lunch
7. Walked over to look at two more famous churches, a little farther out
8. Back to apt, and went downstairs (in the other direction 2 steps) to dinner

Saturday, May 30h

4. Spent most of the day in Vatican City – went to the Vatican Museums, got lunch in the museum (whose cafeteria had the typical Danish series 7 chair!)
5. Went to St. Peters
6. Got gelato at Giolitti, back to apt, dinner etc.

Sunday, May 31st

7. Got up and had breakfast at the Piazza della Rotunda (just croissant and very weak cappuccino), walked over to Giolitti for another cappuccino (much better)
8. Got a taxi next to the Pantheon to the train station
9. Took train to Milan fortified with bread and wine
10. Checked into hotel in Milan and got the rest of my luggage
11. Walked over to the Milan Cathedral, went to and walked around the nice shopping area next to it, got dinner
12. Back to apt and another reorganizing of the luggage to fit within the 50 lb limit per bag

Monday, June 1

1. Left Milan early plan to Frankfurt and then from Frankfurt to SFO!


Thoughts on Rome:

1. I liked Rome much more than Florence, it seemed quieter even thought it was 10 times bigger in size and population. I think it seemed quieter because I was expecting it to be loud since it was a big city and also because there were fewer mopeds in the little, pedestrian streets. Rome had several large thoroughfare roads that held most of the traffic and noise but kept both off of the smaller streets, which were most of the ones, we walked around.
2. I also like Rome better because it was less touristy. While there were still tons of tourists, it was easier to get off the beaten path and there were still plenty of people who actually lived in Rome.
3. Also, because Rome was less touristy, it was easier to find better restaurants because they didn’t just cater to tourists.
4. It was actually really nice that we went to Florence before Rome because most of the architecture in Rome is from the later Renaissance to the Baroque period whereas the architecture in Florence is either medieval or early-mid Renaissance. It was neat to see how the architecture styles evolved from Florence to Rome in person as opposed to just learning about them in class.
5. There are REALLY a lot of churches in Rome. I think I saw somewhere that there were over 900! Which seems possible since there were churches around every corner. The churches I went in were mostly High Renaissance and Baroque and had a lot more depth and movement than the flatter, more 2D churches in Florence.
6. Italian marmalade croissants are not very good, they are very sweet and the croissant part is much more solid feeling and not very flakey.
7. Rome did not have many good souvenirs.
8. The old Roman ruins were cool, but at the same time it does seem kind of strange? That people are still copying Roman architecture 2 millennia later.
9. Trastevere was really nice and much smaller/quieter/more quaint seeming than the rest of Rome.
10. I’m not a huge fan of statues, after a while they all tend to look the same, especially when they are not full statues but ruins.
11. I really enjoyed seeing Michelangelo and Bramante’s buildings.
12. My favorite building I saw the entire time I was in Italy was Bramante’s Tiempetto, a very small temple built over the spot St. Peter was supposedly killed. It is a very simple, but well proportioned building and it is rare since few churches/buildings are actually perfectly circular.


Thoughts on Italy overall

1. I think overall Italy was my least favorite place that I visited. I think food was a big reason for this; Italian food is not really that different seeming and is not as interesting to me as other food. This is partly because I am a picky eater, and don’t like cheese or most meat. However, there are not many other kinds of restaurants in Italy besides Italian (and most Italian restaurants have very similar things to each other) so it doesn’t make for very varied eating. For example, one reason I really liked London so much was the food (which might seem kind of paradoxical). But London has pretty much any kind of ethnic food, and its good! So there are lots of choices, especially Asian, which is what I prefer to European food.
2. Even though we were only in Milan for a few hours, I like how the city felt much more than Florence or Rome. Milan felt a lot more French, especially with its more French, 2nd Empire buildings.