Ciao Italia

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France to Italy, Bonjour to Bonjourno, Merci to Grazie, I have now started part 2 of my adventure, and for all the crazy non cycling folk, you will be glad to know there is not a mention of a bike in this entry.

To set the scene a little for you, on my arrival in Italy it was 35 degrees at 3pm and that has been average so far, some days getting up to 40. It's been hot, but it's so much better than the cold!!!!!

Day 29 & 30 (28/07 - 29/07) my first stop in Italy was Milan and I have to say it wasn't quite what I expected, but in a good way. Knowing that Milan was considered one of the fashion capitals of the world I had expected it to be a big city like Paris, London or New York, but it's not. I was able to grab a map and do my own walking tour of Milan. The most prominent site in Milan would be the Duomo, it's a little hard to miss being the largest Gothic cathedral in the world, made from gorgeous white marble. The Duomo is basically the centre of the town and where all the main shopping, high end and otherwise, along with restaurants and bars are located. A couple of the other places I visited where La Scala (the world famous opera house), Santa Maria delle Grazie (church that houses Da Vinci's Last Super, which I didn't get to see as you have to book) and the 2 parks Parco Sempione and Giardini Pubblici.

Day 31 (30/07) Romeo Romeo where for art thou Romeo...... if you didn't guess I moved onto Verona today. The first thing you see walking into the main centre of Verona is the Arena, being built in the 1st century is still being used today. The day I was there they were preparing for an Opera in a week (which I was bummed to miss) and going inside you walk through huge archways and up giant sandstone stairs into the arena where the only chairs (ie plastic ones) are in front of the stage, the rest of the seating around the arena are just the sandstone foundations, it would be an incredible venue to see an Opera. Making your way through the many streets and lane ways in Verona there are plenty of churches to visit (and shops of course) but probably the site most people come to see is Casa Di Giulietta (Juliet's house). Right off one of the main streets (you'd might miss it if there weren't heaps of people around) you walk through this short walkway, which people have written their names and wishes for love and have also started to put chewing gum all of the walls (not quite sure what that is supposed to mean, it was just pretty gross to me). It then opens up into a small courtyard, with the house on the right you look up and see 'the balcony'. Within the courtyard there is a statue of Juliet and they say if you touch you right breast you will have luck in love, I'm sure a man came up with that one! There is also a wall where people have written their names on padlocks and attached to the wall, again to bring them luck in love. Probably my favourite part of the town would be the walk along the River Adige. There was nothing particularly special about it, it was just a really nice walk where you are able to see the house on the hill looking down onto Verona, it's really beautiful.

Day 32 & 33 (31/07 - 01/08) off the the East coast and the canal city of Venice. Now I was honestly not expecting to like going to Venice because of all the tourists and pigeons that would be there, but again I was wrong, I really enjoyed my time in Venice. I liked all the little lane way streets, all the tiny bridges, the organised chaos of the canals and the way the ferries, water taxis and gondolas all manage to get around each other. You really can't go past the food though when your here, beautiful stuff, from the simple fruit stalls on the streets, to the sweets in the patisseries and then the many restuarants, oh so good!!!! One of the biggest surprises was St Marks Square, there were no pigeons, I'm not kidding. I maybe saw two little groups of them and no one feeding them. Certainly not complaining about that one, just very surprised by it. I also was able to do some Island hopping out to Murano, Burano and Torcello. Murano is the home of Venice's glass blowing industry and I was lucky enough to go into a factory and see a vase and dolphin being made. It was amazing to see how they can turn something from nothing into something so beautiful in just a couple of minutes. Burano is mainly a fishing village, but is also known for its lace (story goes that the women needed to do something while the men were out fishing, so started making lace). The other big feature of Burano is the houses, each one is painted in a different colour, so the streets are so vibrant in colour, makes the place look alive. Finally Torcello, there really isn't anything here apart from the Venice's first cathedral.

Day 34 to 38 (02/08 - 06/08) after getting a little tried of changing location every day or two, I decided to base myself in Bologna for the next 5 days, where I could do day trips to Florence and Parma (which were only an hour either side of Bologna). The first thing you notice about Bologna is almost every walkway alongside the streets are covered, which are just perfect for hot summer days (and I imagine horrible raining winter days). The main square is where a lot of the historical buildings are including the church of San Petronio and the Neptune Fountain. The other very noticeable site is the Due Torri (Two Towers) which are the only 2 remaining of apparently 100's during the middle ages. One of which was not built on such solid foundations so has a lean of 3m at the top over the base. Bologna is also well know for its food, so there are plenty of food markets around the main square, with huge wheels of cheese, bottles of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and large hams hanging from the ceiling, it's mouth watering. My trip to Parma was a little bit disappointing, but I really should have done some more research. I visited Parma on a Sunday so there was literally nothing open, no museums, churches or shops, nothing. I did take a walk around the town, including alongside what my travel book called River Parma, but there was no water in it so not sure it can be called that and also the large park on the other side of the main town, Parco Ducale. It is a beautiful place just wish I could have seen a little more of it. The most exciting part of my trip to Parma was the train trip there. So when catching a train in Italy you buy your ticket and instead of the ticket being checked at the station it is checked on the train by the guards. When the guard got to my carriage to check tickets these two guys got up and started walking for the door, the guard asked to see their tickets and one of the guys just started pushing the guard trying to past him, to which the guard started pushing back still asking for their tickets. There was then a lot of yelling in Italian and more pushing and it all ended with the two guys being literally thrown off the train at the next stop and when of the guys running alongside the train still yelling and shaking his fist in the air. It was hilarious, I wish I knew what they were saying! I don't think a train guard in Sydney would get that worked up about someone not having a ticket, nor someone getting so aggressive when they got caught without a ticket. Finally Florence, it is such a big town and was great just to walk the streets. I was able to see in and outside the Duomo (the white, red and green marble is very Italian), the Baptistry of John the Baptist, the River Arno and the Ponte Veccho (a pedestrian bridge lined with shops, mainly jewelry).

Day 39 & 40 (07/08 - 08/08) and I'm heading south, all the way down to Palermo, Sicily. I wish I could say that I had a better time in Palermo, but it really wasn't that great. Instead of telling you about the things I didn't enjoy about Palermo let me tell you about the things I did enjoy. The main reason for me going to Palermo was a concert (what would a Lauren Beattie trip be without a concert, right?), James Morrison. The concert was right down near the water on this outdoor stage surrounded by these old castle like ruins, the scene was stunning. The crowd was warmed up by an Italian musician, think the Italian version of Matt Corby, who was sensational, unfortunately I didn't get his name because although he sung in English (apart from one song in Italian) he spoke to the crowd in Italian. Then James come on stage and rocked it out for 2 hours, he was incredible and well worth the trip to Palermo. He is performing in Australia at the end of September so if you enjoy good live music do yourself a favour and get a ticket, you won't regret it! Palermo does also have some lovely sites to see. The heart of the old city, Quattro Canti (Four Corners) which is 4 huge sandstone monuments on the corner of each of the streets dedicated to a patron of the city and also the Cathedral (the outside is actually better than the inside).

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