Day 7, 8, 9 & 10 of Our Italy Trip

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We are writing this blog on our flight home.

This trip has been very hectic and we didn't have much to relax as we ran from one site to the next. As a result, we weren't able to keep up with the blog as well as we had been able to in Asia. Our Asian trips usually included a bit of R&R but this trip was go, go, go!

Day 7 - May 25 - Rome, Italy...

Today, we used our second day in Rome to explore more of the city. Rome is a big city with narrow alley ways and winding paths. It can be difficult to find your way but once you figure out a few main streets, the city becomes much easier to navigate. We visited inside the Coloseum for a couple of hours this morning and then took the Metro to Vatican City. Both were very interesting. We toured the Vatican Museum with about a million of our fellow tourists - all trying to get to Sistine Chaple at once! It was so crowded but well worth the trip. While at Vatican City, we also toured the inside of a castle which was also facinating. The lower levels of the castle were also very cool which was nice given it was pretty hot outside.

Tomorrow, we will get up early in the morning and fly to Venice for a day trip. We are really looking forward to Venice but don't look forward to getting up at 4:00 in the morning to make our flight. Until then...

Day 8 - May 26 - Venice, Italy...

Today, we woke up at 4 am to our Venice trip. We met our driver at the hotel lobby at 5:00 am and arrived at the airport by 5:30 am. We boarded our flight around 7:00 am and arrived at Venice around 8:00 am. Although we had to get up early, we were able to get an early start at exploring Venice. From the airport, we took a water bus to Venice. The boat was slow but it provided a good intruduction to the waterways. The boat let us off at St. Marco Square. From there we walked, wandered, got lost, got found, crossed canals big and small - all the things one does while in Venice. Venice is an interesting place and definitely has its own charm. We even came across the place that the Vegas Venetian hotel used to model their version of a gondola ride. By 5:00 we were tired of walking so we stopped at a cafe for an hour and then took the water bus through the Grand Canal. We left for the airpor around 7:00 to await our 10:00 flight back to Rome. If was a fun and long day in Venice.

Day 9 - May 27 - Tuscany: Florence, Lucca and Pisa, Italy...

Since we got back to our hotel very late the previous night, we decided to slept in a little bit in the morning. We got up around 8:30 or 9:00 am, ate breakfast and then headed to the train station for our trip through Tuscany. We left Rome around 11:00 am and arrived in Florence at noon. We then explored the town by visiting the main church, had some Gelato as Scott (our friend) had suggested. We wanted to visit the statue of David but the line was very long and we had other stops on our journey. After waiting in line for about 20 minues, we decided to move on. We then boarded the slow train to Lucca - a small town surrounded by a wall. The slow train lived up to its name - stopping every 5 minutes in one little town after another. It took over two hours to get to the town which on the map at least, looked like a half-hour ride.. We explored the city for about an hour. It was very cute and charming. You can walk along the top of the wall to get a sense of the little town within. This was also recommended from our friend Scott. Thank you Scott if you are reading this. Finally, we boarded another train for a half-hour trip to Pisa. Yes - the tower is leaning. Confirmed. Actually the little area around the leaning tower looked cute as well but we didn't have time to explore it. We had to make it back to Florence in time to catch the fast train back to Rome. So it was click, click, click of the camera, and off we go.

Day 10 - May 28 - Rome, Italy... Last full day in Italy...

For our final day in Rome, we tried to visit some ot the remaining places in Rome. First, we visited the Ministry of Culture building near by our hotel. This was build recently in the 1900's. It has a nice view of Rome from the top of the building and was filled with more contemporary art then many of the other museums which focused on antiquity. We also visited some parks and some other sites that we had passed on previous walks trough the city. Rome has so many sites to see that it can become overwhelming. Around every corner lies another ruin, another cute piazzo, another curious narrow winding alleyway. It would take a long time to see everything and much longer to really understand all you've seen. (Ken) I feel I will need to spend months once I get home just to figure out what I've already seen.

We had lunch over by the Coloseum, and a couple hours later, we ventured out again for our last shopping trip. Steven got some italian scafs, and we both got a sweatshirt. Then we ended the day with dinner by the Trevi fountain.

Next day, Day 11 - May 29 we are on our way back to San Diego..

Until next time...

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Photos

Day 8 - Venice
Our Flight from Rome to Venice