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Published: September 6th 2007
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My travel interests generally lie outside of Europe but I have always wanted to visit Italy and it did not dissapoint... I guess it helps that I am a huge fan of Italian food and believe it or not they have tons of the stuff there.
We arrived from Paris to Rome and made our way to the center of the city to begin what would be an enjoyable time in Italia. It was a pretty hot day so I left Venny at a cafe to walk a few blocks and find a hotel (which is laughable as I know absolutely no Italian *Venny does*....... but the thought hadnt even crossed my mind yet). I had sent an e-mail to a hotel requesting a room but they had not responded so upon seeing the hotel I entered and proceeded to engage the elderly man in french... before realizing what I was doing and then trying english... then spanish... good thing "reservation" and "computadora" are pretty much universal, he mimed cutting his own throat to indicate they were full and had no room (I hope thats what he meant anyway).... I responded "Grazie" and left laughing at myself... note to self,
"bring the Italian speaker when you need to speak to Italians"! So began our trip in Rome.
Rome Rome was our first stop and the city has no shortage of sights to see and history to peruse. Venny had been to Rome before so she kinda showed me the ropes and walked me through the central city. The city itself has the classic European narrow streets and alleyways sprinkled with cafe´s, shops and restaurants. Rome was very nice and I was personally amazed at how open and accessible the old Roman ruins were, tourists were free to walk amongst archeological sites with few barriers and open access to many of the ruins.
Florence Florence had the feel of a small town where there really wasnt too much to do, but the lack of activity really didnt bother you at all. I guess we could have done more were we inclined to visit the countryside or Tuscanny but we didnt really, we kinda spent a few lazy days eating, sleeping and wandering the cities streets. Just like in every city, we visited the main church and then visited a lookout where people flock to see the sun set
over the city. Florence was low key but also a definite thumbs up for the traveller.
Venice Venice is a beautiful city, at least the part we visited ( I guess most tourists stick to the canal portion..... we never even saw the rest). The city is situated over waterways/canals and lacks any streets and the accompanying car traffic. Everyone walks around town or takes water taxi´s (it was funny watching these guys reverse and park their boats, they have skills). We spent our time here just sightseeing and walking around, its easy to get lost but enjoyable all the same.... all the alleys are full of tourists just as lost as you and nobody seems to care, its just part of the experience.
I would be interested to go to Italy again but would like to include the south of the country next time..... I guess mix it in with Greece and Turkey...... not like we´re planning another trip though.... but if I was.
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