Italian Adventures
I can't believe our trip was now almost 2 months ago!! Time has flown by this summer and I keep meaning to write this all before I forget, so as promised here is my blog on our Italian adventures. I'll also include our few hours in Copenhagen. I"ll try to include enough tips without being too boring.
COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
We arrived in Copenhagen jet lagged but so excited for our adventure to begin. Unfortunately it was only about 50 degrees and windy and rainy. We took a quick nap but decided we had to get out, even if just for a few hours to see some sites. Our first stop was Nyhavn which is a canal port downtown (see picture above). Even rainy it made for great pictures. You can scroll through the gallery and see my grimaced cold face...I was trying to enjoy myself. We stopped quickly, took some pictures and then made our way to Amalienborg Palace the home of the royal Danish family. We came right at change of the guard, which was good because the visiting hours had just closed, so at least we felt like we saw something.
The last picture is of a waffle with ice cream on it. While we were walking in Copenhagen, pretty much down every street were the best smells of fried dough, so naturally we had to check it out. The waffle wasn't fried (at least I don't think), but it had a caramelized glaze and paired perfectly with Oreo ice cream. We tried 2 places while we were there but I definitely recommend Vaffelbageren (right on Nyhavn St), I really don't know if I have had a waffle that good before.
*For transportation we took the M train, you can easily buy tickets at the airport. It's a very clean, quite and quick train and dropped us off right in city center. ** Their currency is the Kroner which is about 7DK to 1USD, so converting is confusing. when they say your dinner is costing 150 you kind of freak our for just 1 second before you realize it's actually just $20USD.
FLORENCE, ITALY
To get from Copenhagen to Florence, Italy was no easy or short feat. We walked a mile to the train station from our airbnb, took the train to the airport, flew to Milan, Italy, took a bus to the Bergamo train station, took the train to Florence, and walked a mile to our airbnb. We were so pooped by the end of it all, so that night we rested and went to Il Pizzaiulo, and it was delicious! The prices were very reasonable and it was the best pizza we had our whole trip! Bryce got the seafood pasta dish which he said was ok once you get past octopus tentacles and taking apart your shrimp with the head on it...check it out if you're into that sort of thing, but please do yourself a favor and if you're in that part of town stop and get some pizza! The next day we started off with a simple pastry breakfast at La Loggia degli Albizi. We ended up eating breakfast here every morning since the pastries were so incredibly cheap and yummy! It was only about 4-5 euroes for both of us and we were quite satisfied. They had lots of different things to choose from so we sampled a little bit of everything throughout the trip.
I had reserved tickets for us to see Michelangelo's David at the Accademia Gallery first thing in the morning. Definitely buy tickets for those places that have long wait times (this being one of them). We got there a little early but they let us in right at our selected time. You can get tickets here, and if you do then there is a ticket window on the opposite side of the street to trade in your voucher. It's not the clearest directions so make sure you don't waste time in the group line...like we did. If you're confused just ask, as there are a million people that are around asking if you need help. It was a wonderful experience, if you don't have a lot of time it really is worth it to just go see David and leave, the rest of the museum was neat enough, but not worth too much of your time. The museum was originally meant to house only Michelangelo's pieces but they weren't able to acquire them. David is so much more impressive and monstrous than I ever dreamed and I cannot imagine the undertaking of creating him, but I'm so glad Michelangelo did! He captures the youthfulness and sweet countenance you would imagine in David from the Bible stories.
Next was the famous Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore). This of course, is a must see as well. I again, had no idea it was going to be so impressively large. They were unfortunately doing some construction when we were there so we couldn't quite see all it's glory. There are no tickets you can buy in advance for the Duomo, but while you're in line there are people that come and ask if you want to do a guided tour for 10 euro and you get to skip the line. I think it's worth the time, and we learned some interesting things during the tour. They take you through and then once it's finished you can stay in there for however long you want. One thing I think is neat is that there is a city ordinance that no building can be bigger than the Duomo. There are crypts underneath the structure and the old foundations of another church that you can pay to see, or you can just see a little bit of it without paying if you go down to the gift shop. You can for a fee walk to the top of the dome too, which we did not do, but I've heard it's marvelous.
Saturday we again started with tickets to the Uffizi Museum which has long wait times. I didn't want to be tied to times with our days, which is why I put all our ticketed things at the beginning. You can get tickets here. And if you had purchased tickets for the Accademia Gallery and gone there first they will have already given you the actual tickets for the Uffizi. If you didn't go there first I think there is a ticket office you have to go to change your vouchers in, but I'm not sure where it is. I wish we had done audio guides for the Uffizi. It is so expansive and overwhelming. Half the time we had no clue what we were looking at...ok more than half the time. Bryce looked online and did fine a list of "important things to see" so you can just focus on a few things instead of 500,000 things. However, they had changed the layout of the museum since that came out, so it was difficult to find the things we were looking for and passed by others. They have some impressive works there by Michelangelo, Davinci, and Rafael, so make sure you look at some list so you don't miss them, or get an audio guide (they do cost extra). One of the coolest things I found throughout the museums in Europe is that it's not just a building that houses cool things, the museum is a work of art in and of itself! The rooms were comissioned by artists to house art. It's so impressive!
After the Uffizi we walked across the Ponte Vicchio Bridge, which is the bridge with apartments, and buildings built off the side. The shops that are on it are very high end jewelers and sellers (I could not afford anything) but it's still fun to window shop. We walked across as we headed up to the Piazzale Michelangelo. This is the location of the original David, but they didn't want it exposed to the elements so now there is a replica there in it's place. It's quite the walk to get there but it's absolutely 100% worth it. It's cooler in temperature, and it puts you above the entire city. Us country folk really needed that little break to not be closed in on all sides by buildings and people. We took the obligatory pictures and then found a restaurant to eat at. The view was so remarkable from the outside dining area, the food was overpriced and not the best thing we ate all week, but we didn't care because it was so beautiful on the top. We didn't want to leave.
The last thing we wanted to see for the day was the Fountain of Neptune, when I followed our map I realized it was right outside the Uffizi that we had already been to! The reason I didn't notice it was because it was under construction and fenced in, so you couldn't actually see it. Guess we'll have to go back sometime to see it later. Bummer.
On our walk back to the airbnb we walked by a gelato place that I had read about online that was supposedly the best place ever so I convinced Bryce we MUST stop. So we did. And boy, was it ever the best gelato we've ever eaten. It's called Gelateria Dei Neri. Please go out of your way to go there as many times as you can during your stay in Florence. It puts all other gelato places to shame.
TUSCANY, ITALY
I had picked a few small towns to visit this day which would make a loop, I added in one town just as a drive through so we wouldn't be driving down the same road twice. it's kind of a long story. Anyways, our first stop was Certaldo. First off, this town is tricky to get too if you're just following your GPS as it tries to get you to down the ZTL road (You'll be fined! Don't do it!). I knew exactly where we needed to be but I trusted the GPS too much. If you are going to use GPS put in (43°33'26.0"N 11°02'56.8"E) and it should send you in the right direction. There is a modern city and the medieval town is up on the hill, this is the GPS for the back side. I can't tell you how glad I was we stopped at this place. It was probably my second favorite town we stopped at. It was so small and quaint. You can do a quick loop/walk around the whole town in about 20 minutes or less if you don't stop into any places. And the views...We decided to stay here for lunch, we had to wait around a little because nothing was open but we waited and ate at L'Antica Fonte. We hadn't had a chance to eat any steak yet, but we kept seeing T-Bone steak on the menu so we decided to go for it. A note on ordering T-Bone steak, the way it is on the menu is price/hg. This stands for hectogram, there are 10 hectogram in 1 kilogram. We've heard most places the minimum weight/cut of T-Bone steak is 1kg (2.2 pounds) which was around 40-45 dollars. If you went to Ruth Chris, I promise you would spend more than that. It was, hands down, the best piece of meat I have ever eaten in my entire life. Bryce and I shared and we downed that entire thing, shamelessly. They also had a good cheese sampler we started with, this was definitely the best meal we had our whole trip.
Since we stayed here so much longer than our original plan we nixed a few of the towns and went straight to San Gimignano. This place, in comparison to Certaldo, is massive. There are several parking lots, you don't have to worry too much about how close you are to the gate as there is a bus that will pick you up and take you to the front for a very small, and worthwhile fee. San Gimignano has the most remaining original towers of any medieval town in Italy, there are 7 and you can climb a couple for a small fee. It was a fun town to roam around in and you could very easily spend all day here, but we were already running short on time so we saw some of it and went on our way! But not before getting gelato at the world famous Gelateria Dondoli. There was a very long line, but it went super fast, and they let you choose 3 flavors. Not as good as Gelateria Dei Neri in Florence, but close.
That was it for the day so we made our way to our vineyard airbnb stay. When I made my reservation the lady was trying very hard to convince me I needed to stay more than one night as one night was not enough to see everything in the area. Of course one night is never enough, but I'm glad we kept moving.
Monday we started in Monteriggioni. This was an undefeated hilltown for hundreds of years, it's quite small and can easily be seen and explored in just an hour. For a small fee you can walk up on top of the walls and see around the area, which I would highly recommend, you also could go into the armor museum with this ticket which I had so much fun it because I could touch everything and try it on (I'm a child at heart).
The next stop was Montalcino. This is quite a large town as well, maybe larger than San Gimignano even, and we for sure did not see it all. I had heard that this town had a fortress we could walk up on the walls of, but could not, for the life of us, find out how to get up there. Bryce wanted to give up, but I'm my father's daughter and wouldn't give up. I went into the wine-tasting store that has taken up residence inside of the fortress and turns out that is where you buy the tickets! Voila! One other couple saw us walking up at the same time so they came up too, I prodded Bryce to get around to the same side as them so we could take a picture of them and they could take one of us. It was so worth the persistence. This was the best view of our stay in Tuscany. The rest of the town was neat, but I can't say anything else super noteworthy there, most of the museums were closed for some reason when we were there so we couldn't do a lot, and we were getting tired.
Our airbnb for this night actually turned out to be more like a hotel in the town of San Quirico D'Orcia. We settled in and went to explore the town there. It is also a medieval town with more modern homes surrounding it (where our airbnb was). It was about 7 when we went out and there must have been only about 20 people in the whole town. It was marvelous, we ate dinner and enjoyed the solitude exploring. We got down the bottom of the hill and came across the most gorgeous view of the sun setting. It felt so romantic!
Tuesday was the day we made our way to Rome. Bryce tried convincing me we had too much planned...but I was convinced we could do it. We stopped first in the town of Montepulciano. This town is not for the faint of heart, or more accurately, the weak legged. It is so steep to get up into the town and it just keeps going up and up and up! He said we only had time for breakfast and then we must move on. I snapped a few pictures as we walked and away we went.
Our last medieval town was Civita Di Bagnoregio. We both have agreed this was our favorite. I so regretted stopping in Montepulciano so we could have spent more time here. You park pretty far away and then walk steeply downhill for a while and then steeply uphill. It probably took 20 or 30 minutes to get up to it and longer to get back because it was more uphill the way back. This town is wonderful. It's quite small as seismic activity has eroded much it over the years, but I so wanted to explore every little nook and cranny, and if you're into photography, this is your place. I toured as much as I could in our allotted time, we grabbed lunch and off we went to Rome. We dropped our car off at the Flumino Airport and took the fast train into Rome, then jumped on the metro into town. Again, Europe really has the public transit thing down, so don't be afraid! You can do it!
ROME, ITALY
Wednesday we started our day bright and early for Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. We took the metro and bus to get there. The bus was so crowded! Apparently everyone else had the same idea. After our near solitude in Tuscany I was so overwhelmed with HOW MANY people were in Rome! And again, Bryce and I are NOT city people. We found the line for Palatine hill, and waited in the heat to get through security. It wasn't till we got up to the front that we realized this was NOT the ticket buying line, only security. So the standing on hot pavement for 45 minutes was a waste. We could not find the ticket buying spot for Palatine hill and I felt so bad for making us wait in the line (since I had convinced him, "Yes this is the right line".). We found some shade so we could look online and figure out where on earth we needed to go. Bryce asked if we couldn't have bought tickets online for this and I said nope, had to buy here...but then I started thinking...I think I DID buy tickets. Checked my email and sure enough, I had. But I hadn't printed them off and they said they wouldn't accept a mobile voucher so we were still stuck. I google searched and found out there was an alternate ticket buying and security check line on the other side. When we got there, there was no joke only 2 people in line in front of me, it's maybe a 5 minute walk away from the main gate but it's worth the extra 5 minutes because you don't have to wait in line and you aren't next to hundreds of people when you get in. The GPS location should be 41°53'16.2"N 12°29'24.1"E. Anyways, they were actually able to scan my mobile tickets, so everything worked out splendidly! The day we were there was in the upper 90's and we were dying. Bring a water bottle and they have spigots you can refill at. Despite the heat and the people I Really did enjoy it, it was so incredible to see things that were built in the BC. It's hard to fathom really. They do a good job having maps and placards explaining what you're looking at, and it's so large you really aren't around that many people at a time. If you want to buy tickets in advance you can get them here.
One our way back into town we stopped at the Pantheon, and I had heard that there was long wait lines, but they let us right in! There were a lot of people, but we didn't have to wait. It was funny because, since it's a church, there is supposed to be silence to respect that, but no one does, so every 30 seconds someone says "Silence" over the microphone, to which silence ensues for the next 10 seconds, and then steadily grows...repeat for next 30 minutes or however long you stay in there. The Pantheon was once a pagan temple, and was completed around 120 AD, and was then converted to the Catholic church. The top used to be covered in bronze but was recycled to use on the alter in St. Peters Basilica.
Thursday was our last full day in Rome and we spent it at the Vatican. I'll tell you how we did things and then tell you how I wished we'd did things and let you choose for yourself. I had purchased tickets for the first opening for the Vatican Museum. I am glad we did because the line was incredibly long. I had also ordered us audio guides. When we got through security (which only took about 15 minutes) we traded our vouchers in and headed up a few flights of stairs to where we picked up our audio guides. I am really glad we got the audio guides. We would have missed so much if we hadn't gotten them. It would have just been another museum, and more random art work. But it's so neat to hear the history and to not miss the important things like Rafael's School of Athens (which I didn't know was a fresco! So I would have totally missed it). It's also a really inspiring message throughout as they threaded the gospel into the audio guide tour. When we got to the Sistine Chapel I am really glad we had them so we could really take the time to appreciate the vastness and detail of Michelangelo's work. Here is where I'm not sure what the best option is for continuation. I had read on blogs that you could take the "group exit" which is in the back right. There are so many groups going through you could easily tack on, and I've read the museum staff doesn't really care anymore. If you take this it goes straight into St. Peter's Basilica. If you don't you have a 10 minute walk around to the front of St Peters' and then a good 1-2 hours waiting in line to get back in. The reason this is a hard choice and why we didn't go through the group exit is because we had our audio guides and they will alarm if you take them out of the museum. The option would have been to leave them on the floor? Which I think I would have preferred but Bryce didn't feel that was right. I would not have wanted to do the Vatican without the audio guides, but I also hated waiting out in the heat in line to get back in to St. Peters. So, I leave it up to you to decide.
St. Peters Basilica cannot really be described in words. It is the largest Christian church in the world and is by far, the most impressive structure I have ever been into in my whole life. We were so tired we missed so much! I totally forgot to look for Pieta, the sculpture of Mary holding Jesus because we were so overwhelmed. There are tours you can do but they all include the Vatican Museum as well and then use that group exit to go into St Peters. So maybe that's the solution, just pay for a full group tour then you learn while you're in the Vatican Museum but still get to skip the line into St. Peters and get to hear all the history inside St. Peters. Only being there in person can encapsulate the enormity of this place and the amount of detail inside of it. I didn't even know how to take pictures of it. The altar from the bronze of the Pantheon roof is gigantic and they have what they believe to be the actual birthplace of Peter (thus the name), which you can see on display.
After a little rest at the airbnb we had our very final stop in Rome: the Colosseum. On our way we were searching for a place to eat dinner and came across Ristorante Alfredo alla ScrofaI the birthplace of Fettuccine Alfredo. I had been searching for Alfredo something the whole trip so I was thrilled, and it did live up to the hype, very much worth the price if you like alfredo. Now back to the Colosseum. I had purchased tickets for the Colosseum at Night tour, which you can find here. If you're planning to visit the Colosseum, which of course you are, do yourself a favor and do the night tour. The temperature drops to bearable, almost comfortable. They only let 3 tour groups in at a time of about 20 people, making if feel like you have the place to yourself. They take you below to the underground level as well. The tour guides are so informative and make the tour very enjoyable. Some things of note, Christians were not killed in the Colosseum as the movies portray. They know this to be the case because Nero's palace was destroyed and the Colosseum was built on top of it. Gladiators and criminals did fight and die here though. Christians were, however, killed over at what is now St. Peter's Basilica and courtyard. The tall obelisk is original from the arena there. The believe this is the arena that Peter was killed in, and thus why the tomb and basilica were built there.
The next morning we decided to take a taxi to Rome Ciampino Airport, they have fixed rates on taxi's to the airports so we knew we wouldn't be swindled. While we were driving though we saw a bus in front of us that said "2 euro express route to ariport", or something like that, which we should have done. Oh well! Lesson learned. I was so glad to get out of Rome. I am glad we stopped there, as the history must be seen and experienced, but I hate being around that many people! Now off to Ireland! I will make a separate post for that.
