Trip through Italy Part 2: Florence, the Introduction to the real Italy.

Our trip to Florence the next day was my first real introduction to visiting Italy. Since it is a holiday season it is exceptionally busy. I cannot say whether or not the crowds of people are always there, but for us on our trip, they were there. Goodness there are lots of people everywhere. People bumping into you and the threat of one of those people being a pick pocketer makes you really aware of just where everything is in your pockets all the time.

The markets here were huge. Just big markets everywhere we went. It was really cool. Walking through one of them Michael and I got called Tom Cruise and James Bond because we were wearing our sunglasses and they wanted to get our attention. We then had a  lengthy discussion about who would be who. We both just decided we would be different James Bonds. In Germany I don't think we can be as easily spotted as Americans. In Italy we stick out. Especially me. No one here is tall and blonde. Besides that, unlike Germany, no one here wears backpacks. They pull along the rolly suitcases instead of carrying things on their backs. Apparently backpacks are not the latest in fashion. Oh well, practicality is the new hot in Germany. It's also naturally quite convenient imagine that.

Day one in Florence was spent exploring the city around our hostel. This meant the giant cathedral there. It was super cool and one of the most ornate buildings I had ever seen. (Naturally going to Rome this has changed.) It is still really ornate and really big. In our time walking through the city I learned that traffic laws are really ambiguous in Italy. It doesn't matter where you are, sidewalk, crosswalk or tucked away in a corner you could die from a vehicle…or so it seemed. I almost got taken out by a bus while standing by a bike rack. Fortunately I pay attention to my surroundings and I moved out of the way. 

The second day in Florence was really cool too. It had been raining quite vigorously through the night and early morning so when Michael and I got out everything was really wet. This was okay for me, everything was naturally more saturated in color so that made the pictures just that much easier. We went through the city, going in the not as populous regions. It was prettier there I think, probably because I could see things other than masses of heads bobbing in a giant crowd. We went to the Pitti Palace and wandered through the grounds there for several hours. We eventually left and met up with the others where we went up to a big hill overlooking the city. It is a hill built in dedication to Michelangelo. Naturally this is a fantastic place to view the city. I turned around to look at the hillside and was surprised to see a Ferrari California parked by a fountain. Apparently if you pay the company enough you can drive one around the city. I did not, because I could not, but I enjoyed the view. Twenty minutes later I saw a Ferrari F430 parked in some random backyard and decided then and there that Italy wasn't a bad place. Not that I was concerned it would be.

We moved on from Michelangelo Piazza and headed out to the countryside. Even in a beautiful city I like to see the country some times. I was not saddened when I saw the Tuscany countryside. One thing that we saw a lot of was olive trees. They are everywhere. Since we were walking around, we had time to think about olives and their strangeness. For example, who in the world figured out that they were good to eat. If you have had an olive directly from a tree you no longer want to live life. They are horrible. But somehow, once they are soaked in salt water they are delicious. People have weird ideas to come up with food but I am okay with that because most of the time they are fantastically delicious. Ahem, I speak to you Italy. Exhausted from days and days of walking through cities, we headed back early to take a much needed rest. We felt pleased with our time in Florence so we were okay. We were heading to Rome the next day anyways, so we got ready for that. 

The day to travel to Rome arrived and we met it head on. We were at the train station a little early and waited for our train. When you live in Germany, there are several things you start to take for granted. Organization of public transportation is one of them. Not to say that the German trains are ever on time, but you know what's going on most of the time. While watching the board for train arrivals and departures we formulated the theory that there was an Italian man in a booth somewhere moving trains to various places frantically hoping he doesn't mess up and get two trains in the same place. We could imagine him saying "This'a train goes'a here, and this'a train goes'a here…Oh no! I already a'have'a train a'here!" It looked just short of chaos. Our train was of course delayed so I had some time to watch the marquee and subsequently learn a little Italian. I Saw that a specific train was delayed an hour because of something to do with a single person...I saw the word retardi...not implying anything, just saying what I read. Another theory is that maybe the train was hijacked my a single musician and was driving the train too slowly. I don't know. 

We eventually got on our train, and I died a little inside when we could smell Italian food the whole trip. I don't buy food on trains, my wallet would probably commit suicide. Fortunately my misery was brief as was the trip to Rome. The cool thing about Europe is that trains aren't a thing one just ships coal on. People actually use it to travel (a novel concept I know), so they are good at traveling. They go like the clappers. I saw it going roundabouts 150 miles per hour (It was in kilometers per hour so the conversion was not exact). In Rome we began part 3 of our Trip through Italy. Stay tuned for the next blog: Trip Through Italy Part 3: When in Rome...

Trip through Italy Part 1: Venice.

Venice isn't like the rest of Italy at all. First of all, there are no roads, so therefore no cars. This means you are now safe from someone trying to kill you. Traffic laws in Italy seem to only apply to boats, and Venice runs on boats.

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After our experiences in Salzburg, we headed off to Italy. I had never been anywhere near Italy so I had no idea at all what to expect. I knew that my German would be pretty much useless there. I was hoping my English wouldn't too. Of course I was being ridiculous, everyone speaks English. I have had no problems expressing myself to the Italians. I just talk with my hands and I can fit right in, they understand what I am saying too. The train ride from Salzburg to Venice was just as pretty as it sounds like it would be. From the prettiest place I have seen to the prettiest place people tell me to see. Over the ocean, under mountains, through vast valleys we went! It was a great ride. My welcome into Italy was a giant snowstorm. The stone giants in the mountains were fighting with snow and it looked to be fierce. Then again we were going around 150 miles per hour so it could have been a gentle serene falling of snow that one thinks of when they hear Swan Lake. But at 150mph everything seems more like the 1812 Overture mixed with a little Bonanza theme. 

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Thankfully it wasn't snowing when we got to Venice. I say this only because I was not dressed for the cold and we had a ways to go to get to our hostel. That night Michael and I explored our little lagoon called Lido (like Toledo but without the "Ta") and found the ocean. It had been a while since I had genuinely been to a warm ocean so I was happy. It was dark and the stars were out. The Milky Way was out and I could see it streak across the sky in its typical awesomeness. We stood there for a while until the threat of our feet getting wet by the incoming waves moved us off the beach. We walked around until we got tired and then went to bed. The next morning was going to be a long day so we wanted to make sure we got enough sleep.

Our day began with a trip to the main island of Venice. Just being off shore we were technically not in Venice but we were really right there. In a normal city, the distance we had to go from our hostel to the city center would have only taken five to ten minutes, but because there are no cars let alone busses on the island, we had to take boats. All the boat traffic goes in one way. We ended up nearly circumnavigating the entire city before getting to where we wanted, taking about 45 minutes. This wasn't bad though, we were seeing the city from the water and it looked awesome.

We got onto land and realized that it was going to be really confusing to get anywhere. There aren't really streets and so not really technical street names. There are a few but that's about it. We did see some strangely helpful graffiti pointing us in the right direction once. I was happy that a reprobate had guided his moral compass enough to lend a helping hand. Other than the one surprisingly helpful graffiti, there wasn't much to go on as far as navigation. More than once we found ourselves almost stepping into the street, which is a big deal when it is water. I decided a Postal worker's first week on the job has got to be one of the worst things ever. 

The city of Venice is pretty. I was actually more in awe of the fact that it was a city on the water and that it was structurally sound. Besides, it's not like its the most modern city ever. But really, who's idea was it to build a city in the water anyways? I could come up with simpler things. But really, the city was super. After covering pretty much everything in that city, we split off and Michael and I found something to eat on the island while the others went back to Lido. We got lost trying to find the toilets that were always just around the next corner but were really a long ways off. Whoever designed the city must have been on some really heavy drugs, because there is no rhyme or reason to the placement of the buildings. The city makes no navigational sense at all, at least if you are walking. We finally returned to the area where we wanted to eat. Even cheap Italian food is really yummy so naturally I was pleased with life. 

I took so many pictures that day that my camera was probably just as grateful for the rest that night as I was. So when I finally hit the hay for the night, I slept wonderfully. A side note about sleeping in Italy, the beds are back to normal here. It has been a long time since I saw a non German style bed. I almost didn't know what to do. For those of you who don't know, there isn't a regular sheet on a German bed, it is instead a fancy covering on the bedspread that you pull off and wash, I don't remember the name, something French naturally. The point is, they are a little different, so seeing a normal bed threw me off guard. It's okay, I am adaptable. Nonetheless, I sleep beautifully just about wherever I am. Venice was no exception. We could hear the ocean from our hostel. It was nice.

The next day we moved on to Florence. I once again had no idea what to expect. As it turns out, the difference between Venice and Florence is about as much as going into a whole new country. Yes everyone still spoke a language that I only understand because they speak also with their hands, but other than that, they are different. (Just for clarification, I don't understand Italian by any stretch of the imagination) Check out my next blog, Florence: The Introduction to the real Italy, to hear about part 2 of our Trip through Italy.