July 9, 2010
So as promised I said I would finish up my last 4 days of Italy for you after we left Rome which I can’t say compare to Rome (simply because I absolutely LOVED Rome!) but they were still amazing! After an early breakfast in our hotel in Rome Thursday morning we headed for the train station to catch the 3 hour train to Florence and after a quick 3 hour nap the next thing we knew we were in Florence! After grabbing a quick lunch and finding a hotel to stay in for the night we quickly grabbed city maps and began exploring the wonderful city located in the middle of beautiful wine county – Tuscany. Our first evening in Florence Kelsey and I were both pretty tired so we spent most of our time simply walking through the towns winding streets and enjoying the sights, sounds, and yummy Italian food smells of the city along with its beautiful sunset over the river that evening! After waking up the next morning though we began our grand adventure of Florence beginning with a visit to the Medici chapel in which the Medici family was buried. Afterwards we toured the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore as well as the bell tower and baptistery that were built alongside of the church. Our plans were then to go see the statue of David and then on to the Pitti Palace but after seeing the line to David was 2 and a half hours long in the sun we decided to forgo that experience! After the place and a quick lunch we then boarded a train headed to Pisa.
Once arriving to the town of Pisa we followed a steady stream of tourists to the back of the town to a lawn in which everyone was staring at a tall skinny building that upon further inspection was not only crooked but very evidently leaning very sharply towards the ground. Not understanding what was going on with this crooked building or “leaning tower” we decided to join in the fun and snapped a handful of pictures with this leaning tower in Pisa and then toured the cathedral nearby. After walking through the church we grabbed another delicious Italian meal of none other than PASTA and spent several hours walking around the quite little town. Although the town is only known for its tower the town itself was also quite cute and not nearly as overrun with tourists as many of the other places we had been to.
Although we had left the boat in Civitavecchia (near Rome) the boat changed ports half way through our Italy trip, so after walking through the beautiful streets of Pisa we bought yet another train ticket and settled in for our 5 and a half hour train ride down to Naples. Our train was much different than the ones we had previously ridden and reminded us a lot of the train cars from old movies (minus the old man across from me with only one eye!) complete with a little old man selling candy down the aisles and another playing his accordion. After several conversations with the lady next to us, a couple naps, a few postcards written and a rousing game of 20 questions we were finally in Naples and we began the next adventure of our trip…finding where the boat was docked! Well needless to say after 3 hours of walking we finally found our boat at 3:30 in the morning and all but collapsed into our beds!
After arriving in Naples, we spent Sunday at the island of Capri off the coast of Italy swimming, walking the beach, strolling through the small town, and taking a boat tour of the island. We returned back to the ship late Sunday night and then woke up early Monday morning and spent the first half of the day walking through the ancient city of Pompeii in amazement at how everything has survived all that time. It makes you wonder how our buildings today continue to fall around us but their towns is hundreds of years old and has been through both an earthquake and a volcano but much of it still stands. Upon returning to the boat that evening before disembarkation we had a late fourth of July celebration as well of story swapping of our time in Italy!
Well again I made this super long…sorry! But its so hard to sum up so many experiences in any less words than this! So far everything has been amazing (well minus having no luggage!) and I can’t wait to see what I have left ahead of me! I love getting emails from everyone back home and hope everyone is doing great ( tjstjohn@semesteratsea.net) and I hope to have some pictures up here soon! But until then…Croatia tomorrow!
Ciao!
So as promised I said I would finish up my last 4 days of Italy for you after we left Rome which I can’t say compare to Rome (simply because I absolutely LOVED Rome!) but they were still amazing! After an early breakfast in our hotel in Rome Thursday morning we headed for the train station to catch the 3 hour train to Florence and after a quick 3 hour nap the next thing we knew we were in Florence! After grabbing a quick lunch and finding a hotel to stay in for the night we quickly grabbed city maps and began exploring the wonderful city located in the middle of beautiful wine county – Tuscany. Our first evening in Florence Kelsey and I were both pretty tired so we spent most of our time simply walking through the towns winding streets and enjoying the sights, sounds, and yummy Italian food smells of the city along with its beautiful sunset over the river that evening! After waking up the next morning though we began our grand adventure of Florence beginning with a visit to the Medici chapel in which the Medici family was buried. Afterwards we toured the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore as well as the bell tower and baptistery that were built alongside of the church. Our plans were then to go see the statue of David and then on to the Pitti Palace but after seeing the line to David was 2 and a half hours long in the sun we decided to forgo that experience! After the place and a quick lunch we then boarded a train headed to Pisa.
Once arriving to the town of Pisa we followed a steady stream of tourists to the back of the town to a lawn in which everyone was staring at a tall skinny building that upon further inspection was not only crooked but very evidently leaning very sharply towards the ground. Not understanding what was going on with this crooked building or “leaning tower” we decided to join in the fun and snapped a handful of pictures with this leaning tower in Pisa and then toured the cathedral nearby. After walking through the church we grabbed another delicious Italian meal of none other than PASTA and spent several hours walking around the quite little town. Although the town is only known for its tower the town itself was also quite cute and not nearly as overrun with tourists as many of the other places we had been to.
Although we had left the boat in Civitavecchia (near Rome) the boat changed ports half way through our Italy trip, so after walking through the beautiful streets of Pisa we bought yet another train ticket and settled in for our 5 and a half hour train ride down to Naples. Our train was much different than the ones we had previously ridden and reminded us a lot of the train cars from old movies (minus the old man across from me with only one eye!) complete with a little old man selling candy down the aisles and another playing his accordion. After several conversations with the lady next to us, a couple naps, a few postcards written and a rousing game of 20 questions we were finally in Naples and we began the next adventure of our trip…finding where the boat was docked! Well needless to say after 3 hours of walking we finally found our boat at 3:30 in the morning and all but collapsed into our beds!
After arriving in Naples, we spent Sunday at the island of Capri off the coast of Italy swimming, walking the beach, strolling through the small town, and taking a boat tour of the island. We returned back to the ship late Sunday night and then woke up early Monday morning and spent the first half of the day walking through the ancient city of Pompeii in amazement at how everything has survived all that time. It makes you wonder how our buildings today continue to fall around us but their towns is hundreds of years old and has been through both an earthquake and a volcano but much of it still stands. Upon returning to the boat that evening before disembarkation we had a late fourth of July celebration as well of story swapping of our time in Italy!
Well again I made this super long…sorry! But its so hard to sum up so many experiences in any less words than this! So far everything has been amazing (well minus having no luggage!) and I can’t wait to see what I have left ahead of me! I love getting emails from everyone back home and hope everyone is doing great ( tjstjohn@semesteratsea.net) and I hope to have some pictures up here soon! But until then…Croatia tomorrow!
Ciao!
Martin
ReplyDelete1:18 PM on July 10, 2010
Everything going again in my tub. Interesting thing happened yesterday, a boat came along side and dropped some luggage off, they said when I caught up with you again to give it to you., It was covered with airline luggage stickers! Depending on rubber band power I felt I will not catch up with you, so I put your luggage on a passing ship headed for Halifax, Canada, I hope I did right?? Captain Martin