Florence = Firenze?!

I did a power trip through Italy. 4 days = 4 cities.
So first up was Milano. I flew into Bergamo which is an hour outside the city. All I did in Milano was to go see the Duomo. Very very pretty, but I had googled it before and when I got there in person, I thought, yup, this is it!


Next up was Venice. People had told me that it's not very pretty but I always feel connected to any city with water (I was born near the water anyway). Venice was by far my favorite city with its canals, bridges (I like bridges too) and Venetian glass (these things were addicting to look at especially in large quantities: vases, beads, figurines, jewelry = serious eye candy for any artsy shopaholic).

Oh, of course, there was Rome! So much to be seen: Piazza Venezia, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Spanish Steps, St. Peter's... etc. It was impressive; the city was filled, absolutely filled with ruins and monuments and history. I was, throughout the trip, replaying those chick flick scenes set in Rome (I know, I know, dorky).

I spent 6 hours in Florence, during which time I explored the city without a map! (only with directions from random Italian shopkeepers and also with my own poor sense of direction!) I managed to see a lot but also managed to get bogged down at the Mercato Centrale (oh dear, Italy was shopping heaven but don't worry I had a budget and a limit to how much I could shove into my poor backpack). On a side note, I would like some of that fancy jewelry from the city when I'm older: the pieces were dazzling and original in design not to mention too expensive for me!

Now that I gave you an overview of the trip, let me make you high school yearbook-esque list of the best and worst:

Biggest disappointment: The food! Remember how I was excited? Well, I set my standards too high. I had one good pizza (the texture and flavors came together nicely) but the rest of the meals were... eh. I didn't feel like it was too different from the Italian food I can get in Berlin.

Most worth it: OMG, gelatto! We ate gelatto everywhere, thanks to Polina's handy gelatto map (yes, made for her (+me) by her!). In fact, we even ate two gelattos in a row= we love it!

Moment when I lost (a little bit of) faith in humanity: Remember how I was a crime magnet in Paris, well, Italy was no exception. I was stepping onto the Metro in Rome when all of a sudden, I felt someone push up really hard against me, then I felt my bag being unzipped. I hurriedly stepped onto the train and grabbed my bag. I looked down to see a small Gypsy girl, who gave me a flicker of a look of fear and then it turned into a bold stare. She started screaming at me and waving her hands so that I could not say anything. As she kept on yelling 'Chino' or something of the like, I told her to stop. She slunk away eventually, off for another purse (her mom, the baby, and an older brother were also there, I guess to help in the operation.) How sad, she is not helping the Gypsy image. She was too young to be rummaging through people's purses. Why does one person have to gain at the cost of another?

Silliest A-ha moment: For the longest time, I could not figure out why my Eurorail map of Italy did not have Forence on it (isn't it a major city?). I knew that Florence was approximately midway between Rome and Milan but on the map, there was only Firenze (also please realize that I was thinking of the centaur in Harry Potter + I was saying fire-enz). When Polina handed me the train reservations she made for me, I was confused and said, aren't I going to Florence not Fire-enz? That's when she laughed at me and then clarified this whole thing. Oooops, least I learned something.

Best memory of the trip: Polina <3 and I dashing through the streets of Venice to our hotel while the rain was pouring =) We weren't sure when it was going to stop and dodging underneath buildings and alleyways was so much fun. We were soaked!

LILY