When in Rome! ...and Venice

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Trip Start May 17, 2007 Previous
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  Venice, Italy
Sunday, June 24, 2007

Well, if there's one thing I've learned, it's that Italy is friggin expensive...wowza.  The thing that gets me the most is that you are charged an enormous service fee just to sit down at a restaurant (the service fee is usually equal, if not more than your meal itself).  So yeah...in order to save what's left of my money I have not been living in what is even close to luxury.  Buuuut, that's ok, because I'm backpacking, right? 

Italy is pretty crazy.  There are soooooooooooo many people here - especially in Rome (mostly tourists in Venice).  The hostel that I stayed at in Rome was...interesting.  Though it wasn't the cleanest place in the entire world, the atmosphere made up for it...kind of.  Every night the hostel served free dinner (pasta, salad and wine), so everyone made it a point to be back for dinner, which was nice because then we all had the chance to meet each other and eat together, and then afterwards we would all go out together.  It was also really nice because  (for once) there was a big mixture of people there - not just Americans.  Our group consisted of Americans, Canadians, Brazilians, Israelis, Australians, and a guy from Denmark...pretty cool!  The dinners were also nice, as they allowed me to find other people doing the same things I wanted to do, so we were able to tour around together.  Dinner on the second night, however, was really a spectacle.  Upon hearing that it was someone's birthday, Kumar, the owner of the hostel, bought 12 bottles of champagne for everyone to drink.  However, he didn't know who's actual birthday it was, and no one fessed up to it, so he decided that it was going to be my birthday (mind you, my birthday is in April, so this is nowhere even close to my birthday).  It was pretty funny, as the entire night everyone (my fellow hostelers knew it wasn't my b-day) kept wishing me a happy birthday.  Kumar even went as far as to only serve dinner to everyone else once I was served first, stating, "no one can eat until the birthday girl gets her food!"  I was like, oh goodness.  He also decided to pour the champagne down our throats instead of into glasses, making dinner fairly comical.  Kumar, in general, was the best part of that hostel....dinner aside.

So! Rome is chalk full of history.  The first day was spent touring all of the ruins and then half of the city, and the majority of the second day was spent at the Vatican and Vatican museums.  Our hostel was about an hour (walking) distance from the Vatican (7-10 min. metro), and the guy I was with, Matt, and I decided to walk back to see the rest of the city - it was actually a pretty good idea, considering we stopped at almost every place/building we thought looked interesting or had even the littlest bit of significance.  Though I liked Rome a lot, I must admit that I wasn't too sad about leaving.  This was one of those places in which I felt like I got to see most of the city and was done with it.

This is not the case with Venice.  I was a bit nervous going to Venice, as I heard you were able to see it in a day, and that it was pretty boring and expensive.  I can see how people can say this, considering the town basically shuts down at 11 or 12 and there are not really any bars to go out in....but I love Venice - I just wish I was here with someone to enjoy it.  I met a couple of guys from Texas my first night in town and we all went to dinner together and ended up having really good conversation for the rest of the night.  Unfortunately, they left the next day and since then I have been on my own...aka, I think I've had like 2 conversations in the past 2 days, sad face.  Friday, I spent the entire day in the city - seeing the sites, exploring, and uh...getting lost.  Seriously, it is impossible to navigate this place - half the streets are not even labeled on the map!  But that's the fun of it, right?  In my wanderings I happened to stumble upon the opera house/theatre and found out that there is this huge contemporary art festival taking place in Venice right now!  Just my luck, as I looooove modern and contemporary art.  The festival showcases many artistic components including dance, and so I was stoked to find out that there were dance performances every night.  I went to one last night.....aaaaand it was amazing.  The dancers were all from Italy, and there were only four of them and a narrator type person.  Though I couldn't understand what the narrator was saying, I'm fairly confident he was talking about what people are ashamed of - mostly their bodies.  The dancers all used wheelchairs as props - something I have never seen before.  The performance was incredibly moving and powerful and really made me wish that I was up there with them.  I honestly wish everyone could have been there - I rate them right up there with Alvin Ailey (can you believe I just said that...woah)! 

During the performance I sat next to a German, and after the show was over he convinced me to walk around the city a bit before I had to catch the bus (which is actually a water bus) back to where I was staying.  I was a bit apprehensive about it, but I agreed as there seemed to be a lot of people out and about.  I'm really glad I did, because this guy knew a LOT about Venice.  He took me around and told me the significance of many of the buildings we passed and pointed things out to me that I would have missed otherwise....I'm tellin you, those Germans are really nice people! 

All in all, I am sad to leave Venice.  I definitely could have spent a few more days wandering around in the city, though I must say, the next time I come back here I will have a lot of money and a boyfriend of sorts - because that seems to be the way to do this city.

Alright, well that concludes my adventures for now.  I have LOADS of stories I could ramble on and on about, but I'll just spare you the time now and tell you in person :)  It's weird to think I only have about 2 weeks left over here....have I really been gone that long?!

I'll post pictures as soon as I can find internet that isn't ridiculously expensive....seriously (The place I'm at now is cheap, costing me only 3 euros an hour, but everywhere else it's 8 euros an hour - that's about $11 or $12...yikes!)

Ciao! 

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Post your own travel photos for friends and family More Pictures & Videos

Ancient Ruins!	Another one of the Pantheon	Another View of the Colosseum	Another view of the Forum
Apartments looking over the Piazza Navona	Arch of Constantine	Atop the dome!	Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain)
Gardens again	Hall of Maps	Hall of Maps again	Inside the Vatican
Just a replica...but still cool	Matt and I atop the dome	Matt and I being con-men	Matt and the Fountain
Matt on some Famous Bridge	me and Kumar	Me in the Colosseum	Me on the famous bridge
Michelangelo's dome in the Vatican	More of the Palatine	More Ruins	Part of the Group from the Hostel
Piazza Navona	Pope's Gardens again	Rome! From the top of the Vatican	Sistine Chapel
Sistine Chapel again	Some pretty amazing building	The Castle in Rome	The Colosseum
The courtyard outside of the Vatican	The Main Square in Venice	The Pantheon	The Pope's Gardens
The Roman Forum	The Vatican	The walls surrounding the inside of the dome	Three Coins in the fountain - retake
Three coins in the Fountain!	Trevi Fountain again	Vatican 2	Vatican 3
Vatican 4	Vatican 5	Venice!

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