I am exhausted! Italy has been crazy! Rome was great fun but once we hit Florence and Venice, things just went haywire.

When we got to Florence, we hadn’t booked a hostel yet. After seeking out an internet cafe, we booked a place nearby and went there. When we got there, no one was at reception but luckily, other people staying at that hostel let us in (one point for the security measures in place). We hung around for about 30 minutes before someone showed up. We ddin’t feel that great about the place but it was a place to sleep so that was all we really cared about. We went out for dinner and all the streets were deserted! It was Saturday night! It was also freezing out, like Vancouver cold. We decided to go to bed early and get an early start the next day.

When we woke up and left the hostel, we looked on the maps for places to go check out but a lot of the stuff was closed. I guess Sunday isn’t a great day if you wanted to go to churches, museums, and other attractions in Florence. We found a few open places so we did the best we could. We got to see the original statue of Michaelangelo’s David, so that was neat. Then, throughout the day we saw replica statues all over town. I don’t think I’ve seen that many statues with penises than I did in Florence. After a few other places, we went and caught th sunset over Florence, which was nice.

The next day, we wanted to see all the other places we didn’t get to see the day before but again, many places were closed. I guess people in Florence don’t care too much about working. We climbed to the top of the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore (which is, reportedly, the third largest cathdral in the world, behind St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London) and got a nice view of the city. Unfortunately, the Uffizi Gallery was also closed on Monday and we didn’t get to see the art in Florence, most notably Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus). Later in the afternoon, we caught a train to Venice.

If you’ve never been to Venice before, imagine what you’ve seen on television. Now, take that image of Luigi singing “That’s Amore” while paddling the gandola you’re on and replace it with just a regular Italian guy trying to make you pay €120 for a ride along the Grande Canal. Everything else is pretty much the same. Hardly any cars, lots of small channels throughout the city so a boat/gondola (any many bridges) are required, and lots of walking. Oh, Venice, is also freezing. The place we stayed at was actually a camp ground 45 minutes away from the city. It was pretty ghetto. Again, a place to sleep (although it was pretty far). The first day we were there, we caught a bus into the city and just made a plan to get lost. There wasn’t really anything specific that we were looking for so we just walked around until we hit something. We got to centre of the city, Piazzo San Marco, and it was pigeons everywhere! It was neat. We went into the basilica, walked around a bit and then checked out the gondola rides. If they rides were cheaper, we probably would have done it. We talked one of them down from €120 to €70 but even at that price, it was a bit too expensive so we decided to not go and go eat instead.

During our meal break, we met two folks from Edmonton. That was cool, we never separated again that night. We all went back to their posh hotel room and had some more wine and then we met up with another person we met in Rome (who we just randomly saw in Venice) for dinner. After dinner, we went to try and find a club and after a little searching, we finally did. We partied until 4a and we all had an amazing time. It wasn’t until we left the club to return to the Edmonton folks’ room that things went sour.

Our plan was to crash in their room for the night and then return to our hostel the next morning to check-out. The concierge at the hotel was having none of it (”You’re not guests here, you can’t stay here”). After an episode, we had to leave and go back to our hostel for the night. Problem was, trying to get back to your hostel at 5.30a when you’re in a city you don’t know and a language you can’t speak can be quite a challenge. However, after three hours, I was able to navigate myself and my extremely cranky travel-mate back to our hostel (which involved a lot of walking, a water bus, and a regular bus). I had time to shower before we checked out. It was a crappy night and I didn’t sleep at all. We made it back to the city by 11.30a and we met up with the girl from Edmonton for coffee and lunch. Then we had to find a train to Parma. My original plan was to go home after Venice, but stars and planets aligned themselves and I ended up going to Parma as well (mainly to check out Cinque Terre). I was able to take a short nap on the train but beyond that, I was bagged.

We found someone to stay with in Parma through couchsurfing.com (I’ll write about couchsurfing in-depth in a future post) but trying to get directions and finding her proved hectic. Finally, we got a local to speak to her and all was resolved rather easily.

The next day, we were going to take a train to Cinque Terre but when we got halfway, there was a train strike (WTF?) so our trip needed a detour and three extra hours. Eventually, we made it and the scenary was absolutely brilliant. Too bad I slipped on the mossy rocks and dropped my camera onto rocks and into the water. My camera was DOA at that point. I was disappointed my brand new camera broke and I couldn’t take as many pictures of the vast scenery as I wanted to, but at least I experienced the Cinque Terre and that my camera broke at the end of my trip and not at the beginning.

After Cinque Terre, our host in Parma took us for some drinks and we met some of her friends. When we returned home, I had to book everything to get back home to Vancouver. I’m currently on a train to Rome right now so I can get on a flight to London tonight. I’ve got 12 hours in London before my flight to Vancouver so I’m going to see if Nicki is available for one lats bender.

This trip’s been great but I’m completely out of money and ready to go home.