Florence and Venice

Ok, so I have a lot to write!!  I am SO tired and I have an early morning but I am determined to update you all on what I've been up to!  I LOVE ITALY!!!!!!!!

I had an amazing first day in Florence.  My hostel provided a free 2hr walking tour and so it was a no brainer!  I really enjoyed the tour and learning more about the city and it's history.  I also had the pleasure of tasting some authentic Florentine Gelato!!  While on the tour I met two other girls from the hostel and at the end of the tour we decided to pal up and go see some sights on our own.  It was all our first day in Florence!!  One girl, Maddy, is Australian and the other girl is Mary from Canada (Montreal).  We went to the Palitini Galleria which had so many amazing paintings!!  I am learning slowly more and more about art and art history along my travels.  We then went to the top of the Duomo in St. Peter's Cathedral.  Another hot treck to the top but well worth the amazing views of Florence!!  Then we strolled through the market and I had a mini splurge on a beautiful leather jacket! As Maddy said, when in Rome or two hours from Rome!  lol  Then we enjoyed making our own picnic in the Michealangelo Plazza for the sunset.  All in all I think that we were out walking around and taking it all in for about 11 hrs!!  It was so spontaneous and super fun!!

The next day Maddy and I took the train to Sienna.  What a lovely town!!  It is very chill and filled with many beautiful builings and an amazing cathedral!!  We got a huge sandwhich from one of the deli's and then walked through a park to take in the lovely views of Tuscany.

The following day the three of us girls went to Cinque Terre which roughly translates to the 5 earths.  Cinque Terre is basically 5 small towns set in on the cliffside and you can hike through all 5 towns alon the coast with amazing views!!  It was a fairly long train ride (3hrs) but well worth it!!  We got dropped off at the southern most town and it took us about 5 hrs to get to the last town where we then rewarded ourselves by taking a swim in the Ludriatic Sea.  The water was the perfect temperature, refreshing but not too cold.  On the train leaving Florence we met another Australian, Chris and he joined our group.  Very fun people!

Then on my way to Venice I met Chris at the train station and we took the train together and have been spending the past two days in Venice together.  Nice to have a companion.  Marry (from the hostel in Florence) and 4 Swedes that I met in the Berlin hostel all met me here as well.  It is so much fun to meet people along the way and then coordinate to meet up with them later!!  Maddy is going to school in the Netherlands and so I am planning on meeting up with her when I go there in October!!

Venice is lovely.  There are many shops all of which are a tease to my wallet!!  There is also a lot of glass items in lots of the shops.  The glass is made in Murano which is an island in the lagoons just outside of Venice.  It is crazy how this city is literally built on water!!  There are so many gothic and baroque style buildings that really are candy to the eye!!  Today we got lost which was fabulous because we saw so many pretty things!  Mary and I sent Chris along his way and then took a ferry to Lido where we rented bikes and rode around and got some dinner.  A very fun day!! 

Tomorrow we plan on going to Lake Gardo early and then hopefully we can pop through Verona on our way back for some dinner!! Very excited!!  It's my last full day in Italy so I am planning on making the most of it!!

That's all for now :-)