The Floating City

En route to Austria on the bus, and everyone has the contagious Contiki Cough! So gross 50 people coughing consistently. :-/

Lucky I haven't got sick yet. But considering wearing a sars mask!

Anyway we arrived in Venice two days ago but our original campsite accommodation was over booked and had no hot water. So we checked into a hotel. We were all so excited till we arrived to "Bates Motel" This place looked like no one had booked in decades. In fact the staff even looked excited they finally had customers. It even smelt like an old lady's house that hadn't been dusted EVER. Anyway as dodgy as it is we headed the next day on a boat over to Venice.

Venice is made up of 118 islands all accessible by tiny bridges. There are no cars and no bikes. Only boats and gondolas.

Walking through the city was such a surreal experience because every little arched bridge you walked over - to your left and right were canals filled with shiny teal coloured water. The water was so still it mirrored a reflection of the buildings lining the canals. Not to mention beautiful built gondolas in red, black and gold floating down.

After getting through the middle of the city we came out to St Marks Square. If you stand in the middle of this huge square and look around, the building walls were all archways that ran for miles. Under each archway were cream drawdown curtains and the cutest cafes and restaurants underneath. Most of the restaurants had bands playing violins and harps. Very romantic!

After roaming around the square I decided to venture off on my own. So off I headed with a map down a lane way. Murano crystal and glass is made in Venice so you can imagine the stores full of the nicest sculptures, wine glasses, jewellery, perfume bottles all handmade in Italy. I bought a few pressies for myself and Mum. But it's very hard to buy things that aren't going to smash in your suitcase. I would of loved to have bought some glasses or a vase.

For 100 years Venice has been holding a Carnival where the rich and poor come together and everyone wears these beautiful and eccentric masks. They did this so that no one knew each others status or who they were. So all over the lane ways and markets are thousands of masks ranging from €5-€500. All handmade in Italy. Some stores you can even watch people make them in front of you. Again it was to hard to bring home one. And really what would you do with it? Even though they're so so cool!

After searching through the markets and streets, (which is so much fun because there's no cars in your way) I headed to lunch and had steak and salad. Cannot explain how much I'm craving Aussie food. Pretty put off bread pasta and pizza! I went back to meet up with the group for the gondola rides!

Upon getting on these gondolas they're actually pretty unstable and you have to stay seated and even. We bought two bottles of Bellini, which tastes like the yummiest smoothie. We drifted down the canals and it's so relaxing and silent. You just sit back and take in all the old history in the buildings.

Floating past, all the buildings are vintage styled homes coloured terracotta with dark green shutters. Sometimes the locals hanging out the windows waving at us. Every now and then you'd come across these little cellar windows and doors, they kind of look like little caves off the river.
You'll have to check out my photos to get the idea of it. But this city is one I would return too! It's so pretty and so relaxing dining out along the canals and watching all the trade boats and gondolas floating up and down.

It was a pretty hot and tiring day so back to the hotel and off to the local pub for dinner where we went to order a drink and the bartender said "Nope, first ones on me!" and whipped out a samurai sword and took off the top of a champagne bottle. Not to mention it wasn't a cheap bottle........ Normally €30. Pretty sure they weren't used to females being in there pub because again he came out with two half litres of red wine and 2 shots each, and insisted we watch him light them on fire! We practically paid for 1 drink all night. But we were celebrating one of the girls 25th. For sure I thought there was a catch. But sure enough we headed home and only left a small tip for the bartender each.

So on the bus again, it's 8:50am and we won't be in Austria till 5pm! Such long drives. Tonight will be a free night so relaxing and repacking all my gifts to fit back in my suitcase. Only 10 more days left on tour!! Going so fast but can't wait to get back to London!!

MISSING EVERYONE!

xx

I love Roma

Bonjorno Rome!

Rome is in its 8th century and after driving 10 hours we hopped straight off the bus in the its to start sight seeing. We started with a monument called the Monumento Nationazale a Vittorio Emanuele. A Roman emperor wanted a monument to represent himself instead of a statue! And it was massive! You can see it pictured with all the columns lining the outside and huge wrought iron gates.

Next up we visited the coloseum which is named after an emperor called Coloseo. It was built by 40,000 slaves and the detail of the Coloseum is so unbelievable considering they had no experience or even technology to construct such a massive arena. It was used for entertainment for everyone in Rome and would have free food and entry. The coloseum held gladiator fights, animal fights, and simulated battleship fights.
There is so much missing it's so hard to imagine all the slayings and lives that were spared or let die.

When the Roman Catholics took over they turned the coloseum into a quarry for materials because they didn't want a reminder of all the slayings that happened.

Afterwards we headed to the ruins, which were 2000 years old. Rome has been built over and over again and you can see the levels of the city through different eras in my photos. There is one particular picture where I am sitting on a bowled down column. They say that the whole city used to be built in marble. Anyway in the background you can see the levels of ruins which show they just built on top of each new city. You can see at the highest building is where Rome is built today.
Whilst we were there, there was a part that was blocked off and was still being uncovered by scientists. These ruins were 2500 years old and it was still being dug up.

The heat that day was pretty hot and we all met back at the meeting place. I was so thirsty I saw 3 other people from my tour drinking from a fountain so I walked over and had a drink. We all turned around and everyone was gone. We literally turned our backs for a minute and had missed at least 45 people leaving. So we were officially lost!

We took our maps and headed on the path that was set for the day and went to our next sight to see - the Spanish Steps.
I've never heard of these before but they're pretty steep so we climbed the top and got a good view of the city streets. If we had stuck with our tour guide, I could of told you more!

Next place was the Trevi Fountain! This is my most favorite icon in Europe. Standing in the middle is a statue of Neptune. I took a photo of myself making a wish and throwing a coin in. You can drink from the fountain because the water flows from the mountains. Back in the day the Romans first invented viaducts which are still used today, 2000 years later for Romes water flow.

After standing in awe at the fountain we stopped for a pizza, just a couple lane ways down. Then we started the mission back to the campsite. Which trust me wasn't easy! We made it back and woke in the morning for an early rise to the Vatican City!

We arrived about 7:30am and the cue to get in was enormous! Every 4th Sunday is free entry so you can imagine the crowd it attracts. It didn't take long to get into the Sistine Chapel. Once in, it is one of the most beautiful places I've been to. The walls and ceilings are covered in sculptures and paintings from Michaelangelo. There is so much detail, it would take days to slowly roam around and read all the history behind each painting. While we were there the Pope had a mass in the huge courtyard. And people were singing and praying inside. It's was pretty cool and I have some amazing videos of the music & more of the art work inside. I wanted to spend longer in there but we were in a group and had to get moving. When I was finished I split from the group and posted postcards from the Vatican City's very own post service.

I could go on and on about how cool it was to be surrounded by so much history but I have to get going. We just got to Austria and had to re write this blog very quickly before heading to dinner because the other one deleted. Wish I could fill you all in more as the photos just don't do justice.

Love everyone and  wish you were all here to enjoy this with me!!

CIAO!!
xx

Firenze, Florence

Florence is actually named after a flower and home to some amazing artists and influential people, such as Michaelangelo, Leonardo Da Vinchi, Makaveli, and Donatello.

We arrived to our campsite.....
Yes, second campsite and not the last of my tour, can't wait for a hotel! Just putting it out there... Lol Anyway our first day in Florence we headed to the city for a leather tour. Here we learnt about the process of making leather products and how to tell a fake! So excited because I bought my first leather handbag made here in Italy!

The lane ways in Italy are covered in people selling fake leather and imitations of famous paintings. If you get caught wearing any fake designer brands you get a fine on the spot from the police!

After the leather tour we went and viewed all the statues which stand in a square to represent the Roman history in Florence. We also got to see the famous Ponte Vecchio bridge. I've decided not to do anymore walking tours because I like doing them alone because it's not as overcrowded and I love roaming around the lane ways and finding hidden stores and markets. And most of all its free. So all my photos I can't explain this time what they're about!

While wandering around we came across a caricature artist and got a picture drawn. He was selling watercolour paintings and being Italian as you'd all know they're very vocal on what they think of you! I asked to buy a painting and he said "No, you are so beautiful and sweet to me I want to show you my personal collection." so he went and grabbed a folder of paintings he sells to art galleries. I purchased two and was so rapped cause no one else will have the same original hand painted art that I do. Not going to lie I've gone a bit overboard with paintings and old pictures to frame for my house.

That night we tried a Tuscan dinner at a restaurant in the city. For €35 we got three pastas, meatballs, chicken & polenta, cured meats, dessert, and two glasses of red wine. Seriously delicious food and pretty sweet value!

Afterwards I forced myself to follow the group to a club. (this is for you Kayla)when we got there, not kidding it was like Chasers nightclub Melbourne. So definitely not my scene! The weirdest thing was there were literally children in the club, these kids were all like 13, 14 year olds. They weren't allowed to buy alcohol, but who was stopping them drinking it. It was pretty weird felt like a school disco..... Probs won't be going out again.

Gotta run, cause I'm standing outside the coloseum in Rome ready to go look around!

Missing home and everyone big time!!

Xx