Monday, July 4th-
The first of my two new favorite cities is a small little Italian town that we briefly visited on our way to Rome, called Orvieto. We were told that Orvieto was a quintessential Italian town where we would find Italian women walking back from the bakery with their fresh bread and pastries in the morning, Italian men sitting on the stoops outside of their shops talking and laughing, and overall just an amazing little town that is an unknown jewel to most tourists. Boyyyyyy all of that was so true! I thought I loved Pisa but Orvieto blew it out of the water. First we took the Funicolare (pronounced Finacular) which is a mix between a train and an elevator up to find this wonderful city perched atop beautiful rolling hills. Below is a side view of the Funicolare, the view on our way up, and the view from the top.
Next, we walked through the town trying to soak up as much as we could in a short period of time. For the most part, our group found the city cute but was satisfied with the hour stop that we had in Orvieto. Amanda and I both agree that we could've easily spent a few days there. We both seem to agree that we enjoy the larger cities but more often than not prefer the peaceful serenity of the smaller cities we have encountered so far.
Last, we visited a beautiful church. I have already forgotten the official name of it but it is affectionately nicknamed the zebra church. Look how stunning it is! This was our last official tour day with Andrea and Christina (the sisters from NY that Amanda and I have been living with for the past two weeks) and I am really sad to say goodbye to them. Below is a pic of the three of us on the stairs of the church.
Later in the afternoon we made our way into the capital of Italy. The beautiful, amazing, wonderful... Rome (or Roma as it is known in Italian). I took one step into the city and it was love at first sight. Seriously, Rome is spectacular! It has fountains everywhere that are hooked into 2,000 year old aqueducts that offer free flowing, pure, deliciously cold water.
It has some of the best shopping in the world, or at least so far that I've seen in Europe (and no, I didn't buy anything). Plus, the overall feel of Rome is warm and inviting and has that "Italy" feel that I have found missing from other places. Up until Pisa, Orvieto, and Rome I had been more or less disappointed in Italy. Maybe my expectations we too high to begin with but now I am pleased to say I loved Italy and am leaving on a high note!
Anyway, this afternoon Alan took us on about a 4 hour walking tour all over Rome. We saw the Pantheon, the Coliseum, the ancient Roman ruins, the Trevia fountain (not sure if that is the correct spelling but legend has it if you drop two coins into the fountain you will have safe travels back to Rome and will be lucky in love), the north wall of Hadrian's temple, and so much more. It was great to have a cities history and architecture jump out and touch me so much! I definitely want to come back to Rome one day.
All of this of course was just the first half of Monday, 7/4/2011. As I said before, there are only 6 Americans on tour so naturally we all wanted to celebrate our nation's independence but 7/4 also marked the last night on tour for 10 of our fellow tour mates so we decided to throw a bon voyage/ 4th of July party at our campsite. It was great fun! I had gotten some terrifying news earlier in the day about a family member and did not feel up to the festivities (who by the way sounds like he is doing much better thanks to God's love and will) but as I said a prayer, heard from my family, and was comforted by new and old friends, I decided to try and enjoy the night as best I could. I'm really glad I ended up joining in... we even sang "I'm proud to be an American" to all the Aussies. It was funny!
Tuesday, July 5th-
Today we were up bright and early to go into Vatican City (the smallest country in the world) to do a tour of the Vatican Museum. We paid extra to get into the museum an hour before the public and to have a local tour guide tell us all about what we were looking at. I must say, having someone passionate about art and history walk you through and explain what in the world you are looking at makes the experience ten times better! Everything we saw is stunning even if you don't know what you are looking at but you can certainly appreciate it more when someone is telling you about it. We spent about 3 hours inside the Vatican museum and St Peter's Basilica and I would venture to say it was the coolest part of my entire trip so far. The Sistine Chapel was almost breathtaking! Our tour guide went into all the specific details about the type of paint and logistics of what Michelangelo did so it only made the ceiling that much more impressive and beautiful. I took many pictures inside of the museum but the Sistine Chapel is copyrighted so photos are not allowed. In fact, you can't even talk in there! The whole experience was so neat just to be walking the halls and being inside of churches where so many Popes and famous artists have been. Here are a few photos from the museum and inside Saint Peter's Basilica.
Amanda and I finished our afternoon by having a late lunch right outside the Pantheon. It was amazing!
Once we were finished, we grabbed some gelato (yummy Italian ice cream), hopped on the metro, and headed back to camp. Now we are back in our room preparing to leave for Greece tomorrow!!!! Yay! My long awaited adventure is finally here. We are only allowed to bring the bare minimum with us for our sailing adventure. PS- we stopped off in a local supermarket for some supplies for the next few days and sunscreen was €15 which is roughly $23! I was outraged! Anyway, we set sail the day after tomorrow and will be sailing our own yachts through the Mediterranean for three days. Needless to say, I won't have any Internet for at least the next 4 days so I will get back with you when I can.
I love you so much!
-Lindsay
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Location:Orvieto and Rome, Italy
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