Pizza, Pasta, and Paninis!

You will soon discover that this is a very extensive entry. Please don't let the length discourage you from reading every single word of it. There are lots of fascinating things and funny stories to share with you. Hopefully you will find it to be interesting!

We started our enchanting Italian experience in the city of Venice. We took a motorboat ride to reach the city that is built on 117 islands with 150 canals and 400 bridges. Regular flooding and sky-high property prices make it a difficult place to live. Public transport is via the canals on water buses. The other mode of transportation is your feet. While in Venice we shopped, checked out the city, kissed on the famous bridge said to make your love eternal (since we really needed to secure that), and went on a romantic gondola ride. It was just as you would imagine with the black and white striped sailor shirt dude whistling away and steering you through the canals of the beautiful city. We ended the night with a group dinner Venetian fashion. That basically means there was A LOT of food! What a blast!

Next we headed to the ancient city of Rome. This city has more than 2500 years of history and is packed with some of the most amazing buildings and architecture ever! Some of these structures include the Colosseum, the Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, and Piazza Navona. I chose the most important places to tell you a few things about to give you an idea of their significance.

The Colosseum is Rome's best-known monument and was begun by Emperor Vespasian in AD 72. The massive structure could seat 80,000 and featured gory and deadly gladiatorial combat and wild beast shows. During the Middle Ages, it became a fortress, then later a quarry for travertine and marble to build Palazzo Venezia and other buildings. Restoration works have been under way since 1992.

The Sistine Chapel... okay, don't even get me started. First of all let me say there are so many freakin awesome, talented artists from Italy during the Renessaince and Baroque periods that I can hardly handle it. Ever heard of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and Raphael? And no I am not talking about the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Yeah, they rock. Anyways, the Sistine Chapel was a private chapel built in 1473 for Pope Sixtus IV. Michelangelo spent 4 years of his life painting an incredible fresco on the ceiling. The artwork depicts the book of the Bible, Genesis, including the Creation and the Fall. 24 years later after he finished this massive project he painted the back wall of the chapel known as The Last Judgement. You "technically" weren't allowed to take any pictures in the chapel because the flash of the camera slowly ruins the paintings, but I snuck a couple non-flash pictures for you to enjoy. Oh yes, one other quick story. It is not true that Michelangelo painted the ceiling lying on his back. For four years the dude leaned his neck back and painted over his head. The project permanently screwed up his vision and his posture. He could no longer bring his head down to a straight-forward, normal position. Talk about a sacrifice for the job!

St. Peter's Basilica is the most famous church in Christendom and stands on the site where St. Peter was buried... hence the name. In 1547 Michelangelo, at age 72, took on the project of designing the grand dome. Yeah, he was the man. The church has a strict dress code for visitors which I can testify IS enforced as I attempted to test the rules. Your shoulders have to be covered and no shorts or skirts above the knee are allowed. I miraculously got past the first and second set of security guards and actually made it in the church for 45 whole minutes before I got caught and kicked out with my scandalous above the knee shorts. When the guy just asked me to leave I just regretfully put on the pants I brought and reentered with the proper coverage. It was like a BILLION degrees outside so I was avoiding the pants and cardigan route at all costs. As you can see, I was all about breaking the rules while in Rome. :)

The Pantheon is the best-preserved building of Rome. The original building was built in 27 BC by Marcus Agrippa and the extraordinary dome is considered the most important achievement of all Roman architecture.

Personally, I am so blown away by the accomplishments of these artists and architects from 2 thousand years ago! These structures are so old but yet still remain to be some of the most impressive architecture in the world. Just goes to show you how brilliant these people were!

So you can see what we did with our time while in Rome. There was much to see and we were very busy. Now, moving onto Florence... We didn't have a whole lot of time here and to be honest, I can't even remember what we did besides dinner, haha. Uhh, let's see. We saw a leather demonstration and were able to explore the city. Other than that, I don't think there's much to say. For dinner, we got all dressed up and went to "Le Certosa" a charming 16th century restaurant set in the scenic Tuscan hills. There was a pianist to set a romantic mood, a dance floor, as well as an opera singer to serenade all of us. The dinner was like a 30 course meal. It just kept coming. I thought that I had already eaten (and finished might I add) the main course when out the real main course... It was a delight, but boy was I full. During the course of the evening the lights dimmed and a slow song came on. This is when Brandon took my hand and led me out to the dance floor. We were the only ones out there and everyone from our group was cheering, clapping, whistling, and taking pictures... it was a night to remember! So fun, so romantic. Okay, back to reality.

This is the end of our wonderful time in Italy. I highly recommend everyone going there at least once in your lifetime. It truly is an amazing place. The amount of history, art, style, and culture is overwhelming! Well, I hope you've enjoyed your tour... I'm working for tips only, so feel free to send them my way. ;) Til next time, peace out.