Italy Road Trip

Sorry for the delay in my blog updating but here’s what’s been going on :

Last week I got back from my week-long road trip in Italy. I had an amazing time. But it was also probably the most tiring week I’ve had since I’ve been abroad. The only time we really got a chance to rest was when we were in the car between destinations.

Day 1: We were all supposed to meet at the bureau (program office) at noon so that we could hope in the car and get started because we had to be in Bonosolla by 7pm and it was only 4 hours away. We being: Amy Luck, Melissa Jennings (planner), Nate Delong (entertainment), Jarell Skinner-Roy, Anne Raks, and Phil C. But we thought we would get a head start incase there was traffic or we got lost or anything else went wrong. So we were all at the office at noon (with our luggage and food). Two people went to go and pick up the car (the driver Phil and Jarell). But, they ran into trouble getting the car because it was going to be expensive than thought, and then there was a limit on the credit card, and then they didn’t have the car that we had originally rented. SO! FINALLY! Around 2-3pm they arrived in Aix in front of the office to pick us all up and to our surprise it was a tight squeeze. So, after packing ourselves and jamming our luggage in, we were off. Our first destination was Bonosolla (through some large cities, up some hills, down some others) and we finally found our house! But…we were 1-2 hours late. Luckily, Melissa had called ahead and told them that we would be late, so they left our key for us and we were in for the night!

Day 2 : We woke up early and took a train to le Cinque Terre which are five old villages connected by train or hiking paths. The houses are all painted bright colors and the hiking between the five towns was breath taking. Not to mention the gnocchi and pesto I had for lunch could not be topped. The five towns names are: Monterosso, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore. It would be a great place to go once it gets a little warmer. When we went half of the day was cold and rainy and the other half was sunny and beautiful. Sadly, we did not move fast enough between the 5 villages because we had to take the train from Manarola to Riomaggiore (which wasn’t too bad considering we were all extremely tired). So, we headed home for another relaxing night.

Day 3: Again, up early. But this time we were off to Florence (or Firenze) with a stop in Pisa in between. We found Pisa without a problem and only stay for about 2 hours. Just enough time to take the usual pictures with the tower and a quick stop at McDonalds (which as a demand from the boys). Pisa was actually a lot more interesting that I had thought it would be. Granted that’s the only thing to see in Pisa. We parked our car, hopped out, took pictures, bought postcards, hopped back in, stopped at McDonalds, and then we were off to Florence.

Phil drove through (and with) the crazy Italien drivers and all of the sudden we hear, “Uh Melissa, I’m off the highway. Where do I go”. Somehow Phil had dead-ended into a busy residential street. So we all jumped awake to try to help him find his way. From the very back seats (or rumble seats as we called them) I pointed out a hotel called Hotel Firenze. We had somehow managed to end up in Florence (without realizing it).

With the help of Rick Steve’s we found a parking garage and then made our way into the heart of Florence. We found our hostel without a hitch, went out to a nice Valentine’s Day dinner, tooled around for a little and say some sights, and settled in for the night.

Day 4: Florence was a whirlwind. We woke up early (at least the girls did) and started our day. The girls went out and got a cappuccino before 10am because supposedly you’re not supposed to get a cappuccino any later than that. We ended up finding a café right next to the Duomo—a beautiful cathedral in the center of Florence. Then, we met up with Jana Kritz (a friend from Wisconsin who is studying in Florence for the semester). Once the boys finally woke up and met us she gave us a tour of Florence and took us to the best sandwich place I’ve ever been to. We walked all day and took in the sights then we went to the top of a hill in Florence and looked at Florence from above. That’s when my camera died…Don’t worry though because I ended up getting 4 times the amount of pictures as I would have after taking them from my friends on the trip. Again, that night we went out to dinner, went out for a little, and then back to bed.

Day 5: This was mostly a traveling day from Florence to Rome (which we figured traffic would be horrible in Rome anyways). The girls woke up at the crack of dawn to go wait in line at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence while the boys slept the morning away. Sadly, we had to do the Uffizi at a run because of the time constraints that they have (if you plan on going buy your tickets in advance!). The museum was interesting but smaller than we had anticipated and so we ended up getting to take another quick stroll through. After that we had to rush home because check out was at 10am and it was already 9:50. Of course, we get back and the boys are not even awake yet (it was after 10). Finally, by 10:30/45 everyone was up and ready to go. We got a sandwich and cappuccino on the way out and we were off to Rome. When we got into Rome our first idea was to find a parking garage right away (sadly Rick said nothing about a parking garage). So, we stopped at a nearby hotel and asked them if they knew of a parking garage. And as it happened there was an underground (small) garage right behind the hotel that wasn’t too expensive and that was close-ish to our hostel. So, we dropped off our car and got into our hostel. In our hostel we got a free pasta dinner every night so we had that and then had to go out and get a pizza on top of that.

Day 6: First full day in Rome (at a run). We started out by heading to the Vatican to see the Pope speak (it was Ash Wednesday). That took up a fair part of the morning and so after that we had lunch and went to the Piazza Nivona and then to the Patheon. Pantheon was extremely interesting (especially with a little instruction from Rick Steves). And it was drizzling a little bit so we got to see the rainfall through the ceiling of the Pantheon. From there we booked it over to the Colosseum thinking that it was going to close at 4pm and it was already 3:30. Luckily we were able to get tickets in time and able to see the entire Colosseum, but we had to save the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill for the next day. We went home to rest our feet a little while because of all of the walking between all of the tourist sights and to eat our free pasta dinner. After dinner we took a walking tour and went to see the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps.

Day 7: Again up relatively early and out to see more of Rome. We saw the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill in the morning. Went out to lunch and then off to the Vatican for the rest of the afternoon. (seeing St. Peter’s Basilica and the Vatican Museum including the Sistine Chapel). The Roman Forum and Palatine Hill were really interesting because we got to see all the ruins up close and personal. St. Peter’s Basilica was amazing with its massive sculptures of past popes. It was the largest church I’ve ever been in (granted I think it may the one of the largest in the world). The Vatican museum was interesting but I thought it was mostly interesting for the Sistine Chapel which I could have looked at for hours and hours. From there we hopped on the train (after walking Rome again) and stopped at the Trevi Fountain at dusk before getting back onto the train and heading home for some good Rome pizza and cozy bed.

Day 8: The girls (of course) were up and ready to get going on our way to our next destination. But of course, the boys struggled to get out of bed and get ready (despite our timeline that we had all set prior). So, after saying we were going to be at the car and on the road at 10am around 12/1pm we were in the car and on the road. We made a quick stop in Montepulciano (not sure on the spelling) for Anna—one of our travelers—who wanted to go there because it’s where one of the scenes in the movie New Moon of the Twilight series was filmed. So we made a quick stop to capture some pictures and videos of her reenacting the scene. From there we made a stop in San Gimignano (or St. Jimmy Johns as we referred to it). There, we took a few pictures, had some lunch, and were back on the road on our way to Albenga (a nice meeting spot between Rome and Aix. After getting immensely lost we finally found the hotel and stopped, had dinner went to bed and then early rise to get the car home in time.

Day 9: Early rise and pile back into the car on the way back to Aix (finally). We didn’t quite make it back in time but luckily didn’t get charged a late fee. That day, I stayed home and napped all day.

This was an amazing trip but also one of the most tiring trips I’ve ever taken. It was a whirlwind trip through Italy. Great times, great laughs, great people and AMAZING food! It was definitely worth all of the stress and “fatigation” or fatigue that we all experienced upon our return.

Hope you enjoyed my account of everything that happened on our Italy visit and I’m sorry for the delay. I’ll catch everyone up soon with anymore exciting news!

Soon to come: A few pictures and miniature description (comparatively) of Arles, France.