So here is a summary of my brief Italian life:
First stop: Milan
The main attraction in Milan (besides fashion) is the Duomo. It's one of the biggest churches in Europe, and I climbed up onto its roof! (the first set of many many steps in Italy)
Other than that, my one full day in Milan was spent walking around and spending a lot of time in the public parks. It is a very modern city, so most of it did not seem that "typically Italian" in the way that most of us would imagine. After one day I was more than ready to board a train to.....
Venice!
On the train to Venice, I was looking forward to getting some good sleep, but I discovered that Italian trains are not silent like in France. Cultural difference number one: Italians are loud and boisterous and enthusiastic - all the time.
As soon as I exited the train station, however, I was greeted by blue skies, colorful buildings, and canals. It was exactly the Italy I had dreamed of.
Venice is quite crowded and touristy, but I still found ways to have an authentic experience. Getting lost on the narrow little side walks between the canals is a sure way to see the real residential Venice. And eating pizza for lunch on the side of a canal while an old Italian man cleans his boat and his wife shouts out the window at him is another. And despite the crowds, nothing can compare to the sunset over the grand canal or St. Mark's square.
After just over 24 hours in Venice, however it was time to head to...
Florence
I realized that the Italy of which I had always dreamed really is Tuscany, so I fell in love with Florence and it's surrounding countryside.
In my few days in Florence, I climbed many stairs to the top of a hill to watch the sunset over the city, saw Michealangelo's David, climbed many stairs to the top of the Duomo, and ate some of the best meals of my life.
On my second night in Florence, I had my favorite meal in Italy. We followed a guidebook to a tiny restaurant on a tiny side street for some amazing pasta. It was so delicious, in fact, that we scraped our plates clean, using our bread to soak up any remaining sauce. When our waiter came to clear the plates he looked at them, looked at us, looked back at them, then said "We have people to clean the dishes, you know."
As wonderful as Florence was, I was eager to move onto the stop I had been most excited about:
Cinque Terre
If you haven't heard of Cinque Terre, you are missing out. In Italian, it means "Five Lands," and it is actually five small villages on the Mediterranean in North West Italy. Tourists hike on cliffs and mountains between the five charming and colorful towns for breathtaking views of the towns, the mountains, and the ocean.
I would continue describing it, but you have to see it to believe how amazing this place is, and pictures don't even do it justice. But here it is nonetheless:
I took that photo from the trail looking down on Vernazza, the town that we stayed in. Besides the beautiful scenery, Cinque Terre specializes in great food: focaccia and pesto. I also ate breakfast at the best pastry place ever. And the amount of vigorous hiking that we did up and down millions of stairs more than made up for all the eating. Cinque Terre truly is heaven on earth - the best place that I have visited in my 21 years.
Pisa
Pisa was meant as just a stop over to spend the night after Cinque Terre so that Katrina could fly out of Italy and I could then go to Rome. But as soon as we got to Pisa, we got news of the volcano in Iceland, which would wreak havoc all over Europe for the next week. Katrina had to figure out what to do next, leaving us with only a few minutes to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Hence, my three pictures of the tower are not good. But here it is anyways, so prove that I was there:
Unfortunately for my friend Katrina, trains back to France were booked for the next three days and we had no idea when the airports would open. She opted to stay in Pisa to figure out her options, although she later ended up in Rome and didn't make it back to Angers for another week. But for the time being, I had to leave her alone in the Pisa train station and board a train to...
Rome
I had already been in Rome for Easter (which you can also read a blog post about) but I went back just for the afternoon before flying to Spain the next morning.
Lucky for me I got to go back, because there is so much to see in Rome. There were a few major sites that I had missed over Easter, so I hopped off the train and headed to the Trevi Fountain (below) and Spanish steps, before enjoying one last meal and gelato cone in Italy.
Luckily for me, my spring break was unaffected by the volcano in Iceland. I flew onto Madrid no problem, and had all kinds of adventures in Spain for a week, all while hearing stories of friends stuck in cities all over Europe and making painfully slow and lonely journeys back to France. But you'll have to stay tuned for more about my week in Spain!
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