Italy...

Oops.. Italy..

Yes .. It was an adventurous and an unforgettable trip. HA HA!
We were doing tremendous planning for Italy , rather me. I spent all days for the four places we wanted to see..It was fun doing it, arguing with my husband and then re-doing it , it was nice..

I have a little fear before any trip , but for Italy the sense of fear was a bit more. The fear is basically "will something happen" , what will happen I dont know..

But suddenly the earth quake hit the region of Abruzzo , La'Aquila and it was a hit to us. Even though it was 100 KM from Rome , we have a common Indian mentality to get afraid . My husband was not caring for this , but me.. i started to think...

My dad called one day and gave me thoughts on the earth quake , saying it would be dangerous to go and what not and then i just sunk.. GOD.. it was night mare for me..

I made him get afraid, loose his hopes and what not. We had asked his parents , my parents again and everyone , whether it was safe to go. And then we stopped preparing..

It was just two days and since my fear grew big, my husband told me , if I still had the fear we can cancel the trip . WHAT!! IT was a huge money loss then , flight tickets and hotels!!

I felt feverish the day before and we had to start the next day (April 10th) afternoon. We were how ever packing and doing all stuff.

I got up the next day morning , thinking my fear would go , but NOPE, it just stuck to me.
My fear was not of the earth quake or after shocks, it was basically " will something happen" .

I wanted courage , i called my husband , disturb him during his work and he was so lot patient and explained to me.

I wanted more courage , so I called my MUM, she was there for me and gave me some excellent courage for the trip , my sister too banged me with more courage and surprisingly my dad too. But when my dad was about to discourage again , my MUM would take the phone and improve. I cried like a little baby to them . But i felt much better and called my hubby and told , lets GO....

He was also happy and so we started to ITALY... the Peninsula which is just a fingers length in the map!!

From Brussels to Rome:

We had to catch a flight from Brussels South Charleroi(pronounced as Char-lo-a) airport to Rome Ciampino.

We took the metro from Nord station to Brussels Midi. Kumar had come to send us off , he gave more courage to me , saying how long will you fly in the sky and walk on the road , go into the earth and see.. LOL!!! (EARTH QUAKE).

Then we had to catch a bus from Midi , we took a shared taxi instead and landed in the airport. The airport is dam far off and very very small , compared to what ever I have seen.

The flight was 20 min delay , we thought it should not be a problem, but when we stook in the queue to board the flight , it was a double delay. The queue was ok , with lots of American students and I spent my time over hearing their conversation and peeping& reading a funny novel which a girl was already reading. The flight travel was ok , but a fear still there for me.

We landed in Rome , only at 10:15 , we took a Terravision bus from the airport to Roma Termini(the centre of Rome) . The Termini is awesome , like a mall and its always busy .

We then got the tickets to Naples from Rome , from the self ticketing stand.
We headed to our hotel , which was a 10 min walk.The Hotel Dei Mille, looked just ok from outside, but once we checked in and entered the rooms , it was pleasant.
We had a nice sleep and we were ready to Roam in ROME the next day.

Roam in Rome:

Rome.. as the name sounds, its rich, classy and Vatican..
The metro system of Rome is dam simple. From Termini , there are two lines(Blue and Orange ) and we can just travel to any end.
First we went to Spanish Steps , its a huge set of steps , initially being fought between French and Spanish . We just took few snaps and headed to Vatican.

Once we get down from the Ottaviano metro , its a long walk to Vatican , but we have signs to follow it and maps and other fellow tourists. The Basilica is dam huge and it needs to be visited in the morning by 7 or 8 , to avoid queues.
It gives us a feeling of holiness and the Dome of the Church looks awesome. We went inside and it was so nice. It was very simple. The altar was beautiful decorated and the Place were the Pope sits was a huge chair , which we cant imagine. On the right of the entrance is the sculpture of crucification of Jesus with Virgin Mary .

The Basilica is huge from inside also and hence can hol lot of people. I very badly wanted to light a candle , but it was not allowed there. There are not many who speak English there which is a problem. Oops.. I forgot this.. the major problem with Italy is language. Very very few know English and hence we started to learn Italy. But there is a universal Language .. Sign language which really helped us. Its a photogenic area and we clicked a lot of photos in the Basilica.

We then walked back to the Vatican Museum.. Sistine Chappel. My GOD , the queue is always long , we went early at 9 and had to stand atleast for half an hour and we finished our break fast.

Once we go in , its easy to follow the fellow tourists and walk into the museum. We have splendid sculptures and paintings and what not. Its similar to the Lourve but in a smaller version.

The main attraction was the Sistine Chappel and the way to it. The path that leads the Sistine Chappel is fabulous ,it has marvellous paintings which we cant imagine and we need a full day to admire the same. I dont have words for the same..

The path to Sistine Chappel is long and yet entertaining with paintings. The Sistine Chappel has one single Michaelangelo painting and its marvellous. The Chappel has The Judgement Day, Last Supper, The Risening and all. Its too good , but no photos allowed.

Then we walked back and came out of the Museum and it was a superb tour.

Colosseum:

Our next spot was the Colosseum , from the Cipro station near the museum , we can go to the Colosseo and when we get out the Colosseo station , we see the Gladiator structure. Its awesome and magnificient . But its ruined badly because of the earth quakes and stone hits.

To roam in Rome , the best thing is the Roma Pass and its too good if you are there for 2 or 3 days. You can get the pass in any newspaper stand and with it the first two entrances to any museums,archeaological sites is free and from further we have discounts , also we can avoid a huge queue in the Colosseum and the Roman Forum.

The Colosseum was basically an amphi theatre constructed for shows,fights and animal fights. The place is superb and covers a large area. We can have excellent views from the structure.
The architecture is just cut and cut inside and the layers are seen deeply. We can also see the place where the king sat and the place where the animals were hidden and how they come out. There are beautiful lights to lighten the monument during the night which is worth a watch.

It was built by Titus .

Roman Forum:

Next we walked on to the Roman Forum, there was a cute little dog that kept following us and then ran away . The Forum is dam dam huge and we cant complete it fully. Its destroyed badly and that's when I understood why its Ancient Rome. We can just walk over the Fort and have awesome view of the Colosseum .

Piazza Venezia:

Out from the Fort , we walked on to the Piazza Venezia square , it has the monument of Emanuel and with depictions of the Roman rules . There are fixed statues to depict the ruling class, the working class of olden times.

We can have an excellent view of Via Del Corso from the square .

Trajans Column:

Towards the right of the square is the Trajans Column and its a long pillar that hold St Peter's statue at its top. Previously it contained an old king. It was a monument dedicated to Ruler Trajan.

Pantheon:

After the Trajan's Column , we headed to Pantheon , it was basically an arena kind in the beginning , later it became a church and now also continues to be. It contains the bodies of Raphael , one og the King and Queen of Rome. The architecture is huge and tall. Its an open space and during rains , the water wil drained off by small holes on the floor.

After Pantheon our destination was Trevi.. I was waiting for his wish fountain , on the way to Trevi , we had superb ice creams and got one cent from the ice cream shop girl and she found out it was for Trevi .

Trevi Fountain:

Its a marvellous work of sculpting here, its always crowded and we dont get place to sit. We some how found our place in front of it and threw coins and wished also. We took couple of snaps and gave way to others.

The fountain contains the Roman God and he is surounded by Mercury and Venus I suppose , the two horses depict calmness and ferrociousness.

We then found some other place and i was ready to throw another cent before we could depart . When i raised my hand to throw the cent, there was something white in colour that flew from my hand , immediately i recognised it was my bracelet , an artificial pearl one which I got in US - My favourite one.
We had a nice laugh , but I was still upset . We spoke to the guards there and it took us time to make them understand what has happened. But in vain. they could not do anything and we walked back ...

Piazza Barberini:

This is a famous sqaure in Rome, contains nothing bu a fountain statue , we walked upto here and took photos and dint know what to do , since we had plenty of time for our train to Naples.

We headed to the Termini , both snacks and dinner from Mac- D - without which we would have starved in Italy being vegeterians. Ate our snacks and went to the train to go to Naples.

The journey was boring , my husband slept well , but I could not.


NAPLES:

Before even i could to Italy, all what people told me Naples is the most crime infected place and beggars are too harsh and rude or rather very disturbing.

When we reached Naples , it was about 7:30 and the first thing we did was to book tickets for the next day to Florence. We had planned to go to Capri Island alone and not Mount Vesuvius because of the earth quake. Hence we booked the ticket for 2:30 Pm the next day.

Then we walked to the Hotel Mercure Napoli Garibaldi , which was near the station and the person in reception was full of warmth and helped us with the route for the next day .
We had our superb dinner and went to bed. We started off early the next day to Capri .
To reach its a long journey , we need to reach Molo Beverello Harbour from the Piazza Garibaldi square by tram line 1 or bus 1 , then from the harbour take a ferry to the Capri Island . There is a list of timings available for this ferry , the entrance is 16 euro - one way .

Capri Islands:

We reached Capri Island very early and hence the Blue Grotto was not yet lopened. We just walked around the beach and ate our croissants and were waiting for the Grotto to open. The tides were fine that day and hence they left us , the tour to the island which covers the Fraloglini rokcs were not allowed because of the wind.

We got tickets to go to the Grotto. We can reach the grotto by motor boat and the jouney took us around another 40 min. The way was bad for me, but many enjoyed it . I had nausea feeling and sea sickness because of the motor boat but yet the view of the island from the Meditterenean Sea was splendid. We took some superb shots and landed near the grotto entrance.

The Blue Grotto is just a small cave , there are actually 6 caves, the caves are so small , to enter it we need to have smaller boats where max of 4 ppl can lie down and enter the grotto. The person who rides the small boats pulls an iron chain which is put in the entrance of the grotto and just slides and wow.. we r in the GROTTO AZZURA!

We were waiting for a long time in the entrance of the grotto in the same motor boat in the Meditterenean and at last our chance came to go in. We shifted into the smaller boats by just jumping over the boat in the middle of the sea. The man asked us to lie down and we were all flat . There were two Chinese with us and yes we started to go. As we neared the entrance and with full anticipation to see the Blue Grotto , the man asked us to bend down more and then he pulled the chain and offffffff we were inside the grotto and he asked us to get up and turn back , we did as he told and WOW... there was the blue grotto , the sea was sparkling blue and it was marvellous , the colour is basically because of the reflection of sun light into the white sand. We had a nice view and took some photos in the dark and off we came back. Its just 7 min show there.

Once we came back , we waited for all the people in our motor boat to come back. We must be very carefull in the entrance to the grotto , one person who dint bend very well , had a bad hit in his head and there was blood pouring. MY GOD!! Safety is a must!

After we reached the main Capri island , we just wandered around the roads and ate our potato chips , then we walked into the chilled water of Capri and just took some awesome photos.

Then we headed back to our ferry and the trip took us about 40 min and we reached the Molo harbour.

We waited for a long time for the tram number one to reach Piazza Garibaldi , but in vain . I got an English book..Cosmopolitan from the near by newspaper stand and we planned to walk and the bus arrived , we took it and it dropped us some where near the station . We walked towards the hotel , took our luggage and then headed to the station , the train was at 2.30 , hence we got yummy pizza' s and ate in the train. The journey was 5 hours .

Naples is famous for beggars and it was really bad for us, there was person who came to our compartment and irritated us to give him money , we some how managed and gave him 1 euro , since my husband dint have change , he gave him a 5 euro and got the change. It was bad! When the beggar headed to other compartments , he was caught by a passenger , since they travel without tickets and handed him to the TT. He was made to get down in the next station. Two of his friends remained in the train and troubled others and got down at Rome Termini. The journey till Rome was some what , but at Rome it was filled with people.

The journey was fine then.

FLORENCE:

We reached Florence at 7 , we had to take another train to Florence Santa N Maria Station , after we reached Florence Central Station , we got dinner from Mac D. The hotel in Florence Hotel Gioia was a bit far from the central. Hence we decided to walk with the directions we took from Google maps , but we could not find out and hence headed back to station . We took and taxi and reached the hotel and yes the way was dam different. We checked in and the reception guy told us an easy way to the central.

PISA:

The next day , we headed to PISA , place of the leaning tower , the journey takes only an hour from Florence .

Pisa was actually dam pleasant , it looks serene and once we alighted from the station i knew it was very place. The only main attraction here is the Leaning Tower,St Marks Basilica , Cemetry and the Bapistry. All these are present in one single compound.

We can actually walk from the PISA central station to the tower, but it takes 20 min. Hence just outside the station , we have a bus stop that takes us to the tower , we need to wait for the bus and its better we ask the driver if it goes to the tower. We can get the ticket from the driver.

Its just a ten min ride to reach the tower . Once you reach there , its basically WOW!! We can see the tower , the bapistry and the cathedral.

The entrance to the Tower is 15 euro and the entrance to the rest of the place is 8 euro. There are tours starting from 8 in the morning for half an hour time for the tower.

We dropped our bags in the locker and headed to the tower. The Tower is dam beautiful is what I can say , its leans on the right side beautifully. The tower started to lean from the third floor and it has 7 floors as i can remember , there is a railing on the third floor- may be to hold it.

We stood in the queue and went inside the tower. The tower is just like a spiral staircase and it drained me of all the energy I had while climbing and when we reached the top floor , there was huge bell hanging and I could easily sense the tower leaning , it was just leaning so perfectly that I started to have a nausea and the feeling of giddiness.

There was one more floor above and i really did not want to go . Since my hubby forced I went into the small steps, those are so small , that you need to hold the railings and there is a small gap from which you can see the bottom and my GOD it leans worse there.

After reaching the top floor , the scene was good , but I could not enjoy a bit also, we took just 2 photos and I headed down . The guards there don't allow us more than 5 min and ask us to get down. The nausea and the giddiness dint stop for me and i got down crying.

We took rest for sometime and admired the beauty of it from the bottom and it looked so wonderful.

We then went ahead and visited the cathedral,baptistery and the cemetery. The view from outside is beautiful. The Cemetery looks like a straight long corridor and we took nice photos there.

The work inside the Baptistery ceiling was too good and the full structure was awesome.

We then headed out after a long session of photos and the took the bus to the station. The bus stop is just outside the building .

We then took the train back to Florence , where we had kept our bags in the station .

FLORENCE:

We reached Florence and were dam tired and had only two hours to roam and also we had a train to catch for Venice and I dint want to miss the beautiful place . Every place took at least more than an hour to reach in Florence hence we spent time in the station talking what happened in Pisa . Florence is a beautiful place , but it mostly contains churches.

We then took the train to Venice... from Florence.

VENICE:

The minute i stepped in Venice , i know I am going to love it. IT WAS DAM ROMANTIC AND BEAUTIFUL and I want to go there once more. Can you imagine a place fully in water and a place where you should go to houses only by small boats or ferries or water bus(Vaporetti) , that's Venice for you.

It was awesome , the view from the station where you can see to bridges on either side and roads buzzing with tourists. We thought Venice was made up of only tourists. The place was calm , silent yet crowded and music around. A perfect place to spend a perfect evening.

We first headed to inquire about the Gondola. The most costliest yet the best way to spend the evening in the Grand Canal , was the Gondola. No one opts for a Gondola , since its 80 Euros for may be half an hour. But we wanted t go in it and have a beautiful time. We got hold off a nice Gondolier and booked the ride. We then went ahead to the ATVO bus office and got tickets for the bus which would take us to the Treviso Airport in Venice for the next day.

Then we zoomed off in our Gondola, it was nice long one with black,red and gold color decor and there were small horses placed on either sides. We started off from the GRAND CANAL and went across small lanes , where only one Gondola could go. People waved us from the bridges and the houses when we rode. It was too good. We saw another Gondola with a family on our way. Even though the water in the canal is dirty , the ride was marvelous. The Grand Canal , if watched from an aerial view is a shape of the capital letter "S" , its so huge and is pleasant.

The ride took us to different corners of Venice and we saw lots of old houses, many bridges and took some nice photos . The ride was done and we reached the starting point and paid him 80 Euro(which is lot of money but it was every penny worth). We then got our dinner and headed to our hotel , Hotel Arrlenchino , it was very near the bridge , the new bridge was perfect , the railings were made in glass and it looked brand new.

The hotel was good and had a nice decor with flowers and paintings. We were dam sleepy rather than tired and hence discussed very little about the next days plan and thrashed to bed.

The next day was too good, we had a refreshing bath and left the out hotel a little late about 8'o clock.

We can travel in Venice through water buses(Vaporetti) or water taxis or ferries. There are passes available for Vaporetti , we took the 12 hour pass - 16 euro each and we got the time table of the buses.

Lido Beach:

Our first spot was the Lido Beach. It is towards the other end of the Venice , hence we decided we will trace from the farther end and reach the middle. The journey to Lido thru the water bus was about one hour and it was so good , the further we went there was no buildings nor houses in the water and it was just the water,water.. only water. We saw beautiful monuments and buildings and the view was too good. Once we got down at Lido , we had to walk for another 10 min to reach the beach.

I dint find the beach much attractive since there was no crowd or since it was morning 9 AM. I felt it was not neat at all , but anyway it was a nice experience.

Murano Islands:

The Murano Island in Venice is mahorly famous for Glass and Glass making. Murano glass in one of the best. We took a water bus from Lido and reached Murano in 30 min.

It was a very small place and its very difficult to get lost. As soon as you alight from the water bus , when you head right you can see the Glass Furnace. We first entered a glass making factory and it was awesome. The person there showed us how easy it was to make glass items unless you know the art well. He just took a mould of glas into a hot rod and put few colour powder over it and just rolled it over the wodden table and he had few apparatus to make the desired shape he wanted and Viola... a beatiful horse was done.. like wise he did a flower vase. I dint want to get up from there.

Then we went into a Glass showroom, which was just adjacent to it and it wa so colourful and yet expensive. Then we walked over the small bridges over the island and reached the Glass museum , the entrance to the museum is 5.50 eoru which i felt was a waste. It just had old glass items and the details abou making of the Glass.

The entrance to other places we had gone were free. The museum is on the other side of the bridge and we can see it from a long distance also.

After that we took the water bus that took us to San Marco , the water bus timings were all available in the book which we took from ATVO office.

Piazza San Marco :

San Marco is like a huge place or a compound in Venice which contains the . The place was dam crowded and it was full of pigeons .

We first headed to the campanile, its just a huge tower which has a wonderful view of Venice from the top. The entrance to the tower is 9 euro and we can reach the top thru lift , we took awesome photos and came down. The we walked over the square and had lunch and took some more photos with the pigeons and went to the St Marks Basilica . The church was very huge and was very nice , it had nice architecture , do go to the top the entrance is 2 euro , we just cut it off and came outside.

We roamed the square again and came out and sat in front of the water viewing the Gondolas . People just lie down there getting the suns rays and it was a awesome time there. We then took the water bus to the station and picked up our luggage's and had wonderful fries. The best place in Venice according to me is the station steps. Its just so wonderful to sit over there and view the Grand Canal and look at the crowd and listen to the music. That made my day. We spent an hour there and then headed to the D2 bus stop to take the bus to the Treviso airport . The bus we had to take to the airport was actually at 6:30 , we started oft at 5:30 since we were dam tired.

The airport was far off and we could see the actual Venice city when we rode the bus , we got down the bus after one hour at the airport, our flight was at 9:30 and so we just sat there and whiled the time away and had dinner and coffee and went ahead to check in. The security check in was smooth and then we went to the respective fate . Since the airport was small, the people at the gates were minimum and hence we sat down until some one came to our gate. We boarded the flight and said good bye to Venice and ITALY.

We reached Brussels half an hour late , since the flight took off late. From the Charleroi airport we took a bus and reached Midi station . It was 11:30 when we reached Midi and we were out of metro's and the station looked dam eeiry . We then walked out and took a taxi to Nord station. The drive in the taxi was so bad , he was dam fast and it felt we were in a roller and successfully we reached home sweet home at 1:00 AM in the night and thrashed to bed and thus ended our most adventurours but yet wonderful ITALY trip.