Our first stop was Venice. Shosh was heading to France so this is where we parted ways. We were sad to say bye to her and the van, it had been really fun hanging out with her! But it was time to get romantic, one on one in Venice. Because that's what you do there!! And let me tell you, nothing says romance like taking a bus outside the city and staying in half of a small trailer on two separate cots on a campsite. Hahaha really that's where we stayed our night in Venice and let me tell you...it was awesome! But before we hit the campsite we wanted to explore Venice- duh! We had our giant backpacks on our backs so we had to pay some super rude train attendant to watch them for the day. Seriously he was ridiculous, it made me so mad! I was looking forward to going back to get our bags because I wanted to say something to him haha which I did. You know, in McIntire fashion. The funny thing is that he spoke little English but he knew enough to be really rude to us. So after we got our bags I said something to him...calling him something in English that I won't repeat...nothing thaaat bad but it was hilarious because I don't think he knew what it meant and it was the first time he smiled at us and just looked at me and said thank you. I didn't know whether to feel vindicated or jipped that he didn't understand what I said.
That was the only negative part of Venice and although I heard Italians can be really rude this was the only bad encounter! Anyway Venice is everything you imagine it would be. So cute!!!!! We walked the cute city set on water, ate some delicious pizza and gelato and just soaked it in! The gondola rides are almost 100 euro...no thanks ill go to the fake Venice in Las Vegas for that! But it was so mesmerizing to watch them. We did do a boat ride at night from one side of the city to the other which was amazing, the city lights up at night and the reflection on the water is beautiful! Also at night there are a ton of little orchestras playing outside of restaurants. Although I had heard and now know that a lot of the food in Italy is overrated, we did find the best pizza we have ever had at this place called Crazy Pizza! It was delicious and we made sure we got it both days we were there!
It almost looks fake..but I promise this is real Venice not the one in Vegas!
The city was so cool at night but so difficult to capture on our camera..
Best pizza ever!
Like I mentioned we stayed at a campsite just outside the city, it had such a cool feel to it! Lots of young people and even though it was a campsite you had multiple options. For lavish campers you could get a cabin, then they had little half trailor things that we did, and then of course tents. This place was actually pretty popular and even a guy we met in Slovenia a couple days before said he had stayed there and loved it. It was unique and pretty awesome in our little half trailer on the outskirts of Venice
Other enticing options
We explored more the next day but in the late afternoon caught the train to Florence!
Florence is a rad city and the birthplace of the Renaissance era. That fact is so embraced there and you see it In everything! I loved the vibe and the beauty there but to be honest the day and a half we spent there is a little bit of a blur. Here are some highlights of our stay:
1. Getting off the train and walking down the street and straight into this guy....what the?! Amazing building called The Duomo (an old, giant cathedral)
2. The Accadamia. This is where the beautiful David statue by Michelangelo lives. Ive gained so much respect for this artist since visiting Italy. He was so extremely talented!! Not only could he create these masterpiece sculptures, but he could paint too!! See Sistene Chapel in my future Rome post. His sculpture of David is Massive and seeing how perfectly detailed it is, it's awe inspiring to think of him chiseling that out of one huge stone hundreds and hundreds of years ago. He was super humble too, he always attributed his abilities to God and said he was only as good as God allowed him to be. What a guy. I thought it was funny that one of our audio tours made sure to point out that Michaelangelo was actually a very ugly man. I guess you can't have everything?
We weren't allowed to take pics in there but Robby was sneaky and got these beauties for you
3. The gelato!! More deliciousness!!! They had kinder gelato!! Kinder!!! Do you know what kinder chocolate is?? Oh and hazelnut and nutella gelato too of course. We couldn't stop! Remember how I brought stretchy pants?
Yeah thats hazlenut lipstick hes wearing and it looks great!
4. The Uffizi museum. This was a really cool museum that has some amazing pre-renaissance and Renaissance paintings from painters such as Leonardo DaVinchi, Rapheal, and some Michelangelo. Pretty much all the ninja turtles represented! It was really cool to see the transition from pre renaissance to renaissance, going from flat paintings to paintings including depth and 3D. One of our favorite paintings, "The Birth of Venus" was here. No pictures allowed in the museum but here are some of the cool paintings they had there.
Birth of Venus
My favorite "La Primavera" or springtime
5. The incredible view of all of Florence from Michelangelo park. Worth the hike up!
6. The sub-par pasta. It had to be done...I HAD to eat pasta in Italy even though I've heard it's whatever. We went to a place that had great reviews and the pasta was good...but not amazing. I would have to say that I prefer the American rendition of Italian restaurants...Maggianos does it right!
7. The farmers market! This thing was where locals got their produce and meats and it was incredible and was huge, rows and rows of it! I have a love for farmers markets and finding exotic fruits and this place was the jackpot!
Florence has a really cool feel to it in that it is a very artsy and beautiful city that's pretty big, but still has a small feel to it. You can pretty much walk anywhere! I loved it and would love to go back one day when we have time...but the Cinque Terre was calling our name.
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