Italy: Florence

Here's Florence!

Florence is a nice city, much more compact than Rome, with some of the old-town style of Venice. After getting off the train it was a pretty quick walk to the star of the city, Santa Maria del Fiore! It's pretty famous among anyone who's ever taken an art history class for it's dome, designed by Brunelleschi, because it was an architectural innovation. But personally, I was just awestruck by the fancy facade! It's a gorgeous building, all marble and colors and patterns.

Another thing you might remember from Art History 101 are these doors to the Baptistery of Santa Maria del Fiore. Brunellschi and Ghiberti were two of the artists competing for the right to design all the gold squares on these doors, and Ghiberti won. After that, Brunelleschi beat Ghiberti out in a competition to design said dome.

This isn't the real David, they keep that one in a room in one of the museums. But this one still looked really cool!

Unfortunately, we had a pretty lame ending to our Florence trip. After Axton and Lesley left to go back to England, we took a pretty long bus ride to our hostel. We found it after a little while (it had a different name than the one listed online), and it was LOCKED. The gate was shut, and the door was blocked with a table and had a sign on it that said "No Entry..." or no entrada or something. We tried to go around the back but it was all gated off, and I was starting to freak out. It wasn't in a super nice neighborhood, and it was past 8. We went back to the front of the building and saw this sign (that I couldn't even read from that distance) that said reception was closed from 8-9. Okay, okay, that's fine.Oh wait, if you check in after 9 you have to pay an extra 10 euro! That's like, the cost of the room. 

We were so fed up after that ordeal that we just caught a train back to Travis's house. That meant we had to miss out on the museums, which I was really sad about. I cried.

Even though we had to cut the trip short, Florence was a beautiful city, and I had a good time! There was this one beautiful boutique, but the only thing I could afford was a ring, it was all so expensive!

Italy: Rome

After Venice, we visited Rome!

Rome is a lot more urban than Venice, which Travis described as "a city preserved from another time." I gotta say, I'm not much of a city girl, and the public transportation especially took it's toll on me. But it was a really amazing city full of old architecture and art!

We arrived in Rome late at night after a 4 hour train ride and sort of begged the kitchen at our hostel for any food at all. We were all really worn out from carrying our heavy bags all over Venice, and as Trav and I got to our tent, the key actually broke in the door! Thank god we were traveling with Axton and Lesley because the reception was closed, and they let us stay in their tent that night. I spent a lot of the next day sleeping, but towards the afternoon we went to see the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain!

Trajan's Column.

I had the best gelato outside the Pantheon! This was frutti di bosco and limone!

The next day we woke up and went downtown to visit the Vatican Museum. To say it was amazing would be an understatement.

The saddest thing in Rome is the plight of the immigrant population. Basically there are a ton of beggars, mostly Romanis, and they sell goods of questionable origin along the streets, as well as outright begging for money. They can get really pushy, and I understand why there is negative sentiment towards them from the natives. But it's really heartbreaking knowing that they're forced into doing things like that because its the only way they can make money.

The line outside the Vatican was really long, and these people kept offering to help us "skip the line" for 25 euros. They said the line was too long and we wouldn't make it to the museum before it closed. Well, the line only took about an hour to move through, and turns out these guys were just bringing groups of people to the front of the line and funneling them back in! There are few things I hate in this world more than line-cutters, guys, and I was pretty annoyed. Luckily the Vatican was well worth the wait and the annoyance!

(I also spent too much on a dress at this adorable boutique, so.)

I loved this sassy lady.

I did get to see the Sistine Ceiling, which was really cool! I didn't take a picture though, because I'm not a disrespectful dweeb. 

Finally we went to visit the Coliseum and ruins. We didn't go inside, but the view from the outside was pretty spectacular, too!

Lesley, Axton, and Travis accidentally dressed like the Italian flag!

As usual, keep up with me on Instagram , and watch for my next post from Florence!

Pink Lady

Its outfits like these that really make me miss my pink hair!

This is the dress I got in Rome. I definitely wouldn't have spent as much as I did on it, but when in Rome... you impulse buy. Also it's a London based brand lol. It also needs altering, but I'm not going to feel guilty about it, and I completely intend to spend the rest of my Italy budget on clothes (I'm going to Milan next week, omg)!

Travis has been teaching me how to better use my camera over this trip, and the beautiful scenery at his family's house lead to me getting carried away with outfit shots today, you'll have to forgive me!

I went thrifting today at what they call "mercantinos" here in Italy, and this jacket was the only thing I bought (other than a cappucino or two)! Travis normally hates going to Goodwill with me, but today he got a classical guitar, a pipe, a calligraphy set, and a fancy notebook all for 40 euros, so color me jealous (I mean pink lolol). They're less like Goodwill and more like an antique shop mixed with a more curated thrift store here, so he has more to look at than just clothes.

I am a little homesick, but man I never want to leave here!

Dress: Shikha London

Jacket, Hat: Thrifted

Shoes: Gift from Travis' Mom, Thrifted

Italy: Venice

I just got back from a one-week trip through Venice, Rome, and Florence! I'm going to share the photos from each city in the order we visited them. First was Venice!

Venice was probably my favorite city of the three, because it was so beautiful! Every direction you turned looked like a postcard. We met up with our friends Axton and Lesley who've been living in England this past year, and spent two days there.

The highlight of the city was San Marco Piazza. The basilica was beautiful and difficult to capture in photos, partly due to the ton of tourists in the square! The whole city is basically a ton of alleyways, which makes it really difficult to find your way around, so it took us a while to find it the first time. Also it mostly didn't smell bad, so idk about that rumor!

The second day we took a boat tour around to some of the smaller islands. We saw the glass blowing at Murano, which was really amazing. Then we visited Torcello, which was small and quiet and had this beautiful church full of Byzantine mosaics, like floor to ceiling gold leaf. We weren't allowed to take photos, though! We saw Burano, which is famous for it's candy colored houses, lace work, and cookies. It was also my total favorite place, and I got a few photos there!

We spent the rest of the time walking around exploring, looking at shops, drinking coffee (cappucinos for me), and eating lots of gelato and pizza! I will never get sick of gelato and pizza, tbh. Follow my Instagram for more pics of Italy, and keep an eye out for my post on Rome!

Rosso

Since I'm not planning on taking my laptop when I leave the house to travel to the major cities, I'm going to get some outfits scheduled so you guys can see my carefully planned out Italian wardrobe! I took these at the Monte Berico overlook with the city of Vicenza below me, not that you can see it here.

Travis took these for me with his fancy zoom lens, and he really is a fast learner, he's already better than I am at photography! Has some trouble keeping me in focus, though, haha! It's also a bit chillier than I planned for here, I might buy some pants somewhere along the way. Boy am I glad to be wearing red again, though!

Dress: Modcloth

Shoes: Urban Outfitters

Shirt: American Apparel

Bag: Thrifted

Pin: Handmade by Me

Be on the lookout for more Italian scenery soon!