DAY 13: ROME

Our last day! We had to make it the best. Today was exhausting, fun, and lots of walking. I got to see a few places in Rome I hadn’t before, which was exciting. We went the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, then St. Peter’s Basilica. Just breathtaking. I saw many paintings and sculptures that I studied in my art history class this quarter.

The famous “Creation of Man” scene by Michelangelo on the Sistine Ceiling was amazing. We went to Spanish steps, which weren’t as impressive as before when I had seen them because there was construction in front of them. Shortly thereafter, we went inside the Pantheon, which I hadn’t seen before. The top of the Pantheon had a big hole open to the sky that Pete told us our Contiki bus could fit through.

Gelato was next in line, a requirement of course. We did some little errands, like the internet café, picking up cards for our Tour Manager and Driver, then did some shopping. After meeting with the big group, we had dinner at a restaurant which overlooked the Collosseum! Yummy food too.

Back at the hotel, we had a toga party!! We all got dressed up in sheets and went downstairs to exchange our Contiki compadre gifts. My Contiki compadre was Alvaro, and I had gotten him a glass plate from Venice, famous for their Verano glass. I got the award for best packer, because my suitcase was the smallest out of the whole group. I found out my Contiki compadre was Marian, who I had been hanging out with all along and I didn’t know! She got me a cute t-shirt that says “Ciao bella” with a matching hat. After that, we were all just hanging out in the hotel rooms and saying goodbye to people as they left to take the bus to the airport. I said my goodbyes and I was off to the airport with all the So-cal peeps for a long plane flight ahead of me.

Reflecting upon my trip, it was a great experience and I would love to do it again!!! I met some really cool people and will actually be taking a trip to New Zealand with Contiki in the summer of 2007! And I will get to reunite with some of the people I met on my Contiki Europe trip. YAY. Hope you enjoyed reading. Peace out.

DAY 12: ROME

On our long drive to Rome, we stopped in San Gimignano in Tuscany. The views were spectacular! I really love the countryside here. We walked around the small town and bought some more gelati.

Once in Rome, we had one last tour, which was called the Imperial Forum walking tour where we got to see the Collosseum and Roman ruins. I had already seen these before when I went to Italy and Greece my junior year of high school, so it was just a basic recap for me. Pete then guided us to the Pantheon and Trevi fountain, where we had more gelati! We made a wish at the Trevi fountain and made our way to dinner, which was pasta and mushrooms. It was absolutely delicious!

DAY 11: FLORENCE

This morning, we left to Leonardo’s Leather Shop to see a demo of how to distinguish real leather from fake leather. Pretty interesting. I love the smell of leather! After a Panini with Marian, Rachael, and Kathryn, we had the first walking tour of the trip. We walked to the Pecchio Bridge, which we learned was the only bridge that was not bombed in World War Two. After more exploring through the streets of Florence, we had more gelati!

That night, we got all dressed up to go to dinner. First we took the Contiki group picture with the Piazza Novana in the background. Then we arrived at La Certosa, a cute restaurant with great food! I even took a picture of my plate. I had a few glasses of wine, and was feeling it…a lot. There was some dancing and an opera singer even performed for us! I danced with my suave friend Ricky and it was tons of fun! The opera singer was also fantastic. Also, I went to the bathroom precisely FIVE times throughout the dinner because I had so much water/wine, and the last time I went was when everyone was about to leave. So after I came out from the bathroom, I went back to my table to get my purse, and I didn’t see it, and I was kind of freaking out because it had my passport and camera in it. I got on the bus and asked if my friends had it and they said Jessica did, thankfully. Phew.

After that little adventure, we headed to the Space Electronica Dance Club!!! SOOO MUCH FUN!! The night started off with some beer being spilt all over my heels. That was pretty nasty…twas a sticky night, haha. Didn’t keep me from dancing though! We danced and danced and danced, quite a nice workout. It was a pretty fancy dance club too, with all these huge TV screens all around, and a balcony. FUN NIGHT!!

DAY 10: FLORENCE

Most of today was spent on the coach, with a few stops in between. Around lunchtime, we stopped at Autogrill, which becomes a frequent service stop for our group. I ordered a Rustichella, which was basically a turkey and cheese Panini. A few hours later, we were surprised with a visit to the LEANING TOWER OF PISA!! I walked around with my best buds, Marian and Rachael and took pictures, having fun trying to match up my friends’ hands with the tower to make it look like they were holding up the tower. I was a photographer for my high school yearbook, but it took me a few minutes to adjust my camera. Next to the tower there are shops that sell souvenirs, and there are also men walking around selling fake watches and other jewelry. Many of them came up to me to try and get me to buy something off them, but I just said no and they didn’t bother me too much after that.

After arriving in Florence, everyone was muy hungry and a small group and I went to a small restaurant overlooking the Pecchio bridge at sunset! By far the best food I have had on my trip. The service was also great too. I had noodles with ham, mushrooms, and cream, and a glass of white wine to complement. YUM.

Later that night we went out as a big group to the RED GARTER, which is a bar and karaoke place. This was the place to be. I had tonsssssssssssss of fun. After some red wine (can’t have enough wine in Italy), we danced to karaoke singing, which a lot of my Contiki friends did. A 23 year old Albanian guy named Adrion asked to dance with me which was exciting, but then he couldn’t speak English (or Spanish) so my other friend Alfio, who speaks Italian, had to translate for me. It was good while it lasted. He offered to buy me a drink, but I didn’t want to drink more so I kindly refused.

Later, when walking back to the hotel, we stopped for some gelato. There are all of these dark-skinned men selling fake purses, which are all setup under white sheets on the ground. On the way back, we heard cops coming down the street, and we saw the men selling the purses hurriedly pick up their sheets and hide in some alleyways. It is illegal in Italy for them to sell on the street so they were hiding. Thoroughly entertaining to watch them scramble.

DAY 9: VENICE

The rain began an adventurous day as the group hopped off the coach to take the boat to Venice. This is the only way we were able to get to the city, as it is known for flooding 70 times a year! There were ponchos ready to purchase and we looked amazing with them, as you can probably imagine. After arriving, we walk around San Marco square only to see thousands of pigeons, otherwise known as “flying rats” by our Tour Manager. Masses and masses of pigeons covered the ground everywhere and flying overhead. I was extremely glad to have my poncho on at that time…

Soon, the weather cleared up and it became very sunny! YAY! In the San Marco square, we were able to see the Doges Palace, Campanile tower, and the San Marco Basilica. The group went to see a glass-blowing demonstration, which was really interesting. A man showed us how to make a glass cat from scratch using a glass blower. Then, we went into the room with all of the glass materials they had available to buy. Everything was so shiny and colorful!

I decided to “get lost” in Venice with Marian and Jeff, two of my pals. One thing I love about Contiki is that they don’t really take you on guided tours, short ones if any. Pete told us to explore the city, which makes the trip feel more like we are on our own, but at the same time we also have the comfort of knowing we have a group to go back to, which is nice. Our little group first visited the famous Rialto Bridge, which had a great view of Venice. Although I had left my camera battery in the hotel, Jeff was able to take some good pictures. We found some lunch, which was an amazing, better-than-words-can-say turkey Panini. Wow, I will probably never eat a Panini of that taste value again.

While getting lost and having random fun, we come along to the original ghetto. It was a very quiet square, partitioned off from surrounding buildings, and had a synagogue within.

Fun fact: The city of Venice is in the shape of a goldfish.

Of course, a requirement in Venice was to get gelato; my favorite kind is tiramisu and chocolate. You don’t know me until you know I am an obsessive chocolate lover!! The gelato was incredible.

The three of us met up with the big group again to see a lace making place, which is the last handmade lace location left that is subsidized by the government. Next, the GONDOLA RIDE!!!!!! 6 of us were allowed on each gondola. Combining a gondola, 6 friends, and white wine is one of the best things. The man who held the gondola pole told us that the water level is usually .5 meters and that today it is 2 meters high. So, when we were going under a bridge, my whole group actually had to lean to one side so that the gondola would fit! It was kind of exciting because it felt like the whole thing was going to tip over.

After making another trip for gelato, we had dinner at a nice little Venetian restaurant! I liked everything there besides the sea bass, which was whole and I’m not used to seeing a whole fish on my plate…I don’t like when it seems like the fish is looking at me with an ubiquitous gaze (I learned that in art history, haha.) During dinner, I got the opportunity to talk with Luke, who works at a running specialty shoe store. Since I am a runner, he recommended some running shoes, which I am extremely grateful for now because my knee problems went away completely! (Asics GT 2110) More wine and pie for dessert left me very satisfied!

On the boat ride back to the mainland, everyone was pretty buzzed and was singing and acting pretty stupid. It was fun though. On the bus ride home, I bonded with Jeff then went to bed as soon as we got back to the hotel. Long, but incredibly great day.