Veni, vidi, vici

Well we came, we saw but I think we were conquered! The heat, the people, the scale of things - WOW!

Getting back to where I ended last time – karaoke Italian style is a very very interesting (read shockingly bad) activity to witness. Not only was it off key (assuming as didn’t know the song but sounded terrible) but it is also in Italian. We were “lucky enough” to experience it again in Rome where English songs were being massacred by mostly children and the occasional adult. The best one was the little 4 year old who could barely say the words, let alone sing them but as it was Baby Shark, you could kind of get what was going on!

 

From Venice we headed down to Florence, catching up with a friend from back home on our first and her last night! The first Kiwi we’ve met on our trip (& yes I know Sam is from the UK but she has a kiwi passport, so it counts!). We loved Florence – something to see everywhere you looked. We stayed at a site a 30 min bus ride away with the stop once again right outside the door and busses going till midnight. Had a great first night despite the rain which eventually stopped And when we got back home, nothing was wet despite the fact we had left all the windows wide open due to the heat - bonus!

 

We headed back to town the next day starting at the Piazza del Duomo with the magnificent Cathedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, Porta del Paradiso, the Cupola del Brunelleschi & the Campanile di Giotto, before wandering side streets and alleys to the Piazza della Signoria. Finding the statue of Cossimo de Medici, the Palazzo Vecchio, the Loggia dei Lanzi, the Fountain of Neptune & replica of Michelangelo’s David (the real one was moved to the Galleria dell’Accademia due to weathering and vandalism). From there we visited the Ponte Vecchio and then back via the the riverfront, Piazza Santa Trinita, every designer store you could imagine and the Palazzo Strozzi. We finished up at the Medici Chapel before heading home. Another absolutely fantastic building inside – the mosaics, colours, majesty was incredible. The buskers are also pretty cool!

After a rest day, we headed off towards Rome with a stop off in Pisa and a couple of nights at Badiaccia. It was here we discovered that the summer holidays had well and truly started! With ‘entertainment’ kicking off at 9pm and going past midnight every night. It was incredibly loud and aimed at kids with sing-alongs, dance-alongs and karaoke – a shock to the system as had been quietish all day and it was a Monday!

 

Arriving in Rome for a 5 night stay, we were once again accosted by the ‘entertainment’ bug – this time from 11-2, 4-6 and 9-11.30pm every day/night. And it was again aimed at children with the same songs being blasted repeatedly at each time slot! It was also here we encountered the first mandatory wearing of swim caps. We’d seen a lot of Italians wearing them and apparently in the old days when the filtering/water systems weren’t great it was to stop hair clogging them up, however it’s no longer necessary but a bit of tradiotion. Considering Trap’s lack of hair on his head, it seemed somewhe=at unnecessary. Also although the pool was free you had to pay if you wanted to lie on a longer. We wondered why all these people were carrying chairs to the pool – they’ve obviously been here before!!

 

Day one in Rome we headed to Vatican City and that was it. The queues weren’t too bad, the heat excruciating and St Peter’s Basilica magnificent. I have previously climbed the Dome so decided against doing it again!

 

After a rest day, we ventured back into the city and did a hop on/off bus trip for the day, checking out the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Colisseum & Roman Forum and the huge number of magnificent buildings and statues that the city is riddled with.

 

We’re now in Pompei for 5 nights, heading to the Amalfi Coast tomorrow, Pompei site and Bryan Adams concert tomorrow and rest day Sat before starting the trek north again!

 

One thing we have noticed here in Italy is that a lot of stuff is unkempt, run down and dirty. Outside of the historic centres and main tourist spots, there is rubbish everywhere and lots of building are crumbling. It may be because we’re staying on the outskirts and catching public transport through the burbs that we’re noticing it, whereas normally we’d be at a hotel in the center. However, it is still far dirtier/lot more rubbish on the streets than France or the UK was and it seems to be getting worse the further south we go. 

 

We’re also noticing a bit of artistic license going on with the camping grounds. The Rome one said easy and quick transport into the center of Rome (a 10 min shuttle to the train station, 45 min train journey, 2 metro changes and 1.5hrs later and we’re at the Vatican)! And our current one said well appointed grassy pitches which all had drinking water and electricity (no water, barely a blade of grass to be seen and you could just about reach through your neighbours window), newly renovated bathrooms (if it was 10 years ago), family friendly activities (a dirty half broken slide)! The one thing it didn’t lie about was friendly (very helpful staff) and location (it really is 50-100 metres from the entrance to Pompei)!

 

So alla prossima volta, ciao.

J&T xx