Allora

Much has happened since I last wrote. I'll do a quick overview of what we got up to in each city hehe

Florence:

So after our stressful train experience, Kyra and I actually had a really good time in Florence! Spoiler alert now but it was our favorite of the cities we visited, and I think well worth a visit. It's a very walkable city and the Arno runs right through the middle of it so there are a lot of pretty bridges to walk over and hang out on. The most famous bridge is called Ponte Vecchio and it was full of jewelry shops. The cars are also less bad than Rome or Naples...

Anyway, we really liked Florence also because the people were really nice and there were a lot of American tourists, which made us feel more at ease. People were actually friendly to us as tourists. I realized that in Rome, it kind of feels like everyone is trying to scam you, but in Florence, it didn't feel that way. For example, Kyra was trying to find this little leather box that her mom wanted but we were striking out at street vendors. But one of the street vendors told us a shop where we could find them and the person there helped Kyra find the box her mom wanted and then told us the name of a place we could get it embossed with her mom's initials. We honestly thought it was going to be really expensive but the embossing only cost 5 dollars. He probably coulda charged us anything and we would have been like okay.

There were lots of cool stationery and leather goods shops in Florence and it was just neat to walk around and browse the stores, and have gelato :^) But we actually did a lot of stuff like I said. We went to the Duomo and climbed up another tall bell tower to see a view of the city, and we went to the Uffizi Gallery to see the Birth of Venus by Botticelli. We waited for a long time to try to get into the Accademia Museum to see David but it was too crowded so we couldn't get in sadly :/ but instead we went to this place called Pitti Palace that was owned by the Medicis. It was HUGE and the garden was so pretty! I was stunned, but later in the week we saw one that was even better just you wait ;)

We also had Bistecca alla Fiorentina and Tiramisu of course :D It one whole kilogram of steak which was a challenge for us but it was quite delicious!

Venice:

Our time in Florence was short (only three days) but our time in Venice was even shorter. Sadly, the day we arrived in Venice was the only cloudy/rainy day of our trip and it was a little chilly. But even still, Venice was exactly as I pictured! Canals as far as the eye can see and no cars blessedly. There are lots of glass and venetian mask stores. I wanted a mask but couldn't find the right one and was afraid it would get crumpled so I did not get one.

On our first day in Venice we went to St Mark's Square to see the Cathedral. We read online that it was free but it was not. Even though it was only a few euros, we were kinda grumbling about it because you had to pay separately to see like each room in the church. We only paid for the basic entry and tbh the church was kind of underwhelming compared to other churches we saw...hate to say it but them's the facts.

Afterward, we went to Caffe Florian, the oldest cafe in Italy! I had really wanted to come here but had not done much research beforehand, so I did not know it is notoriously expensive 😩 the ambience was nice and my teeny drink was yummy but lads...I would be embarrassed to say how much this spread cost...dm for the deets....

The next day, the weather was much nicer tho, so even though we had a long train to Naples in the afternoon, we went for a gondola ride!! It was really nice actually and our gondola driver was cool. He told us he had be gondoliering for 27 years and that gondoliers have to go to a special school for 2 years to become part of the guild!!

Then we left Venice :') but not before having am H Spritz, as Rachel would call it. This is a spritz we had not tried before that was prosecco, elderflower, and fresh mint, and when I say that it was the scrumptious-est drink I've had, I mean it. Perfectly refreshing :0 Also drinks in Venice were cheap even for Europe, we saw some cocktails priced at 2.50 euros!! It was crazy.

Naples:

After a 5 hour train ride, we made it to Napoli Centrale, that old friend :^) and met up with Kyra's friend. This post is getting long so I'l give you the abridged: we hung out in her hometown in suburban Naples and went to the Reggia Caserta, which is this palace and gardeneven bigger than Pitti! They actually filmed a Star Wars movie (Phantom Menace for you Jedis) there. Her family was really nice and her mom's food was my favorite I had in Italy, especially lasagne with artichoke :') Her dad also gave us this wine he made himself and it was so strong! After one drink Kyra and I looked at each other like 👀👀, but it was really good and I am a known red wine hater.

Another day, we went to the beach which was very fun. We also had real Neapolitan pizza that was quite scrumptious at this local place that had a live musician (who we couldn't tell if he was singing in English or no...) And then on our last day, Kyra and I hung out in Naples City and went to Castel Sant'Elmo, which Naoni, Aboni, and I saw the outside of when we went (the one we had to take the funicular to.) Finally, we traveled back to Rome for our last day in Italy, where we went to the famous Mouth of Truth, the Pantheon, and ate delicious Pompi.

The End!

All in all, Kyra felt similarly about Italy (and Italians...) as we did last time. I do think it's beautiful and I think I had better food this time around (and a bigger appetite) but you really gotta steel yourself to visit...

Now I'm home !!! Will write more next time maybe lol.