..you're only lost if you know where you're going..
Italy
Exploring Udine
May 3rd
Our return visit to Udine was intended as a surprise. We enjoyed our first visit so much, and we felt as though there was some unfinished business there, so we planned our return while we were staying in Rome. I’m not sure how many of them knew we were coming, but either way they looked happy to see us.
Last time we visited, everyone knew we were coming. Many of them were able to take time off of work and as a result we were always in the company of someone – being taken on day trips to see the greater Friuli. This time, we were often on our own, much to their concern.
While our visit was a great rest, we made a point of being a bit more independant and heading out more on our own. Between having a kick of the soccer ball at the local grounds, handball and table tennis games, riding along the river down Passeggiata delle Rogge, and walking down to Rizollo and through the nearby crops, Jess and I really got to know the village and nearby villages in a lot more detail than we did on the first visit. It was a great time to catch up again – not having to think too much about our upcoming travels.
With that said we were still treated to many special occasions and the time with family was great – the goodbyes were just as tough as last time. It was just a completely different visit to the last.
Jess and I both feel as though we will be back before long. Not too sure when, but I’m sure whenever it is we will be welcome.
Volcanic Ash and Us!
Apr 22nd
Just a quick update.
For those of you wondering where we are, we’re still in Udine, Italy.
We had a flight booked for April 20th that was cancelled due to the volcanic ash from Eyjafjallajokull, the currently active volcano in Iceland.
After reading news stories and social media websites we decided that our best option was to stay put here in Udine, and wait for the next available flight – on the 26th of April. It’s not ideal but we have read stories of people who have spent loads of money and experienced some very uncomfortable situations just to get to their destination. Since the average time to get from Rome to Paris was sounding like 3 days worth of frustrating and expensive travel, we decided to wait the 6 days for our next flight.
What does this mean for us? Well, we get more time to spend with family in Italy, but less time with friends in the UK. It was a tough call because I know how excited Jess has been to see people in the UK but unfortunately it is out of our control. Chances are it would have taken us 5 or so days to make it to London from Udine anyway, and it wouldn’t have been without some uncomfortable and frustrating times.
Planes seem to be flying today, and with any luck things should be relatively normal by the 26th. If the volcano starts spewing ash again and our flight is cancelled, we will consider heading towards Spain to escape Europe and get to Canada late April/early May as we intended.
Anyway, enough time on the computer. We are safe and happy, so no need to worry about us!
A rough night in Milan
Apr 16th
The cheapest destination to head out of Switzerland and back to Udine was via train to Milan. We had made the decision some time ago that we wanted to stay with my Italian family one last time before we left Europe so it was just a matter of finding a cheap and relatively hassel free means of transport back. Milan provided us with the opportunity to see another Italian city and break up our travel, whilst still taking us in the direction of Udine.
Our 5:45am train trip wasn’t the greatest of starts to the day but it was a cheap ride out of a country that has generally very expensive train travel so we were happy to deal with the lack of sleep. The early start also allowed us to spend nearly a full day sightseeing, sleep the night and then make another early (but not so early) start the next day to catch the train to Udine.
We had heard mixed things about Milan so we didn’t know what to expect. We were apprehensive upon our arrival but pleasantly surprised by the grand central station that greeted us. Since we aren’t keen shoppers there were not many items on our ‘things to do in Milan’ list. After catching the metro to our accommodation to drop off our bags we headed out to see the Duomo, Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II and the Castello Sforzesco. It was for the best that we didn’t want to see a lot as Jase’s heel became really sore. After a sit down in the park we headed back to our hostel and called it a day.
We headed out for dinner and awesome gelati but the real adventure of the night didn’t begin until our apparently successful business man of a roommate returned to the hostel drunk. Thankfully I slept through this first part but Jase informs me that the man came in at about 11pm and then proceeded to drink, take tablets, listen to the same song repeatedly and cry – yes, cry. You can imagine Jase’s concern that this guy was going to kill himself, or worse, kill us then himself, so he went to tell the owners. They weren’t too interested in the matter and assured Jase that the man was a happy and successful banker who practically runs the banks. Like any hotshot banker spends his business trips sharing a room with backpackers in a one star hostel! Jase returned to the room, got his earplugs and saw a brief glimpse of sleep long after the drunk did.
Then it was my turn. One in the morning rolled around and I was awoken by the sound of choking and moaning. I think with our time in hostels we’ve become fairly tolerant of snoring, but this guy took snoring to a whole other level. For around an hour I lay in bed with the pillow over my head, wishing to go and smother it over the man’s face. Thankfully the earplugs were working for Jase, and I eventually got back to sleep. And in case you were wondering, Jase contemplated waking me up to give me earplugs too but thought it better to let me sleep… he is always looking out for me.
When it eventually came the time for us to get up we were pretty tired, but the image of my beautiful cousin Serena waiting at the train station kept us going.
The Lonely Planet guide says that you either love or hate Milan but I disagree. Sure, we hated our night’s sleep however perhaps because we didn’t fully explore all that Milan has to offer I’ve left the city feeling fairly indifferent to it all.
Our Roman Holiday
Mar 19th
Rome really surprised us. It wasn’t as dirty or tacky as we expected, we didn’t have to fight off the gypsies like we thought, and there was a totally unexpected, beautiful central park (Villa Borghese) that we loved spending time in. All in all, Rome was a great destination for another short trip.
We arrived at Rome Termini and had an easy 6 minute walk to our accommodation, Macao Rooms, where we were greeted by the owner. We stayed in a pleasant bed and breakfast that we luckily didn’t have to share with any other guests, so it essentially felt like staying in an apartment. The location of the room was in perfect walking distance to many of the attractions and, for us, in walking distance to all the attractions of Rome. On our first day we just explored the local area, including the Villa Borghese which was not too far up the road.
Day 2 started slowly as we made use of the free internet to try and get ahead in our booking of accommodation for our next few destinations. Unfortunately our sightseeing was further delayed by a trip to the Australian Embassy as we had learned that we had not been taken off the electoral roll, despite filling out forms in January, and needed to try and organise something to not be fined for not voting in the upcoming State election.
After a bit of mucking around we were on our way to the Spanish Steps to meet our friend Chad, an American studying in Italy who we met at a hostel in Vienna. He had kindly agreed to tour us around the city. The tour was a lot of fun and it was nice to have some extra company for the day too. Chad was able to share some of the information he has been learning about Italian history while studying abroad, and this made for a more interesting tour than we could have done ourselves. We saw all the famous Ancient Roman sites including the Colosseum and Roman Forum, and of course many fountains, statues and churches too. My favourite site of the day was, hands down, the Pantheon. It was so beautiful, highly decorated, well designed and well presevered – a very impressive building indeed. After saying our goodbyes to Chad at the Trevi Fountain, another amazing attraction, we made our way back to our room to have dinner and rest our tired feet from the day’s walking.
Another full day meant we were able to take our time walking from our accommodation to the Vatican City. As we headed up the road to Saint Peter’s Square a dozen tour guides flocked to us like seagulls to hot chips, trying to convince us to pay for a tour or express entry into the basilica. Of course we said no to them all, I didn’t really see the point of paying for something that has free entry, and the line moved quite quickly considering to volume of people, the metal detectors and the x-ray bag scans. The fuss outside was definitely worth the effort as the interior of the basillica was just amazing. In my opinion it’s magnificence is only rivalled by Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice. I coud not believe how detailed every inch of the place was, and it was just enormous! After soaking in the sunshine and having a snack break in the square we made our way back to our accommodation via Castel Sant’Angelo. The afternoon saw us once again enjoy the sunshine at Villa Borghese before we went out for dinner and admired the Trevi Fountain at night.
We have really enjoyed our time in Rome. The relaxed pace, sunshine and constant surprises have made it a great 3 days. To my surprise, Jason has even said that, while different, it is on par with how much he enjoyed Vienna.
1 Day in Florence
Mar 17th
We only had two nights in Florence, and only one of the days were really useable – the day we arrived we made the 2.5km walk to our accommodation and finally had time to stop and think about the family we had just left, and today we had a train departing at 9:13am.
Nevertheless I think Florence was another very successful short visit. Yesterday we left our comfortable bed and breakfast and began our walk back to central Florence. From the centre everything was an easy walk away (for us anyway), and the warm weather meant we were able to walk through the city without jumpers, although the locals still managed to dress in more clothes than we did in Stockholm.
As with most cities, the major attractions come with an inflated entry fee, however we only had one day so there was no point. In fact our somewhat “frugal travel” is a lot of fun for the two of us as we usually end up seeing things that aren’t in the guidebooks and crowded by tourists.
While viewing the Orsammichele from the outside we saw many people paying to visit the church, yet when we walked around the corner we saw an entrance to a building across the road that offered free admission to a display on the second floor. We climbed the stairs, crossed the road via a walkway and entered the Orsammichele. Inside were numerous statues, all very impressive, not to mention the view that we also had of the Florence rooftops.
We made our way through the busy yet skinny streets, stopping frequently to see the famous sites along the way. The Basilica di Santa Maria Novella, Basilica di San Lorenzo, Cattedrale di Santa Maria del Fiore, Ponte Vecchio and so on.
Finally we had made our way to Fiume Arno – a river that makes it’s way through Florence. We had been told that there was a good view of Florence from Piazzale Michelangelo, and we were not misled! With the sun shining we sat outside on a bench and watched the other tourists walk by for about an hour. At one stage a Japanese couple even arrived in a chauffeur driven Bentley for wedding photos in front of the view. Perhaps a little bit more of an extravagant honeymoon than us!
In the early afternoon we made our back to the centre via the scenic route. If anyone is ever looking for something to do in Florence I suggest walking along Viale Galileo Galilei. The road was one of the nicest we had seen, dotted with trees the entire length, and provided views of both city and “country” Florence, perhaps providing an insight of what country Tuscany would be like.
We returned to our accommodation via the supermarket, picked up some supplies and cooked dinner. Exhausted yet satisfied it was an early night, all packed and ready to leave in the morning.
