Days 1 and 2: Torino, Italy! Since we are cheap college kids we decided to do this entire 10 day journey with just a backpack (so we don’t have to pay to store bags) and only stayed in 5 real hotels (the other nights we took overnight buses—yes we were very sleep deprived, but at least we saved money ;)). It was a super fun experience to travel all through Italy with JUST a backpack, and to see 5 cities in 10 days, it’s something that I’ll never forget! We decided to go to Turin first because it is only a 3 hour bus ride from Grenoble, and it is a great first « taste » of Italy! Turin was very fun, we got to see big tourist-y things like Palazzo Réale, Cathedral of San Giovanni Battista, National cinema museum, and the Parco de Valentino! It was an absolutely beautiful city, and 2 days was just enough to see the whole city 😁 I loved walking around the Palazzos and seeing the beautiful buildings and architecture in this city. My friends and I were talking about how the buildings here are so much prettier than in the states, and that is something we will really miss when we go back. Beauty is everywhere you look here! Next stop: Milano.
Day 3: Milano, Italy! I absolutely loved Milan! It was big enough to get that tourist like, Italy feel, but it also felt small enough to really be integrated into Italian culture. We visited the cathedral of Milan first thing in the morning, and I was absolutely stunned. It took 600 YEARS to build this cathedral, and if you look in my photos, you will see why! I was honestly more impressed with the architecture and sculpting of this cathedral than Notre Dame (although the inside was not as magnificent). After that we walked around the shopping center of Milan... it reminded me a lot of the Gallery Lafayette with the beautiful glass and very high-end stores, but it was super amazing and worth it just for the pictures. We had true Italian pizza for lunch (amazing!), and then continued on to the opera house of Milan. Unfortunately, there was an event, so we could not go inside, but the outside was marvelous as well :). We then walked to the ancient château of Milan where we ate delicious gelato and meandered through a wonderful park. If you look in my videos you can see the band that we stumbled upon in the park playing some rocking percussion music. It was a very fun, very Italian thing to do. People in Europe really like their parks 😁! We also saw what looked the Arc de Triomphe at the end of the park, and that was pretty cool! Finally, we walked along the river at night which was so gorgeous with all the lights and activities. We tried pasta for dinner, and we just enjoyed the night life of Milan. We had to wait in a McDonald’s until 2am to catch our bus, but we didn’t have to spend money on a hotel for the night (traveling the cheap college kid way ;))! On to Florence, Italy!
Days 4 and 5: Firenze, Italy! I am absolutely IN LOVE with Florence Italy. Definitely my favorite city of our entire trip, and definitely a place I would want to come back and visit. We had an amazing air bnb right in the center of town, so right outside our door we got to experience the Mercato Centrale market! Then, the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral was right down the street. The cathedral was stunning, but very different than the Milan Cathedral or Notre Dame. It had many more patterns and was much more colorful, while still including traditional architecture and sculptures. I thought it was very fascinating! The inside was amazing as well. I can’t believe how much detail and history they put into making the dome of the cathedral. It was beautiful.Next, we went to the Palace Vecchio which had an amazing museum (free to students☺️) inside. We got to see marvelous sculptures and paintings of Greek mythology and history. It was very interesting to me, and at the end we got to climb up to the top of the tower for a great panoramic view of Florence (this is part of the reason we did not go to the top of the Santa Maria... other reason, it was €18!). We then explored the Ponte Vecchio which is the bridge over the river in Florence. This was one of my favorite spots because we got to experience Italian culture (shops, gelato, street art, and music), and it was super pretty/relaxing to just walk along the river. However, Florence did feel very touristy at times because I heard English about 90% of my time there, and it was VERY busy, but that’s what you would expect in a big city. Why I loved it so much was because even with all the tourists you could find peaceful spots like the river or the Place Michelangelo to just relax and enjoy the city. The Place Michelangelo was amazing! We went up at night, but it offered a great panoramic view of Florence—for free☺️! Florence at night was amazing, and we got to walk around a few more open plazas and we saw the outside of the Basilica di Santa Croce which is another amazing church in Florence. You can see all four of the big monuments sticking out in my nighttime photo... they just overwhelm everything else in the city. It’s absolutely amazing.
The second day we woke up early to get in line to see the inside of the cathedral. We then walked to the famous pitti palace and Boboli Gardens. The palace was huge, but we chose just to explore the gardens and the ancient fort belevedere. It was absolutely magnificent. The gardens were my favorite part of Florence. There were so many great views of the city (see my pictures), and everything was so picturesque. I also really adore nature and being outside, so it was truly the perfect stop for me. We then traveled along to see Michelangelo’s famous sculpture, The David in the museum of academia. Along the way we found a unique shop where they created homemade masterpieces out of wood, and it was very interesting to see them work. The museum was awesome as well. They had a special exhibition on musical instruments and the évolution of making such instruments as violins, pianos, and guitars which I loved a lot. I also enjoyed seeing all the sculptures, especially the David, and learning about each sculpture’s story and individual history. Finally, we went to an amazing pasta place for dinner and waited to catch another overnight bus to Rome!
Days 6 and 7: Roma, Italy! We fit a LOT of things into just two days in Rome. I am very tired and sore, but it was soo worth it. Rome was very close to Florence for my favorite city in Italy, but I still think Florence took the cake. We visited the Place Narvano to see the beautiful sculptures and fountains in the morning, then we saw the Pantheon with it’s beautiful paintings and the dome. It will always amaze me how Roman architecture has lasted so long and through so many rough times. After the pantheon, we traveled to the Trivi Fountain which was marvelous! I got some amazing pictures there and then headed to the Spanish steps. This is a famous staircase in Rome that leads to a beautiful view of the city and an amazing cathedral at the top. There are SO MANY cathedrals/churches in Europe. What’s even cooler is that most of them are still originals, so they still have the same architecture, stain glass, and old-timely feel. I think that the USA does a lot to model churches and make them feel “new” and “cool,” but I really like how Europe takes pride in preserving their ancient churches. Next, we went to the Palace de Quirinale which is a government building so we could not enter, but the palace itself was beautiful. We then ate more gelato (what’s new!) and visited the Pompeii exposition at a museum. I thought that was very interesting because I do not know much history behind Pompeii and I learned a lot. It was also a very sad story to learn, and I was moved to tears by some of the art depicting the helpless families who died after the explosions. After that, we went to the Colosseum! Unfortunately, it was closed so we could not enter, but it is still amazing to see the construction of the outside. Plus, we got some AMAZING sunset pictures 😊😊. To end the night we just walked around the ruins of the city and up the big building in the center to see another marvelous view of the city. It is absolutely amazing at night! I was surprised how quiet Rome was, even considering all the tourists. It was very peaceful and fun. We had pizza and got to sleep early since we had only gotten 4 hours of sleep the night before.
The next day we spent most of our time in Vatican City. We took an amazing tour of the Vatican museums. We spent 3 hours there because everything was so informative and interesting! I loved the Sistine Chapel the most because it completely amazed me how Michelangelo painted the ceiling completely by hand. It was so beautiful to see in person. We then went to St. Peter’s Basilica which was also a piece of art. We did not get to see Pope Francis :(, but his place of work is spectacular. The church was one of the most beautiful that I’ve ever seen, and it quite literally took my breath away. My pictures do not even do it justice! Finally, we had an amazing last dinner in Rome and hopped on our overnight bus to Venice. Luckily, this bus was longer, so more sleeping time and less crankiness! Our final stop was Venice, Italy.
Days 8 and 9: Venezia, Italy! Venice is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. I didn’t know this before I came here, but it is a completely pedestrian city... meaning there’s absolutely no cars at all here. That is so nice! The only bad part about that is that Venice is a smaller city, and a lot of people want to visit it, so there are numerous crowds and big groups of people. I really don’t enjoy big groups of people, so that did throw me for a loop, but the architecture and the sights of the city were amazing. We spent the morning just walking around and exploring. We saw the outside of their famous St. Marco’s Cathedral, and we walked over the Bridge of Sighs. We stumbled upon a big, wonderful palace and a sculpture garden. I really liked seeing the contemporary art in the sculpture garden 😁. We took lots of pictures by all their beautiful canals and just took in the lovely Italian lifestyle. Venice is so laid back and relaxing compared to Rome and Florence. I really love the vibe here. We had good pizza for lunch, and then we took a boat tour around the island. It was magnificent to learn about the history of Venice! We even go to see the house where Marco Polo lived. After the tour, we walked to the Bridge of Rialto which is a famous bridge with a marvelous view of the city, and we explored Venice’s market. There were again LOTS of people walking around, but it was fun to experience life like an Italian. We had a great dinner of pasta and we went to bed early to catch up on some sleep. This was a great way to end a very tiring, eventful trip.
The next day we woke up early to get in line to see the inside of the Basilica and go to the top of the tower. The basilica was very beautiful and very different than other churches we have seen in Italy. I don’t know much about construction, but you can see from the pictures it looks more modern with different pictures of Jesus and more gold/stone than other churches. I thought it was very interesting to compare all the churches! Then, we climbed to the top of the tower in St. Marco’s square to see a wonderful overhead view of Venice (see my pictures). It is amazing that there are two islands that make up the city of Venice, and they are both so close to the mainland, but they are also very isolated. You can only reach those islands by boat, so unfortunately we did not get to go, but it was pretty to see from above. We had a pretty chill day after that. We walked around Venice and visited some of their artisan glass shops (that is what Venice is famous for!). We did some shopping and looked at the beautiful architecture of the city. It was a cold and rainy day so we didn’t feel motivated to do too much. I am on the bus ride now back to Grenoble. We have a 5 hour connection back in Milan where we will eat, but then we will be back in France!
I am so sad our Italy trip is already ending. It was a GREAT 10 days with close friends and a wonderful time to recuperate from midterms. I now feel prepared to face the last 6 weeks of the semester, and I’m actually excited to be back in my “home.” Italy was amazing, but it is hard to be in a place where you do not understand the language at ALL. It makes me thankful for the French that I do know, and it makes me happy to be back in the French culture/life. I am sad there’s only 7 weeks left of my study abroad adventure, but I am happy that I will see my family and friends soon. Thanks for reading this LONG post, but as you can see, Italy was an absolutely amazing trip. We did everything for under $500 which is AWESOME. We may be a little sleep deprived and tired of sleeping on buses, but I will remember this experience forever. I’m so grateful for this opportunity! Back to school and back to Grenoble!
Rachel
