After Italy
Hello again Blog. Writing this from Marks flat. Mark is my gorgeous boyfriend! If I didn't mention it before, I'm gay. Being gay can be pretty cool sometimes. It can also be a right pain in the arse (literally as well as not so literally).
We went on holiday to Northern Italy week before last. It was fantastic. I've always had a certain reservation about going to Italy. Why? I'm really not sure. Maybe it was because I thought it would be a rather tacky place - all Cornettos and gondolas. I was glad to be proved wrong. We flew into Milan Linate airport and immediately hopped on a train (I'll talk more about the trains later) to Verona - home of Willy Shakespeares 'Romeo and Juliet'. How gorgeous was Verona? Very! It was hot, around 30 degrees centigrade for the whole time we were there which ws only 3 days. The hotel was very nice and friendly - Hotel Aurora if anybody is interested. We saw: the Duoma (cathedral), Castlevecchio (work it out), Juliets house (for the Americans!) and just walked around quite a lot. Crossed a few bridges, climbed up high so we had a view of the whole city. Had some very nice meals and lovely wine. I opened a bottle of Californian red when I got back just the other night and it was such a dissappointment after tasting some fab ones in Italy. I must bring some bottles back when I go next. Wer also went to an outdoor string concert at the local music college which was right next to church Sant' Anastasia.
After Verona we travelled to Florence, again by train. The train network in Italy is quite amazing compared with crappy old Britain. You pay by the mile wherever you are going, as its all state owned there aren't multiple companies overcharging you for a (non-seated) ticket. And all the trains are very comfortable. We got a second class ticket from Milan to Verona and we basically had a cabin to ourselves. The other tickets were first class and we got free drinks and snacks delivered to our reclined air-conditioned seats. The rail system in the UK is a total nightmare! But thats another Blog!
Florence was beautiful too. It was more touristy than Verona but thats understandable. We arrived at the hotel and got upgraded to a suite! Huge King size bed for rolling around on, a huge corner bath with jacuzzi and a private entrance hall plus balcony! Admittedly, the balcony did look out over the bus garage but the view above that was good. Well I was very happy with the room. The hotel location was good too - right next to the train station. When we got there we actually got a cab to the hotel. The taxi driver warned us that is was very close but still took our 7 Euros and drove us there which seemed like quite a distance if it was so close. But hey, I didn't want to worry about dragging my suitcase over half of Florence looking for the hotel so I was happy to pay. But he was right. We literally could have stepped out of the station, crosses the road and entered our hotel! Thats what we did on the way back to Milan. Anyway, back to Florence!
Florence has so much amazing art its impossible to see all of it in only 3 days. I think you'd probaly have trouble seeing all of it anyway. I suffered a case of Stendholism at one point - art overload. The only gallery we went to was the Uffizi and we got their audio guide. I've never really been one for learning about history but the guide took us through the rise of Renaissance art, all the artists that were invloved, how the styles changed and just realy opened my eyes about the evolution of art in that era. And it was really very interesting! It made me want to go and do some painting right there and then in the style of Leonardo da Vinci or Giotto or Carravaggio. And all these works of art were hundreds of years old. Renaissance started around the 15th century so we're talking 500 600 years. We also saw Michaelangelo's David along with other amazing sculptures in Piazza di Signorella. We also dropped in to a free classical concert on our last night which had a choir.
Milan was a huge culture shock after Verona and Florence. For a start the hotel was really grungy. We were in a not-so-nice part of town, the people were rude (every where else the people were lovely and friendly and really willing to help) and the metro wasnt very easy to navigate. We were only in Milan for a day but I didn't like it at all. I would only go back to Milan as a pass through to get somewhere else. The one feature of Milan that realy amazed me was its Duomo - the largest gothic cathedral in the world. It was vast! You could climb to the top of it and walk amongst the gargoyles and see the views of Milan. Another nasty thing about Milan was that there was a big mosquito problem. Mark got bitten a few times and it was just unpleasant. The weather there was very much more humid than anywhere else which kind of made the experience worse as it was so uncomfortable.
Anyway, so we got back early on Wednesday morning. I must admit I was glad to be back from Milan. Although I could easily spend a week or two in either Verona or Florence.
And that completes this holiday blog!
We went on holiday to Northern Italy week before last. It was fantastic. I've always had a certain reservation about going to Italy. Why? I'm really not sure. Maybe it was because I thought it would be a rather tacky place - all Cornettos and gondolas. I was glad to be proved wrong. We flew into Milan Linate airport and immediately hopped on a train (I'll talk more about the trains later) to Verona - home of Willy Shakespeares 'Romeo and Juliet'. How gorgeous was Verona? Very! It was hot, around 30 degrees centigrade for the whole time we were there which ws only 3 days. The hotel was very nice and friendly - Hotel Aurora if anybody is interested. We saw: the Duoma (cathedral), Castlevecchio (work it out), Juliets house (for the Americans!) and just walked around quite a lot. Crossed a few bridges, climbed up high so we had a view of the whole city. Had some very nice meals and lovely wine. I opened a bottle of Californian red when I got back just the other night and it was such a dissappointment after tasting some fab ones in Italy. I must bring some bottles back when I go next. Wer also went to an outdoor string concert at the local music college which was right next to church Sant' Anastasia.
After Verona we travelled to Florence, again by train. The train network in Italy is quite amazing compared with crappy old Britain. You pay by the mile wherever you are going, as its all state owned there aren't multiple companies overcharging you for a (non-seated) ticket. And all the trains are very comfortable. We got a second class ticket from Milan to Verona and we basically had a cabin to ourselves. The other tickets were first class and we got free drinks and snacks delivered to our reclined air-conditioned seats. The rail system in the UK is a total nightmare! But thats another Blog!
Florence was beautiful too. It was more touristy than Verona but thats understandable. We arrived at the hotel and got upgraded to a suite! Huge King size bed for rolling around on, a huge corner bath with jacuzzi and a private entrance hall plus balcony! Admittedly, the balcony did look out over the bus garage but the view above that was good. Well I was very happy with the room. The hotel location was good too - right next to the train station. When we got there we actually got a cab to the hotel. The taxi driver warned us that is was very close but still took our 7 Euros and drove us there which seemed like quite a distance if it was so close. But hey, I didn't want to worry about dragging my suitcase over half of Florence looking for the hotel so I was happy to pay. But he was right. We literally could have stepped out of the station, crosses the road and entered our hotel! Thats what we did on the way back to Milan. Anyway, back to Florence!
Florence has so much amazing art its impossible to see all of it in only 3 days. I think you'd probaly have trouble seeing all of it anyway. I suffered a case of Stendholism at one point - art overload. The only gallery we went to was the Uffizi and we got their audio guide. I've never really been one for learning about history but the guide took us through the rise of Renaissance art, all the artists that were invloved, how the styles changed and just realy opened my eyes about the evolution of art in that era. And it was really very interesting! It made me want to go and do some painting right there and then in the style of Leonardo da Vinci or Giotto or Carravaggio. And all these works of art were hundreds of years old. Renaissance started around the 15th century so we're talking 500 600 years. We also saw Michaelangelo's David along with other amazing sculptures in Piazza di Signorella. We also dropped in to a free classical concert on our last night which had a choir.
Milan was a huge culture shock after Verona and Florence. For a start the hotel was really grungy. We were in a not-so-nice part of town, the people were rude (every where else the people were lovely and friendly and really willing to help) and the metro wasnt very easy to navigate. We were only in Milan for a day but I didn't like it at all. I would only go back to Milan as a pass through to get somewhere else. The one feature of Milan that realy amazed me was its Duomo - the largest gothic cathedral in the world. It was vast! You could climb to the top of it and walk amongst the gargoyles and see the views of Milan. Another nasty thing about Milan was that there was a big mosquito problem. Mark got bitten a few times and it was just unpleasant. The weather there was very much more humid than anywhere else which kind of made the experience worse as it was so uncomfortable.
Anyway, so we got back early on Wednesday morning. I must admit I was glad to be back from Milan. Although I could easily spend a week or two in either Verona or Florence.
And that completes this holiday blog!
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