Will & Meredith's European Honeymoon

Woke up to a crummy breakfast - the milk was room temperature, and the croissants were pre-packaged! We bussed in to town where we met our guide for a walking tour of Firenze (Florence). We visited the golden door (which has now been replaced by a replica), the Duomo, then in to Santa Croce. Here we left the guide, and were taken into a jewellery store for a short presentation on Florentinian gold - all the girl's eyes lit up! Then in to Peruzzi leather where again we had a presentation then did a little shopping!
We were then free to explore - so we wandered around for a little while, eventually coming across the line for the Gallery Accademia where the original of Michaelangelo's David lives. €6.50 each to get in and through metal detectors and bag screenings! Then finally in after standing in line for an hour. The statue was definately the best part - the detail that went into it was amazing! you could see the veins in his arms, ribs in his chest, tendons in his hands - and he was uncircumcised too! Back outside we found lunch from a pamphlet - €7 for a pizza and coke. On the way back to the meeting point we stopped for a hot chocolate / coffee while we waited for the others.
That evening most of the group went to a monk's dinner - we stayed back, had a siesta, then walked a few blocks down the road & whiled away a few hours at a laundrette. Then some dinner just down the road (Salad for Meredith, Tortellini for Will) then a stroll for some gelati, then to bed!

Today was another travelling day - to Firenze (Florence) via Siena. We arrived at Siena around lunchtime - walking around the city fortifications to St Catherine's cathedral. It was nowhere near as big as St Peter's, but still quite large. Meredith found it quite moving, as the patron saint of this particular church died when she was only 33. More walking through the streets till we found ourselves at Il Campo, the centre of the town where they hold a massive horse race each year. It was quite hot here, so we headed back to the side streets to find lunch. Will had their local speciality (pici pasta - thick handmade pasta with a meat sauce) & Meredith had a pork chop. The pasta was not so good - because it is so thick it is still quite gluggy in the middle. Gelati for dessert, then back on the bus, destination Florence!
Arriving at Florence our hotel was in a one-way street that had no parking for the bus - our driver wasn't happy! We held up the traffic while we all piled off, then he did a lap of the block before unloading our bags up the road. A short time to freshen up then in to town for our included dinner - a pizza party. A variety of pizzas were brought out, followed by panna cotta for dessert. Then back to the hotel!

Twas an early start - up at 6:15, breaky at 6:45, in town by 8am to met our tour guide at St Peter's Square. She took us for a walk around, then explained what the statues inside the cathedral were about - tour guides aren't allowed to guide inside the cathedral! Before we could go in we had to get through security where they checked our bags. The church was very big and lots was going on - there was a chapel underneath the floor, and a dome which people could go up, and of course in St Peter's cathedral one would find St Peter's tomb. After we came out, the guide explained the wall built around St Peter's and the Vatican City.
We got back on the bus and headed to the Colosseum where there was a BIG queue! Around the outside there were guys dressed as Roman soldiers who didn't like to be photographed or posed with unless you paid them (around €2). While the people who paid to go into the Colosseum did their tour (not us) Karen and the two of us went for a walk around the Roman Forum, and Circus Maximus - it was a very hot walk! Then back to the bus which took us near to the entrance of Vatican City. Again the tour people went inside to see the Sistine Chapel, while the three of us went for a walk towards the city. We had lunch at a Pizzeria with a €10 deal - you got Salad, Spaghetti / Lasagna / Pizza, and a drink. The food was not too crash hot! (Meredith's pizza had a piece of ham straight from the deli, and two pieces of salami thrown on).
We headed towards Castel St Angel - Will's hayfever was getting worse and worse, so we decided to call it a day, after the quick-cool-down-with-gelati trick failed. We headed to the nearest Metro station - tickets were only €1 each! We went through the gates, validating our tickets as we went - but the gate wouldn't open for Meredith! It was difficult finding someone who knew what was going on (especially as though we were both on different sides of the ticket barrier) but eventually a Metro employee interpreted our frantic waving arms and let her through. We got on, 4 stops later at Cornelia we got off, finding the McDonalds right where Tania said it would be, then followed her directions back to the hotel. It was a long HOT walk which still made Will's hayfever worse and increasingly annoying to put up with. We got into the hotel & had cold showers to flush out the dust and pollen from the system, then had a sleep.
We woke up at 7pm & walked up the lane to a Chinese restaurant which was cheap (first word we understood!) but the food was still great! Afterwards we went back, our bus was pulling in to the hotel. One of the other couples on the trip (Matt & Liz) had some sudafed & that knocked Will out for the evening while Meredith washed her hair!

We woke up to an ordinary breakfast, leaving the hotel at 8:30am on our way to Rome - we had a big day of driving. In the morning we did 3 hours having a stop at an Autogrill pizza / restaurant and Burger King - then driving again for 3.5 hours. We watched Gladiator (set in Rome) to give us an idea of what we would have been up for ... if we went a thousand years earlier! Meredith got bored / tired so went and slept on the back seat of the coach.
We arrived in Roma (Italian for Rome) straight to our hotel, the 'Ergife Palace' to freshen up - this place was no palace! We left at 5:15pm from the hotel to go to town where we saw the main square. From there we walked to our included dinner of Veal which wasn't terribly nice. After dinner we met our tour guide for Rome by Night who took us to the Spanish Steps & obelisk, a pond with a boat in the middle (with fresh running water - drinkable). Stopped for a long time at the Trevi Fountain, where we each threw in a coin (supposed to bring you back to Rome). More walking, saw some statues, leading the way to the Pantheon. Afterwards Tania took us to a Gelati shop (she knew the owners) and we all had a cup / cone with 3 scoops. It was all home made, and absolutely delicious!
We walked back to Piazza Nivona where we met Tania at 10:15pm then walked to the bus - at the hotel and in bed by 10:30pm!

A full day in Venezia! Bus across to the island, then in to the 'boat port' on a 'motoscafi' - somewhat similar to chartered bus but on water. Tania did some map orientation in St Mark's Square, then took us to a glass blowing demonstration at Murano Glass - 5 minutes of glass blowing (which actually looks like it would take some incredible skill for the difficult pieces) then 20 minutes of sales pitch! We hightailed it out of the expensive glass place before they forced us to part with our money! We spent most of the day shopping - mainly window, but Meredith added to her shoe collection. We thought Venice would be impossible to navigate with all the little streets, but on most corners there are signs that give directions to the closest landmark, e.g. 'Per San Marco' for St Mark's Square, or 'Per Rialto' for the Rialto bridge.
Stopped for lunch - choice are semi-limited, generally pizza or pasta! Pizza it was - Hawaiian for Meredith, Al Pollo (chicken) for Will. Then gelati, and a leisurely stroll to our Gondola Serenade! Our group had 2 gondolas, 6 in one, 4 in the other with an accordian player & singer. We went for a 35 minute ride, first under the Bridge of Sighs, then along some bigger then smaller canals, ending up back where we started. It was quite nice, and we even stole a quick kiss while the others were distracted!
After the gondolas, we had a bit of a better look at St Mark's Cathedral (from the outside) which has some quite ornate sculptures, carvings and mosaics as part of the main facade. More shopping & a cup of fresh fruit each from a market stall, then we had a few more hours to kill as the others had gone on a dinner cruise. We had our dinner at a restaurant not far from the lunch one, where we sat outside and watched the world go by. Will had an awesome gnocchi arabiatta (not on the menu, had to ask for it!) & Meredith grilled chicken and grilled vegetables. Meredith had been looking for the Ferrari store all afternoon but was afraid to ask - so Will practised his limited Italian & asked the waiter - it was right around the corner! We zipped in to have a look - there was some very very expensive things! A real F1 steering wheel mounted on wood for €4800. They also had the actual car Michael Schumacher drove in the 2002 F1 series in the store!
With our mission over, we sat in a cafe, shared a fruit salad sundae, had a coffee / hot chocolate whilst watching the black market bag/purse/belt/art sellers try and flog their wares to the unsuspecting tourists. Eventually our boat to the bus stop came back, a short ride then time to turn in for the night.