Heading Home!

I’ll have to tell you all about Rome and Florence (my favourite Italian city!) when I get home because, alas, I have run out of time! Even though I tried to blog the hell out of yesterday with four or so new blogs!

Today I get on a train to Frankfurt, then I will fly to Singapore and then Qantas will kindly take me to Perth and I will be seeing all your smiling faces on Monday aka Valentine’s Day!

Thanks for reading the blog and see you all soon!

Pompeii

I have always wanted to come here and this city definitely lived up to expectations! It is literally a whole city! Imagine walking around Perth city except all the buildings have no roofs. It took me the whole day to explore and I skipped some stuff! The photos do not do it justice but they’ll be better at explaining than me.

The local park

They hung cloth from the wooden rods for shade!

Amphitheatre

Amphitheatre

They had footpaths!

Communal Baths

I would invite you in but...

Lunch was also a treat as I packed myself pesto, sundried tomatoes, crackers and salami.

While walking around Pompeii, I realised that I should have read about it before I went so that it would all make sense and I could better understand it but it was still amazing and they give you a little book which talks about all the important rooms plus when I read about it now, it will be that much more exciting that I’ve actually been there!



It's important to follow the rules



Napoli!

Bonjourno!

I really loved Napoli! It was buzzing and crazy and at the train station part of the announcement was to watch out for pickpockets!


Just your average roundabout



I was only here for one day and the lady at tourist info was so helpful! She gave me a map and then highlighted the path I should take through the city to see everything. I also asked her to highlight the best gelataria and I was off!

I saw a castle,


A palace,

And pizza (where the chick who served me was totally Rihanna).

I had already started eating when I remembered to take a photo

But most of all, I saw shopping. Knee high boots for 19 euro! 2 euro tshirts and bags! 10 euro pants! I actually found out in Bologna that right now is the winter sale time, like the June sales in Australia, which is both bad and good news for me. My suitcase is ever becoming that little bit heavier with every trip.

Vesuvius?

  



Just chillin' in the middle of the city



Sorrento

Sorrento left a great impression on me after my bus driver dropped me off right at the front of my hostel!

I also found a great gelataria which had pictures of the owner with famous Italian people all over the walls! The place was humming too! And open early in the morning which was good for my early morning gelato fix.

Shopping in Sorrento was a little bit frustrating as they close their shops from about 1pm to 4-5pm. The other Italian cities I’ve been in don’t all close down for lunch but this one, maybe because it was smaller, did. And not just the clothes stores! The supermarket, pharmacy, everything!

The views and the sea made up for it all though!

Now where did I park my Vespa?



"Where should we build our house?"
"I don't know, maybe into the side of a cliff?"
"Okay"

Bologna!

I walked/bussed around Bologna for four hours before I walked into some random place where I found two guys working, who were kind enough to give me a lift to the stupid hostel. So my first night in Bologna not top notch but the next day, I went walking around the city with Lara (the Spanish girl sharing my room) and Kayla (an American girl we met on the bus). We got some gelato from what's meant to be the best gelataria in Bologna. It was very good.

I have been in a lot of churches but, for some reason still unknown to me, I actually liked the one in Bologna. It had very high ceilings and was just really nice. The piazza around it was really nice and big as well.



   

Later on, I went shopping at these big outdoor markets with bags and shoes and hats and clothes and everything under the sun. I bought too much. I also found an awesome street with a deli type shop with cheese, ham, pesto, sun dried tomatoes etc as well as lots of fruit and veg shops on the street. I bought 2 bananas, 2 dates and a bunch of radishes for 1.90 euros!

Just your average walkway.

The next day I trained it to Napoli and then took the regional train, Circumvesuviana, to Sorrento!

Venezia

Venice!

I had the most beautiful train ride ever from Munich to Venice, where we went through the Alps!!

Beautiful and amazing and trip highlight!

I got to Venice around 6ish and took a water ferry to my hostel! A water ferry! My hostel was down some dark alley but it was actually really great! It was small and cosy and Marco, the owner, made you eggs in the morning!

Anyway, Venice! Lots of canals and masks and gondalas. Very nice and truly no other city in the world which you could even compare it to. Except maybe The Venetian in Vegas.

At the hostel, I made friends with a girl called Courtney who was from Perth and turned out she met Lynne and Jenny Dowdeswell in London! Small world. Small Europe.

I was in Italy two and a half weeks but the best meal I had was here in Venice and home made. Firstly, Courtney and I found this wine.

Two euros a litro! We were surprised when the man asked if we wanted to taste it before we bought it, but we did and it was really good wine! We then found a deli where we purchased freshly made pesto and sundried tomatoes! Carrots, salami, cheese, olives and crackers later, we had the best dinner I had the pleasure of experiencing in Italy. All it needed to make it complete, were Erin, Ashlee and Kathy! And maybe wine glasses, but I’m not complaining.