Eurotrips and Such: Italy

The last stop on my little Eurotrip/tour was Italy. We went to Assisi, Pisa (where of course I did the cheesy tourist shot of myself holding up the leaning tower), Florence, a little town called San Gimignano for a wine tasting, the Vatican and ended things in Rome. Rome of course was the place with the crappiest hotel service known to man but I'll get into that later.

Pardon my tour director's feet....

To be honest, Italy was a bit of a let down for me. It's not that I didn't enjoy it but it just wasn't as enjoyable as I was expecting. For one thing, I had better Italian food in Spain than I did there which was really surprising. Also, I really enjoyed Florence but we didn't get to spend much time there. Only about a day and a half really, but on the plus side I learned how to tell real from fake leather (FYI: Florence is probably most known for their leather goods so it's a big deal and there's leather shops every 2 feet). Other than all the leather stuff I honestly don't remember what there was to see in Florence because we were there for such a short time. It was all a blur and the rain didn't help. I tried going to the Pantheon but I think it was closed. Unfortunate since we walked all the way there in the rain.On the other hand, there were some really nice views, especially at night by the water so that was cool. Other than that I really don't have much to say about Florence.

And then there was Rome. Of course we saw all of the traditional stuff: Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Roman ruins, Circus Maximus (or what's left of it), the Spanish Steps and the Vatican which I know is technically another city but you get the idea. The Spanish steps at night were pretty cool because it was just a bunch of people out walking around having a good time and some playing guitar and singing songs. Trevi Fountain was also pretty cool to see at night but it's ridiculously crowded. I was most excited about seeing the Colosseum thanks to four years of Latin in high school. My teacher would be so proud. The ruins were actually pretty lame because it's basically a bunch of beat down rocks but hearing the history behind them was VERY cool.

The Colosseum

Trevi Fountain

While we were in Rome there was a huge parade going on and I have absolutely no idea what it was about but it had the streets shut down for hours. I also heard that the Today Show was at the Vatican the day we were there which is part of the reason we had to push back our time to visit. By the way, if you ever go to the Vatican museum and the Sistine Chapel, make reservations and arrive EARLY. The line to get inside was literally around the block. I think our tour director said something about it being a wait of an hour or more. I wouldn't be surprised if the wait to get in was a good 3-4 hours. No joke. Then they don't restrict the number of people they allow inside so it's VERY crowded and can be VERY hot. Some people in my group almost passed out so be sure to bring water if you go inside.

Now for the the worst hotel of life: Hotel San Guisto in Rome. Why do I hate it so much you ask? How about because our door wouldn't lock from the outside and the staff were completely rude and unhelpful in trying to fix it.When my roommate first got the key and went to our room she said there was someone in there trying to fix the door but they left. Then she went to the front desk but they weren't helpful. After that I went and some guy came up and did some little "trick" and the door locked from the outside. It only took about 10 minutes. I'm sorry but it should NOT take 10 minutes to lock or unlock a door from the outside. That's just ridiculous. Then they tried to make us seem like idiots for not catching on to the little trick of locking the door. I feel that they should have just given us a new room with a working door because it was unsafe to have our belongings in there when we were unable to lock the door. Of course that was too much to ask. It was just really frustrating to have to go through this entire process just to leave then go back into our room. I would NEVER stay there again and I would tell anyone else to avoid that place as well. Bastards.

That's all for now, hope I didn't forget anything. Happy travels!