Monday was spent largely just wandering the streets of Rome looking at sights we came across. One of the highpoints was the Pantheon, which used to be dedicated to the Roman gods but was transformed by the Vatican into a place honoring Christianity. The Pantheon also featured the grave of Raphael.

We spent a large part of the afternoon just eating chips with queso we bought at a foreign goods store in the Piazza del Popolo. Afterwards, we wandered around a park on a hill overlooking the Piazza del Popolo. The park featured numerous busts of famous Italian artists, writers, scientists, and mathematicians as well. That night, we went to an all-you-can-eat pizza and wine special the restaurant across the street from our hostel was offering. While there, among other people, we met an Australian who was traveling around Europe and who had previously lived in Barcelona for a few months. As luck would have it, he was heading to Florence on the same day we were, and since we missed our originally scheduled train to Florence, we were able to meet back up with him on the train.

In Florence, after dropping our stuff off at our hostel, we all visited the famous Uffizi museum. The Uffizi had the largest collection of amazing paintings I had seen thus far, but I still prefer the Vatican in terms of sculptures. Later that night, we scaled a hill that overlooked most of the city and featured a reconstruction of Michelangelo’s David.

On Wednesday, we went on a guided Tuscany tour through several towns. In the first town, Siena, we were given a tour of the town and its surprisingly interesting history, which included a fairly long rivalry with Florence. After that, we were taken to a local cattle farm/winery where we were shown the equipment used to make the wine. It was at this farm that our lunch was served, which consisted of several courses and was the best lunch I have had so far. Our next stop was the nearby town of San Gimignano, which is notable for having many medieval towers and a gelato shop that was voted to have the world’s best Gelato for several years. The final stop for the day was the town of Pisa. In Pisa, naturally, we saw the famous leaning tower and the birth-home of Galileo, which is commemorated only with a plaque.

On Thursday, which was our last day in Florence, we visited a monastery that featured a store selling an impressive number of hand-crafted leather goods made by the monks living there. The monastery also featured memorials for several famous Italians, such as Dante and Michelangelo. After the monastery, we partook of even more gelato; I don’t believe there was a single day when we didn’t eat gelato at least once while in Italy. Luckily, that time we did not miss the train to our next stop.

Our train ride to Venice was not particularly remarkable despite having two exchanges, which, of course, increased the likelihood for being left in some city. That night in Venice was spent wandering the streets of the island, which was made easier by the lack of cars on the island. During our nightly stroll, we came upon such landmarks as St. Mark’s Cathedral and the Bridge of Sighs. While in Venice, we went to the island of Murano and briefly witnessed a glassmaker ply his trade, and we crossed the famous Rialto bridge as well. As in the other cities, we spent a large portion of our time just wandering the city and admiring what we saw while eating gelato.