Italy: Museums, Gelato, and Indian Food

My family and I had a very exciting and busy week in Italy as we traveled to Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Rome. Since it was a very action packed week, I will just include some of the highlights at every destination.

Venice

Venice is simply a beautiful. We came in by boat during the night to see the water twinkling with the majestic buildings lights and the streets quiet in the late evening hours. The next day, we did a lot of walking and shopping around Venice. Everything from Gucci to souvenirs stands is in Venice. In certain places, I felt like I was just walking in a giant outdoor mall as we walked past stores and restaurants before we could even turn a corner on the narrow streets.

We also took a gondola ride! The canals were beautiful and calm as we floated past houses and churches. I absolutely loved it!

Florence

In Florence, we saw the David , one of Michelangelo's most famous works. His attention to detail in the sculpture is truly astounding. If you have the chance, I would highly recommend going!

We also saw a beautiful church formally called the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (now simply Florence Cathedral). Its bright painted colors were unlike any of the churches I had ever seen. It was a beautiful splash of color on the bright blue sky.

Pisa

We went to Pisa to see…. The Leaning Tower of Pisa! Which happens to be the bell tower of the church (which is also beautiful). My father, my brother, and I climbed the tower and were huffing and puffing by the time we made it to the top. However, walking on those tilted stairs was totally worth it because the view was amazing!! You could see the entire city of Pisa and the mountains in the distance. I wish I could have stayed up there longer just looking at the beauty of the Italian countryside. However, what goes up must come down. So, we went descended the stairs going round and round and sideways. Once we found my mom and sister, we got Gelato before catching our train to Rome.

Rome

I just have to say, by the time we reached Rome we were tired of eating pasta, bread, and pizza at every meal. So, we found an Indian restaurant which was absolutely delicious! It was so nice to eat rice after such a long time (Ok,  it had been like a week. A week of eating is pasta is rough though!) !

The Colosseum was epic!

Cool Facts about the Colosseum

• Seats were made of white stone so that on hot days the seats were still cool.
• Colosseum had a retractable roof made of canvas.
• Games were free for a season of the year. The games were used as a political tool. The poorer Romans did not have enough jobs due to all the slaves being brought in from other countries. In order to keep them from rioting, the rulers would have this season in which they would provide free food and entertainment (Food and Games).
• After the fall of the Roman Empire the Colosseum was used as
•  a market
• a quarry for its materials such as iron and stone. Saint Peter's Basilica contains materials from the Colosseum

The Vatican contains more wealth and opulence than I have ever seen in my life. Collections of priceless artifacts that have been collected for centuries, large tapestries, sculptures, and immense paintings. So many incredible ancient works  are extremely well preserved in its museums. The Sistine Chapel was extremely beautiful. It was so amazing to see the picture of God touching humanity in person and how it and the other scenes depicted by Michelangelo tell the story of salvation. My favorite room was the Gallery of Maps. Each map was precisely painted on the walls with exquisite detail and vivid colors. These were the maps I imagined I was producing as a child during our adventure games. It was like a dream come to life! Goodness, I really love maps.

 Jersey Pele signed for the Pope! 

Brasil!!!

Travel Tip: Highly recommend buying your tickets or buying a tour with the tickets beforehand for popular attractions in Rome. The lines and crowds outside the Colosseum and Vatican are enormous! If you want to avoid hours in line, do this! We used Crown Tours for the Colosseum and bought entrance tickets for the Vatican from a company called Headout.