On March 28th I flew into Milan, Italy to visit my friends Chris Boyce, Trevor Smith, and Kaley Robinson (Winnipeg native and St. John's Ravenscourt grad) from Queen's. Essentially though, this was the first stop on my Easter break - I should note that my flight from Glasgow to Milan cost me a whopping $25 Canadian!!! In Milan, I also met up with my friends Mark Harris, Marc Richardson, and Chris Dart.
Milan in general is a very commercial city famous for its fashion. Surprisingly, not much English is spoken here but luckily Chris speaks very good Italian as he lived in Milan for a few years as a kid - that obviously helped us in getting around. There are a few main sights to see in Milan, specifically the Duomo (church, cathedral), the Teatro Scala (famous theatre), and Da Vinci's 'The Last Supper.' Unfortunately for us, 'The Last Supper' requires a reservation weeks if not months in advance so we were unable to see it. We did enjoy our stay in Milan however as our friends studying their were able to give us a great introduction into Italian cuisine, which in my opinion is the best in the world - simple but just amazing. After two days in Milan - where the weather was amazing as a side note - myself, Marc, and Chris Dart took a train to Florence.
Upon arriving in Florence we checked into our "hostel" - if that's what you wanted to call it. This was by far the worst place we stayed at and it isn't even worth explaining. The worst part, it wasn't even cheap, costing us 25 euros per night.
Florence was great however. In general it was a lot different than I expected - it was quite small and you can easily walk everywhere. It had a genuine Italian feel with small side streets, scooters, yellow buildings, tile roofs, and panini shops everywhere. Florence was also more wealthy than I expected with many upper-end stores such as Prada, Gucci, and Armani. This might be a function of the fact that Florence is absolutely packed with Americans. I'm pretty sure more English is spoken here than Italian. While in Florence we bumped into our friends Lianne from Queen's and Shane who is from Western but studies in Belgium with Lianne. Together we walked through the streets, went to a Palm Sunday mass at the Duomo (it's closed on Sunday's, and normally costs 6 euros, but since it was a mass, we got in for free!), and the Ufizi Art Gallery which is the famous gallery that houses two Botticelli paintings - The Birth of Venus and Spring. Florence is also home to Michelangelo's David but when we showed to the gallery to see it, unfortunately it was closed and this was our last day in Florence. Luckily they have a replica in a square in Florence so I got to see that fake version! After two nights in Florence, we headed to Rome.
In Rome we did not stay in the city centre but rather about 30 minutes outside the city on the Mediterranean. It was similar to visiting Toronto and staying in Oakville. Luckily our hostel was amazing with nice beds, very helpful staff, and free breakfast and internet access. Also, this was a cheaper option than staying directly in Rome (and even cheaper than staying in Florence).
Our first evening in Rome we walked around to get our bearings and really, were on a mission to find a cheap place to eat. The staff at our hostel told us the area to try because it was "poor." Luckily we found a really cheap restaurant in that area where we consequently ate each night. After that we saw the Trevi Fountains, the Pantheon, and the Colosseum. The next morning we got up early to visit the Vatican. We waited about an hour in St. Peter's Square to enter St. Peter's Basilica. SPB was easily the most stunning and ornate cathedral that I have seen, and trust me, I've seen a lot. We spent about an hour just walking throughout the Cathedral...along with the hundreds of other tourists. From there we were going to see that Sistine Chapel and the Vatican museum but the line was well over two hours long - so we decided we'd return the following day first thing in the morning. Since we still had the entire afternoon ahead of ourselves we walked from the Vatican - which wasn't exactly a short walk - to Ancient Rome to go inside the Colosseum. Luckily the line at the Colosseum was fairly short and we were able to get in quickly and even did a 40-minute walking tour which was quite interesting. Our ticket to the Colosseum also gave us access to Palatine Hill - a grouping of ancient ruins - so we walked through those for a bit as well. The following day we woke up with the "intention" to see the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum. As we were walking towards the SC we passed the Vatican which unlike the day before was filled with people not in a line, but congregated towards the front of St. Peter's Basilica. We decided to walk into the Square to see what exactly what was going on. Ultimately we asked a Swiss guard (they speak 4 to 5 languages so we took our chances that he spoke English) and he told us that it was a mass and that the Pope was coming out at 10:30...it was 10:15. All in all we sat down and stayed for a mass in the Vatican, with the Pope who drove right by us in the Pope-mobile, for about an hour. The mass is conducted in segments which are repeated in 6 languages (Italian, French, English, German, Spanish, and Russian)...so we did not stay until the end. After the mass we headed towards the Sistine Chapel. The museums were great with many famous paintings, tapestries, and documents. The Sistine Chapel itself was different from what I assumed. It felt quite small and is completely covered in paintings on all walls and the ceiling. Obviously the paintings are some of the finest in the world being completed mostly by Botticelli and Michelangelo. You are not allowed to take pictures but I snapped a quick one of the ceiling (similar to my Mona Lisa picture, I got yelled at after taking it, and it didn't turn out too well). Once we finished walking through the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museums it was now mid-afternoon so we decided to walk to the Spanish steps, through some of the more trendy streets in Rome, and finally to dinner and back to the hostel. The next morning I left at 6:45 from my hostel to take a train at 8:30 from the central train station in Rome back to Milan. After the 4 1/2 hour train back to Milan, I met up with Chris Boyce to travel to Nice in the French Riveria.
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