My vacation to Italy Part 3

Thanks for coming back to my 3rd installment of my Italy vacation. In this third installment, I’ll continue where I last left off and tell you about the last few places we visited.

As mentioned in my first post, when I found out we were going to Italy, there was little time to plan things because of work, holiday preparations and stuff so we went to Italy without a plan but knew that once we were there, we would find a lot of cool places to visit and we did.

During the last few days of our vacation, on the way from the shopping centers and eateries, we walked north on Via Della Pilotta to visit one of the cities most famous sites – the famous Trevi Fountain. We absolutely loved it because it was very romantic and one of the biggest fountains I have ever seen in my life — I always wondered “how does all that water flow out of the fountain and where does it come from?

You get this feeling as if you have taken a step back in time in ancient Rome. There were hoards of people with couples all over enjoying the romantic setting. While there, you will find that it is very crowded but once you fight your way down the steps, you can sit on the ledge of the water, throw in a coin and take some great pictures. You will also be greeted by paid photographers that will take polaroid pictures of you for a few Euros if you’re looking for that kind of thing or don’t have your own camera. Its really a spectacular place!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjHACzu1PEY

Our first attempt at visiting the Vatican City was disrupted because it became too late in the evening. However, I think everything happens for a reason. On our second visit, the Pope decided to show up and greet us! We were really happy and excited to see him because there were thousands of people everywhere from all over the world. Its as if we were at the right place, at the right time and didn’t realize how it happened – it was pure dumb luck I guess! The night was really cold but we ended up standing around with thousands of others while chanting and absorbing the crowds energy. From my understanding, crowds form once a week to hear the Pope speak from his window but this time, there was a ceremony involved because of the New Year.

While walking around, we saw a travel agency and walked in. We later found out that the EuroTrain goes all the way up north to Venice. So the next day, we decided to wake up at 5am, jetted to the terminal and caught the train. Surprisingly, the bullet train takes 3 1/2 hours to get to Venice while doing 120mph! On our way, we were treated to amazing scenery and country backdrops that could have made amazing wall paper on your computer screen.

Once arriving in Venice, it was a dream. We only seen Venice on TV and the famous Gondola ride was amazing but not cheap! We came to Venice all the way from Rome so I had to cough up the $100 Euros to take the famous gondola ride. Besides that, the streets of Venice were very charming and quite romantic. The people who live there are very laid back and surprisingly, it was dog friendly just like Rome. Being a dog lover, it was nice to see dogs everywhere – they were even allowed in public restaurants which I thought were amazing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLC8SpSK8Y4

On our last day, we decided to do New Years celebrations by The Colosseum. We took a break at the hotel because the next day we had a flight to catch. We ended up pulling an all-nighter, saw the fireworks, did some clubbing and caught the cab at 6:30am to the airport.

All-in-all, Italy was spectacular and we LOVED it! There is something for everyone and EVERYONE needs to visit someday. The Dollar to Euro ratio is not as bad as the British Pound so it won’t hurt that bad either.

Have you been to Italy? If so, what was your experience like? Would you like to go to Italy? If so, did you enjoy this write up and found it helpful?

In conclusion, what we really loved about Rome: