Italy Part Four

We left the tranquility of Cinque Terre for the busyness of the grand city, Florence. Now, I did end up liking Florence, but I was a bit overwhelmed to enter the rush of the city.

I love the cobblestone streets of Italy, but wheeling luggage through the city can be a challenge. It was surprisingly cold while we were in Italy and I started to get sick while in Cinque Terre. Once I got to Florence, I was really sick. Thankfully, I finally gave in and found a pharmacy, which helped lots.

Florence is known for the picturesque Arno River.

. We visited lots of museums. Florence had the best shopping. The markets were out of this world! Florence is known for leather, so the smell in the markets was intoxicating. I broke down and bought among other things. :)

I'm that traveler that carries a guidebook all over the place. It suggested we take a 30 minute hike outside the city for great pictures. It was now hot and I've never walked up more stairs than that day, but it was worth it.

On to our last stop; Rome. Here, I got overwhelmed with the subway/metro.

The ever-enchanting Trevi fountain.

The Vatican was a long, hot wait.

I had the best gelato at a place near the Vatican, called Old Bridge. The amaretto and crema gelato was one for the books!

Seeing the Arch of Constantine was poignant. The arch is significant to Christian faith as it commemorates the battle that led the Emperor Constantine to convert to Christianity. This changed the course of the religious landscape (info from www.sacred-destinations.com) We also saw the nearby Colosseum.

It was the 160th Birthday of the Italian Polizia (Police), so they displayed lots of their police vehicles AND officers. :)

So while texting with my mom while in Rome, my mom said she had seen an article about great gelato places in Rome. She was so excited that I agreed to pull out the map and try to make it to one place as it seemed close. It was actually near the Trevi Fountain which we visited at least once a day. It was called Giolitti and had great fruit flavored gelato topped with even more noteworthy homemade whip cream!

While in Italy, we had some pretty rough meals. So, our last day in Italy we broke down and went to Hard Rock Cafe. Everyone there was despreate for MEAT, so every order coming out of the kitchen was a hamburger and fries!

I cherished my time and kept reminding myself to soak in every bit I could. I ended up taking roughly 1,800 pictures. When it was time to go, I was ready. If given the opportunity I'd go back in a heartbeat!