Europe Trip 2015 (pt. 5 - Florence and Pisa)

06/02/2015

We arrived at the Central Station in Florence, and we decided to try  a taxi. The drive was only a few minutes, and it only cost 13 euros. Our host had two guests who were late checking out, and they'd be occupying our apartment for the next 1.5 hours. So our host bought us some gelato to make it up to us. The nerd in me was excited. I just read Dan Brown's Inferno right before this trip, and I was excited to see all the sights in the book, in person.

The Pitti Palace was unfortunately closed, so we were only able to admire it from the outside.

We soon made our way over to the famous Ponte Vecchio! It was surreal to see buildings on a bridge! There were many high-end jewelry shops. I know historically people used to live in the floors above their shops. I don't know if they still do.

This led us right to the Palazzo Vecchio. Another crucial part of Inferno. It was awesome! On the inside and the outside. There was also a high tower that you could climb and have an amazing view of the city. Inside the palace, there were many exhibits and cool things. Dante's death mask was present, and so was one of the pieces of artwork that proved that there were' "Renaissance Aliens". (So they say...)

Outside the palace at night, it's beautiful!

Summer has become Dante!

The room of the 500, one of the main villains falls through this ceiling and plummets to her death.

Next to the head of the women is a spaceship!

Here it is at closer inspection... Notice the farmer gazing up at it!

Dante's Death Mask

Here are the golden gates to the baptistery.

Here's an impressive view of the city from the top of the tower in the Palazzo Vecchio. Here you can see Il Duomo.

After all this adventure and walking, we were famished and exhausted! Luckily we found an awesome pizza joint. It was 5 euros per slice, or they had the XXL deal. You could get an entire pizza and 2 drinks for 12 euros. It was a no brainer for us, more is more. We replenished our strength with delicious pizza!

There were many outdoor markets with enticing goods. Many leather bound journals, bags, and leather jackets. They were asking 180 euros for the jackets, which felt very expensive for something without a receipt or any form of guarantee. It was super hot. I didn't feel an immediate need to buy a leather jacket.

06/02/2015

Our apartment came with a WiFi hotspot. The apartment was really old, and the hotspot didn't get any signal. So we had to take it with us. Which was nice to get service on our normal phones. We left at 6:55 am and headed to the train station. The tower is a good mile away from the main train station. There is a bus that can take you there, but it's short enough that you can get there on foot quickly.

Sometimes I like to mis-pronounce phrases to be funny. I called the "Leaning Tower of Pisa", the "Leaning Tower of Pizza." Which was fine when talking with my wife, but I embarrassed us when asking for directions in the city. I was so used to calling it "Pizza" that when I asked an Italian and later an American for directions, I referred to it as the "Leaning Tower of Pisa". The Italian was unimpressed with me, and the American was incredulous, thinking that I didn't know that it was called "Pisa".

Anyway, the town was quiet in the morning. The tower was absolutely incredible! It was so surreal that we were there in the flesh! It is such an iconic monument, you see it in school, ads, books, etc... What added to the moment was being able to climb the tower to the top! It was totally worth it. You could definitely feel the lean, especially towards the top. Summer was scared when we reached the top. She held to the walls of the center section. (Even though there were tall handrails surrounding us.) Entering the cathedral was part of our tickets, so we decided to go inside. It was pretty cool!

Summer loves the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Inside the cathedral

We went back to Florence, and we went and saw the David. Another iconic monument. It seemed to dwarf all the other exhibits. There was one room that housed 1000's of statues. Seeing such a sheer quantity of art, made my contributions to the world of art seem small.

A beautiful work of art! And the David statue.

Ancient selfie.

We revisited Il Duomo, with hopes of entering inside and going up the bell tower. The lines were long and it was expensive. We decided against it. We also didn't go see the Uffizi Gallery and pay respect to Botticelli's masterpiece, the Venus de Milo. We decided that we'd rather go visit the Pitti Palace and then relax. We went in the Bobbli gardens, which were gorgeous, but huge! We were already exhausted. It felt like you could spend days just trying to explore every nook and cranny. There were many bushes, statues, museums, flowers and ponds. The caves were the coolest part, and I am very glad that we got a closer look!

The figures in the cave appear to be melting.

Naked fat man riding a turtle. Also in Dante's inferno.

We were pooped after all of our walking! We laid down in front of the Pitti Palace in the shade, and took a well-deserved break!

We went to the apartment and cleaned up and rested a bit. We were so tired, that we almost didn't want to get anything to eat. But, I'm glad we did. We discovered a hidden gem of a restaurant. We ate a full Italian meal!

Europe Trip 2015 (pt. 2 - Preparations)

These are excerpts from my journal. On this trip we left SLC to Italy. We visited 5 cities in Italy, Milan, Venice, Florence, Naples, and Rome. We were there for 2 weeks. From Italy, we traveled to Paris, where we met up with my family. We stayed there for 10 days. Then we flew to NYC for 3 days, and then we flew back home to SLC.

04/25/2015

It's crazy to think that in a month that we'll be leaving to Italy! I've been longing to visit Europe once more. I miss the cobble stone streets and the old houses and buildings, the public parks, the little shops, the food, the history, etc… This trip will much different than my mission. In many ways its much better!  On this trip, I'll get to travel with the one I love! I'm glad Summer, my wife is adventurous and up for anything. I know beforehand that this will be a long and exhausting vacation, but it will be worth it!

Preparations so far:

• We purchased plane and train tickets ahead of time online:
• We booked flights from SLC->MILAN, PARIS->NYC, and NYC-> SLC through Delta. We were able to book the entire flight for $1300 each.

• We booked train tickets through trenitalia to get us from city to city within Italy. TrenItalia had a nice website, and you're able to print the tickets or just download them onto your smart phone as a PDF.

• Flying is a cheap and quick way to travel in between countries in Europe. We flew from Rome to Paris for $60 a person using AirFrance. It was only 2 hours. The train would have been more expensive and it would have taken 8 hours.
• We made reservations for our lodging through AirBnb. AirBnb is a online platform that allows for people to rent out a room in their apartment, or the whole apartment. There are many awesome benefits to this approach. You usually get a place that is a more local experience, and it is more affordable. Many times you can find a place that is closer to the center of town, and closer to the attractions that you want to visit. Also it all automated and it is completely safe. Book ahead, book ahead! Good deals book months in advance.
• We purchased new suitcases.

• We bought a large suitcase and a carry-on suitcase each. We measured the carry-on suitcases to make sure that they conformed to Delta and AirFrance's regulations. This was much harder than expected. Many "carry-on" suitcases were too large! I've read many horror stories online about flyers being forced to check-in their carry-on bags because they were 2 inches too tall, or they were only the proper size if you didn't measure the wheels. We made the extra effort just to be safe. 
• Many suggest against big suitcases in Europe, especially because of the cobble stone streets.  I remember carrying a 50 lb suitcase 1.5 miles in 110 degree weather in Spain on mission. It sucked. My companion broke the wheels of his cheap suitcase on the merciless cobblestone streets. He was too small to carry it himself. But, we figured that we'd be in Europe for an entire month, we would need a lot of stuff. (There was probably a lot of stuff that we could have one without.) I am big enough to carry two large 29" suitcases that weigh 50lbs each without much trouble.
• They also suggest from buying flashy suitcases because you become a target of thieves. We bought Samsonite suitcases at Ross. They weren't too flashy, they were durable, and they were fairly cheap. The big ones were about $80, and the little ones were about $50. I had two Samsonite  suitcases that lasted 2 years in Spain. My family still uses them to this day.
• We thought about getting a collapsible luggage dolly. They have big wheels, and they reduce the stress put on your suitcases. But, this seemed like overkill, and they seemed like an unnecessary extra expenditure.
• We got a money belt, and a money necklace.

• These are to evade pick pockets, which are notorious in the crowded streets of Venice, and on the popular Ponte Vecchio in Florence.
• This is considered to be the safest spot on you, unless you have a room with a lock and key. In between cities, when traveling with all of our stuff, we packed our passports, credit cards, and emergency money in here. On days where we were settled in a room and were just out to explore, we left our passports and the bulk of our money at home, and we carried about 100-250 euros with us in our money belt.
• Since I wear undershirts, I found that the money necklace was the most comfortable and convenient.
• We bought a new camera

• Pictures are your best souvenir, and it doesn't cost you anything to take pictures.
• After some research, we got the Sony Alpha 5100. It's a mirrorless camera; which is light and compact like a point-and-shoot and it has the quality of DSLR.
• We felt as though we kinda broke the bank on this one ($600), but we were definitely satisfied with the quality. It does great with low light situations, which is ideal for Europe, with its many cathedrals and beautiful sunset and night scenes.
• Neck pillows to make the flights and train rides more comfortable

On our way to Milan from SLC.

• Locks for our bags and suitcases
• Power converters for France and Italy.
• Selfie Stick

• There's a lot of bad taboo with these; such as you look like a silly narcist, you should just have a friend take your pictures, you can't even get a good angle anyways.
•  We were going to be visiting some of the most iconic historical buildings in the world, and we wanted to make sure that we were in our pictures.
• We purchased a heavy duty DSLR selfie stick, that is able to handle cameras up to 8lbs. Luckily ours was only 8 ounces.

This isn't us... But, it was our goal to recreate this. We did. :)

• Many blogs told us that we needed to dress fancy to "fit in with the locals." We read suggestions such as wear button-up shirts, scarves, dresses, never wear shorts, etc… This is true. If you're goal is to look like a local, then dress fancy. But, if you're going to visit a bunch of touristy areas, you'll encounter more tourists than locals. So you'll blend in more by dressing like a tourist! I just wore shorts, t-shirts, and vans most days.

• I made printed copies of our travel itinerary, credit cards, and travel documents. We also backed up these documents on a USB flash drive.
• Language skills
• While many people speak English in Europe, not everyone speaks English. I knew Spanish and French before this trip, so learning Italian wasn't that hard. While learning the language wasn't as steep of a curve as learning my first Romantic language, the motivation was less. I learned Spanish because I was going to live in Spain for 2 years as a missionary, and I learned French because it's my mom's native tongue. I was learning Italian for entertainment and to communicate for a two week vacation.
• Phone

• We needed a phone, to contact our AirBnb hosts, and to connect with my family in Paris. 
• We wanted to set up the phone and ensure that it worked in the states. We looked into Telestial, but their reviews were hit and miss. Many blogs suggested buying a phone while in Europe.
• I use Virgin Mobile, which has no coverage in Europe. My wife had a ATT phone, which has coverage, but they don't have very good international rates.
• We ended up going with T-Mobile's International Plan, which allowed us to use the phone everywhere that we were going to be traveling. It only cost $45 for one month, and we bought a cheap $30 Windows Lumia phone, which was surprisingly nice. They had good reviews, and they didn't let us down.

5/20/2015

I can't believe we leave in a week! I'm stoked! I hope Summer feels better. She's been super sick for 6 weeks. We went to a specialist today who gave her 2 anti-biotics to combat the infections.