Weeks 2 and 3 (well, most of it)
Sep. 13th, 2002 03:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
erilynHi, I'm Erilyn, and I'm a net junkie. I went a week between sessions *shakes* ;)
Anyway, first off, an apology. I was going to be organised and send lots of postcards while I was away, but it just doesn't look like that's going to happen. I'll bring some home as presents instead. Cheap ass present I know, but I'm poor (especially with the Aussie dollar only buying half a Euro), and have limited bagspace. I only have one postcard of Michelangelo's David's ass to give, though ;)
Anyway, last detailed update I did was from Florence. Our last day in Florence, we picked up our hire car, a cute little grey Fiat Punto. Sam had to do all the driving, as having a driver under 26 pushes the price way up. Plus, I haven't driven a manual in years, let alone driving one on the wrong side of the road! Drove through the Chianti region of Tuscany on our way to Siena, where we got hopelessly lost, due to their extremely crappy signage, before eventually finding the hostel where we were staying. Went up to the old part of Siena, inside the walls, for a while and had dinner.
Didn't end up spending much time in Siena, we just found it irritating to get up to, and were a bit citied out (even though Siena isn't that big). Instead, we spent our time driving around Tuscany, visiting little towns and hill towns, and admiring the countryside. There was quite a variety in scenery across the different parts of Tuscany, wooded and lush, cultivated and green or brown, narrow valleys and high hills, broad valleys and low hills. Loved it, loved it, loved it.
We spent two nights at Siena, and we hadn't booked the next four nights. Last night, we needed to be in Orvieto, to return car and go to Rome the day after. At this point, we were sick of cities, and wanted to stay somewhere quiet. Through the Siena Hotel booking service, we got three nights at a farm in the middle of nowhere. It was bliss. We were in a seperate guesthouse to the owner's house, and had an ensuite to our bedroom (a first for our time in Italy, every where else it is share bathrooms, which I am officially *over*). There was a family staying there the day we arrived, but they left that day, and we had the house to ourselves. Kitchen, sitting room, quiet, breakfast provided (fresh baked pastries and stuff), decent bed (we shared a queen sized) - all for less a night than we paid for the no breakfast, shared bathroom place in Florence. There was even a small tv, with which to mock Italian tv, try and decipher weather reports, and giggle at Sentinel dubbed in Italian. First night there, I slept 11 hours, which I so needed. More sightseeing for the next couple of days.
Then we went on to Orvieto, saw their main attraction, the Cathedral (under scaffolding), returned the car, and spent the day travelling to Assisi and back. Didn't do much there apart from main St Francis cathedral (which is two churches on top of each other), but it was nice. Unlike our one night in Orvieto. Their fucking bell tower chimes the quarter hour. All night. Arrrrgh.
The next day, which was yesterday (Thursday? As Sam and I joke at each other "What day is it? Where am I? Who are you?") we took the train down to Rome. Our hotel is not great, but not too far from main train station, which is also Metro stop and good bus stop. Went to St Peter's Basilica in the afternoon, which was big, a bit gaudy, and didn't feel like a church really (maybe because they let people take flash photos inside, very unusual). Then we went to the Colosseum, which was very interesting, but oddly not as big as I was expecting. Then we did laundry, which wasn't interesting.
Today, we went to the Vatican Museums first thing in morning. Once we were in, we rushed through to the Sistine Chapel (shoving through stupid annoying tour groups blocking doorways at times), then started over again. Apart from crowds (which due to our timing weren't too bad in the Chapel), enjoyed it a lot.
After an early lunch, visited the Roman areas - Palantine, Roman Forum, Imperial Forums (well, looked down into areas they are excavating the Imperial). Fascinating stuff. Tried to visit a little church that is home to a couple of Michelangelo's statues, but it was closed, and was threatening to rain, so we decided to go play with email instead :)
Hope everyone is well, and will see you soon! (Only 16 nights, 16 days and a plane flight till I'm home)
Anyway, first off, an apology. I was going to be organised and send lots of postcards while I was away, but it just doesn't look like that's going to happen. I'll bring some home as presents instead. Cheap ass present I know, but I'm poor (especially with the Aussie dollar only buying half a Euro), and have limited bagspace. I only have one postcard of Michelangelo's David's ass to give, though ;)
Anyway, last detailed update I did was from Florence. Our last day in Florence, we picked up our hire car, a cute little grey Fiat Punto. Sam had to do all the driving, as having a driver under 26 pushes the price way up. Plus, I haven't driven a manual in years, let alone driving one on the wrong side of the road! Drove through the Chianti region of Tuscany on our way to Siena, where we got hopelessly lost, due to their extremely crappy signage, before eventually finding the hostel where we were staying. Went up to the old part of Siena, inside the walls, for a while and had dinner.
Didn't end up spending much time in Siena, we just found it irritating to get up to, and were a bit citied out (even though Siena isn't that big). Instead, we spent our time driving around Tuscany, visiting little towns and hill towns, and admiring the countryside. There was quite a variety in scenery across the different parts of Tuscany, wooded and lush, cultivated and green or brown, narrow valleys and high hills, broad valleys and low hills. Loved it, loved it, loved it.
We spent two nights at Siena, and we hadn't booked the next four nights. Last night, we needed to be in Orvieto, to return car and go to Rome the day after. At this point, we were sick of cities, and wanted to stay somewhere quiet. Through the Siena Hotel booking service, we got three nights at a farm in the middle of nowhere. It was bliss. We were in a seperate guesthouse to the owner's house, and had an ensuite to our bedroom (a first for our time in Italy, every where else it is share bathrooms, which I am officially *over*). There was a family staying there the day we arrived, but they left that day, and we had the house to ourselves. Kitchen, sitting room, quiet, breakfast provided (fresh baked pastries and stuff), decent bed (we shared a queen sized) - all for less a night than we paid for the no breakfast, shared bathroom place in Florence. There was even a small tv, with which to mock Italian tv, try and decipher weather reports, and giggle at Sentinel dubbed in Italian. First night there, I slept 11 hours, which I so needed. More sightseeing for the next couple of days.
Then we went on to Orvieto, saw their main attraction, the Cathedral (under scaffolding), returned the car, and spent the day travelling to Assisi and back. Didn't do much there apart from main St Francis cathedral (which is two churches on top of each other), but it was nice. Unlike our one night in Orvieto. Their fucking bell tower chimes the quarter hour. All night. Arrrrgh.
The next day, which was yesterday (Thursday? As Sam and I joke at each other "What day is it? Where am I? Who are you?") we took the train down to Rome. Our hotel is not great, but not too far from main train station, which is also Metro stop and good bus stop. Went to St Peter's Basilica in the afternoon, which was big, a bit gaudy, and didn't feel like a church really (maybe because they let people take flash photos inside, very unusual). Then we went to the Colosseum, which was very interesting, but oddly not as big as I was expecting. Then we did laundry, which wasn't interesting.
Today, we went to the Vatican Museums first thing in morning. Once we were in, we rushed through to the Sistine Chapel (shoving through stupid annoying tour groups blocking doorways at times), then started over again. Apart from crowds (which due to our timing weren't too bad in the Chapel), enjoyed it a lot.
After an early lunch, visited the Roman areas - Palantine, Roman Forum, Imperial Forums (well, looked down into areas they are excavating the Imperial). Fascinating stuff. Tried to visit a little church that is home to a couple of Michelangelo's statues, but it was closed, and was threatening to rain, so we decided to go play with email instead :)
Hope everyone is well, and will see you soon! (Only 16 nights, 16 days and a plane flight till I'm home)
