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QueenWog (profile) wrote,
on 7-22-2004 at 1:12am
Current mood: good, but tired
Music: that great theme from "La Traviata"
Subject: Italy and more!

I am so sorry I haven't updated! I have been so busy since I got home from Italy on the 16th! But speaking of Italy, it was AMAZING! We flew to Rome first and spent a few days there. We took a tour the first day and saw all the big sites throughout our time there. The Coliseum, the Forum, Villa d'Este, Trevy Fountain, Spanish Steps, the Vatican museum, Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's... to name a few!
Then off to Florence by train (the wrong train actually! We took the local train instead of the express and arrived in Florence two or three hours late. Oh well, the Tuscan countryside was definitely compensation enough!) Florence was one of my favorite cities! The Ponte Vecchio, the David, the Duomo, museums galore! Very musical and alive and happy!
Then from Florence we had a driver take us to Sestri Levante through Monte Raggione (this incredibly old, incredibly tiny little city, very cute), Siena (very nice place, calmer, and beautiful; they have the famous Il Palio horse race there), and Pisa (the pictures don't do it justice, the leaning tower is SO cool in real life), and then finally to Sestri Levante on the coast of Northern Italy. This was another of my favorite places. The Italian coast is GORGEOUS! When we came in to Sestri Levante, though, we had planned on staying in a hotel on this cliff that had this fantastic view. But, when we got there, after a long day of traveling, we were informed that our valid and confirmed reservation had been lost and they in fact did not have any rooms for us! So they found us another hotel, right on the beach, that ended up being a better location anyway, and everything worked out quite well! From Sestri Levante, we took a day trip to Cinque Terre. It is this collective name for five adorable, little towns on the coast, hiking distance apart from each other. We returned to Sestri Levante for a last night. We went out for our traditional gelato. My dad got cherry and something called "crema di basilico", something he assumed to be some kind of cream. After making us all try it, we figured out that basilico was BASIL. YUCK! :)
We then took the train to Verona. Very charming city! We were there only one night and that was to see the OPERA! When we got there, though, it started pouring! After days of hot, lovely weather, it was raining the one night we were in Verona to see an opera in the OUTDOOR theater! So, we went to dinner and asked our server if after all this, the opera would be called off. She confidently told us that they would definitely get through the first act, even if it took them till 2:30 in the morning, because then they don't have to give you your money back! Ha! So we went, in our nice opera-going attire and rain gear to our FABULOUS seats in the Verona Arena for "La Traviata." It turned out that there were only to times they had to stop the opera because of the rain and then it cleared up (they had to stop to keep the beautiful instruments from getting damaged in the rain.) During one of the breaks, the audience in the higher seats started THE WAVE! It was hilarious! Here we are at an Italian opera, thinking it would be all prissy and fancy, and people are in their ponchos, doing the wave! Good times! The actual opera, by the way, was fabulously wonderful. I loved it! In Verona, we also went to the little tourist attraction "Juliet's balcony/house." Yeah, unwanted memories. Everywhere, they mock me!
After Verona, we took the train to Venice, our last stop in Italy! I loved Venice. The canals were incredible! And San Marco Square, the Realto, riding in a gondola! We took a walking tour of the town while we were there, as well as a boat off to three islands called Murano (where they make a lot of the glass), Burano (famous for lace), and Torcello. Besides the gondola, my favorite part of Venice had to be the late nights in San Marco Square at these little gelato places where they had live music. It was unbelievable! The square was all lit up, the music was beautiful... sigh! Oh, and of course, we did a TON of shopping in Venice too!
Reluctantly, we left Venice and Italy for one night in London and the theater! After a huge mix-up with our apartment, we finally got ourselves a place to stay with the help of some We saw the longest running show in the world: Mousetrap by Agatha Christie. It has been running for 52 years and we saw the 21,518 performance! The queen even saw this show (on the 50th anniversary.) It was a great murder mystery that I completely recommend! I LOVED it!
So home we went, ecstatic and exhausted. What a trip!
Since then, I have been to the Salinas Rodeo and started and acting camp/conservatory called SETT with Nicole. I am still getting over jet lag and am thoroughly tired, so now after this massive update I feel I am ready to go to bad. More later!
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