>> I want to get a w a y -
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 Posted In Florence , friends , Holiday , Italy , Lenny KravitzVenice , Padua , Rome , travelling Edit This |  |  |
 |
Fly Away
by Lenny Kravitz I wish that I could fly Into the sky So very high Just like a dragonfly I'd fly above the trees Over the seas in all degrees To anywhere I please Oh I want to get away I want to fly away Yeah yeah yeah Oh I want to get away I want to fly away Yeah yeah yeah Let's go and see the stars The Milky Way or even Mars Where they could just be ours Let's fade into the sun Let your spirit fly For we are one Just for a little fun Oh, oh, oh yeah ! I want to get away I want to fly away Yeah yeah yeah I want to get away I want to fly away Yeah yeah yeah I got to get away Girl I got to get away Oh oh oh yeah I want to get away I want to fly away Yeah with you yeah yeah Oh Yeah ! I want to get away I want to fly away Yeah with you yeah yeah I got to get away I want to get away (4x) Yeah I want to get away I want to fly away Yeah with you yeah yeah Girl I got to get away I want to get away (4x) Yeah I want to get away I want to fly away Yeah with you Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah …………………………………………
Soo after spending the night at Chiara’s place and getting into Italy in the afternoon we got to Liz’s around dinner time. Liz, like Chiara had an unexpected house. I totally expected Chiara to have a quaint little cottage-like place but her house was really modern. And Liz’s house I expected to be super modern and glassy but instead it was very woodeny and antiquey and reminded me of Pakistan. First day in Rome we did SO MUCH WALKING. Liz lives by Piazza San Pietro and so we saw that . We also saw a fort (bottom right) by the river (lower middle left) . We saw this church and to get in you had to climb a shitload of steps, but the view of Rome was lovely. (bottom left) Then we saw the Colosseum (lower middle right), The Trevi Fountain, and The Spanish Steps. I had my first gelato which was After Eight and Fior de Latte (Milk) scoops. For lunch we went to a pizzaria and for dinner Liz’s mom made us Borsht, this Russian soup that the Cosmonaut told us about when he came to Sevenoaks and then I imitated him for ages. It was actually shockingly YUMMY for astronaut food and I must have the recipe. Liz also has THE BEST CATS EVER. Admittedly they all have slight personality disorders. Firstly there’s Lotta, she’s white (upper middle right) and she is so pretty. She’s like Marie from Aristocats. She doesn’t go outside and doesn’t like to be touched. She has the girlies miaow ever. She’s slightly neurotic and has bursts of energy late at night. Then there’s Vasily, who is kind of a cat pimp. But he’s been through a lot poor guy, he had a tumour and then he had surgery and when he was tumour free, he got hit by a truck! Then he had to have facial reconstruction surgery which left him blind. Poor kitty he tried to get to his usual place and he usual climbs on a bed to get up there, but we moved the beds to accommodate the 4 of us and he didn’t see the bed was gone so he jumped up and fell flat on the floor! And we heard a huge thud and he came running out. And then my favourite is Leo who is SUCH an attention seeker. When you’re eating, he’ll put his paws on your leg so he’s upright because he wants to see what you’re eating. He also doesn’t like it if you pay more attention to your meal than to him and will climb on the table and wrap himself around your plate so you can’t miss him. The next day we found out we’d seen most of Rome! We went to this crypt that they hadn’t let us into the day before because we were wearing shorts. In fact the woman at the entrance was really catty about it. So we dressed appropriately today. The crypt has the bones of 4000 monks and it was SO CREEPY, they’d been arranged into artwork. And you know what, I think shorts are way less disrespectful than making chandeliers out of their bones. Nicole and I tried to figure out what all the bones were, but there was one which really stumped us. After that we went to the the Roman baths (upper mid left). We didn’t manage to see the Catacombs sadly.The gelato I had was pistachio but it was not as nice and more expensive than the previous day. It tasted like almond Jaali and was too sweet. For dinner we went to this fish restaurant as it was Chiara’s birthday. They just kept bringing out more and more food!! The food was
delicious, but I am convinced it was owned by the Mafia. The owner looked like Robert Dinero and also Chiara overheard him say "first you kill them then you say sorry" in Italian, and while he may have been talking about the fish you never know. It was very expensive as well, I paid 40 Euros, but I didn't mind as I was stuffed with good food. We then returned home and started to shower etc but we found that Chiara and Liz had disappeared. When they returned the smelled remarkably like Sharmane used to when she exited our guest bathroom. Honestly I don't have a problem with people trying smoking or even smoking- each to their own- and honestly I don't love either of them enough to worry about their health, I was jus highly offended that they were so secretive about it. I didn't sleep very well that night it was boiling hot. At one stage I was half asleep when the door suddenly opened and I screamed because for some reason i was certain it was the Mafia coming to get me, but apparantly te blind cat Vasily is very clever and pounced on the door handle opening it. I screamed very loudly though which woke everyone. Our train ride to Florence the next morning was quite nice although there was a scufuffle over the seats as someone had stolen ours. The Italian country side is lovely though. We only reached just before 4, and by the time we figured out what we were doing it was after 5. So many of the place we stopped by were closed. We did make an itinerary for the next day though. I had been running out of cash a lot. I think we underestimated. Meals trains taxis tickets souvenirs are all adding up. The hotel in Florence was nice- although all 4 of us were in one room. The bathroom was nice and quite clean so I was happy with it. I had peach and pear scoops of gelato and it was yummy and refreshing in the heat. Ok so on our first full day in Florence we started out by seeing Michelangelo's David! It was inside this gallery of art and so we went around looking at it all as well. It was a bit repetitive as most of the paintings seemed to be of Christ being crucified or of the Virgin Mary. They were all made with gold leaf and since they used to paint pink paint over the green paint to give a lifelike colour and the pink wore away with time, the people all looked a little green. The statue of David was very tall though and very grand as well. After that we went around several churches, we decided not to enter all as we'd seen quite a few but we looked at their outsides. Many have these very nice marble fronts but the brick backs are disappointing. For lunch I had this amazing mint pasta with mushroom which I have decided we should make at home! We also saw the outside of the church where Michelangelo is buried, Basilica Santa Croce. We then went up to the Piazza de Michelangelo, which was really high up and we could see all of Florence. It was lovely. There I decided not to have a gelato but instead a Granita which is an Italin slushy. I had a mix of the mint and lemon flavours. We then crossed this famous bridge the Ponte Vecchi! They had lots of leather shops and they even had this gelateria where the gelato was put on little sticks like ice lollies! Chiara had wanted to see this show she loves, Notre Dame de Paris, but it was in Italian and cost 30 Euros so nobody else wanted to go. In the end she didn't go but I felt sorry for her. The next morning we managed to quickly see this fort and then we walked around richer residential areas of Florence. For lunch we all had bagels and I had a pizza bagel! It was nice. We checked out. The hotel was good for three stars, friendly staff good clean rooms and nice bathrooms though perhaps it was not very very extravagant. Then we took the train to Padova in the afternoon. When we arrived, Chiara's aunt met us and brought us to her Grandparents. Her grandparents (her Nonni) do not really speak English although her grandad (Nonno) can manage some while her grandma (Nonna) doesn't speak any. Liz also arrived and we went and collected her. We went to a mall where I had Creme caramel ice cream which was REALLY GOOD. Her aunt and her husband and two sons took us to Padua town centre after dinner. They bought us Gelato, i had milk flavour, and showed us the town and it's history. There was a clock showing the Zodiac on which the Libra sign, the scales had been left off as an insult to the cruel man who had comissioned it as he was unfair and also a Libra star sign. We also saw several squares and a building where the armstice after WWI was signed as well the Frescos (some ceiling paintings) painted by a famous artist Giotto. We got back quite late and everyone was tired. Nicole kept complaining of motion sickness but she kept snivelling and I'm pretty sure runny noses are not a symptom of motion sickness so she was probably either being a wimp or seeking attention. Snivelling didn’t last long either. She also claims she gets motion sickness when swimming, and having two sisters who suffer from motion sickness I think that is a load of crap! The next day we made a very early start and headed out to Venice. We took a train but it was much shorter. When we got there we looked around some of the more important sites such as Piazza San Marco where there were loads of pidgeons. We saw some other churches on the outside, as churches are largely similar and moreover you must pay to be in and have covered arms and legs. We then took a gondola (top right), which was quite expensive 20 euros each, but it was fun! We saw Marco Polo's home and Vivaldi's as well as the Bridge of Sighs. It was enjoyable. We then had lunch, things are more expensive. Then we took the waterbus to Murano (top centre). The ride was comfortable and it made me sleepy. Also there was a sea breeze which was pleasant as it has been so hot. I have started to look Keralite and my t-shirt and shorts tan is increasingly distinct. Chiara is very burnt and her nose is a Rudolph red. I did lots of shopping in Venice and Murano. Murano is famous for it's glass works and we watched a man create a horse from glass it was very cool! I really liked Murano, it was very pretty but also very peaceful. We didn't end up going to Burano, which is famous for crochets, as Liz had to head back to Rome from Padua. We went back to the main Island and had gelato from this awesome shop. I had dark chocolate orange flavour and strawberries and cream flavour. Both were delicious. I also saw a pasta stall where they sold tonnes of different pasta shapes and colours. I bought some pink stripy bows! Also saw some obscene erotic pasta. After this we headed back to the station. We arrived there two minutes before a train to Padua when there was another one in 10 minutes and there was no rush but being Chinese and incredibly anal retentive, Zoe and Nicole made us run for it when it was absolutely unnecessary and in fact the could well have lost us or left with out us as Chiara and I were on a different carriage. Chiara implied that she was rather glad that we had only organised a short trip as she may not have been able to bear them too much longer. The following day we were supposed to go to Verona, but sadly the trains went on strike so we just chilled around Padua. We went to the shopping mall again and had gelato, I had Vanilla Cream and Pineapple flavours. It was yummy. Zoe and I then practiced our German accents for ages (we were really good) but it seriously annoyed the other two. We also found all these exotic Tictac flavours and bought them hahaha, The day we left we had to wake up at 5:30 to go to the airport in Venice by taking a coach. Out flight was supposed to leave at 9:50 am but when we got there we found it was delayed til 2pm. So we had 4 hours to kill and wandered around. When just before 2 we went to queue up we thought we’d be leaving soon. In fact it was another 2 hours til we took off! Zoe and Nicole picked a fight with some horrible British woman who kept trying to cut in. In any case we were all pretty fed up with Ryanair by the end of it! Overall it was a really fun trip though :D
-[n][a][d][a][&][♥]
|  |
 |  | |
 |  |  |