italia!

so after my much delayed flight to italy.. i landed in rome about 10 at night.. not exactly what i was hoping for since i didnt have any internet for over a week and had no clue in teh world where i was going.. i actually forgot how scared i was til now.. but i figured it couldnt be half as bad as egypt.. i could take on anything after that for sure! i went to the standard rate taxi guy and asked him to take me to the closest cheapest hostel.... 40€ later.. ha i feel cool cuz i can use the symbol! i was crammed in a taxi with 3 aussie boys going to some hotel.. i said i would just go there and we could all split the rate.. but they insisted i was going to a hostel much further away and should pay my own fee.. fine whatever. just get me a bed. we dropped them off.. adn i noticed we started driving in circles more or less.. stopped at an atm to get me some money.. where none of my cards worked great. my bankcards didnt work in italy.. luckily credit is muchhh more accessible! so we drove around another block.. im not an idiot.. adn the taxi driver says ok here. go inthere. hostel. bye. i look outside..and say.. in the train station? theres a hostel i ntehre? yes. ok. so i got out and she sped off. well, there was def no hostel in the train station. not even an open store. i was at the roma termini station.. the main depot point i figured later on.. so i started to stroll down teh side streets and walked into every building that said hotel.. there was plenty of them so i was fine.. but they were all over 60€.. eventually i found a hostel! thank god. it was after midnight by the time i got there.. so i go up the 5 flights of huge ass steps to my room..and im the only one in there.. ha. no a sole is in there.. theyre all out partying. i met one of the irish girls down at reception and she told me to come have a drink with her.. but i was still feeling like crap from egypt so i used the internet for a bit, organized my little house.. and went to bed..

the next day i went on a walking tour of rome.. we went to an important church, maria de something with a longg name.. it was on vatican grounds.. yes! another country! we saw the coleseum.. which i had hoped to see the day before and then i could claim i saw two world wonders in teh same day.. the pyramids being the otehr from my hotel room.. i guess 2 in 24 hours is still pretty cool though! we saw trevi fountain, the pantheon, another church, some more old stuff.. the ruins next to the coleseuum.. our tour guide was actually very good.. adn hearing the info makes the sights that much mroe interesting adn meaningful.. we learned about muselini and hearding the jews...some about the roman empire and saw the big white monement for italy.. after our tour i was determined to walk back.. go lost..felt like i was going to die from my stomach still hurting.. and found the coleseum again! yes.. so i took the metro back home after grabbing some pizza off the street :) i wish i had felt better to indulge in the italian food.. when i got back.. i went to the book store looking for a europe travel book..but i couldnt find the one i wanted so i gave up and got lost again from my map marked with 10 different locations of where to find the hostel from the night before.. i made it back adn moved to my new room... and met daniel and sophie.. cousins from canada and london.. they invited me to dinner so i went.. and daniel bought us grotto? some italian crazy alcohol shot.. that was either going to cure me or kill me.. i wasnt sure.. so i had a fancy gelato for dinner and hung out getting serenated on the streets of rome for the night.. not so bad :)

the next day i went on a tour to the vatican with them as well.. our tour guide again was very helpful and explained things i couldnt have know without her.. she was from belgium adn was also impressed i was traveling alone.. everyone thinks im so tough adn whatnot.. quite the change from when i was considered a weak lame tourist backpacker in thailand! its interesting to how the atmosphere of the travelers changes from locaiton to location.. in egypt, i was pretty hardcore.. being on a tour with kids who havent been out of their home country and refused to pee in holes.. i was like.. this is nicer than the holes in thailand! bring it on! ha. they thought i was a bit crazy but it was fun.. europe, alhtough obviously much nicer and hole-in-the-ground less.. is a bit rougher than being on a cush tour.. anyway..where was i!?
o the vatican! huge! awesome! impressive! beautiful! and we saw the tombs underneath..and walked around teh walls because you cant technically go into the vatican city unless you have a visa.. i stuck my foot in! hahaa. i was so close to the smallest richest country in teh world.. how could i not "go" there?! so techinically... if the church from teh day before didtn count.. well i got it in then.. the guards didnt seem to think i was funny.. i went to lunch and had some lasagna.got serenated again..and all was good.. daniel adn sophie went off..adn i went back to collect my things to head to florence.. o yea. i found a book similar to the one i was going ot spend 40 € on.. i took it from the hostel.. im pretty srue i was allowed to.. kinda how the hostels work.. its a 2007 book so the prices and stuff are out of date.. and the hostels in it have always without a doubt been filled.. but its def worth lugging around! took the slow train to florence because it was a lot cheaper.. adn i realized taht they never even considered checking my train ticket. i shoulda got on teh fast one! dang it! got to florence pretty late.. and walked around hostel to hostel until i found an open one.. ooo goodnight!

the next mornign i got up early to tackle florence in one day.. i saw the statue of david in the museum.. hes a lot bigger than i thought! haha. no i mean the whole statue.. i thought it would be outside.. but i had to wiat an hour in line adn pay 10€.. o well. i thought he would be half the size. so pretty cool.. wandered around seeing the durmo..then i realized this is wehre all those bridges and acrosse the river are! so i saw those..and strolled to the near end of florence up a fat ass hill. michaelangelo or someones elses lookout.. it was sooooo cool! i really liked it. you could see allthe rolling tuscan hills with their vineyards and cute little yellow houses built into the hillside.. and the bridges and the whole town that was so nice! so i ate my lunch.. really my breaky from the hostel that i packed and made a sandwich out of.. and then i headed back to get my stuff to catch the train to genoa.. or genova.. same same. thought it was a good spot for hiking hte cinque terra and seeing portofino and such.. and getting to pisa for my flight to london..really not the best location.. it was a bit far.. but it worked. saw lots of sunflowers on the way.. and got charged 5€ for not buying a train ticekt before getting on the train.. grr. they must have a radar for htat. eventually foudn genova and took the loooong bus ride up the steep hills to the hostel with an amazing view! the dumpiest hostel ive been in though...

the next day i was up early and ready to go hike the cinque terra.. it was beautiful.. and the little towns were all so neat. i ate bruscetta and gelato along the way.. the hike was much harder than i had imagnined.. but do-able..and i did it! i thoguht it would be paved.. but most of its a dirt path with uneven rocks to step up and down the mountain hillsides on. i even went for a swim in vernazza.. the water was so turquoise adn refreshing.. and even had time to catch the train back to santa margherita. before it got too dark. the towns were cute, small port towns with loads of restaurants def out of my budget range. i found a little market store around the corner for some mozzerella, tomato adn basil pasta.. delicious.. but still.. my stomach ached. i tried so many things.. the alcohol didnt work.. the 4 pack of activia yogurt, a 5 hour hike, all breads, no breads, just fruit, just water and vitamins.. bah. the egypt bug wont leave! i can still be active but it wipes me out.. on the way back up to the hostel, i met arturko on the bus.. and helped him get back to the hostel.. he was too greatful for my help and bought me a water.. so we sat and talked and i learned a little bit about poland and being a priest :) he was travelign with his sister and they insisted i come visit them in poland..so i might just have to.. got to see how all the plans line up! his sister was talking to this boy from benicia.. of course he knew becca.. and i also found out that two of the girls in my dorm room were from lafayette! small small world.. not only the first real handful of americans.. but they were all from the bay area.. adn knew people i did! one of the girls goes to cal poly even! haha.

the next morning it was up early again to catch the train to pisa to fly home.. i intended to see the tower on that daily originally, but when i missed my first train to genova i took one to pisa and transferred.. my layover was like 2 hours.. so i found this korean boy at the bus stop who was headed to the tower too for a quick look and we took pictures for each other with the standard leaning and holding up the tower, etc. he was not the best photographer.. but eh. the pictures still work! so i got to pisa and had abotu an hour before my flight.. so i found a little restaurant and had a big bowl of pasta.. i was finally hungry! and then headed to the airport and got some pizza as well. the buses in italy were easy to get around on.. and i found out early on that those are def not worth paying for... only 1 € but really a waste of a €.. then at the airport.. i tried to explain to the ryan air people that i couldnt print my boarding pass because there was no way to email it to the printer.. the only method i found anywhere i went in italy for printing.. they said well that sucks you still owe us 45 € then to print your boarding pass for you.. GRRR. iwas mad. that was double my flight..and i basically had to pay over $60 to print my ticket.. for a flight i wasnt even sure if i wanted.. luckily my bag was the exact 15 kg weight limit.. or that wouldve been another 50 € and i might as well have booked a first class flight on british airways.. and then we get to the gate.. which was as much a mass chaos and trying to check the luggage.. and everyone is sweating and standing and hating life.. and the time for our flight to leave comes and goes.. and were all still stadnign there.. over an hour later.. they say we can board.. bah..and its gettin late and making life harder for me to find somewhere to sleep agin that night.. but we get on the plane and make it london.. welll kinda!