LUCY GOES TO ITALY (VENICE X FLORENCE)

U P D A T E: This is a continuation of my week trip of traveling.

V E N I C E 

 I really cannot compare other countries with Italy because of my lack of travel the past years, but there is one thing I can say about Italy that stood out from the others is that is a place where you literally feel disconnected and forget about your responsibilities and worries. On thursday evening, Jillian and I flew to Venice, Italy. Jillian really wanted to partake in the "hostel" experience and we stayed at Camping Jolly. It was not as scary as I thought it would be, but then again we did have our own room instead of sharing it with strangers. Staying at the hostel was actually very beneficial due to the fact they had a shuttle that took you to the water service station that takes you straight to Venice. The boat ride took about 13 minutes but it was the longest 13 minutes of life since I was extremely seasick. We got off on one of the stops and had to walk over a bridge to get to the Venezian streets. Venice was filled with hundreds of tourists that it made me wonder where are the actual Venezians? Throughout the day I compared Venice to Disneyland and how they both feel very unreal when you are there (yes I know Disneyland is a weird place to compare it too). But do actual people live in Venice or was it a place filled with strangers that leave at the end of the day?



Venice was filled with alleyways, bridges, unclear street names, gondolas, and gelato. The buildings were of a pastel color with floral pots hanging outside the windows. We strolled around for a while admiring the buildings and then stopped to eat at a restaurant by the Grand Canal. We ordered glasses of wine, ate pasta, and sat for God knows how long. As cliche as it sounds life literally froze at the moment. I did not have to think about anything or talk to anyone. Yes I was with a friend but we were not talking the entire time. In my mind I was alone and it did not worry me.

After our lunch, I had decided to go look for Libreria Aqua Alta. Jillian is one of the people who does not like to plan her days and just allows life to decide where it takes her. I guess that is why we had a few disagreements during this trip. I am  those kinds of people who will plan what I am going to do in the next two weeks. I despise surprises. I need to have control over my life or else I feel like a complete mess. We struggled finding this library and ended up losing each other amongst the tourists. I am surprised I did not have a meltdown that I was alone in a foreign place with a dead phone I was actually pretty calm and walked around the area. I am the absolute worst when it comes to navigating (I have  gotten better I promise), and I finally found the library that Jillian had found 10 minutes before me (sorry Jillian!). The library was an actual beautiful mess. The books were scattered and piled on top of each other whether it be in bookshelves or bath tubs. There was a section of American books but not books you would necessarily buy. They were more like college textbooks if anything. When you walk to the back of the library, there is a stairway made of books that you can climb up to see a solid view of Venice.

The remainder of the day Jillian and I walked all throughout Venice. I could not tell you exactly where we were because we had no map but we ended up in every important monument and a street filled with Italian designers. The end of the night was quite frightening. The crowds of tourist had gone home and there were little to no Venezians walking around. It resembled a ghost town. There was hardly any lights and the pastel-colors of the buildings all became black. Venice is definitely a place where you can only be there during the day. One day in Venice felt like being inside a dream.

F L O R E N C E 

We took a 3 hour train to Florence the following morning. When we arrived, we ended up in a sketchy train station. We wanted to take a bus to our airbnb but of course the man at the train station only took cash. ADVICE: Always go to a currency exchange before going on a trip. This is so important. An ATM machine is actually impossible to find in Italy. Instead we walked half an hour to our airbnb. Our host was very sweet and had our room set like a hotel with towels and shampoo. I did not want to repeat what had happened in Venice so I decided not to search up things to do in Florence. I was actually going to "go with the flow", which is a terrifying idea to me. We took a bus to the center of Florence and ended up in front of Florence Cathedral. As mentioned earlier, Jillian and I had our differences so we did split up for a bit. She went to walk around the Florence streets while I went inside the Cathedral. We did not have to "argue" what we should do together and instead just allowed each other to do things on our own. In the end, it was both of our trips and we should not hold each other down.

 Florence is known for being a place that brings you back to the Renaissance. It was filled with several Renaissance art works and statues. However, it was not filled with that many tourists as it was in Venice. There were actually people living there living their day to day lives.

Next to the Cathedral, was a gelato shop that had a large line of people waiting so I made Jillian go there with me. The "LA girl" in me was pretty excited when I saw that Vegan chocolate was an option. I can understand completely where there was a large line. Not only was the gelato cheap for two scoops, but it was delicious. The vegan chocolate gelato was rich and actually looked melted (my favorite kind of chocolate--kind of weird I know). With our gelato, we walked around  and sat on a bridge looking at the famous Ponte Vecchio Bridge. We sat at the bridge for at least two hours talking about anything imaginable and staring out at the Arno River. After we headed north and arrived at a small cafe next to the Basilica of Santa Maria Novela. When it comes to coffee, Italians probably make the best kind. We spent the rest of the night walking around and discovering new parts of Florence.

The following day we somewhat repeated what we had done the day before. We had breakfast in front of the cathedral, went back to the gelato shop, and back to the bridge. One thing we individuals  do is visit places once and then after a couple of minutes admiring and photographs later, we just leave. But why not go another time or another three more times? The experience is different each time and just because you have been there once does not mean you do not have to go there again. There is a triangle-shaped section next to the bridge where you can cross over. It is very unsteady and if you fall, you basically fall into the river but it has such a great view of the Arno. I was terrified but I challenged myself to do and it and the view was breathtaking.

We walked around Florence for a couple more hours and ended up in different parts that we had not encountered the day before. We passed by famous Renaissance statues, designer stores, restaurants, and museums. Our day had to end early considering we had a train back at 5:30 pm. I really do enjoy traveling somewhere with no plans. You get to see a whole lot more and do not have to worry about being stuck in a crowd of tourists.

I do not mean to compare Venice and Florence with each other. Both were completely different experiences and I equally enjoyed both of them. It may seem like I preferred one over the other, but  I can never choose which one I liked "best". As a whole, I really enjoyed my time in Italy. Yes there were times I wanted to go back home because I was stressed but that's what traveling is like. Traveling should never be easy because that's what makes the experiences more worthwhile. You really do forget that when traveling you have to focus on transportation. You just don't arrive to the place. In Venice we were lucky that the hostel had a shuttle, but in Florence we were alone to figure out how to get to places. But that is how you learn. You learn to be more responsible because you have to look out for yourself. By the end of the trip, I had to throw out several tickets and papers that I had collected in Italy due to getting to from one place to the other. Being alone is also pretty nice too. I hate being alone but the times I was alone I felt comfortable. So thank you Italy for allowing me to forget and just live.

xoxo,