Italia!!!

Day 1

Milan

It was a beautiful afternoon during the colorful autumn (September-November)when we boarded our flight to Milan (Milano) from Save airport in Gothenburg. We passed the Ryan airlines security and were waiting to board the flight. We were all very excited and so was our little one :-). We soon settled down in our seats and when the flight took off, I was the ground view was spectacular with still lakes and flowing rivers of Gothenburg. After a while we flew over the freezing Alps via Switzerland. The view was breath-taking! For a moment, we wanted to change our trip and go to Swiss!!! But, it was too late...

Soon we reached Milan (at 8.30PM) - the fashion city; congested yet beautiful! I was constantly reminded to beware of the robbery and attacks! Phew...we traveled for more than an hour in the aeroporto bus. We got down at the bus stop which was about a kilometer from our hotel. We found out the route to our hotel and reached there within 25 minutes, by walk. The hotel was a good one, but very congested in space. We were received by the receptionist, who did not understand a single word in English. But, we managed somehow with our dictionary words and actions =D

Here's a view from the hotel window...

We stayed at the hotel for that night and checked-out the next morning. We remembered the route to the bus stop and railway station, and walked upto the railway station. We then decided, our next destination; which was Venice. We had booked a hotel (only a congested room with complementary breakfast) in Venezia for just a day which costed us 100 euros. We checked out the train timings at TrenItalia for Venice and purchased the tickets. We got tickets for euro star, which is the fastest train and apparently the most expensive one too! The euro rails are simply amazing, comfortable and clean!!! The distance from Milan to Venice is ~280 kms and takes about 3 hours.

The scenic beauty when the train almost approaches Venice is mind-blowing, as there is water all around and it feels as though the train is moving in the waters. Soon, we reached Venice - the sinking city!!! Someone had once said

"see Venice and die",

which is so true!

Day 2 & 3 - Venice & Rome

I was overwhelmed the moment I landed in Venice. The weather was just perfect, and we headed to our hotel, (which was about 200 meters) to check-in. We couldn't wait to refresh ourselves and go out for sight-seeing. We were hurrying as if we were going to catch a train... :-)

We found out from our co-passenger in the train and the hotel receptionist, the places to see and started heading towards the ferry stop (which was right opposite the railway station). We purchased tickets and got into a ferry - oh my!, the people or the language was our problem! We found one of them to be very rude!!! We went to the St.mark's square Piazza San Marco, which is a huge square surrounded by the bell-tower and the St.Mark's basilica.

We enjoyed the ferry ride, spent good time on the Rialto bridge (Ponto de Rialto) and the Venezian streets. We bargained so much with the gondoliers,but the prices were so high, (they were quoting about 100 euros for 5 minutes, which I did not want to pay!!!)that we decided to stroll in those beautiful streets! We went shopping (mostly window), but did purchase some Venetian masks and other gifts. It was already, almost time for the shops to close; so we headed to a decent restaurant to have our dinner - which was aubergine pizzas!!!I was initially excited to taste an Italian pizza (which is suppose to be famous for its taste). But, after I tasted it; I started craving for Indian food - and remember it was just a day we were away from Gothenburg :-)We then returned to our room and were looking forward to the next morning! We spend a few hours window shopping in the streets adjacent to our hotel. We took a train to Rome (Roma) by 11.30 AM. It was quite a journey (~ 5 hours) and so we had opted for the euro star, which is the fastest and the most expensive. We finally boarded the train and reached Rome on Saturday evening around 4.30 PM.

Day 3 & 4 - Rome (Roman Forum and Colosseum)

We arrived at Roma Terminiand spent the first 2 hours searching for our aparthotel apartment. We soon realized that we had to travel by metro to travel between the city and the apartment. When we first boarded the metro, we so missed our cute and friendly Gothenburg trams!!!We found them to be so rude, and the people were just not friendly. We finally somehow found the place and by the time we checked-in it was almost night, and I was again warning myself not to step out after dusk! This aparthotel apart was a duplex one and was quite spacious. Me and my husband loved the place and my daughter was excited too, as she had stairs to go up and down :-)

I'd prepared some Upmaand we all ate and slept early that night, as we had decided to go early and come back by 6 PM. We woke up the next morning and got ready as per our schedule and left the aparthotel by 7.30 AM. We took the metro and got down at Colloseum Coloseo,but, we had decided to visit the Roman Forum Roma Forum first. We were the only Indians amongst a group of Britishers. We were not so keen in seeing the Roman Forum, so we decided to finish it quickly. The overview of the Roman Forum took more than half-a-day! Then, we walked upto the Colosseum, which was about 200 meters. The weather was warm and perfect for a long walk. We bought the entry tickets to the Colosseum and got inside it.

The Colosseum is an elliptical amphitheater in the center of the city and the largest ever built in the Roman empire. It is considered to be one of the greatest works of the Roman architectures and engineering. The Colosseum in this century, stays partially ruined because of the damanges caused by a major devastating earthquake and stone-robbers. The Colosseum is still an iconic symbol of imperial Rome.

We reached our aparthotel by 5.30 PM and we were excited to see an Indian girl, who was also residing in the same building. She was on a business trip and we met every morning and night and were thankful to have met someone from our own country. She was a frequent visitor to Rome and thus we got some good information and guidance from her for local sight-seeing.

Day 5 - Pisa

Yes, PISA! One of the seven wonders of the world!!!

My excitement and joy knew no bounds when my husband told me we would be going to see the leaning tower of Pisa the next day! We had our train tickets booked and we went to the Termini the next morning and boarded the train to Pisa. There was a very helpful lady whom we had met there; she left her handicapped mother in the post office and told her something in Italian. Later, we came to know that she would be coming along with us to show us the route to the bus stop. It was about half-a-kilometer and I was surprised to see an Italian going out of her way to help an Indian! Whatever, but we were grateful to her...

When we traveled through the city of Pisa, we had a feeling of traveling through a village since the roads, and the by-lanes were very narrow. Within no time we were dropped a few yards from the Pisa tower. We saw people walking in groups and we realized that we should follow them to see the tower.

As soon as we entered the huge gate, we saw the freestanding, leaning tower of PISA! Delicate and demure...stands the elegant leaning tower of Pisa! I was for some reason, in a totally different world. Yes, it certainly was different from Rome and Venice. It was cleaner and greener! The tower and the cathedral in white, which makes it very pleasant view!

Day 6 - Vatican city, Pantheon, Fontana di Trevi and Piazza della Republica

The Vatical City's territory consists of a walled enclave within the city of Rome. We had walked all the way from the metro station to the entrance of the Vatican city museum. The territory includes, gardens from the Renaissance and Baroque era and the most famous St. Peter's Basilica.

The Vatican museums are among the greatest museums in the world, since they display works from the immense collection built up by the Roman Catholic Church throughout the centuries, including some of the most renowned classical sculptures and most important masterpieces of Renaissance art in the world.

The spiral stairs inside the Vatican museums are world famous too...

Fontana di Trevi or the Trevi fountain is in the Trevi district of Rome. It is one of the world famous fountains which has a significance to the coin throwing. A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome.

Day 7 - Back to Gothenburg

We packed all our things and were all set to fly back to Gothenburg! By now, we were already home-sick and wanted to reach Gotheburg (which we felt was our home town). We reached home in Gothenburg by 11 PM and still felt safe :-)

Overall, it was a wonderful trip; we three enjoyed a lot! ...and Oh yes! we did pick up few Italian words - Prostema Fermata (which we heard on the metro and it means 'next station/stop'), Ciao (pronounced as chao) - means bye, quanto? - which means how much?.

We were so surprised to see there was not a single kid around, in the places we had been to. This came as a surprise on the 2nd day, but this made us more cautious about our little one - we never let her and our passport/cash bags go for even a fraction of a second. It is most important to be vigilant since the people there are not very helpful.

Rome is a city highly recommended for people who have a liking for history and culture! Venice and Pisa are for chillaxing and shopping!!!