Florence

Whenever we talked to people about this trip before we went, everyone that had visited Italy had expressed their delight with Florence. It was the highlight of many people’s trips and has a reputation for fine food and even finer art. 

Besides a mix-up with where we believed our hotel to be and where it actually was, the journey from Bologna was very pleasant in our first class carriage. I say pleasant - we shared it with two toddlers and two weary Italian parents desperate to keep their energetic boy in check. 

Once in Florence, we went around all the usual hotspots - the Duomo, the cathedrals, the basilicas, and the archways.

The difference between a basilica and a church, by the way, is that a basilica was originally used in Roman times as a meeting point and public space where markets and trades would take place. The Christians soon took over and used the word to denote large and important churches. Yay religion. 

We saw literally dozens of statues of various naked dead men and fictional beings. Nipples were never too far away and the odd pair of animal testicles was also a common sight. It was all very sophisticated and cultural. 

Florence has an interesting bridge called Ponte Vecchio, which is like no other I have ever seen, although Katie recognised it from the film Parfum. Instead of a bridge being just a simple crossing over some water, the wise old Italians decided that it could also have shops and presumably houses on it as well. If you approached the bridge a certain angle, it was actually possible to miss the fact you were crossing water at all. 

The second day we were in Florence was a Monday, which in Italy means that all public museums and galleries are closed. What to do in a city of culture when the culture palaces are closed? Why eat, of course! Katie will go into detail in an upcoming food post, but needless to say the search for gastronomic bliss took us on a short bus ride to a nearby hillside town called Fiesole. And it was magnificent. We walked around this small Roman town, taking in the rural beauty, while examining Florence from above, from this idilic Tuscan viewpoint.

Back in Florence we continued our exploration of the city. We saw a market that had some excellent fresh produce, although it did seem a little geared towards the tourist bandwagon. 

One of the days we went and decided to queue for the Uffizi. It became clear after five minutes that we would be queuing for around 3 hours unless we did something that went against our morals and our budgeting nature. We paid a tout for a reserved ticket (€25 euros each) that would get us in to the museum quicker! 

We were inside in 15 minutes and it was a good decision. I would like to point out that the Uffizi really doesn’t help itself with the buying tickets and queuing. It was nearly impossible to figure out which of the dozen queues was worth joining. We could have bought a ticket on the day for €11 but the signage and instructions were awful and the museum was poorly run from a ticketing standpoint. I sometimes feel like venues and arenas don’t do enough to stop touts or to quicken the ticket buying/queuing process. 

I also find it strange that people are willing to queue for several hours to go round an art museum. Since when was your average person so cultured and interested in art? You would never get such a long queue for a classical art museum in the UK. It is the pull of the guidebook that implies you haven’t seen Florence until you’ve seen the Uffizi – a tick-box exercise for all “well travelled” persons. 

We weren’t allowed to take photos in the museum so instead of my shoddy handiwork, I will google and add our favourite pieces below. 

Image from pinterest.co.uk

Image from seeker.com

Image from slowflorencetuscanytours.com

After walking round what can only be described as one of the best art museums in the world, we came to an important decision. Neither of us is too fond of art. We have tried to initiate ourselves into this game by going to a top museum but it’s simply not for us. We appreciate the skill required and enjoy looking at the paintings but thousands of similar style paintings and sculptures do not excite us. 

We like architecture and I definitely prefer sculptures to paintings but generally it is just a bit dull. Room after room of very stylistically similar paintings gets a bit tedious. I prefer to explore a church, which has paintings and sculptures (preferably with a description). However, this dislike didn’t stop us spending nearly 3 hours in the Uffizi and we certainly enjoyed a few bits of artwork. 

One thing we did not see was the original statue of David by Michelangelo in the Galleria dell’Academia. We saw a couple of replicas around the city and decided that this was enough. We weren’t going to queue for several hours (or pay a tout!). I realise now I didn’t actually photograph any of the replicas so you’ll have to make do with pictures I stole off the internet of this famous David, and also pictures of the one who wrote this. 

We also walked round the Forte Di Belvedere, although were unable to enter due to it being closed. 

Something we try to keep in mind when travelling is that it's one thing to see a city in the day, but another to see it at night. Beauty seems to be amplified at night and even ugly cities can turn into treasures with the right lighting. It is like when you spend all night snogging some stunner in a nightclub and then the last song finishes, the lights come on, and you realise you have been kissing the Elephant Man’s uglier sister. Basically, things look better in the dark...Let’s leave it at that. 

Anyway, on the first night we were both in good spirits and were intrigued to see what the beautiful fully lit Florence would like in the darkness, which has caused so many clubbers such deep regret the next day. 

We traipsed up a stubborn hill (we had been walking all day and we were tired) to the summit of Piazzale Michelangelo. From here we stood and enjoyed a panoramic view of the city – it was immense. The colours of the river, the lights of the city - it was all in full beauty that night. 

We spent the subsequent two nights going around already visited tourist hotspots, admiring them in the orange glow. What a way to spend an evening - care-free and gelato-full. 

All in all, Florence was a master class for wondering around looking at pretty buildings and taking in the sights. We left the city happy bunnies with tired feet, unaware of how much walking was still to come...

The aforementioned bridge at various times of day...

The views from Fiesole...

Borelogna

Katie envisaged Bologna to be the slight dip in brilliance that all trips must have. We hoped it wouldn’t be, but the Roman gods were not kind and she turned out to be right.

Originally we had planned on going to Bologna with Paolo and Ashleigh and enjoying the nightlife in this very studenty town. But because of the sudden move to Manchester they were undertaking a few weeks later, it was understandably a bit much for them to fit in.

So instead of partying, Katie and I wandered through endless piazzas and ate some delicious food, sticking to the theme of the holiday! We had fun, but Bologna didn’t have the pizzazz of Venice or even Veraina, nor did it have the serenity we experienced in Bergamo, Como, and Garda. It also did not help the situation that the weather had turned again and it rained the whole time we were there, although this is less of an issue in Bologna than other places, since a lot of the pavements are under covered walkways, like little arcades.

One thing we did start doing in Bologna, which we had ignored up to this point, was visiting churches. Catholic churches are very grand and ostentatious and it is impressive to see such structures. One night I wandered off in search of some late night drunken gelato and ended up stumbling into a huge church. It was stunning, and I do always find sights more interesting when a little drunk. Note to self: Buy a hip flask.

One peculiar oddity that I have noticed so far during our time in Italy is the men’s bathrooms. I have had the pleasure of visiting many bars, restaurants, and public toilets over the last week or so and have yet to find a single urinal. Men have to queue like the female gender for a cubicle. This is absurd. I am a firm believer that the best feature of being a man is the shorter queue for the bathroom. No matter where equality goes, we – as men – will always have the urinal and our external weeing appendage to quicken our yellow release. Unless of course you are in Italy, where urinals don’t seem to exist. From watching such historical dramas as Spartacus and Rome, I was led to believe that Italy had looser rules on public privacy. This has been shattered. I have found a place that goes beyond even our British Victorian reserved ways.

I wonder if Italians look upon our urinals with the same distain that I had for the public shitinal that was common in China. Oh cultural norms, you have thrown up another talking point.

So much deliciousness!

The tipsy night time Church

MilaBergaComo

A market outside Milan train station

From Lake Garda we went to Milan for a few hours. The juxtaposition was startling. We decided to explore the area around the train station to get a sense of this working, living, breathing Italian city. What we saw, we did not like. The area around the station is not very pretty and, as you’d expect from a major city, it was very far from the tranquil paradise of Garda. Milan has always left me with a funny feeling. It gives off vibes of having a dark underbelly, ready to explode at any moment, like when the sky darkens before a wicked storm strikes. Bizarre, but that’s the feeling I get in Milano.

After a few short hours in Milan, we hopped on a train to Bergamo to meet Paolo and Ashleigh. We stayed in their lovely, tidy flat in the lower town, and spent our time together swapping stories of mutual friends, eating home cooked food, and watching the champions league semi finals. It would be an all Madrid final after Chelski and Bayern got smashed by the Spanish clubs – hooray for Spain!

Other than catching up, we did a bit of sightseeing in Bergamo. Katie and I spent a day wondering around the upper old town and the lower, newer town. It was a relaxing way to spend a few days, which was topped off with a trip to Lake Como on May 1st. 

Paolo was doing well. His business was turning over some money and they were both excited about the new chapter they were about to embark on. After four years living in Paolo's home town, they would be moving to Manchester, which is where we all met. I noticed that Paolo had that angst that comes with such a major life change, especially when it involves a move across countries. They were seemingly shipping their entire life with them and would be hiring a palette. What a move! So much stuff, including Paolo’s Mini, which has 204,000km on the clock!

I realised it had been eight years since Paolo and I first met and lived together in Manchester. And now he was returning. Time flies in adulthood.

It was a bank holiday so Paolo and Ashleigh joined us and we drove to the lake. Como wasn’t as serene as Garda but it was every bit as beautiful, and a lovely way to invite Katie into a new age bracket (26-39) – welcome to the club sweetie-pie.

We'll leave you with some delightful snaps of this part of our trip, and join us next time as we explore Bologna!

Bergamo birthday balcony breakfast!

Veraina

Our train from Venice arrived into Verona an hour late and we were greeted by a huge downpour. The rain thundered down in a biblical fashion and would continue for the majority of the three days we would spend in the city. After the glorious weather in Venice, this came as somewhat of a surprise and no matter how hard we tried, we couldn't stop it affecting your opinion of a place.

Verona seemed like a city that was elegant, rich, and beautiful, but also small, old, and quiet.

We didn't come across any clubs, dance floors, or loud bustling bars. Just quiet wine bars and a plethora of expensive restaurants that we were happy to try, but wouldn’t be happy to visit regularly.

We visited a castle for a bit of culture and it had a beautiful bridge. It also had a horse head fountain! But it is far too weird/wonderful to share in this post.

We spent the majority of our time in Verona going between coffee shops and restaurants, trying to stay dry and out of the rain. We saw the Arena but decided not to go inside (as it was raining). The Piazza Bra was lovely and was even beautiful with the bad weather. We saw several ornately decorated and interesting buildings and churches and enjoyed the romantic feel to the city.

We walked under a whale bone that has hung from an arch for over a hundred years. Legend has it that it will remain there until someone walks under the bone that has never told a lie. I guess there has to be a minimum age requirement as well otherwise it would have fallen down and crushed a baby by now.

We went to Juliet’s house and balcony and even got to touch her boob. This is the same boob that Leo touched in Baz Lurhmann's remake of the classic Shakespearean tragedy. There is a certain thrill to groping a statue in front of an audience. It’s like a tamer form of streaking.

We met up with a GSK Super-Grad called Callum and drank wine and told stories. It was nice to have someone else in the fray as so much of our time had been spent drinking wine on our own on those rainy days. Callum made us feel less like alcoholics and more like social drinkers.

On the third day we awoke early and got on short train to Lake Garda. As we left Verona in the rain, we seemed to pass through the clouds and emerge on the other side into what turned out to be a beautiful day and one I wish I hadn’t spent wearing jeans.

Lake Garda is stunning. Clear water for miles with mountains on the horizon, it is truly one of the nicest places I have been to. We set up camp in a cafeteria and I went on a lone walk for a good few miles around this beautiful landmark. It was one of those mornings that will live long in my memory. It was so relaxing and chilled and the sun made a massive difference to both of our moods. We were uplifted. It was either the sun and heat or the excuse to eat a delicious ice cream.

We ordered a panino each and sat on a bench overlooking a lake drinking a cheap fizzy wine and orange juice combo that got us quite giggly and over-excited. It was a delightful way to spend a morning and one that will stay with us for a long time.