Rome, Italy Day12 20Aug2010

Rome, Italy Day12 20Aug2010

Went to Vatican and visited the St. Peter's Church. Massive building
and impressive art works inside. Couldn't find the entrance to the
Vatican Museum, so went to Galleria Borghese instead. Impressive
collection but smaller compared to the galleries/palaces I visited in
Venice and Florence.

Sent from my iPhone

Rome, Italy Day11 19Aug2010

Rome, Italy Day11 19Aug2010

Everything in Rome is so grand, magnificent! The buildings are big
and the roads are wide! Compared to Rome, Florence seems so cramped
and small. The bigness of this city overwhelms me beyond believe, and
there's so much of it. The guide booked says every major site/
attraction is within walking distance. It's true when you visit only
2 to 3 sites per day. After taking a walk from my hotel to the
Colosseum, I immediately bought a 48hrs hop on hop off sightseeing bus
(110open bus+Archeobus) ticket. Took a ride on the 2 routes already.
So much studying to do before some indepth sightseeing tomorrow.

Sent from my iPhone

Sorrento, Italy Day10 18Aug2010

To get to Sorrento, I took the train a little further south to Salerno
(30min train ride from Napoli) and worked my way to Almafi and then
Sorrento. Compared to Napoli, Salerno is much much clearner and more
laid back. It's also got a seaport for going to the nearby coastal
destinations and a train to Pompei. It's possibly a very good
alternative to Napoli as a base for visiting the nearby attractions.
Planned to use the bus from Salerno to Amalfi, and then from Amalfi to
Sorrento. It would have been at least 3 times cheaper, but I'm glad
the plan failed because I got see some extremely beautiful scenery by
using the ferry instead.
Amalfi was beautiful. Small but it was very pretty. Had my most
expensive gelato here! €5 and it wasn't even that good. Flavor
Limoncello was quite good (refreshing), but Banana wasn't so good
(almost like made by banana extract).
Sorrento was beyond what I expected. Thought Amalfi was the main
course and Sorrento was a side dish. I was all wrong. On some level, I
though Sorrento was more special but you'll have to see it coming on a
ferry. The whole town built on a cliff, or so it seemed to me!
Absolutely amazing view! The water so clear, you can see swimming fish
at the ferry pier. Loved it!

Pompei, Italy Day9 17Aug2010

Pompei was one of the two main reasons I came to Napoli. Never seen an
ancient ruin before and I'm really glad I did. Thought it'd only take
me 4hrs max to see everything. By the time I finished 20 spots, 2.5
hrs had past. There were no way I can see the rest of the 70 spots
before the site closes. So I learned to be selective and finished
seeing as much as I could before my legs gave out! It was such an
amazing experience to see how the people might have lived around 2000
years ago. I highly recommend it!

Napoli, Italy Day8 16Aug2010

Read lots of danger & threat warnings about this city during my
research prior to the trip. Knew my hotel is not in a good area, but I
chose it for the good price/nice room and the convenient location to
use the train. It's true there were lots of trash everywhere but
slightly better than I expected. Half the city is like the scary part
of downtown San Francisco with more trash on the street. The other
part is complete opposite, which is on the opposite end from the main
train station. Imagine heaven and he'll. The nice part is probably 3
times more expensive to stay...almost like Monte Carlo!
Aside from a few scary people and trash on every street (except in
nice area), this city does have characters and worth seeing. They got
castles, beautiful churches, old neighborhoods, new buildings, a large
seaport and some very good seafood!

Tuscany Area, Italy Day7 15Aug20

Joined a €55 day (bus) tour for San Gimignano, Siena and Chianti. So glad the weather was nice. Sunny and breezy. Stunning countryside landscape. Had a gelato of Saffron+Pinenuts (very creamy) and Vernaccia Wine (very light like shaved ice). Met some very nice people on the same tour. Tour guide very funny and friendly. Wine tasting at the end of the tour was wonderful. Got to taste my favorite wine, Sangiovese! Money well spent on this tour.

Florence, Italy Day6 14Aug2010

Rain rain rain! Walking around on the street having umbrella fights is such a pain. Gonna take the sightseeing bus (already paid for) to the Palazzo Pitti and hide there for a few hours. Hopefully, the rain will die down while I enjoy the expensive art pieces in the palace! So the rain continued and I did walk around town anyway. Shoes completely soaked. Got so wet and tired and decided to call it the day, the rain stopped as soon as I got back to my hotel room! Oh well...