Pisa was one of those silly touristy things that I knew I was going to do and felt a little guilty about it.

Everyone knows about The Leaning Tower, but almost no one knows about anything else that goes on there. For good reason, I suppose. Just why the heck is it leaning?

It’s Science!

The tour operators can fill you in on the details and physics, but one thing to note is that there are only a certain amount of people allowed in the tower at a time due to it’s precarious placement and somewhat narrow walkways.

While I did not venture far from the tower itself, I have to say that there are some cool sights in the same area that you should check out while you are waiting for your time slot to enter the tower. Take a quick visual tour, the pack a great traveling partner and GO!

Wrap Up:

Pisa public transportation is well marked. take the LAM red line from across the street of the main train station or airport. It drops you right at the tower. You can’t miss it.

Go to the ticket office to buy a ticket for the attractions. Ask advice from the employees on what is worth seeing.

Next, go to the tower admissions office to get a time slot and check any backpack you may have, as bags are not allowed in the tower.

Wander. Take a look around and have fun.

Check return train times to your hotel if you are making Pisa a day trip. TrenItalia is dependable, but doesn’t run as often as some would like.

Monkey Launchers can be a useful tool on the Italian rails.

The train into Florence was slower than we anticipated. For a reason still unknown to us, we stopped about 30 minutes from Florence and sat in the train for about 2 hours. This made us pretty late getting in to Florence. Luckily, I used the time to call ahead to tell the hotel that we were delayed. The owner sounded surprised and told me that our reservation wasn’t until two days hence. Problem.

Apparently when booking accommodation online, you should be doubly careful when using an iPhone as they tend to have some quirks. The owner, Marta, was cool enough to call around and find us a place with a room for the night and made arrangements to meet us the following morning. Near disaster averted.

Protip: When stranded on trains, it is good to bring along a monkey launcher. If you don’t have one, then download the Monkey Launcher game for your iPhone to help pass the time.

The Santa Maria Novella train station (SMN) in Florence is straightfroward, direct, and easy to navigate to and from; just about all you could ask for from a train station. at 11 oclock at night, it is easier just to queue for a taxi than try to find your way across town with luggage. The taxis may run a little slowly that late, but they’ll get you where you need to go.

Sojiourno Pitti is located in Piazza Pitti, on the far side of the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge). The place is super basic, but relatively clean and had enough space for us to squeeze into the dorms at the last minute before the staff left for the night. There is no internet, breakfast, coffee, or anything resembling a welcoming atmosphere, but as the saying goes, any port in a storm.

The next morning we made it to Afossi, right next to the Santa Maria Novella station we arrived at the night before, and were greeted by Marta, the Croatian ex-French teacher who runs the place. The room was huge and Marta was full of information. I split to get some laundry done and Jo took off in search of ice cream.

Florence was to be our base of operations for the next few days while we checked out a number of nearby locations; Pisa among them. Florence itself has a few tricks to be aware of. Order at the bar, you will save yourself some service fees. also, the tables under the canopies outside have a tourist fee associated with them. ask for the tables that aren’t an extra cost. some bars have them. If you want to get around in the city center, everything is easily walkable, but if you need to leave the old town, take the bus. You need to buy tickets at an odd ticket booth on the east side of SMN.

The statue of David is ensconced in a fancy museum, but there are two identical copies for free elsewhere in the city. One on top of Michelangelo Hill above the city and another in front of Palazzo Vecchio near the heart of the old city. The latter has a whole gallery of fantastic statues piled around it that I would recommend making the trip to go see. It’s free, so mount up.

While Joanne and I were walking around the David statue, an American woman walked up next to us, stared intently at the statue for a few seconds and then asked what we were all thinking, ” Where is his… oh wait… is that it?!”

The statue is rather disproportionate in lots of ways, but it is uniquely beautiful. That sentence describes a great many people I know. Yes, you are probably one of them.

Florence is home to a lot of great things. Take a walk. Ask questions. People will help you out. See what you find.

Wrap Up:

Plan Ahead. Florence is popular enough that you will want to book accommodation and museums well in advance.

Walk it. Florence is easily conquered on foot.

Ask about what tables and restaurants implement a stranieri tax.

If you are leaving the city center, use the bus. It’s cheap and predictable; not common in Italy.

Free are abounds. If you didn’t reserve museum spots ahead of time, just explore. The library’s ancient text section is a hidden gem!

Use Florence as a base camp to visit nearby sites. Pisa, Tuscan wineries, and Siena are easy targets. Piazza del Campo in Sienna is a day well spent, even if the races are not on.

In terms of raw atmosphere, you can’t beat Cinque Terre. These little towns, joined together by a rail line and a foot path, are all you could ask for in terms of picturesque Italian country and coast.

The towns differ quite a bit from one to the next, though my favorite is Corniglia, it has no waterfront to speak of but the view is extraordinary. It has the least amount of tourism and is the smallest of the five, leaving it with a bit more of the charm that draws people here.

For a developed country, Italy has a lack of usable internet. There seems to be a law in place that links internet traffic to a document, such as a passport or ID card. I can only assume that this is a trend that will be making its way around the world, as much of the concern surrounding internet usage deals with anonymity. I may be wrong, but only time will tell.

There are hostels in Cinque Terrre, but they are sparse and book up in advance, so plan ahead. Thought it is not the 5 star accommodation that draws people here, but rather the hiking trails between the towns and the unspeakably beautiful land and seascapes. We saw signs all over the place giving tips for hiking and got a good laugh out of the one that said no high-heels. Until we actually saw a lady hiking in high heels. Take a look, then buy your ticket.

City of fashion! I really enjoyed Milan. It was beautiful to look at and relatively easy to navigate with an extensive subway infrastructure and plenty of buses.

Upon our arrival, quite late, we had to hop a Metro across town to our hostel/apartment. Our host was less than thrilled with our midnight arrival, but he took it in stride and settled us in quickly.

Much of my initial weeks in Italy were breakneck pace keeping up with Joanne. This got me to thinking about how some people travel. There are two seeming phases of traveling abroad: consumption and maintenance. When you are traveling for a short period, you can spend the entire vacation in consumption mode; eating up the sights, cities, and fare, only to collapse and go into maintenance when you return back home.

Consumption is easy to do in the short term. One can simply be propelled forward through the days with novelty. New sights, people, languages, landmarks all fueling the desire to keep going. Deadlines, like a return flight home can truly make a person push their normal limits with the perceived need to squeeze everything in. It’s just the way things work.

On the other hand, after you have been traveling for a while, novelty takes a back seat to comfort, health, laundry; maintenance. Clothes need to be cleaned, sleep is a real currency that you cannot eternally shortchange yourself on, relationships need to be maintained and fostered. For someone like me who travels with a healthy maintenance phase, living in full bore consumption phase can be trying. Luckily, I had a travel partner who understood these things and Joanne really did her best to take it easy on me, despite her desire to simply take Italy like the Tasmanian Devil.

Milan has some great things to check out. One of them is the painting of “The Last Supper.” I never got to see it, but that is because you need to reserve a ticket some days in advance. Some things need to be planned.

The Duomo, happily, is not.

The Duomo in Milan is possibly the most aesthetically pleasing building I have seen in my adult life. In fact, the only way it could be better is if it smelled like Christmas and was covered in candy. The pictures speak for themselves, I hope.

Milan is a city of superlative quality. The buildings are magnificent. The police are always patrolling. The fashion is top notch. The city made me think of a slightly improved version of New York. If you are into doing Milan on the cheap, you could spend a well deserved day of lounging in the park at the old castle in the center of town. It will make you want to do cartwheels, then pass out on the grass.

Milan is a train ride away from Genoa, which is a ride away from the 5 cities of Cinque Terre. While Genoa gave birth to Christopher Columbus, who is not American, it wasn’t enough to necessitate a stop there to see the city on the way to Cinque Terre.

Wrap Up:

Use Mass Transit. You can buy tickets from metro and bus at any of the local tabacherie or from the ticket machines in the metro stations.

See the Duomo. On the left side is a neverending staircase that will take you up to the roof to get a better look at all the amazing architecture and some of the surrounding city.

Buy some clothes. This city really has it going on. Take a look around and pick up something new to show off when you return home.

Two houses both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene…

That is all I knew about the city before I got there. And while I did make a stop by Juliet’s balcony, there is so much more to this city.

We arrived at the train station following a whirlwind of text messages between friends to meet with our volunteer guide, Massimo. Massimo had *gasp* a car! My time in private conveyance this year has been minimal. In fact, I have probably been in a car collectively less this entire year than I normally am in a week.

Massimo took us to see some beautiful things. This is really a wonderful city. We saw it from all angles, and then started walking. The people were lovely wherever we went, and it was certainly less touristy than some other places, though, there was no lack of touristy items for sale or people buying them.

The story behind Juliet is that one gains great luck, perhaps in love, from rubbing her right breast. I did my best to extract some luck out of her while Joanne shot some pictures though they all came out blurry, so I’m not sure what that says about the statue luck story.

The Arena, another landmark in Verona, is pretty nice looking from the outside, as we didn’t make it there early enough to get inside. It is supposed to be second only to the Coloseum in Rome in size and even better preserved.

What I am told is the most famous Italian wine en vogue at present, Amarone, also comes from this region. I decided to investigate that claim. I have to say, it is pretty tasty.

Massimo’s daughter, Matilda, also came out with us for a while and she is an absolute gem. If I had more time, we would have gone out riding horses, and then I would have promptly asked her to marry me. Sadly, a complete inability to find any affordable lodging in Verona meant Joanne and I had to head out to Milan later that night.

As I have said, one thing Italy taught me was the need to plan ahead in areas of high demand. It is great to be flexible and “go with the flow”, but when you don’t have a place to sleep, it hampers your ability to “flow” at all.

Massimo and Matilda were amazing hosts, even walked us in to the terminal and made sure we got the right tickets to Milan and knew what platform to catch the train at. Joanne seemed to have worn herself out and was near comatose on the train ride to Milan, giving me a little time to reflect.

Italy is a great place, but it takes time to integrate and get used to the flow of things. The language was a bigger challenge than I thought it would be and in retrospect, I would recommend starting out any extended Italian trip with an intensive language class before taking to the streets.

Wrap Up:

• Don’t feel bad about doing a day trip to Verona, even the people that live there will agree that is often enough time.
• If you DO have time and inclination, don’t feel bad about staying there longer. I think the city merits a commitment.
• Don’t expect Juliet to grant any wishes.
• TrenItalia only runs one cheap train every two hours. Check the schedule ahead of time and save yourself some money.
• With the exception of the Castle wall overlooking the city, it is easily walkable, and the local bus serves the overlook, this is an easy backpacker town to get around in, no need for a car or taxi, though if you have a friend locally, let them drive. 🙂

Venice is nowhere near as smelly as people told me it would be.

It is, however, exactly as confusing as it was rumored to be. You will get lost. I got lost… every time I left the apartment.

The upside to it, is that every road leads everywhere, so you will eventually get where you were trying to go. It just may take you a day to get there.

Houda kept repeating this mantra whenever Italy was mentioned, “See Venice and die.” I don’t actually believe that it is necessary to see Venice to die or to die immediately following a visit to Venice, but I will say the city has it’s own sense of charm. Much of which was magnified by my delightful traveling companion, Joanne.

It is easy to forget that when you are wandering a warren of tiny streets looking for some shop that you are actually walking around artificial islands built a very long time ago; islands that are slowly sinking.

The big thing to remember about planning Venice is that it is effing expensive. So expensive that if you sit down it actually costs you money. No kidding.

When you walk into a cafe and order an espresso, it may cost 1-2 euro. Sitting down will cost you and additional 5-12 euro depending on the cafe and whether or not music is playing. Yes, they actually charge you for the music too.

There are very few hostels in Venice, but plenty of places renting rooms. My advice is this; just pay for it and enjoy it. The city is fun and well worth the trip. With a few exceptions.

This museum was a terrible idea. Avoid it.

There is a gelato shop in Venice and other cities named Grom. This is the holy grail of gelato shops. All natural, all delicious. There is gelato on every corner, and I swear to you, thanks to my travel companion Joanne, I have tried them all. Grom is worth walking to; especially with this scenery.

The Venice train station is pretty easy to sort out and has regular bus service to the Venice airport. Just ask the locals, they will sort you out; just be respectful.

Wrap Up:

• Go see it, but be aware of just how expensive it is.
• Instead of taking a gamble on the badly reviewed hostels, get a couple friends and go in on an apartment or private room somewhere.
• Don’t sit down unless you are ready to pay the extra money. Fruit and vegetable stands are everywhere during the day. take advantage of them.
• Don’t worry about getting lost. It is going to happen, just keep walking and you will eventually get to where you need to go.
• Internet is expensive and WiFi is hard to come by. Take a digital break for a few days. It won’t kill you.
• Don’t sweat paying the entry fees for the churches and museums. The true charm of Venice lies in the city itself. Take a trip to Piazza San Marcos during the day, and again late at night. You will see what I mean.