Hey everyone!
Since HawaiiChick was such a hit, I decided to create a blog for my Italy adventures as well! I leave two weeks from today and could not be more excited. I will be staying in Vicenza, Italy which is about an hour and a half away from Venice in northern Italy. The weather there is very similar to Iowa, but slightly warmer and not as much snow :) I haven't started packing yet, but that's on the "To Do" list for this weekend. I finish up my student teaching in these next two weeks, so after teaching Friday, December 9th and working a party at the golf course that night, I will take off for the Des Moines airport on Saturday morning! For those of you who don't know, one of my best friends who I met in Hawaii this summer is going to Italy with me, so we will have an absolute blast. We are doing the same sort of thing that we did during the week, but are working in a Child Development Center, so we'll be working with 0-4 year olds! It will be much different I'm sure but I'm very much looking forward to it. We created a tentative itinerary of things to do on the weekends, so I will describe that below!
Weekend 1 (Dec 16-18): Italian Riviera
We plan to take a train ride on Friday night to the Italian Riviera which is about 3 and a half hours away. This is an area where there are small little foothill villages along the northern coastline that we will be able to explore. My Aunt Kim showed me pictures of this area and it looks absolutely gorgeous. I am looking forward to exploring Vernazza. We will also do some exploring of Venice and Verona which are very near where we live!
Weekend 2 (Dec. 23-25): Rome
We plan to take a train ride to Rome which is about 5 hours away and explore the Colosseum, see the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, St. Peter's Square, etc. We also heard that there is an AMAZING Christmas celebration in the Vatican city where the Pope speaks that we will try to see. Although we heard the crowds are ridiculous so we'll see how that scene is once we get there....
Weekend 3 (Dec. 30-Jan. 1): Paris!
We plan to take a train to Paris for the weekend which is a 10 hour train ride! We hope to get an overnight train that we will be able to hop on after work and then have all day Saturday and most of the day Sunday to explore. What better city to celebrate New Year's Eve in than Paris though?! Of course we'll see things here like the Louvre, the Arc de Triomphe, the Eiffel Tower, and Notre Dame.
Weekend 4 (Jan. 6-Jan. 8): Florence/Tuscany
Florence is about a 3 hour train ride away and we hope to explore around the city some on Saturday and spend the night here and then on the way back to Vicenza stop in the Tuscan region for some more exploring. We'll need to stop in Pisa to see the Leaning Tower and possibly stop in Chianti for a wine tasting!
Of course these things are all very tentative, but we figured if we went in with a plan we would be more likely to get most of the things seen and done that we wanted to! I am beyond excited and can't wait to update my family and friends on my travels! :)
xoxo, Amanda
