So, Cinque Terre, which was originally written about here, was eventful. Our first day was exhausting and stressful, due to (1) our missed train and (2) many times calling out “Do you know where this address is?” followed by a “No English” response.

     I had mapped out each of the 5 cities, which we were so eager to go to! But of course, the train strike was in the way. We decided to wing it! We bought a ticket at 8 o’clock in the morning to visit the town two stops from our location, Manarola, we decided to prioritize just in case we couldn’t visit them all. This colorful village was similar to Vernazza with the pop of color and rural atmosphere but differed in two ways. First, we could only find one open restaurant (which was terribly expensive) and second, there was much easier access to the ocean. In Vernazza we could walk down by the boardwalk, but it wasn’t very pretty or safe, as there was tons of floating 2x4’s everywhere. However, Manarola had amazing rock formations that really just added some extra flair. We sat and looked at the ocean for a very long time. I think we were just lost in the awe of this change in scenery.
    Afterwards we bought some goodies from the train station, includinga nice bar or Swiss chocolate which is hands down the best piece I've ever put in my mouth (and that's saying something), counted our lucky stars that it was still running. and decided to buy tickets to Monterosso. We shimmied on back to the main train hub, La Spezia, a mid-sized city 15 minutes away. Guess what! When we arrived we found out that the trains were all parking their engines until 9pm, which meant we had at least 6 hours to kill around town. We lucked out in La Spezia though, this town was ready for action! They had a Christmas concert (including Santa's on stilts) and tons of gelato shops that we happily attended. We piddled around for as long as possible, before freezing our buns off and going back to the train station's McDonald's to wait. Graham and I played the quarter game for one solid hour, met a LDS Missionary and bought locally knitted scarves. At 11 o'clock, two hours after the predicted time, trains began to work again. We shipped over to Monterosso, walked around for 45 minutes seeing more bridges filled with locks, ivy ridden walls and the coast (once again, but c'mon ya just can't look away) before catching another train back to Vernazza.
    The following morning we spent time on our terrace enjoying the view and relaxing before the hustle and bustle that comes with traveling. We picked oranges the day before, and decided to eat them with our breakfast and promptly realized they were more sour than a pack of Warheads in your mouth. Yuck! We talked about how we were disappointed that we weren't able to visit all 5 villages. But we did manage to visit 3 of them and a city, so it's hard to complain too much. And the ones we saw? Those little villages were some kind of beautiful! We mentioned how we only saw a few locals and really got the rural feel in this region- it was such a welcome change from the rest of the trip. We decided to get a picture of us with the spectacular background, and managed to end up with 50 so-so ones. #Typical. Then we jumped on the train, missed our stop (is this just a permanent thing with us?)  and narrowly made it back to the central hub in time to catch our train to Rome. And we were off!
    I would, hands down, have to recommend this place to anyone! It was a special place- just so dreamy. I desperately want to visit the 2 remaining villages- maybe one day ;)

Manarola:

Not much sexier than a man wearing a fanny pack, amiright?

La Spezia:

Monterosso:

Vernazza:

That One Time I Wore Floral Flip-Flops and Stripped Socks across Italy

    I think I have officially found the error to my ways. I'm sorry it has taken this long! But it's seriously impossible to post about every event from our travels with play-by-plays. Impossible, I say! I will try my best to write the important bits. 
    Remember that one time I flew across the world and spent 10 days in Europe? Yeah that was December of 2014, it's safe to say I am a little late on this. It was an amazing, thrilling experience. I'm determined to go back and hit up the highlights but to most importantly- SHARE THE PICTURES.

    Right before we boarded our flight I thought I might have a little breakdown. I was a complete mess as I checked, re-checked, and re-re-checked to make sure everything was in its place. It was my first time leaving the country. We had passports, 4 small suitcases filled to the brim, 3 jackets a piece, a camera, snack bag, itinerary notebook etc etc etc. We had two flights, one to JFK and another to Milan, which were not connecting. I mistakenly bought rather short layovers which was cause for much contention. I was responsible to see that we had all four boarding passes printed/available, picked up luggage from the first flight and redelivered to the second airline and essentially that we would have everything squared away to go through 2 different security checks. (Not to mentioned the 8 hour red-eye.) And Graham was miserably sick with a fever, poor thing. I felt like I was going to go absolutely crazy.
    We flew smoothly to New York, rushed around like loonies upon arrival (Including: getting lost near the luggage pick-up, being unable to reenter the airport for th second flight until we spoke with Delta Reps and then waiting an hour to get through security checkpoint. My anxiety was through the roof.) After everything we sat windowside on an enormous plane and took off.
    As soon as we touched down in Milan we were to follow a strict schedule I had painstakingly made. Of course, The mountains covered in snow in the distance reminded me that this wasn't the Southern winter I was used to. I decided to exchange my flats for my tennis shoes to keep warm. I rummaged in my bag and rummaged some more and rummaged a little more after that and came up empty handed. Ughhhhhh. So I opted for my black flats covered in black rhinestones since that was all that I had.
    We trekked and carried on, which you can read more about here and here. But Cinque Terre's truly spectacular views came with a price. Every day we had to climb hundreds of steps at a deep incline, up and down, then back again.
     This is where I noticed my shoes were beginning to be a BIG problem. These fit, but were just a hair tighter than I preferred and the constant steps were making my toes throb, particularly on my right side. Now as cute and quaint at CT was, there wasn't any shoe shop nearby (not to mention we were stranded by a train for hours anyway). So I did the only thing I could think of, I folded the back of my heel, on the right side, down to ease the pressure off my toes.
    Did anyone remember up there where I said the shoes were completely rhinestone studded? Yeah, well, they were. With each step they pricked my foot, but not quite as unbearable as my toes jamming against the shoe. On and on and on and on and on and on as I walked. I was my own biggest enemy with the stupid little schedule held in the colorful notebook tucked under my arm. It might say "walk .8 miles" and we walked it, again and again.
    By Day 4 we had just endured a torrential downpour in Rome. We spent an hour finding our apartment. We missed our Colosseum appointment. We were harassed by another crazy Island Boy about buying knock off purses. And my feet were aching. It was a day where I wanted to crawl into the gutter.
    Then as we walked along the street market we popped into the Italian equivalent of a Dollar General. And staring at me was a pair of gray sandals with green and pink floral accents. They were hideous, but I knew them to be mine- call it destiny, fate, or maybe a revelation of sorts.
    The following morning I searched for the only thick pair of socks I had brought. A lush navy blue and white pair, also unattractive. As self-conscious as I knew I should have been, I wasn't. There was no longer time to play any games; it was me, these shoes, and these socks. We would be a trio to remember forever. And I kid you not, that very day was when our trip of mishaps and aggravation wrapped up. I'm telling ya'll, it had to of been fate.

Throwing a little shade with my super awesome footwear. I hope to never forget this.

Cinque Terre, Italy pt. I

   As we left Milan Saturday morning at 11am, we couldn't help but sigh with relief.  The most stressful part of our trip was over, surely! After all, we had experienced a protest, walked several miles out of the way, gotten 3 hours of sleep, missed our train, a whole slew of craziness for our first day in a new country. Graham had already voiced that he was most excited about our next destination, Cinque Terre, which is roughly translated to “five villages.” Over the course of the weekend, we planned to run between Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola and Riomaggiore, each famed for their colorful buildings jammed into a little coastal area.

    While we were on the train, we got a little anxious when we realized we were going to have a 7 minute overlap to trade trains in a place called Geneva. We began to awkwardly communicate with a fellow trainmate, who was able to help us figure out where to go. We were exceptionally grateful that he would be able to tell us where to get off, so we decided to relax and enjoy the beautiful Italian scenery. To think, we actually were in Italy! As the time dwindled down, we were told where to get off, we ran to the right train stop, after taking a minute to figure out where we should be. This means a lot when there is only 7 minutes in the first place!

    So on we jumped, when we got on, we realized that we were going to arrive much later than we had originally told the person we were staying with. I tried to send a text to inform him, but it never went through. (I did realize how my printed out train ticket, the one that we missed, did not say our midway train change, so I wondered if it ended up being for the best that we missed our train, because without the train change knowledge we would have gotten off at a wrong destination anyway. Meanwhile our new tickets visibly told us where and when to specifically get off: I still don't know if this is true.) By this point we just shrugged our shoulders and gazed out at the coast. Another youthful sprite began to chit chat with passable English. It was here that we finally felt that we explored what Italy was like for a citizen. He expressed his love for his country, his culture, the scenery, but said that the government and lack of jobs really was putting the country through the mill. From this moment on we paid close attention to how Italy presented itself to a tourist versus their reality.

    Finally we managed to get to La Spezia, the main train hub for CT. As we approached the train attendant for a 2 day pass throughout all of the villages, I’d done my research and felt confident in asking. “Sorry, but tomorrow is a train strike- the trains probably won’t be working until 9 Sunday evening.”

    Hold on, let me get this right. We had a 2 day trip planned for Cinque Terre, one of the most scenic places in all of the country. Our first day was cut in half (we arrived at 4, the evening sets at 5:30) due to missing the train and now we find out that the train system, the only way to train between the villages wouldn’t even be working. WHY, oh please, WHY must everything ruin my carefully- laid plans! As we ran our fingers through our hair, huffed and puffed angrily we wondered yet again what in the world caused us to come on that specific tumultuous week. Eventually we were told that the trains, might end up working for a time, but she just couldn’t be sure. We decided to just wing it and bought a one-way ticket to Vernazza.

    As we approached the city, I was squealing with delight! Dubbed the most beautiful village, we had booked a tiny cottage, the only place in town, with spectacular views. We walked down the sloped street and everything was so incredibly cute. Each building was at least six stories tall, they were colored in pastels, while the remainder of Italy was only shades of beige.

    Due to the Christmas season, as we walked along the strip there overhead were shooting star lights, just beginning to flicker on. We were anxiously ready to arrive at our place to drop off our luggage and visit everything before it closed down. So with the handwritten directions from the owner of the cottage we began to search.

    As we found our “street” it was turned out to actually be a small alleyway on the left side of the tall buildings towards a cliff. We walked up the steps as it curved steadily upward, luckily we were already warned that there were several hundred steps so we knew in advance. We trudged on and pasted multiple apartments, meanwhile walked up the incline to the left. After a few hundred steps we reached the address I had printed out! We were so glad because it wasn’t too hard to find or too far up. My feet were also aching from walking upwards so much carrying wo bags and with shoes half a size too small We knocked on the door but no one answered. It was here that I realized this was quickly becoming a problem; we had told the owner we would be there at 9am and it was 4:30pm. More worrisome was that we would be completely lost when the sun set in an hour’s time. So I began to try in vain to call him, suddenly Graham found a pair of keys in the mailbox! Hallelujah. He jingled them in and out—nothing. So we began to worry just a little, as we walked up the staircase to the next apartment just to see if that was our stop.

    Okay so picture this, 2 ignorant tourists lost in the country in Italy where we can’t find our place to stay, not even locals who speak English, there aren’t any other hotels in the area, the train is soon to stop working for 24 hours and the sun is setting. I prayed hard, guys.

    So as I sat with 4 pieces of luggage as Graham kept walking to see if we could find our actual place. It is here that I am going to have difficulty explaining, you really need to physically be there to understand what I mean, so bear with me. Well as he looked, the stairs forked. Graham walked a piece up one side, came back down, wondered aloud if that could be he right place, and again we prayed. A great deal of time had passed, 30 minutes of so since getting there, the sun was dropping steadily.

    Finally, after calling several times we received got in touch with the owner, who was kind of perturbed about the time, who told us that we were not even at the right place, plus he was on vacation in another country. (Of course, our luck could not be much worse at this point.) I was frustrated because that was the physical listed address he had given us. He told us that we needed to go up many more steps to find the right place and then the phone was disconnected

    We decided to go up the side Graham had partially went up together in hopes of it being the right place. To explain these directions the steps went is very difficult. They went up to the left, did a 180 in the other direction, looped around a tower, had two flights going directly up and past the tower. The view was completely blocked from this point from below. All of a sudden we saw two young sprites walking out from a nearby hiking trail, I prayed for English speakers and called out, “Excuse me! Do you know where Andrea’s apartment is, can you please help us?”

    The long haired one piped up. “Oh you’re the ones staying! I was supposed to help carry your luggage up for you, but you never came. You are almost there. Andrea’s apartment is up all of these stairs, when you pass a gate on the right that’s your place. Do you see the lamp? Put in your key for the gate. But I must run now, my train is coming. Sorry!” To which I nearly sobbed, “no, thank you so much!” And our own little miracle man ran down the hundreds of stairs to the train.

    As we walked I noticed a restaurant, La Torre (The Tower), which was also owned by Andrea, and recalled reading online that we had to past that to get there. We perkily went up the remainder of the stairs, pasted a shire to the Virgin Mary (Catholics, but duh, we’re in Italy), and as we rounded a corner we did see a locked gate! Finally, we let out the breath we had been holding for about 45 minutes as the sun was hovering lower to the earth. Graham pulled out the keys we found at the first apartment we went to and mumbled how misleading finding those keys were when we originally found them. We finally managed to get in the gate, walked up one more flight of steps (meanwhile welts on my shoulder and blisters on my feet) and we saw our little teeny, adorable cottage. Probably measuring in at 12x12, it was basically just a queen size bed with a small bathroom. It couldn't have felt nicer than a stay at the Ritz Carlton at that moment. I was also surprised that the nearest neighbor to us was halfway down the cliff we had to climb, it was completely secluded.

    We dumped our luggage and walked back to the terrace. WOW is all that I can say about the view- just WOW. The little colorful peninsula jutting out into the sapphire lapping water is something I hope to never forget.

    We eased ourselves back down the stairs to do a bit of exploring as the sun set. The Christmas lights were in full effect, as we finally were able to relax into the little romantic town. We walked past warbling karaoke singers at a bar to visit the only open restaurant overlooking the wharf. We sat down and decided after a really rough day we were going to splurge on ourselves! We both ordered Fanta’s (8oz, yes 8, canned Fanta’s were 3 Euro’s a piece. We did not realize they would be canned without the chance to replace them for free.) Since Cinque Terre was known for being to location to create the infamous green sauce- Graham ordered a Pesto flavored pasta, while the remainder of the menu was seafood (not my forte) so I opted for the veal. We spent more on this one supper than we did on any entire day from the remainder of the trip! And I wish someone could have seen Graham’s face when his plate arrived with pasta rolled out like little maggots. Hilarious!

    Afterwards we walked by the wharf, went up the main strip of town (which was maybe like 800 feet) and got information on possible trains for tomorrow, just to try our luck. Eventually we walked back up the hundreds of steps but as we left behind the last home (midway up) there were no more street lamps, this was a problem because several of the steps had chunks missing or would lop off for no reason, and even my phone had died at this point so we couldn't use the built- in flashlight. Finally we ended up using my camera, I would hold the picture as if to take a picture, we would use the red light that appeared for the use of the flash for guidance, over and over again. This plan worked until it came time to put in the key in the gate as the camera had died and we both fumbled trying to find the lock and insert our key. Whenever we did manage to do it, we sat out on the terrace and looked at that beautiful little town and I wished, despite everything, we didn't ever have to leave it.

Our sweet little cottage and the guiding lamp that led us there! 

All of the stairs were tightly spaced between apartment buildings.

Vernazza's strip!

After the hundreds of steps, we took a break on someone's patio.

Overlooking the city you and your lover can place a lock on this railing :)

Graham's pesto.

Veal for me!

Vernazza! If you look closely in the mountains you can see Monterosso too.

Milan, Italy

    Milan. A weird, weird place. When I very first thought about it, the only thing I specifically knew about Milan was that they were known for fashion. I knew I wasn’t going to be dropping big bucks for anything super fashionable, so we discussed skipping out on the city. But after researching, Milan was by far the cheapest city to fly into, so away we went. We flew in on a red eye, leaving 6PM our time, arriving 7AM their time (there is a 6 hour gap, so it was 1AM Eastern Standard Time).

    When we arrived in Malpensa, the city of the airport, 45 minutes from Milan, we caught our first train! I had never ridden on a train before, I think Graham has, but it was a very simple experience. Nothing different from a tram or monorail. Checking it off my life list though. When we arrived in the station we became horribly lost! I had step-by-step directions but they were not helpful. As stated on the Tourist in Italy blog it took us a while to get our bearings due to the layout of street signs. Thank ya map for saving the day!

    As we prepared to leave the station we literally watched a protest grow from a rag tag team of 25 people, to hundreds of Italians chanting, throwing smoke bombs and carrying banners with their said cause. We never did find out the definite reason for protesting, though there were lots of different hints. There were LBGT signs, flags with Fidel Castro’s picture, a large group of workers holding a mock coffin and someone suggested it could be because of anger towards the Milano Expo. It was very strange and very annoying. Coincidentally they zig-zagged in our path for a while (we were going straight, so we had about 3 encounters with them) until they finally had a large gathering filled with speeches in the Duomo’s center.

    While they were yelling over inequality or whatever, we were en route to the Duomo Di Milano (Cathedral of Milan) when we caught up with them again! It was really the main sight seeing location I cared about visiting, considering the fact that there are few things in Milan. The Cathedral proved to be very grand, enormous and inside (we couldn’t take pictures) was decorated with precision, tall ceilings included. Regardless, it was marred by the fact that Graham and I couldn’t enter with luggage. So instead we took turns going in, while the other watched the items, and then I was scolded in Italian for sitting too close to the door. My life, man.

    We were ready to go drop our suitcases off when I noticed a large flock of pigeons that kept circling another girl. All of a sudden a young man came up to me, without saying anything, and threw a small handful of corn into my glove. Instantly, the birds began to come to me and I realized. A fool, that’s what I knew I was in that moment; this would be no free experience. Sure enough, the young man gave Graham corn and asked for our camera so he could take a picture. Several young men came up and I reluctantly gave it to them, calmed by the presence of 20 police officers directly behind them to watch the protest. They snapped and I whispered to Graham to be prepared to pay. I was totally kicking myself for being so gullible, but decided I better smile and make those pictures worth it. When we were done, sure enough, they told us they wanted “a donation” (please- scam artists). Graham was really, really annoyed and dug in the fanny pack for a 1 dollar bill. He was even more frustrated when he couldn’t find one. The only bills we had were 5’s and 10’s. “A 10! A 10 is good!,” the man said in English (you could tell they were Island boys), meanwhile he wasn’t even the person to take our picture. I was so incredibly ticked off, “NO. A 5 is fine.” Especially considering it wasn’t even worth 5 Euros. And so we paid them and stalked off. I was totally livid, but realized from that point on to watch for those type of people.

    After getting strawberry gelato (“fragola”) we realized another mistake. In Euro’s there are NO bills smaller than a 5, they are represented in coins! There is a 1 and 2 in fact. Then we found out their remaining coin system consisted of: .50,  .20,  .10,  .05,  .02 and .01.  So we learned how to deal with money.

    As we walked to the room we were staying at, I realized how bad of a decision it was to travel without dropping our luggage off first. Graham and I each had 2 bags: I had a book bag and carry-on while he had a rolling suitcase and carry-on. The carry-on bag began to form a little welt on my shoulder and we marched toward our room with determination and speed. Unbeknownst to me, there was a Metro system underneath us that could have taken us there in about 2 minutes. Instead we walked for about 45 minutes, when I originally planned it out, that didn’t sound too lengthy, and I began to kick myself yet again.

    Finally we arrived, we were staying with a local man who rented out the apartment adjacent to his own. It was more spacious than a hotel room and we had a little balcony, so Graham and I were pleased. The moment he gave us the keys, 12PM, bare in mind it was 5AM our time, we both fell on the twin beds and slept.

     5 hours later we woke up, the sun had already set in Milan. Our jam packed day that I planned went out the window, but we were both so exhausted and had such a trying day that we didn’t care. We got dressed and walked down the street to try our first Italian restaurant. When we arrived the restaurant was completely empty, our waiter came by dropped off two glasses of wine and left us. Awkwardness strikes, yet again! We weren’t sure the protocol, it was kind of him to offer it to us, but we certainly weren’t going to drink it. So we politely pushed it to the side. Eventually we ordered (Carbonara Pasta from G, Margherita [cheese] Pizza for me) and began to chat. Two ladies and a little girl came in and began to speak in English. Our mouths dropped. Wow! English!! So we asked where they were from- the good old U S of A! Neat, huh? So then we asked what state did they live in- Florida they chimed. Okay, this was getting weird. Turns out these ladies were from Tampa, but living abroad in Italy for a year. We were in shock considering that we were in Milan, in a tiny café on a quiet street and we ran into Floridians.

    After finishing our meal we went back to our room, put on pj’s, watched a movie and dozed off at 11. 1AM came, Graham was hacking and coughing (remember, he was very sick when we left for the trip), coupled with the traffic outside the window and I was completely awake. There was nothing I could do to go back to sleep! I counted sheep, sung songs, imagined a white room. Then at 2 AM Graham woke up. The traffic seemed to steadily grow; it was a Friday night so maybe that attributed to it. We heard the ridiculously loud tram, a few loud drunks and a woman crying at the top of her lungs as a taxi cab drove off. It was a wild night. We both marveled at the weird scenario, then resigned ourselves to fact we really had to get to sleep, especially since we had a 6AM train to catch. We both laid in bed for three more hours without saying anything before he dozed off. At 5AM, I fell asleep, I knew it would be hard to wake up so I set around 10 alarms, figuring 1 hour of sleep would be better than zero.

    I opened my eyes and thought oh no, what time is it? It was 9AM. Our train left at 6AM. Another nail in the coffin that was quickly becoming our trip. So I woke Graham up, who scratched his head at how we both managed to sleep through ten alarms. We packed up and walked for 5 minutes to the train station. Here is where things got weirder. So, originally we passed by the “station” and I knew that we needed to remember where it was, considering we took a differing station to actually get to Milan. Weirdly enough, it was underground, so we go down, finally figure out where to go. Then I pulled out our ticket and tried to ask the worker for directions. The worker could only say 1 word, “upstairs.” Well now this threw us for a loop, we had just came from upstairs where there was nothing. So we became kind of stressed, figured we should at least try his advice and went upstairs. There was nothing, so we walked back downstairs speaking to another worker who could only say “upstairs!” UGH. So by this point I began to panic. Here we are in another country where no one can understand us and we can’t understand anyone else. 40 minutes has past and I can’t believe our rotten luck.

    Then we go completely upstairs and I am very near to the edge of crying when I notice a girl walking. She crossed the parking lot we were in to walk to a huge abandoned building. Hmm, that wass strange. But next to the building is a police car, so I figured we could try to mangle out some words to ask for help. As we walk closer, I realize that the building is not abandoned, despite having police tape around it. Of course it isn’t. We surpass the police cars and realize OH. Yep, we had been looking at it, but not paying close enough attention to focus on what it was. Then a shock wave hits me and I am so surprised that I can’t feel embarrassment- we were in a Metro station the whole time we thought we were in a train station; oh to lead the life of a fool.

    So it was nearing 10 o’clock, we went into the true train station where we turned down a scam artist who tried to sell us tickets to talk with the Help Desk (free, but there was a wait), and instead were forced to purchase another set of tickets, which left at 11:30. So we went to McDonald’s to have a little down time, and waited for our train.

    Finally we boarded our train, grateful to be getting away from the series of mishaps that made up our time in Milan.

Observations on being a Tourist in Italy

-------------------------------------

MONEY

~The money used here is the Euro (€). The Euro is worth 1.2 to 1 US Dollar. So in other words, just changing money is expensive! Not to mention unless you find ATM's that are in associate with your bank, you have to be a standard service fee (around $10).

-Using a typical foreign credit card racks up fees for every use, while a travel credit card does not require a conversion fee. 

-Everything here is pricy. Water is never free at restaurants, a typical Sprite bottle averages 3 € and even knock-off purses are sold at 45 Euro.

-To go to a public restroom, whether at McDonald's or a train station, can cost .60-1€!! Talk about culture shock.

-There are no sales taxes, if listed at a price it is guaranteed, which is a nice change.

-We only found one location, a Venetian supermarket, who used .01 or .02 coins, everyone else rounds to the nearest .50.

RESTAURANTS 

-Most cafe shops require extra if you wish to sit down. For instance, a cannoli was sold for 4 Euro to go or either 8 Euro to sit.

-Never tip at restaurants, the receipt will show a "coperto/service" charge which will automatically pay the waiter. We have averaged 2-3 Euro per person at mid-sized restaurants.

-They refer to "to go" as "take away," most shops have lots of signs written in English saying that phrase. 

-Music in most Italian shops are the Top 20 ones, sung entirely in English.

-Fettuccine Alfredo is strictly American :(  But we did find one place in Venice who served it! 

 -There are just as many gelato shops as there are restaurants! They generally don't allow taste testing. 

TRANSPORTATION

-There is a wide variety of great transport here! Trains, Metro, Buses, Trams, Watertaxis.

-Beware, if you're relying entirely on your English you need to prepare for the inevitable: most workers know FEW English words in the Metro. The majority is a lot of hand motions and slow Italian pronunciations. 

-There are a few classes of trains, super slow regional ones or very efficient slightly-less-than-luxury ones, depending on a budget, the latter is so much more spacious.

-To buy Metro tickets you must either have no more than 6€ in change or buy a pass from a Tobacco shop. Our 20€ and 50€ kept spitting out until someone finally translated. And if you go to a Tobacco shop, they require an additional purchase before selling the Metro pass! It's jumping through hoops for sure.

-I would never suggest renting a car. The lanes are very difficult to understand, and it isn't necessary with so many other cheaper options. Also, we have seen approximately 0 gas stations! 

-Trains are absolutely on time! If it says it's pulling out at 1:32, it will depart precisely then. Arrive with plenty of time to find which platform and to see if there are any changes. 

-There are WAY more mopeds than cars here, with fearless drivers. They have perplexed us since we arrived. They weave between cars (as in like 3 feet of space), then they jet out in front of buses. These drivers seem follow both pedestrian AND vehicle rules, but won't hesitate to break them either. They do not think twice to slam on their small horns.

-Some of the best views come from the trains! Try to books a window seat and have the camera ready.

-Gondola rides are very expensive, but gondoliers are willing to bargain during low seasons. It's also a great way to travel through the smaller canals and see the Grand Canal.

WALKING 

-If you're walking, go straight to the Tobacco shop in the station and BUY A MAP. I (stupidly) thought step by step directions would suffice but nope! Get a map the moment you arrive. 

-Streets are set up much differently than in the US. Some may be 6 lanes and bustling with traffic, others are small enough to only allow a single car.

-Street signs are put on marble plaques on one side of the wall. The frustrating part is that it isn't always located at the beginning of every street. Sometimes you have to walk to the end of that street or the next street over to find where you are.

-An iPhone GPS won't work in Venice! The streets are way too small and connected. Plan on getting lost here several times a day! 

-Also, big point of references! The conjunction of streets that forms a 

big square are called "Piazzale" and streets are signified by the first term being "Via" or "Calle." Unless you're in Venice where "Donte" refers to the bridge, "Sestiere" is a neighborhood and "Rio" a river.

SCAM ARTISTS

-Pickpockets are notorious here, many locals and other tourists warned us to be aware, particularly at train stations/metros.

-There are many people who will try to sell you a free ticket to speak with Information (there are usually waits though) or used Metro passes- remember you are responsible for looking out for your own best interest, not everyone else.

-Outside of EVERY tourist location there is a large amount of people trying to sell: extended camera holders, umbrellas (when raining), enlarged pictures, caricatures, books or flowers. There are usually about 10 people competing within each item at every location. It can be so overwhelmingly annoying to repeatedly reject each person when trying to enjoy yourself.

-The streets are full of beggars who definitely are working the system. Generally they are located in the tourist spots, very near churches. We offered an old man with 2 small coins in his hat just a little bit of our change, walked by him an hour later with just the 2 small coins still in there, so he had been pocketing all of the gains he had made, and was still showing his original 2 coins.

-Also if you innocently try to take your picture beware of people offering to "help." We thought it was another kind tourist taking our picture by the Grand Canal but no! About two photos in I realized he wanted money. Oh well, that well-spent.

BUILDINGS

-The number of apartments far outweighs the number of homes. For an entire week we didn't see any noticeable houses until we passed through the countryside.

-The people have great views because they build many places on upward hills and mountains. These are always exceptionally beautiful!

-The main color on buildings is a mixture between a cream and a yellow, but some coastal areas are filled with color! One of the reasons we loved Cinque Terre so much is because all of the buildings touching were painted a different shade of yellow, pink, red, orange, green and blue.

-Once again, Venice needs a category all on its own because it is just so unique. There are so many buildings crammed together, the streets may be spacious and long or five feet wide alleyways. 

U.S. CONVENIENCES

-Some days we just wanted to snack instead of buying big meals, where back home we would have just relied on gas stations to purchase things. Here, the best places to stop are Tobacco shops, for smaller priced items.

-The only fast-food chains we have seen are McDonald's (sans dollar menu), found in every main train station, and an occasional Burger King. Instead, they have a variety of sandwich shops. 

-Police and Ambulances are heard ALL the time with a very high pitch wailing, a siren, the sound is much different from America's.

-After going up thousands (!!!) of steps, we only took 1 elevator the entire trip! There is a big shortage of those things.

PEOPLE

-The younger generation speak either very good or broken English, as it is a requirement in school. In need we have used them! Although, be prepared, all know the F word! 

-There is a lot of turmoil and unrest between the government and the people. We arrived in Milan during a large protest and in Cinque Terre we stayed during a train strike. The causes were due to the lack of jobs, according to those we asked.

-The same as anywhere, there are some very helpful individuals and very rude ones. The more they try to sell to you, the more complementary they become! "Bella! Bella!"

-Again, if asking for directions, don't expect everyone to respond in English. It's just ain't happening. Use a map and expect hand signals, as well as minimal understanding. 

-Smokers are everywhere! Outside, in shops, standing exceptionally close to your face. No Surgeon General warnings here, there must be some sort of ties from the government to Tobacco shops, which are a hub for many things. 

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Officially Official

    Let me take you back, back to the summer I was a 14 year old. I jammed out to punk rock boy bands, was an avid Spongebob fan and was impressed I finally had a best friend who stuck around. I was thrilled to be headed to the High School, me, a freshman. One day my Granma Alice dropped by a book she found in the high school's parking lot, knowing I read anything my fingers could grasp. 

 "Daughter of Venice," by Donna Jo Napoli- the same author I had the opportunity to meet in middle school but decided not to (kicking myself now). Napoli wrote about a girl my age wondering the ancient city of Venice, Italy with a newfound and forbidden love, trying her best to shy away from the life society had mapped out for her. I relished in it, her sorrows were mine, as it captivated my every interest; we even seemed to favor in looks. By the time I finished the book I had to start it fresh from page one to live vicariously through it again. My little mind couldn't fathom any other place I would want to be in the world....

    Fast forward 8 years later and the same thought kept popping up into my head, totally Ghost Of Christmas Past style, "ittttaaalllly!" And then a series of fortunate events happened: Graham said he was required to take a week off from work, I realized my school schedule would be in harmony, we don't have any kids to tie us down and we thought YOLO right? Can't you just substitute me with Lizzie McGuire as she marveled over buckets and buckets of gelato? (But definitely stop there, totally not riding off into the sunset with another man on a moped.) So we nixed all plans of smaller trips we had played around with, started saving immediately and I just bought our round trip tickets to spend 10 days in Italy :)

    While I let my brain calm down from the crazed storm that came from finding non-agonizing plane tickets, I'm fixing to purchase my old book and dream of the days I'll be in Rome, Venice, Florence or wherever else we can get to. As they say in Italian: chow!