For some reason, my SD reader on my computer wasn't working, and I hadn't been able to upload photos I took with my camera. I got a card reader today though, so here they are at last!
Again, my favorite food place on Riomaggiore where I would get my pesto gnocchi and pasta.
I discovered that I had a smudge on my camera lens. So most of these Cinque photos are sadly going to have smudges on them.
We went to Florence, and most of those pictures are up. However, I managed to dig up my photos from the markets they have there (bartering is a favorite activity of mine in Florence). Here's one of them. My friends were bartering for scarves. Florence has the best scarves, btw.
From Florence, we took a couple day trips. One was to Pisa. Pisa was an experience. It was kind of expensive to get to and from, and since we went on a Sunday, the streets were empty and there wasn't too much to do there. Until we got to the famous tourist site, I didn't see more than twenty people in the whole city. There's then a cathedral plopped on some grass with its famous campanile and a baptistery and tents that sell your usual souvenirs along the sidewalk.
Tourists crowd around the tower to take photos like this ^, and it's hilarious seeing everyone just posing with their hands in weird places. We got free entrance into the cathedral since it was Sunday. I honestly thought the cathedral was cooler than the tower, and the laughs we got from the scrub things we had to wear to cover shoulders and knees were priceless.
We took another day trip to Siena and San Gimignano. Siena is probably one of my favorite places I've been to in Italy. We randomly happened to be there the day they had their famous horse race, which is a one minute bareback race with nine horses from each part of town, so it was really busy and exciting.
This is where the race would take place. We saw the race on TV from San Gimignano, but people pack this square to watch it, and it's crazy. It dates back to the middle ages, and it's a well-preserved tradition.
We visited the cathedral in Siena, and it was the most beautiful cathedral I have ever seen.
It has a gold star studded ceiling. The details around are marble portraits of past popes.
They had a cool room that had some of the first written music scores. We talked about this stuff in my humanities class in high school, but seeing it was amazing.
When we walked out of the cathedral, we noticed a ton of people grouping around a random door. We were kind of curious to see what it was (it looked super cool and top secret) so we waited and tried not to look too touristy so we could sneak in (they said they wanted no tourists coming in). Turned out that each of the nine parts of the city has their own little church. Before the race, they bring in the horse and everyone prays for it. It's a sacred tradition for the town. I thought that was really cool that the horse is actually the most important player in the race, meaning that even if the rider falls off, the horse can race and win. (You'll see in the video below that a riderless horse does win or almost wins).
People dress up in medieval garb and parade through the streets, and the people wear scarves of their quarter's flag. Everyone chants and the medieval people put on cool shows. It was the coolest thing ever to be a part of. Our horse unfortunately lost.
We went to San Gimignano as well that day. It was exactly like what you would dream of when you think Italian countryside. I also had the best lasagna of my life there (sorry, mom). It even topped my then best lasagna from Venice I had my senior year of high school. The lady in the store I got it from was really nice, too. Cool thing: I couldn't speak Italian, she couldn't speak English, so we spoke in French! I love it when that happens. But I really should just learn Italian.
We went from Florence to Rome, and we wandered around a bit to find the Trevi Fountain.
The myth is that if you throw in a coin, you are destined to return to Rome some day. I threw a coin in this time, because it did work last time for sure, as this was my second trip.
Although the Trevi is cool, my favorite fountain is in Plaza Navona by the Pantheon. The figures in the fountain turn away or gasp in horror at the site of the Baroque architecture in front of them (which a ton of people hated at the time). I personally like Baroque art, but it does mean deformed pearl...
I had a few certain things that I knew I wanted to do for sure during my second Rome trip. First thing was to get a good night picture of the Colosseum. My first trip, I had a pretty jank camera, so all of my pictures that had minimal lighting didn't turn up. I came prepared this time, and I think it turned out pretty well!
Second thing I wanted to do was get pizza from a pizza place in the gay sector of Rome by the Pantheon where I had been before during my first trip. My friend and I went exploring our last night there, and we were finding all sorts of cool stuff we never saw with our group during tour time. We found some more cool ruins and old churches, Marcus Aurelius' equestrian statue (he's my favorite Roman Emperor), and then before heading back to our hotel, my friend suggesting getting one more slice of Italian pizza before we had to go home. We happened to come to this place, and it was AMAZING, the best pizza I have had in my life. I managed to find it again this trip (I still remembered what the interior of the pizzeria looked like, and my stomach knew where to go, I think), and it was just as good.
The third thing I wanted to make sure I did before leaving Rome was to get Gelato Fassi. I mentioned how amazing it is in my other Rome blog post, but I'll say it again, it is some dayum good gelato. Look at the line to get its deliciousness! I ended up going back twice this trip, the second with my mom. So two times, one trip. Legen... wait for it...
DAIRY.
But literally...
I said goodbye to my fellow travelers and met my mom at our hotel on Via Veneto. After a quick nap, we got some lunch. After having a ton of pizza and pesto, all I wanted was pasta with red sauce.
We went to the Vatican later on. What's cool about the Vatican for me, is that it's surrounded by arms (by my favorite Baroque sculptor, Bernini) that have a TON of columns. When you stand at certain points, all of them line up behind each other and you can't tell how many there are! I'm horrible at math so I've never liked it honestly, but when math and art come together like this, it makes me really happy.
I went to the Pantheon again with my mom, too. When we went though, I think they were finishing a service (it's a functioning church now although it was originally built to honor the Roman gods), so there was a group walking around the Pantheon singing and playing other instruments. It was one of the most glorious things I've ever experienced. The acoustics were incredible, and the fact that I was in the Pantheon listening to all of it was mind blowing.
We returned to the Vatican to do the whole museum tour later on. Although pictures were strictly forbidden, I managed to sneak in a few unnoticed. I had my flash off, of course, because it ruins the fresco, so it's not all that rebellious.
Then in the Basilica, there's Michelangelo's famous Pietá. It's really stunning, and I'm glad I got to see it again.
Bernini's canopy never fails to amaze me. I love that guy.
My mom and I walked along the river from the Vatican, and we passed Castel Sant'angelo, where I think Hadrian is buried. I watch too much Netflix, but in the series Borgia, that follows the story of Pope Alexander VI, this is where they would go to protect themselves when there was some kind of attack on Rome. It was actually really cool to see Rome again after watching that series. It was like when I went to Paris after reading the Da Vinci Code, or Rome my first time after Angels and Demons; you just relive the whole story.
Gorgeous bridge over the Tiber at golden hour.
The best part of the trip, seeing my mom after two months.
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