Wrap Up

Well folks, here’s the wrap up of the Italy trip.  It’s been a tough week, dealing with a shocker cold, jet lag and getting back to work.  I’m still trying to remember how to do basic things and am still coming terms with being back.  It almost seems like  I haven’t been.  I now have the task of putting the photo albums together and planning the next holiday.  Here’s the list of best and worst and a few things I learned along the way.   See you all for the next trip.

Favourite Place      well duh, that would have to be Venice but also Florence and Verona

Best Accommodation    Florence – Tourist House Ghiberti and Orvieto – B&B Sant’Angelo 42

Worst Accommodation   Milan – Ostello La Cordata and Padova – Hotel Al Santo

Best Meal      Fettucini with chicken and cream sauce – Florence
Saltimbocca alla Romana – Rome
Bruno’s cooking – San Gimignano

Best experience      Carnivale – no surprise there

Easiest places to navigate    Florence, Venice and Verona

Place I got lost the most      Rome

Places I’d visit again      Venice and Florence

Things I’ve learned

• travelling on my own got a bit lonely but I could see what I wanted and trudge along for 8 or 9 hours without anyone stopping me.  Be thankful for Skype people because I talked to Mum and Dad a lot, otherwise the blogs would probably have been twice the size
• sometimes a change of plans brings a welcome surprise – Verona
• taking a laptop was fabulous because I could download my photos each night and chat on Skype
• I handled the cold much better than I thought I would and I’m no longer afraid to go to cold places
• Minus 2 degrees is actually bearable but when the weather report says the wind chill factor will have a feels like temperature of minus 12, they aren’t kidding
• that pizza smells fabulous even a 9 o’clock in the morning
• it might be a while before I eat pizza again
• if pasta over here tasted as good as the pasta in Italy, I’d eat it much more often
• eating out every meal for a month actually got boring but now that I’m home I’ll do anything to get out of cooking
• even though I thought I’d packed light, I still should have taken less clothes
• I got sick of art galleries long before I tired of seeing churches….actually I didn’t get sick of churches at all, they just kept amazing me
• coming home with a raging cold sucks….bloody planes
• I think I slacked off in the photos stakes, I only took 3284 photos, much less than usual although I did delete quite a few
• Carnival masks are not comfortable to wear
• that the fashionista in Italy and particularly Milan only look good because of people like me, that constantly look like dags
• never kid yourself that driving in Italy will be ok, unless of course you are used to driving on the wrong side of the road
• Italians love their fur coats and there ain’t nothing faux about them
• most things are sooo much cheaper in Italy than over here.  I’m really starting to realise how expensive Australia is
• how I lucky I am to have travelled in the middle of winter through Europe’s coldest winter in 20 years and not see a drop of rain…..snow, yes, rain, no
• that it’s possible to wear a coat every day for a month and find a secret pocket on the last day…doh!
• I can’t wait for my next adventure 🙂