Friday 11 December 2009

Italy

So I know that this is way way way overdue. So it's like over a month since I got back from Italy, but it's better late than never I suppose. 

Basically, I returned from Italy waaaay back on Thursday 29th October but I was just getting back into the swing of things at home, hence the overdue recap of Italy. Then, I started school again on 2nd November so I've been a busy bee, what with lots of homework/coursework but I'll make up for it by writing a really long blog post. So here's a run down of everything that went on in Italy, accompanied by some pictures.

P.S. Please excuse the atrocity of what I was wearing in some of the pictures. Unfortunately, comfort came before looks in Italy due to the horrific amount of walking that had to be done. Converses were practically glued to my feet until I couldn't actually remember what having feet felt like. This is such a long P.S., sorry! Back to Italy...

Friday 23rd Oct: So I was really quite tired but decided that there wasn't much point in sleeping, to just be woken up again at 2 am to get ready to get to school for 2.45 am. I stayed up and read some of my book, double checked my packing and hand luggage and chatted with a few people on MSN who were also going on the Italy trip. Then got to school and then a coach journey for 1-2 hours to get to East Midlands airport. Then, we hung around and caught our flight to Ciampino airport at 6.30 am.
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My sister, Christy, and I at East Midlands Airport

We arrived in Ciampino, Italy sometime in the early afternoon. We had to wait a pretty long time for the coach because there was a political demonstration thing going on hence loads of traffic. We got on the coach, to go back to even more traffic. When the coach journey felt like it would never end, we finally arrived at our destination: Hotel Touring. It was a nice hotel and my sister, Christy, and my friend, Bethan, were in a room together. We were the only people on floor two meaning that we were apart from the rest of the group who were on the floor above. Our room was big compared to the others but it would've been nice to be on the same floor as everyone else; however, we got ourselves freshened up after all the travelling and got properly settled in (we laid out all our shoes and had a table full of food and everything!)

We changed into more fashion-worthy clothes and then we all met up with the rest of the group for a walk into Rome and soak in some much needed culture. The weather was a lovely 20 odd degrees Celsius, much warmer than the weather that England was experiencing. We walked to the Spanish Steps (don't ask why 'cause we were in Italy, not Spain) and were just generally taking in the whole of Rome. The atmosphere was so amazing; touristy but not too touristy. Next, we went to a Piazza somewhere, with lovely buildings and steps which seemed to be asking to be sat on.
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After being completely ripped off by the vendor and buying a Sprite for €3,50, we got the chance to go to a small supermarket to stock up on some much needed carbonated beverages, i.e. Diet Coke! Next stop was the Trevi Fountain! Because of its immense popularity, it was absolutely jam-packed with tourists (hello, us!) so even though the fountain was really quite something, distractions were all around us; the main one being the several ice cream parlours dotted around the Trevi Fountain. We all decided to get some ice cream; we deserved it after all that walking! I got a very standard vanilla, which turned out to be not so standard in that it was sooo yummy. It has to be said that Italian ice-cream is amongst the best in the world! We stayed there for a while, eating our ice-creams and generally chilling. The sun was shining and we were in one of the most cultural and magical cities in the world; what could beat that, really?
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Blazer - Marc by Marc Jacobs (Hand-me-down); Top - Gap (£5); Shorts - Gap (£7); Tights - Random; Shoes - Faith (£5); Messenger bag - Gucci (Borrowed from my Mum)

After the hectic and tiring day, having a few hours to chill in the hotel was exactly what we needed. After a little more sorting out of our possessions, we had dinner at Al Nuovo Fagianetto. After dinner, it was wash time, chatting, reading magazines, chilling and after a truly exhausting 20 hours of so, it was time for bed. What a way to end our first day in Rome.
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Saturday 24th Oct: After a much needed night of rest, we got up bright and early for breakfast. After that, we met up with the group and made our way to a little supermarket to get some drinks (PEACH ICED TEA<3 absolutely="" after="" alt="Photobucket" amazing="" an="" and="" another="" border="0" colosseum="" cool="" data-orig-src="http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x219/chloAYE/P1110940.jpg" day="" enormous="" forum="" headed="" history.="" hung="" iconic="" img="" in="" it="" on="" out="" place.="" place="" really="" roman="" src="//images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fi186.photobucket.com%2Falbums%2Fx219%2FchloAYE%2FP1110940.jpg&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" such="" that="" the="" this="" to="" visit.="" was="" we="" which="">
Shirt - Gap (£30), T-shirt - Random; Shorts - Levi's (Hand-me-down); Tights - Random; Shoes - Converse (£20)

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Sunday 25th Oct:
On this day, we had breakfast and then braved the metro in Rome (definitely an experience, envision the entire group clutching our bags to our chests in fear of pickpockets) to the Vatican, where we joined the queue to get into St Peter's. We were moving up the queue but it was here that we found out that the Pope was inside St Peter's for mass. The cathedal was already full and so, we were turned away. We saw the Pope on the big screen which was pretty cool and the Vatican itself was just absolutely immense. The place was huge and the sun was shining so brightly; the place was magical, seriously. I'm an atheist and I can honestly say it was amazing. We were all boiling to death due to having to wear jeans (no shorts/skirts/tanks) and I was wearing all black, clever me... But it wasn't too bad, so anyway, we went on to go to the Castel Sant' Angelo, which had amazing views over the River Tiber. After a packed lunch in a park, we went back to St. Peter's where we waited for an hour or two to get into St Peter's. We were all getting restless but finally, we got the chance to walk up the 551 steps to the top of the bell tower, which had AMAZING views of the whole of Rome. It was absolutely amazing, albeit extremely crowded, but it was so beautiful and the views were breath-taking, seriously. We then made our way down and could actually see inside the dome to the alter, hundreds of feet below us. Then we finally got to the actual basilica which was huge and I was just going around on my own in this enormous building which so much history and religion which was just baffling to me. I also got asked by two couples for my to take their photo inside the basilica, haha.


After wandering around the St Peter's, we left the Vatican and went across the Tiber to the Piazza Navona. Here, we had the chance to walk around and my sister and I decided to get caricatures! They were originally gonna be
10 but the caricaturist gave us 2 for €10 which was a great deal. After this, we went to the Pantheon with the oculus at the top to let light in. It was such a brilliant building and I loved it here too. Then, one final stop to the Trevi Fountain again for ice creams and souvenirs! We had our final meal at the restaurant and did some late night packing to get ready for the early start the next day.


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Monday 26th Oct: I felt really sad leaving Rome on this day. Even though we still had like 3 days left of the trip, I knew that I would really miss Rome with all its lovely buildings and the hustle and bustle of the city. We were on the coach for about an hour or two and arrived at Ostia, the port of Rome. Unfortunately, the site was closed so instead, we went to Oplontis, an ancient villa near Pompeii. To be honest, I wasn't that bothered by this place as I just wanted to get to the hotel in Sorrento. Anyway, after a few more hours travelling, we arrived at the Hotel Londra in Sant Agnello, near Sorrento (there was another school from Birmingham there). We got settled in again and then took a walk to see the sunset and then a small shopping trip in Sant Agnello where we got stocked up on lots of drinks and snacks! It was also Miss Griffith's birthday so we had a cake and everything, but we didn't like it so we kept giving it to the other table. It was a 'you had to be there' kind of thing but it was hilarious at the time. After another day of travelling and walking, I was glad for the sleep time.
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Beautiful sunset! (Sorry about it being so blurry though!)

Tuesday 27th Oct: This was the Pompeii Day! Possibly the hottest day of the week and we took a coach to Pompeii and spent the whole day there. We looked around the whole place and I mean, THE WHOLE PLACE. It was pretty interesting stuff with the amphitheatre, baths, forum, theatre, villa of the mysteries, even Caecilius' villa as well as ice cream stops, etc. However, by the end, I was completely exhausted and after staring at the cobbles for too long, I was seriously ready to go. I occupied myself with running without stepping onto the cracks of the cobbles, prompting comments such as "run, Chloe, run"... Overall, the day was so interesting and it was fascinating to see the casts of dead Pompeians who had been preserved perfectly due to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius covering the whole of Pompeii in ash. After a nice snooze and chillin' on the coach, we were finally back at the hotel.
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After a nice hour or so, we went to have dinner and then we all went on a walk into Sorrento for a shopping trip! There were actually a few decent shops so it was a really nice shopping trip; it was our friend, Lily's birthday the day after (on the 28th) so it was in this little jewellery shop that we bought Lily a beautiful cameo brooch/pendant which was lovely and we all chipped in for that which was nice :-) As well as this, we had some more ice cream (Nutella and Lindt!) which was all kinds of yummy. Back to the hotel for another night of chatting in our room and just chilling before bed.
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Wednesday 28th Oct: Today was Lily's birthday and it was also the day in which we took a coach to Mount Vesuvius, the volcano which erupted in AD 79. It was pretty cold at the top, which was quite amusing as so many people were just in shorts/bare legs/t-shirts. I was wearing a Bape t-shirt, Gap shorts, tights, Converses, H&M cardigan so I was fine. It took about half an hour to walk to the crater of Vesuvius and the views were sooo incredible. Seriously, I was so amazed and it was just amazing up there. I was just toddling along listening to upbeat songs (i.e. Kid British, James Brown, etc.) to power me along. On the coach journey, we went to have a pizza lunch at a reastaurant on the coast at Torre del Groco. It was the first time I'd had pizza whilst in Italy - we were starving and it was so nice. Finally, the last tour was to see the ruins of Herculaneum, a smaller version of Pompeii basically. It was nice but instead, we mostly just sat around taking pictures and chatting :-)
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Finally, we got back to the hotel and had our final dinner in Sorrento. Then, we took a second walk into Sorrento, where we got some other buys and said goodbye to Sorrento (we also stocked up on some Coke and Pringles)! However, we actually had a very exciting event ahead for Lily because we held a surprise birthday party for her in our room! We made sure that she and Louise were in their room whilst we went around knocking on all the rooms telling people to come to our room and we borrowed some speakers from Steven, and prior to this, we stuck up banners (with chewing gum from the assistance of Chris, we tried toothpaste as well 'cause we had no sellotape or Blu-tack) and blew up balloons and stuff so yeah, it was good! With the help of Louise, Anisha and Beth, they stalled Lily until it was the actual party and we had a blast! Most of the people just came for food and then went but us girls stayed to chat and it was a really nice end to the trip.
It was pretty sad times though and I was sad to be leaving Italy the next day. Packing went on into the night and finally, I had my last sleep in Italy.
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Thursday 29th Oct: After an early wake up and trying to desperately unload lots of sweaty cheese rolls (with bread like leather, no less) onto other people and being harshly rejected, we were good to go. I felt sentimental, leaving Italy and after the coach ride to Naples airport, a lot of waiting around was to be done. Once we were checked in for our flight back to Gatwick, I bought a ridiculously overpriced latte Americano (very nice though, Italians make nice coffee) and bagel thing, spending the last of my Euro coins. Finally, we got on the plane and settled in for a pretty chilled flight which I actually enjoyed. I just read a bit of Catcher In The Rye and bought a cup of tea (I felt like such a noob for spilling some milk on the dude next to me though, ha - *facepalm*) and stayed awake the whole time. Finally, after the 2-3 hour flight, we arrived in England! By this time, all I really wanted was to get my hands on a massive burger of any kind. I was in desperate need of junk food!!!


Sadly, didn't see any fast food places but managed to buy some Thai Sweet Chilli Sensations crisps (my favourite) from Sainsbury's and also a pasta pot from M&S Food which was nice (I fed everyone else pieces of pasta on the coach later, haha). We read newly bought magazines and chilled on the coach, generally having a good laugh and talking 'street'! After a few hours, we stopped at the services in Oxford where there was actually fast food! My eyes lit up at the sight of KFC and managed to devour a Boneless Banquet box as well as a humungous latte too. After a few more hours of sitting on the coach and taking hilarious pictures of people with the ridiculously bright flash on, we finally arrived back in Birmingham. I was so happy to see my family again.
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It was just such an amazing trip with so much culture, architecture, history and more. It really was a trip of a lifetime and everyone got on with everyone else so I really did have an amazing time.
I have to say, I've never spent so much money on food in my life... It seemed like all we bought were endless bottles of Coke, Nestea iced tea, Pringles and Ritz biscuits. They weren't the only things I bought though but I'll elaborate in a future post because this one has gone on long enough and is threatening to take over my whole blog..!!! Honestly, I recommend Italy to all of you as it's such a fascinating place and I'm so glad I got the chance to go.

Chloe

6 comments:

  1. I love the pics so much!

    colormenana.blogspot.com

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  2. Hey Chloe! What an incredible experience! I'd love to visit Europe so I'm jealous!

    I've decided to make my blog private and I'd love for you to continue reading along. I can't find your e-mail address to add to the list though, so if you're interested just e-mail me at mellyc57@gmail.com. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Your blog is amazing- such pretty pictures!
    If you have time would you look at mine?
    shelovesvelvet.blogspot.com
    thanks and keep up the great blog :)

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  4. Ohhh wow you are so luck getting the chance to travel around Italy with your friends :) We had one when we went to London and it was really good, just girls! And you girls are so stylish too :)

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  5. WOW italy looks absolutely amazing! i am so jealous, ive been wanting to go there for so long. and also, i love your outifts, they are so cute!
    xo

    ps, i changed the name of my blog, which now means that the people who followed me before i changed it, cant get onto my blog? so could you possibly unfollow, and then re-follow me by going onto cest-lamour.blogspot.com. if you still want to follow me that is :) thank you,
    ells, xo

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hey! What a great blog!
    Camilla

    Rainbowpavingstones.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete

I read and appreciate every single comment, so thank you in advance for visiting my blog! :-)