Days THIRTY FOUR and THIRTY FIVE 

I liked the light in Florence, and I managed to capture some streetscapes which I was quite pleased with. The streets of central Florence were very pretty. In a way it felt like a city hiding its true nature. The streets seemed to be missing the locals. Like Venice, the main street was packed, while the streets either side were deserted. Where were all the interesting people hiding?! There were some clues, such as a few nice bookshops we found, and some cleverly vandalised street signs dotted all over the city which, combined with the knowledge that a lot of designers, composers and other interesting characters are/were from Florence, made me feel as if the streets were somehow waiting for the tour groups and buses to leave before they revealed their true nature. Put up a cardboard town and charge to enter. I came to Europe for the opposite experience and here I am feeling like I'm at Disneyland. Another beautiful town with an absent soul.  The two policewomen walking and talking (pictured below) was a nice exception. Of course we were only there (in the highly touristic places) for a couple of days, so who am I to judge... 

Yet another place I would have liked to stay longer and meet the locals.

Channeling my inner Di Vinci next to the River Arno, 

the same one that runs through Pisa. Hi again pretty river.

^ Possibly the most Italian looking picture of Italy possible? ...Flamboyant cars and over confident men...

With love from Florence xx

Roman Around | Days 32 & 33

Days THIRTY TWO and THIRTY THREE

Some more highlights from Rome, including some lovely staircases and ceilings. The Vatican was one big tourist trap, so I don't feel that I have enough content for a whole post on just that, but the ceilings were incredible so I  have included a few here. We visited the museum part, rather than managing to find that actual Basilica and queue for hours to do a shuffle by. Speaking of which, there was a strict no camera, no stopping policy in the Sistine Chapel, and I don't want to go on and on too much about how I don't actually find Italian interior design particularly tasteful... but I don't actually find Italian interiors particularly tasteful. (Their sculpture and architecture is a different story!)

Also the Spanish Steps were closed to the public the day we went (as was the Trevi Fountain, very sad) so it was just me, the street sellers and a larger-than-life photo of Daniel Craig... could have been worse ;)

With love from Rome xx

Rome | Colosseum & Forum | Day 31

Day THIRTY ONE

It was a hot day in central Rome, but I still managed to wear my scarf. In the words of Ron Weasley "she needs to sort our her priorities". Today was spent exploring the colosseum. It sounds cliché - and probably is - but I found being inside this amazing structure very powerful and emotional. When you walk into the arena the sun shines right into your eyes and I felt myself imagining what it would be like to hear the massive crowd cheering, and knowing you were about to experience pain or die on that hot, dusty stage. As a Classical Studies major, the Colosseum was probably the most impressive structure we visited on this trip (Berliner Dom coming in a close second).

I apologise for the lack of captions - to be honest I wasn't sure what i was looking at some of the time, and I didn't want to caption anything wrong.

next: Rome | Day 32