Intro

First I want to apologize for not writing this last part sooner. Work’s been very busy and for awhile there I couldn’t get in the right frame of mind to write. But I’m back now with the final installment .

It’s been great writing about my trip to Italy and it’s hard to believe that it was a little over a month ago since visiting. Time really does fly…and maybe that’s why I value the opportunities I have to write about my experiences and be the introspective person that I am by nature. Thank you everyone for your feedback thus far.

Day 6: Side trip to Siena
With the suggestion of my dear friend Rox (here on sugar) and also having heard of this place before, I was hoping to take this side trip. I had assumed it wouldn’t be far from my hotel in Florence. Obviously we didn’t know we’d end up in Empoli but it turned out that the rail station in Empoli was about 1 hr from Siena. We got on the regional rail and headed there. When we arrived in Siena, we didn’t expect that the rail station would be a little bit of a distance from the Siena city center. There wasn’t much directing us to where we needed to go and we were among other tourists who looked just as confused as ourselves. We soon realized that we needed to take a bus to where we needed to go. Side comment: This was the only real ‘setup back’ of this day trip and it was nice that we finally overcame a lot of the learning curve that comes with traveling. Also, before I forget, there were 2 things food related that never disappointed: gelato and cappuccino. I wanted to make sure I mentioned that before I finished !

Anyway so back to Siena, we get on a bus with other tourists and get off after about 5-10 minutes and we immediately see many signs pointing to various attractions. We walk around a bit and end up heading to Siena’s famous square or plaza (Piazza del Campo). We noticed that many tourists here were Italian students versus being among tourists from literally all around the world. It was about lunchtime, so we looked to the book to give us some recommendations. We ended up eating in a place that was known for their thick noodles and Tuscan specialty dishes. We really enjoyed this meal and felt the waiter was very helpful and pleasant. As I was walking around I remember holding Tae’s hand and telling him, “This is what I imaged Italy to be like. A quaint and beautiful town like this.” After lunch we headed towards Siena’s Duomo probably in my opinion the most memorable of all the sites we visited. The detailing of the exterior, as we waited in the ticket line, was spectacular. Once we walked in and looked at the artistic detailing on the walls as well as on the floor, I really felt we hadn’t seen anything like this before. Our favorite room was the library and we definitely spent most of our time (as well as the other tourists) staring at the vibrant colors and gold foil detailings on these walls, as well as the preserved pages of music in the cases against the wall. After the Duomo we headed to the Duomo’s Cripta (under the floor of the Duomo upstairs, as the guide book explains) which was in a different entrance and was highly recommended by our book. I HIGHLY DO NOT recommend going to this attraction as it is totally a tourist trap! You literally enter this place and exit in less than 10 minutes for 6 Euro! We were not the only tourists who after seeing everything that was in this, looked around to see if there was more. As we walked out Tae said out loud, definitely loud enough for the people who were walking in to hear him say, “Don’t bother going in unless you want to get ripped off!” One of the couples that was leaving with us turned around and smiled at him in agreement. We decided to walk around and were happy to finally see some internet cafes (which we didn’t run into while in Rome or Florence). We got a 1 hour card and both shared time on the internet. When we decided to head out of Siena, we actually end up walking to the rail station which we realized we could have walked if we had known our directions when arriving. The train we took back to Empoli was a local one and we arrived at about 8pm. We remembered that there was a Chinese take-away style restaurant in Empoli and even I was up for it (which I usually am not) because we were both so tired of eating pasta all the time! Before heading to the Chinese restaurant we wanted to check out a few more shops. We ended up checking out a cute kitchen ware store where we bought some nice Italian ceramic made cups. Tae’s parents collect cups from places they’ve visited, and so he knew they’d like it. After that many of the stores were already closing and we head to the Chinese restaurant. I’m quite ashamed to say I can’t speak Chinese fluently and the only other language the workers there knew was Italian, so I was basically no help in the language department . Thankfully the place has some pictures of dishes on the outside of the restaurant. Tae was cute. He went outside and pointed to the pictures of the things we wanted to order. The lady was somewhat laughing at us, but was very good humored about it all. We ordered a few dishes and we felt like it hit the spot especially with having not eaten Chinese food in awhile. After dinner we head back to the hotel. When we’re back at the hotel, we decide to repack our bags again as we head to the final leg of our trip – Venice.
Siena's Duomo - exterior
Siena's Duomo - the library 1
Siena's Duomo - the library 2
Siena's main sq.
Siena's Duomo - ceiling

Day 7: Traveling to Venice

This entire day was pretty much all travel – so I don’t have too much to say We took a taxi to the Empoli rail station and the taxi driver was trying to tell us that trains weren’t running. We couldn’t really believe that that was the case, so we just tell him to go ahead. We take a look at the board (that lists departures and arrivals) and saw an Italian word next to many of the departing trains that basically meant it was cancelled or no longer in service. We were shocked! What are we going to do – we can’t leave?!?! Tae asks an American tourist what is going on and he tells him that the rail workers are on strike (go figure right – with our luck! ) but that the strike was going to be over around 12 or 1pm. We wait about half an hour and see that there are still some trains arriving and heading toward Florence (where we have to take the EuroStar to Venice). We’re relieved that it was only a small hiccup in our travels. Once we arrived in the Florence train station it was about a 4 hour train ride on the EuroStar before arriving in Venice. Once we arrive in Venice, we have to take a taxi to our hotel. When we arrive in our hotel room we look around and find the hotel a bit old school and we noticed that the only thing separating the shower from the toilet is a curtain that surrounds the shower head. We find that a bit off, but everything else looks okay. We realize later that maybe this is a pretty standard 3-star hotel in an area right outside of Venice since the neighboring town has many old buildings. It’s already pretty late in the afternoon at this point. The woman at the front desk says it’s pretty easy to get to Venice via bus. We’re pretty tired from the day's travels but it’s around 3-4pm and we wanted to take a look at Venice before we called it a day. We follow her directions to get tickets at basically a nearby deli. We walk in the direction of what seems to be a bus stop. We double check with a woman standing nearby and we’re correct. It takes about 30 minutes for the bus to make a few stops before crossing a bridge that leads to Venice. We see many buses in this main bus stop including tour buses. As I walk toward the docks, I am immediately struck by this water city. I’m completely in awe of seeing buildings in water. It’s such a beautiful site to see and something I can’t really put into words . There aren’t as many tourists around because it’s later in the evening and so we feel comfortable just walking around the streets and exploring our surroundings. Venice is full of stores that sell glass blown products and Venetian masks, so we of course pop into those type of stores and check things out. After going into a few stores we stumble upon a unique store that sold hand made jewelry of non-precious stones, but beautiful stones nonetheless. I found a cute set of earrings that were simple but elegant. While also looking around I saw a cute looking owl made out of various pieces of stone and told Tae to take a look at it because I knew how much his sister loves owls. He ended up getting me the earrings and the owl for his sister. At this point we’re hungry but since naviagating through Venice’s streets is like trying to find a place in a maze we try to use our best judgment and pick out a good place on our own. We see a lot of touristy looking places, where there is seating outside of the restaurant. While walking in a corridor where you probably wouldn’t even have noticed - we saw a restaurant. We were at first hesitant to go inside because no one was in there. But we decided to take a chance on this unassuming place. We started off with a mussels appetizer which was really good (had some white wine in it). Tae order a seafood risotto which he loved and he later told me was his favorite meal of the whole trip! I order prawns that was presented very nicely on the plate, but was more show than substance. I of course end up eating off his plate – the food was so yummy! After dinner, I remember feeling as though my heart is racing and I can’t seem to figure out why. Tae remembers the white wine and realized that maybe it might have gotten to me. I drink some water and slow my pace down. After a little while I feel better. Shortly after that we decide to head back to the hotel, glad to have experienced a little bit of Venice and having had a great dinner.
Love this shot - Venice 1
Venice 2
Dock by St Mark's Sq
Pretty building in St. Mark's Sq
Venice 3

Day 8: Last day in Venice and in Italy
We woke up the next morning ready to take on Venice again. Unlike the afternoon before, we were greeted with (of course) mobs of tourists. We take the water taxi (as the gondola ride is said to be approximately 80 Euro!) opting for the cheaper option to travel on the water. I’m still in awe of such a beautiful city in water, and despite some areas of sewage it wasn't that smelly (a question that I've gotten a few times already so I figured I'd answer it here!) We head to the famous square in Venice – St Mark’s. Having been in many squares already the only thing that really impressed me with this was the really beautiful building that was in it (see picture above). We see that there are a few museums and other tourists attractions in this area. We both look at one another and decide that we’re so museum-ed out that we just want to wander around and look at shops like we did the day before. We have lunch in a really touristy joint but we’re okay with it because it’s just lunch. We see even more glass blown and Venetian mask shops and begin to feel like we’re seeing the same thing over and over again! Shopping wise we get a tie for his brother-in-law and also one for his father. We get some glass blown sea creatures also for his father. But as we get closer to dinner time (7pm) he realizes he hasn’t really found anything that stands out for his mom (besides some of the presents that we already got that are for both his parents). We end up literally scrambling to find a place, back tracking to a few places a couple of times. Tae can have a one track mind sometimes and when he has something set in his mind to do something, I just let him be. I’m soooo hungry at this point because we’ve already walked around so much for the day and fuel from lunch has already worn off, but I only mention dinner once and I see he can't even think about that so I let him continue to look for a store with a gift he can get for his mom. Inevitably the shops start to close and we still don’t have anything for her so we decide to stop running around. We just pick a random restaurant, again that didn’t have anyone in it, but the food unlike the evening before isn’t all that great. Tae is pouty the entire time, still upset he couldn’t find anything for his mom. After dinner we take the water taxi back toward the bus hub and savor the last bit of Venice. At this point, we both feel the trip has come to an end very naturally and are pretty happy to be heading back to NYC the next morning.