Header image - Passport stamp Gap Year n, a year between leaving school and starting university

Venice & Florence

Venice and Florence (Carly): Wed 23/08/2006 5:12 PM

Hello again!

I'm sure everyone will be glad to know that I did find out what the time was in Budapest, was slightly surprised by the lack of replies as when Adam wrote an email saying he didn't know where Bratislava was about 10 helpful people replied to tell him it was in Slovakia! Not sure whether this means Adam has more helpful friends or people just think he is too useless to work this sort of thing out for himself!!!

####, Florence
Image: ####, Florence

© Adam 2006

The rest of our time in Budapest was really good, we saw all the major sights and had really lovely weather too!

The train to Venice was much less fun, we expected to get a little sleep but unfortunately between the smelly festival goers returning home (so glad I always drove to and from Reading, the effect on other travellers really is disgusting especially as the Budapest festival was a whole week!), a crying baby and a rather large lady opposite me I couldn't sleep or stretch my legs the whole time! This was made even worse when our train instead of arriving at 7.15 am (which would have been long enough as we got on at 5.30pm) actually arrived at 9.45am, by which time we had nearly not made it to Venice as I panicked that the train might be going back to Budapest and Adam thought we should follow the crowd off the train a stop too early- lucky managed to get back on just in the nick of time! Despite severe sleep deprivation we dragged ourselves round all the major sights and even bumped into a couple of people from Adam's year at school.

The campsite was much better than excepted with a lovely swimming pool and the tent was big enough to stand up in (well one at a time anyway once we had our bags between the beds)! We got a good nights sleep but I think to be perfectly honest that we could have slept on the floor by that point!

We spent our second day in Venice on the beach on Lido island - yes you read that right, I managed to conquer my dislike of the beach long enough for us to sit there for a few hours, although of course I did not build sand castles (in fact did not touch any more sand than was "absolutely necessary) and did not go near the sea, which people were swimming in despite the red flag - bit silly I thought! that night was not so restfully due to an AWFUL Italian rockband who had not quite mastered the English words in any of their songs. Also we managed to stay up after dark this time and found that as we had no torch we had to sit in the dark and listen first to the none too tuneful renditions of the band and then our noisy Australian neighbours!

The train to Florence was a Eurostar and was absolute luxury compared to most of the others we've been on including much better travel companions! Then we arrived at "Rooms with a view" and were amazed by the views from the roof terrace, the spacious room (couldn't get a bigger contrast to the pokey little tent), the large kitchen and possibly best of all the free washing machine!

Needless to say Florence is wonderful, many beautiful buildings and statues, Adam's favourite is Perseus holding the severed head of the Medusa, but I'm quite a fan of Michelangelo's

David, which we saw in the Galleria Academia last night- its just so big and perfect! Got into the academia for free thanks to a tip off from fellow inhabitants of the apartment. After that we went for a late stroll around the east of the city centre, unfortunately the place the guide book calls "the best ice cream parlour in the world" is shut for the summer, but we did find another one which had the best stuff I'd ever tasted!

Today we took in most of the north and west of the city centre seeing lots of palaces and churches. the high light was San Lorenzo, the walls arches and window frames are all grey and white which makes all of the beautiful art work really stand out. We saw Donatello's two pulpits and other work inside which was pretty amazing too! So now we are familiar with some of the work of 3 out of the 4 teenage mutant ninja turtles (thanks partly to Dan Brown) and so we look forward to seeing some of Raphael's stuff in Rome!

Right now this is far too long and I really must try to book some tickets for the Uffizi!

Lots of love to all

Carly xxx

Budapest, Venice & Florence (Adam): Wed 23/08/2006 5:36 PM

Hey Everyone

Its been a while, we couldn't find an internet cafe in Venice so I haven't told u lot about there or Budapest. We have done so much stuff I can't remember what I have already written about so I apologise if I repeat anything. From what I remember I wrote one of these when we first got to Budapest...

####, Florence
Image: ####, Florence

© Adam 2006

The rest of our time in Budapest was amazing, such a lively city. We climbed to the top of Gellert Hill where there is a citadel and a cave church - pretty cool, I know if I was attacking Budapest there's no way I'd have enough energy left to do any damage to the citadel after climbing that hill. Me and Carly had to stop at the top for a while to relax a bit.

Unfortunately our next stop was the Royal Palace, at the top of another huge hill, if u ever come to Budapest do not do the Palace and the citadel on the same day! After climbing all the way up we decided the palace didn't sound all that interesting anyway so we had lunch and walked back down again. The Budapest Parliament is interesting, if u see it from the other side of the Danube it looks fantastic but the front of it is filthy and nowhere near as nice.

Heroes Square was very big... the statues and columns are very nice but its not that impressive compared to the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Trying to get into the square was a nightmare coz Budapest has soooo much traffic, its almost as busy as London. The Castle is pretty disappointing, the moat and the imposing drawbridge are pretty cool but once u get inside u wonder whythey are there at all coz there's nothing that remarkable in there.

We took a bus out to statue park, where all the old communist propaganda statues are stored. Unlike the Berliners who destroyed every last trace of communism, the people of Budapest kept them in a quaint little park so that tourists can come and laugh at them. There are huge statues of Lenin and Marx and Communist soldiers shaking hands with the people they have 'saved', its pretty funny.

St Stephen's Basilica was very very big but by this stage I had really seen enough churches to dull my enthusiasm to be honest. There are many more to see here in Italy too but at least here they are more works of art than sacred places.

The overnight train from Budapest to Venice was an absolute nightmare. It was s'posed to be 11 hours but ended up about 13 and a half. There was a huge music festival in Budapest which ended a few days before and had been on for over a week so the train was packed with dreadlocked, guitar-toting, unwashed hippies who could use their festival tickets to travel for free. We passed through god-knows how many undesirable countries (Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia to name a few) and the train was thoroughly searched at every border.

U can imagine I was pretty glad when we passed into Italy and (relative) civilisation although my happiness was nothing to that of the Chinese guy next to me who had been subjected to a full-on interrogation at every passport control we passed through! I was also witness to an incredible featof human endurance which I feel rivals those puny stunts of David Blaine - a family of eastern Europeans sat opposite us on the train but someone had sat in one of their reserved seats so rather than telling them to get the hell out (as any sane person would do) the old man stood up for the entire journey!!! I only know this because I was unable to sleep as his son was staring at me pretty much the whole time and some crazy hippies were playing some dodgy folk music on their out-of-tune guitars. Thankfully we have no more long train journeys to look forward to on this part of the trip!

I realise this has gone on a bit so I'll tell u a bit about Venice then leave u to it. Basically its very nice but there are way too many tourists. And while I'm there: too many street vendors selling fake designer handbags, too many beggars, too many alleyways that smell of urine and too many pigeons (prob more per square inch than Trafalgar square). The canals are all a little too green to be healthy and the gondolas are a little too expensive to ride in (€80 a pop anyone?). We opted for a ride on the canal bus instead which cost a modest €10 for a return ride to Lido where we sat on a dirty overpopulated beach. The thing I liked most about Venice is that there are no cars so u can stroll around without a care... at least u could if there were less tourists. I know I am one but still, I don't think anyone actually lives there anymore.

We stayed on a campsite which was actually quite good coz there was a pool and a bus into the city every hour and free entertainment which consisted of a band covering rock songs in very bad English. U might get the impression that I didn't like Venice, it does have some fascinating sights to see but they are mostly obscured by tourists and pigeon shit.

Florence, on the other hand, is great. I love it. The apartment is the nicest place we have stayed yet, with a kitchen so we can cook and finally I can get a decent breakfast! We got some laundry done as well which means I now have enough socks to last the next few weeks til we get back to England.

There is also a rooftop terrace with an incredible view of the city and it is right next to the Duomo Cathedral which is absolutely massive so we can always find our way back.

If Venice is characterised by green water and Japanese people with unnecessarily large cameras then Florence is characterised by its art. Our first visit was to the Palazzo Vecchio in which every single room is decorated with paintings on the ceiling like the Sistine Chapel. There is also a collection of sculptures by Michelangelo and others of the grand masters. This palace is even better than the Pergamon museum back in Berlin.

The courtyard in front of the palace is full of huge statues including a replica of Michelangelo's famous David where the original used to stand.

Typically I take a few pictures outside the palace before we go inside and the battery on the camera runs out!

We went to the Galleria Del Accademia and saw the real David and some of Michelangelo's unfinished works which he left behind when he died. It is amazing to see how he started carving them out of massive marble blocks. We went to the former house of Dante which was nice and then we saw a few more churches. We tried to visit the shop which reputedly sells 'the best ice cream in the world' but it is closed for the summer... makes perfect sense right?

Today we have spent exploring the rest of the city centre. Seen a lot more palazzos and churches. The San Lorenzo church I actually did like, its more of an art gallery than a church with the walls dominated by enormous paintings and ornate crypts. The coffin of the artist Donatello is here andthere was one coffin made of silver bars so u can see the skeleton inside which is obviously a bit morbid. Oh yeah and we crossed the Vecchio bridge which has shops all along it which are surprisingly all jewellers. There must be forty of them on the one bridge which is pretty weird, from what I saw tho the prices are still not all that competitive...

Anway I meant to write an email but I seem to have rewritten the bible and I'm sure ur arse is prob numb by now, mine definitely is - the amount they charge in this place u'd think they could afford some decent chairs.

So I'll let u all go, whether u actually read this far or just skipped to the bottom I'll never know so I'll leave it to ur own conscience. Hope everything is goin well for u all

Take it easy

Adam

ps. Duncan I solved the problem by giving all my leftover change from Budapest (loads of coins that were altogether worth about 12 and a half p) to a tramp here in Italy. Now I no longer have to walk with my hands in my pockets to hold my shorts up... I just have to do it to keep the thieving Italians from taking my wallet!

Starts as a bit of a rant but I do cheer up! (Carly): Fri 25/08/2006 7:20 PM

Aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh I am so angry I don't know whether to cry or pull out my hair!!!!!!!! I guess neither of those would be very productive but god how I hate computers and stupid stupid ntl!!!! I just typed out a really long email to you on ntlworld, and then when I had 2 mins of internet time left I pressed send and it said that my session had timed out, stupid website how can your session time out while you are typing an email?

Its been a pretty bad internet session all round as the first computer I was on crashed on me!

They always seem to crash on me, never Adam, maybe I'm unlucky or maybe I just open too many windows at once!

gggrrrr right deep breath calm down Carly!

now that iIve had to put another hour on my account I guess I should re-type the whole thing, very annoying as I was writing it for about 20 mins, the subject was "warning I got a bit carried away typing this"

Anyway now that I am more composed I guess I should start!

Firstly we're both so pleased that you liked your anniversary present, better late than never and at least now you'll have time to watch them over the weekend!

Then I was telling you about what a lovely day we had yesterday! I think it was the best of the trip so far for me!

We went to the Uffizi Art Gallery. I never realised I liked art galleries, guess that's probably cos I've only been to the Tate Modern (yuck!) and the Louvre - think I enjoyed that one too although Katherine insisted on reading the blurb on every painting.

We queued for 2 hours to get in as it would have cost triple the entrance price to book online and we only paid half price cos we're under 26! So we used some of the money we saved for an audio guide - such a good move it made the whole thing so much more interesting! We shared one to save a couple of euros, Adam listened like it was a phone and I had plug in headphones, which meant to his horror that we were joined at the hip for a lot of the time, although I don't know what he was complaining about, as he had the machine around his neck it was me that was pulled along whenever he moved!!!

I enjoyed it so much more hearing the stories behind some of the paintings and it meant all of the masterpieces were pointed out to us, I think if we hadn't had one we would have got bored and missed a lot! I discovered that I am a big fan of Botticelli, there were lots of his paintings in there! the two "famous" ones (well I'd never heard of them!) were the birth of Venus and Primavestra (spring), but my favourite was a round one of the Madonna being crowned by some angels. I think I liked it because of the pretty colours and the very delicate crown!

We also saw Michelangelo's only painting on wood, which was cool because he broke with tradition and painted Mary with lots of muscles and Jesus climbing on her shoulder (we probably wouldn't even have noticed without the guide!)

There was a room with some of da Vinci's early work with that of the master he studied with, Verrocchio. It was really interesting because I earwigged on an American tour guide who told her group how Verrocchio stuck to sculpture once he realised Leonardo could paint better than him and pointed out the difference in their styles of painting in a picture they collaborated on.

We also saw some stuff by Raphael so now we've seen stuff by all the ninja turtles in Florence!

Possibly the best bit was the exhibition at the end "inside the mind of Leonardo da Vinci" there were lots of his experiments and designs with computer simulations of the 'perpetual motion wheel', the 'mechanical lion' and his new method of casting. As well as lots of sketches and an explanation of the geometrical man which showed how important proportion was to him in his painting.

My favourite part though were the videos explaining his paintings. There was one on the last supper which showed us how he painted each of the 12 disciples displaying a different emotion to the news that one of them was going to betray Jesus. it was really clever even showing the movements they might have made to end up in the positions they are in! I thought it was probably better than seeing the painting itself, handy as we cant see it in Milan!

This thought was confirmed with the next video on the "annunciation" (when Mary is told by the angel that she is pregnant with god's son - and one of the paintings we had seen!). It explained how lots of "inconsistancies" (we hadn't noticed any of them!) which the painting had been criticised for actually showed that it was meant to be viewed from the right. They turn the picture on the screen and lo and behold, Mary's arm which is too long becomes shorter, the angel's unnatural pose becomes a natural one and the mountain on a lake moves onto land!

It really was amazing and I bought a postcard of the painting to show people! Also bought ones of the 3 Botticelli's and Michelangelo's one, just shows how much I enjoyed it!

Saw inside the cathedrale in the afternoon and then went for a run in the evening. I much prefer running at dusk/in the dark, its much easier without the sun beating down on you.Last time we went I hurt my knee, possibly because I started off much too fast (Adam was shocked!), so this time I kept a steadier place and luckily my knee held out. Adam says i've definitely improved because he broke out into a sweat and it was cos of me not the sun like usual!

Now I'm getting to the cheeky part! We need to get quite a few things when we're home and so I thought if I sent you a list maybe you could get some of them for us if you see them, to save a bit of time as we have so much to do! Don't worry to get it all/any of it, anything you could get will just save us a bit of time! I'll put a list at the end!

Right that's pretty much everything I had written plus a bit extra! And its taken even longer this time! Adam has gone back to the appartment cos he didn't want to wait for another hour!

Lots of love to you both and Scott! We hope you have fun with dawn and at the party. give my love to Nicky and Pete, Dawn, Carole and Vic!

We're really looking forward to seeing you in under 2 weeks, well I am anyway, its hard to tell with Adam he doesn't really display many emotions! I'm definitely looking forward to some decent conversation, as Adam is often very silent, so much so that I can't tell if he's being grumpy or what! He must be sick of me checking if he's ok!

lots of love Carly xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

ok so we need to buy:

Also we will need to pinch from home:

And if you have any time it would be really handy if you could look for hostels in Singapore, Hong Kong and Tokyo, Stephanie has given me the name of one in Beijing and I found some in Thailand - one even has a pool and gym and less than £2 a night!