Venice, Italy!

We LOVED Venice! Its always the places that you don't expect too much from that end up being the best! After a tour of a lace and glass factory where everything is made by the Italians themselves (very interesting and talented stuff!) we got 'lost' in the city for the day as advised by our tour leader. We went on a gondola boat ride which was so much fun and then just walked around the streets sampling food, running into a lot of dead ends and only just made it back to our bus (it was pulling away just as we got there...) it was like being in the Labyrinth movie - so many brick streets with no map structure its just one big maze - we were going to draw arrows with our lipsticks at one point! They had so many shops full of beautiful masks, Im usually quite frightened of things like that but they were just so beautifully made you couldn't help but like them! That night we had a toga party at another camping village which was good fun, everyone was horribly hungover again for another long day on the bus but thats all part of the fun! Today we arrived on Pag Island which is just beautiful and we have a really nice hotel room so we finally get to put our feet up and just chill for the next few days (and go to the 24 hour beach party of course!) Fun times!

Vatican City

On a brighter note, the next day we visited the Vatican city and again it was busy but I can't even describe this place, if there was one place on earth I would say you HAD to go to it would be here. The Vatican Museums and the world famous Sistine Chapel with its ceiling frescoes by Michelangelo was just unreal, I got a few photos inside of some art works but your not allowed to take photos in the main parts like of Michelangelo's works but photos wouldn't do it justice anyway. I've seen so many images of these places growing up and studied many of these art works at uni but seeing them in real life is just a whole other experience that I can't explain... so all I can say is get there soon!!

Rome, Italy - Two days here

Rome... Not what we expected at all... we knew there would be a lot of tourists there but the place was actually infested. When we were in Barcelona it was busy but you could go down side streets and get some peace - not here! We couldn't wait to leave by the end of the second day, you are so crammed in the public transport and I don't mean standing close together, I mean complete strangers pushed so hard up against you you actually cannot move so it was a bit uncomfortable - we were glad that we were staying at a cool camping village away from the city! We waited for transport, waited to get into the tourist attractions and waited at the supermarkets and I don't mean that Im complaining about a few 10 minute lines here and there, it was like 1 hour waits for everything. Not to sound negative, were glad we went and saw this incredible piece of history but we would never go back! You have to go to Rome and see the Colosseum of course, standing in there was incredible especially cause your aware of what went on in there hundreds of years ago, you just stand there for a bit buzzing out at the thought of it all really. They had beautiful art work in the city centre as well, I'm defiantly going to buy a painting from Italy when we are back in July!

Orvieto, Italy

The next day (after Florence) we stopped off at a gorgeous quaint hilltop town called Orvieto on our way to Rome. These small places are my favorite without at doubt, there is so much culture and life everywhere you look and everyone is so friendly -  we were really stoked that we got to see such a nice town on our way to Rome, you would never have thought it existed from the bottom of the hill!

Florence, Italy!

We loved Florence, it was such a nice city and we really enjoyed just walking around and looking at the markets and buildings there. We had our first proper Italian coffee (they have them in shot glasses!) and I bought a leather bag, leather glasses case, leather diary and a leather coin wallet all for 40 euro which is around $70 at the moment, such an awesome deal its so cheap there cause Italy is where a lot of the worlds leather supply comes from. We had a delicious pizza for lunch and yum treats from the bakery - its good were walking for up to 8 hours some days thats all I can say!! Were really looking forward to going back there on our Italian trip in July thats for sure! That night the girls and I had a nice picnic dinner and of course more Gelato for dessert... 

Pisa, Italy!

Such an awesome day!! I have been wanting to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa since I can remember and it was so much fun taking photos with the tower! We stopped off here for an hour or so and had our daily Gelato ice cream as well, I'm getting to the point where I can't even think about eating ice cream and I never thought the day would come where I said that! It was so hot, the temperature is defiantly getting hotter! After we saw the tower we then headed into Florence where we would spend the next day!

Nice, France and Monaco

We stopped in Nice for the day and chilled at the beach before heading to Monaco for the night where we visited the Monte Carlo casino! Nice had a beautiful beach but we didn't feel as safe there as other areas of France, a few dodgy people around but Monaco was cool to see, its such an expensive area and they have a 0% crime rate there as every corner has a security camera... the casino was way smaller inside that what we had initially imagined but it was so flash and also cool to see where some of the James Bond movie had been filmed! Kate put in 5 euro and won 55 euro on her first go so that was exciting! We then went out for dessert before heading back to our hotel in Nice. The following morning we left Nice and headed to Florence in Italy!