Next on my journey, I was going to be joined by some company for a while, someone with whom to share the splendours of Italy. Shimrit is a gal I met in Hamburg, and after getting along well we decided to meet in Italy since we would be there at the same time anyway. I caught the high speed train from Rome to Milan where we met at the station, and continued on together by regional train to Torino (Turin in English, but I have noticed it being used interchangeably between languages). Torino hadn’t originally been on my itinerary, but then again, I was never really sure where I wanted to visit in Italy. We arrived in Torino to chilly weather, overcast skies, and moderate wind. Not a typical tourist destination, there wasn’t a heck of a lot to do in Torino but we both enjoyed having someone to share supper with; not sitting alone in a restaurant of couples while alone, perusing a book (been there, done that, am currently doing it as I write this). Torino is a city blessed with good food, and with Shimrit’s smattering of Italian, she helped along the ordering process greatly where I would have been completely lost. Because of the sorry state of hostels in many Italian cities, and because Shimrit had had some terrible experiences in them in previous visits to Italy, we opted to split the cost of hotel rooms for the time we travelled together. Roughly the same per person as a hostel dorm bed, it worked out well and offered at least semi privacy; certainly eliminating the concerns of sharing a room with seven complete strangers. We pre-booked a couple weeks in advance and discovered that even the cheap hotels (roughly €40-50/night) were well appointed, for the most part quite clean, and well situated.
Moving on from bleak Torino (it is much better in other seasons I hear) after two nights, we took the fast train to a tourist hot spot, Firenze; more commonly, Florence. A city steeped in almost as much romantic lore as Venice, it is famous for its artwork, old buildings, and food. While we were lucky that the usually booming tourist industry was a little lacklustre in the cool early winter, it also meant we were usually cold while exploring and 
missed out on some attractions which don’t open in the less lucrative months. Staying for four nights, we took things at an easy pace, interspersing outdoor exploration with indoor activities to beat the frigid cold outside. On the 15th we visited Veccio Palace, one of Florence’s many famous palaces. This is one of the oldest of the old and has seen use as Florence Town Hall, accommodations for royalty and visiting dignitaries. The building itself is stunning enough, but paying the €4.50 entrance guarantees you will be awed by the extent of the artwork inside. They don’t need to set up galleries to display the work; the rooms themselves are the galleries. Much like the Sistine Chapel, room after room is covered floor to ceiling with spectacular art, most of it Christian inspired. We were amazed to discover that the building is still used by the city, offering meeting space for conferences and council meetings. Moving on from the palace, we braved the cold for a short while, admiring some more of the spectacular architecture Florence has to offer. A short walk took us past the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence’s cathedral famous for its rose and green granite exterior; through the Piazza della Repubblica with its Column of Abundance; and finally to the Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge in Florence to survive WWII. The bridge is lined with shops and stalls – as most older bridges in Europe were - almost completely blocking the view of
the river it passes over, and giving you the impression you are not actually on a bridge (perhaps that’s why they were done that way!). Neither of us had any part in the overpriced souvenirs for sale on the bridge, nor any of the illegal knockoff merchandise for sale all over the city. Sternly worded signs warned that individuals purchasing knockoffs were subject to fines from €500-10,000; the buyers, not the sellers. Any non brand named products were alright, but those Gucci and Prada bags that are so lusted after and are for sale for only €25...ever hear of too good to be true? The police chased down the sellers with varying degrees of enthusiasm, and with varying levels of success.
missed out on some attractions which don’t open in the less lucrative months. Staying for four nights, we took things at an easy pace, interspersing outdoor exploration with indoor activities to beat the frigid cold outside. On the 15th we visited Veccio Palace, one of Florence’s many famous palaces. This is one of the oldest of the old and has seen use as Florence Town Hall, accommodations for royalty and visiting dignitaries. The building itself is stunning enough, but paying the €4.50 entrance guarantees you will be awed by the extent of the artwork inside. They don’t need to set up galleries to display the work; the rooms themselves are the galleries. Much like the Sistine Chapel, room after room is covered floor to ceiling with spectacular art, most of it Christian inspired. We were amazed to discover that the building is still used by the city, offering meeting space for conferences and council meetings. Moving on from the palace, we braved the cold for a short while, admiring some more of the spectacular architecture Florence has to offer. A short walk took us past the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, Florence’s cathedral famous for its rose and green granite exterior; through the Piazza della Repubblica with its Column of Abundance; and finally to the Ponte Vecchio, the only bridge in Florence to survive WWII. The bridge is lined with shops and stalls – as most older bridges in Europe were - almost completely blocking the view of
the river it passes over, and giving you the impression you are not actually on a bridge (perhaps that’s why they were done that way!). Neither of us had any part in the overpriced souvenirs for sale on the bridge, nor any of the illegal knockoff merchandise for sale all over the city. Sternly worded signs warned that individuals purchasing knockoffs were subject to fines from €500-10,000; the buyers, not the sellers. Any non brand named products were alright, but those Gucci and Prada bags that are so lusted after and are for sale for only €25...ever hear of too good to be true? The police chased down the sellers with varying degrees of enthusiasm, and with varying levels of success.The police in Italy are a whole other subject, thus I have hit ‘Enter’ twice for a new paragraph to show you how serious about the police in Italy, and so I can rant on for a bit. There are three main police forces in any Italian city; the Carabinieri who act as a federal, paramilitary police service, the finance police and the local police. Inexplicably, the Carabinieri frequently patrol city streets, usually leaving tourists alone but ganging up on locals in overwhelming numbers and creating rubbernecking worthy scenes. The finance police, equally inexplicably, are involved in patrolling the city streets, but logically (if anything in Italy is actually logical) are usually seen chasing down perpetrators of knockoff selling (more on that in a second). The municipal police on the other hand, are usually seen in large 
groups smoking and talking on their phones. Oh wait...so are the rest of them. These are not the professional police officers we are used to seeing in North America; they often act like street gangs, choosing when to uphold the law and when they would rather finish their smoke peacefully, when they want to stop for traffic violations and when they just can’t be bothered. In Venice, I saw two young men in the finance police walking down the street on their cell phones, clearly amorous of whoever was on the other end of their call, oblivious to their surroundings and walking by numerous knockoff salesmen. In Rome, an older member of the finance police who was patrolling the Castel Sant’ Angelo approached a cabinet with bold “DO NOT TOUCH” signs on it, and used it as a clipboard for a note he had to write on a Post-It. Later, I successfully passed through Vatican police security with a pocket knife in my backpack which went through the X-Ray, and I set off the metal detector. No problem, the guy manning the X-Ray was on his phone with either a girlfriend or something close, and the police manning the metal detectors were 10 metres away smoking and having a great chat. Noticing a pattern yet? There is a huge amount of apathy amongst police in Italy. Some of it is characteristic of the general Italian attitude of ‘I don’t give a f*%&’, but I blame most of it on laziness. Unfortunately, sometimes even when they do feel like doing something about flagrant lawlessness, they find themselves unable to stop it. A potbellied 50-something finance officer noticed three very fit looking African-Italians selling knock offs around the Vatican and started scolding them. They took little notice of him and walked away. He pursued them, continuing to lecture them in rapid fire Italian. They continued to ignore him, but started to jog away. He did his best to keep up, holding his belly and giving chase, but as they escalated into a run, he found himself huffing and puffing and rapidly falling behind. He passed by another finance officer – this one young and fit – who, with a cigarette in hand, thought the situation was hilarious. He stood on the side of the road laughing at his colleague who quickly lost the trio around the corner of a building. I thought it was a good laugh too, but was seriously concerned with the state of the older man’s heart which he seemed to be grasping as he bent at the waist trying to recover. I guess what got me about the Italian police is the utter lack of professionalism.
groups smoking and talking on their phones. Oh wait...so are the rest of them. These are not the professional police officers we are used to seeing in North America; they often act like street gangs, choosing when to uphold the law and when they would rather finish their smoke peacefully, when they want to stop for traffic violations and when they just can’t be bothered. In Venice, I saw two young men in the finance police walking down the street on their cell phones, clearly amorous of whoever was on the other end of their call, oblivious to their surroundings and walking by numerous knockoff salesmen. In Rome, an older member of the finance police who was patrolling the Castel Sant’ Angelo approached a cabinet with bold “DO NOT TOUCH” signs on it, and used it as a clipboard for a note he had to write on a Post-It. Later, I successfully passed through Vatican police security with a pocket knife in my backpack which went through the X-Ray, and I set off the metal detector. No problem, the guy manning the X-Ray was on his phone with either a girlfriend or something close, and the police manning the metal detectors were 10 metres away smoking and having a great chat. Noticing a pattern yet? There is a huge amount of apathy amongst police in Italy. Some of it is characteristic of the general Italian attitude of ‘I don’t give a f*%&’, but I blame most of it on laziness. Unfortunately, sometimes even when they do feel like doing something about flagrant lawlessness, they find themselves unable to stop it. A potbellied 50-something finance officer noticed three very fit looking African-Italians selling knock offs around the Vatican and started scolding them. They took little notice of him and walked away. He pursued them, continuing to lecture them in rapid fire Italian. They continued to ignore him, but started to jog away. He did his best to keep up, holding his belly and giving chase, but as they escalated into a run, he found himself huffing and puffing and rapidly falling behind. He passed by another finance officer – this one young and fit – who, with a cigarette in hand, thought the situation was hilarious. He stood on the side of the road laughing at his colleague who quickly lost the trio around the corner of a building. I thought it was a good laugh too, but was seriously concerned with the state of the older man’s heart which he seemed to be grasping as he bent at the waist trying to recover. I guess what got me about the Italian police is the utter lack of professionalism. On the lighter side of things, ‘people watching’ in Italy is absolutely brilliant, and can be enjoyed hour after hour. Italians are well aware – and often proud – that when they talk, their hands become part of the conversation. It is quite fun to watch, especially as conversations turn ugly, the hand movements speed up along with speech, making it quite dangerous to come too near a pair engaged in an argument. Of the most hilarious sights I saw in Italy was five Carabinieri surrounding two people
they had pulled over. Picture five relatively large police officers, all talking agitatedly at once, while the two they had pulled over were talking back at the same time, equally as angrily. Hands fly, injuries are imminent, and you are well advised to stay away. Ok, I can’t stay away from the topic, it bugged me a lot while I was in Italy...the fact that police argue with individuals guilty of something says a lot about their conviction in upholding the law. Someone caught doing something illegal usually wants to have their say, and it sometimes works out well to let them talk, as they often reveal stupid things which come back to bite them in court (remember “...anything you say can be used against you in a court of law...”?). But the even hand of the law always reminds the guilty (well, once they are proven guilty) that they will get their day in court, and for now, the officer’s opinion is the law. In Italy it becomes an argument where the police have to defend their opinion to the individuals they have arrested. It’s almost like the perpetrator is getting his day in court the second he’s caught. Maybe they say more stupid things this way, helping the prosecution on later, but from the outsiders prospective it seems just damned unprofessional. The sight of five officers surrounding and speaking angrily with two citizens, who are talking back equally angrily – while hilarious because of the physical comedy – is unimpressive. Alright...rant finished.
they had pulled over. Picture five relatively large police officers, all talking agitatedly at once, while the two they had pulled over were talking back at the same time, equally as angrily. Hands fly, injuries are imminent, and you are well advised to stay away. Ok, I can’t stay away from the topic, it bugged me a lot while I was in Italy...the fact that police argue with individuals guilty of something says a lot about their conviction in upholding the law. Someone caught doing something illegal usually wants to have their say, and it sometimes works out well to let them talk, as they often reveal stupid things which come back to bite them in court (remember “...anything you say can be used against you in a court of law...”?). But the even hand of the law always reminds the guilty (well, once they are proven guilty) that they will get their day in court, and for now, the officer’s opinion is the law. In Italy it becomes an argument where the police have to defend their opinion to the individuals they have arrested. It’s almost like the perpetrator is getting his day in court the second he’s caught. Maybe they say more stupid things this way, helping the prosecution on later, but from the outsiders prospective it seems just damned unprofessional. The sight of five officers surrounding and speaking angrily with two citizens, who are talking back equally angrily – while hilarious because of the physical comedy – is unimpressive. Alright...rant finished.Shimrit and I checked out the restaurant recommendations on wikitravel.com and decided to try a new one each night, hoping to find something cheap but delicious every time. The first stop was Leonardo’s Self Service Restaurant. Established in 1963, it feels more like a school cafeteria than a restaurant and as you take your tray down the steam line, picking out your selections and paying for what you choose, a part of you feels like you are back in high school. The food is delicious, and served by wonderfully friendly and bilingual staff. While the prices were below average for Florence, I couldn’t help my scrutiny of the sparse decorations, but the restaurant has been in business for around 46 years, and on serving good food alone, they have survived this long.
Only an hour by train to the famous city of Pisa, we decided we couldn’t come this far without seeing the leaning tower so we hopped aboard a regional train on the 17th and soon found ourselves in the famous city of Pisa. The entire city is as beautiful as Florence, streets lined with old
buildings, a lovely river running through the middle, and small parks and recreational areas thrown in to the mix quite generously. Tower aside, we enjoyed a good few hours wandering the small and winding streets and taking in the sights. But in Pisa, all roads lead to the tower (I like to think that’s to help dumb tourists), and we inevitably ended up at the amazing spectacle. Now, we all know it leans, and seeing photos we all think, ‘oh wow, that’s impressive’. But what most photos fail to convey is that the building is on a serious tilt. Seeing photos you think, ‘man, its leaning quite a bit,’ but in person you think more along the lines of ‘holy SHIT, how is that still upright!?!?!?!’ It really is amazing, and I think it has to be viewed in person to truly appreciate. Why does it lean? Because it was built on a foundation of 
sand; oops... Even after the builders discovered that the building was leaning almost immediately after construction began, they built onward and upward. Construction was interrupted by financial shortages (like any good building project), wars, and political conflict, but the tower kept going up, and kept going over; construction taking almost two centuries. By the end of the project, the tower was leaning significantly, but the church to whom it belonged decided to let nature take its course. Science intervened in the late 20th century and cables were attached, pulling the tower back a little bit and concrete was injected under the tower, stabilising the foundation and allowing the cables to be removed. Thankfully, the tower is now quite safe and tourists are once again allowed to climb to the top of the building through the significantly tilted staircase. The cathedral, the tower (Torre pendent di Pisa), and the baptistery are all made of similar white granite, a striking contrast against a deep blue sky, and leaning or not, the whole complex is a treat to the eye. While going to the top of the tower costs some €20, the views are free, and highly recommended. We wandered the city long enough to catch the sunset at the tower for some
amazing photographic opportunities before catching the train back to Florence for another amazing meal. We opted again for a local venue recommended on wikitravel, finding ourselves in a very cramped Italian trattoria. A tip for dining in Italy: never dine somewhere that advertises itself as a Pizzeria/Ristorante. Those two words together mean you will possibly get good pizza, but not much else. On the other hand, trattorias are exactly what they sound like, traditional Italian restaurants; cramped, cheaper, and usually serving amazing food. This was a trattoria was probably not frequented by tourists, and we only got a table to ourselves after insisting we would rather that over sharing one with complete strangers (as interesting an experience that might be, English in Italy is not as common as other European countries). The menu was in English as well however, and the staff spoke passable English. We ordered a full meal of Florentine dishes, from primi to dessert, and awaited the feast. A soup, a 600g steak, stewed veal, and two desserts were shared between us and we savoured every bite, a meal worth every Euro. On the way back to our hotel it started to snow, and while it didn’t stay on the ground, it was amazing to see snow in Italy. Shimrit, who hails from Tel Aviv, had experienced snow on the ground before, but had never felt the snow coming down from above. I guess it’s an experience we take for granted in Canada, and while mid winter we are tired of the stuff, the first snow of the year in Italy had the same effect as it does at home, putting a smile on everyone’s face as the delicate flakes fall slowly to the ground.
buildings, a lovely river running through the middle, and small parks and recreational areas thrown in to the mix quite generously. Tower aside, we enjoyed a good few hours wandering the small and winding streets and taking in the sights. But in Pisa, all roads lead to the tower (I like to think that’s to help dumb tourists), and we inevitably ended up at the amazing spectacle. Now, we all know it leans, and seeing photos we all think, ‘oh wow, that’s impressive’. But what most photos fail to convey is that the building is on a serious tilt. Seeing photos you think, ‘man, its leaning quite a bit,’ but in person you think more along the lines of ‘holy SHIT, how is that still upright!?!?!?!’ It really is amazing, and I think it has to be viewed in person to truly appreciate. Why does it lean? Because it was built on a foundation of 
sand; oops... Even after the builders discovered that the building was leaning almost immediately after construction began, they built onward and upward. Construction was interrupted by financial shortages (like any good building project), wars, and political conflict, but the tower kept going up, and kept going over; construction taking almost two centuries. By the end of the project, the tower was leaning significantly, but the church to whom it belonged decided to let nature take its course. Science intervened in the late 20th century and cables were attached, pulling the tower back a little bit and concrete was injected under the tower, stabilising the foundation and allowing the cables to be removed. Thankfully, the tower is now quite safe and tourists are once again allowed to climb to the top of the building through the significantly tilted staircase. The cathedral, the tower (Torre pendent di Pisa), and the baptistery are all made of similar white granite, a striking contrast against a deep blue sky, and leaning or not, the whole complex is a treat to the eye. While going to the top of the tower costs some €20, the views are free, and highly recommended. We wandered the city long enough to catch the sunset at the tower for some
amazing photographic opportunities before catching the train back to Florence for another amazing meal. We opted again for a local venue recommended on wikitravel, finding ourselves in a very cramped Italian trattoria. A tip for dining in Italy: never dine somewhere that advertises itself as a Pizzeria/Ristorante. Those two words together mean you will possibly get good pizza, but not much else. On the other hand, trattorias are exactly what they sound like, traditional Italian restaurants; cramped, cheaper, and usually serving amazing food. This was a trattoria was probably not frequented by tourists, and we only got a table to ourselves after insisting we would rather that over sharing one with complete strangers (as interesting an experience that might be, English in Italy is not as common as other European countries). The menu was in English as well however, and the staff spoke passable English. We ordered a full meal of Florentine dishes, from primi to dessert, and awaited the feast. A soup, a 600g steak, stewed veal, and two desserts were shared between us and we savoured every bite, a meal worth every Euro. On the way back to our hotel it started to snow, and while it didn’t stay on the ground, it was amazing to see snow in Italy. Shimrit, who hails from Tel Aviv, had experienced snow on the ground before, but had never felt the snow coming down from above. I guess it’s an experience we take for granted in Canada, and while mid winter we are tired of the stuff, the first snow of the year in Italy had the same effect as it does at home, putting a smile on everyone’s face as the delicate flakes fall slowly to the ground.The 17th was our last day sightseeing, and our last day in Florence together. We made use of it by wandering around the city some more. We started our day with a hike to the top of Piazzale Michelangelo on the
south side of the River Arno, high above the city. The view is spectacular and gives you an appreciation for the sprawling old city of Florence. It is also the only viewing point with parking spaces for busses, so while it was not busy when we visited, it is crawling with tourists in the summer. From here we walked back to the main city and decided on a museum visit to get away from the cold which was gradually getting worse as the day wore on. Most of the museums in Florence are brutally expensive, and while some are world famous, the admissions which usually average around €20 are a bit much on a backpacker’s budget. We opted instead for the Leonardo da Vinci museum, cheaper admission, and touting working models of 20 of da Vinci’s ingenious inventions. Unfortunately they deviate from original designs and use modern materials such as metal screws and bolts, but it offers an intriguing look into the mind of a genius, someone who was far ahead of his time in mechanical engineering, not to mention a gifted artist, musician, mathematician, geologist, writer, and more. Getting out of the cold, we enjoyed a thick, custardy hot chocolate before retiring early to get away from the now intolerable cold.
south side of the River Arno, high above the city. The view is spectacular and gives you an appreciation for the sprawling old city of Florence. It is also the only viewing point with parking spaces for busses, so while it was not busy when we visited, it is crawling with tourists in the summer. From here we walked back to the main city and decided on a museum visit to get away from the cold which was gradually getting worse as the day wore on. Most of the museums in Florence are brutally expensive, and while some are world famous, the admissions which usually average around €20 are a bit much on a backpacker’s budget. We opted instead for the Leonardo da Vinci museum, cheaper admission, and touting working models of 20 of da Vinci’s ingenious inventions. Unfortunately they deviate from original designs and use modern materials such as metal screws and bolts, but it offers an intriguing look into the mind of a genius, someone who was far ahead of his time in mechanical engineering, not to mention a gifted artist, musician, mathematician, geologist, writer, and more. Getting out of the cold, we enjoyed a thick, custardy hot chocolate before retiring early to get away from the now intolerable cold.The next day we walked to the train station and said our goodbyes as Shimrit caught her train to her next destination, and I headed back to the hotel to hang out in their lounge until supper. I did absolutely zero sightseeing but I managed to finish one blog entry and write two, so all in all I felt pretty good with the day’s work. Come supper time, I thanked the hotel staff for letting me hang out all day and headed back to the Leonardo Self Service Restaurant for another tasty supper. They didn’t fail to deliver 
and I went to the train station quite satisfied. It started snowing again late in the evening, but this time it snowed with a purpose. The snow was coming down hard and staying down, eventually piling up to some 20cm. Italians everywhere looked confused and wandered the streets with umbrellas, looking fearfully at every snow flake as if it might melt them – or worse, freeze them completely! At the train station I was catching an overnight train (barf) to Frankfurt am Main, (generally known as Frankfurt, but not to be confused with the other Frankfurt, Frankfurt on the river Oder) my last stop in Europe. The train arrived 40 minutes late, and once on board we were informed of a further half hour delay. A man in our coach got off the train and inquired about the delay, and it was revealed to him that the conductor with our locomotive had decided to take it elsewhere, so we were waiting for another conductor to come by with another locomotive. Go figure. From there, it was a night of frequent stops, the train slowly separating as different sections had different destinations. I had maybe an hour of sleep the whole time, and come morning, I generally felt like shit. But that’s a story for the next blog.
and I went to the train station quite satisfied. It started snowing again late in the evening, but this time it snowed with a purpose. The snow was coming down hard and staying down, eventually piling up to some 20cm. Italians everywhere looked confused and wandered the streets with umbrellas, looking fearfully at every snow flake as if it might melt them – or worse, freeze them completely! At the train station I was catching an overnight train (barf) to Frankfurt am Main, (generally known as Frankfurt, but not to be confused with the other Frankfurt, Frankfurt on the river Oder) my last stop in Europe. The train arrived 40 minutes late, and once on board we were informed of a further half hour delay. A man in our coach got off the train and inquired about the delay, and it was revealed to him that the conductor with our locomotive had decided to take it elsewhere, so we were waiting for another conductor to come by with another locomotive. Go figure. From there, it was a night of frequent stops, the train slowly separating as different sections had different destinations. I had maybe an hour of sleep the whole time, and come morning, I generally felt like shit. But that’s a story for the next blog.
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