Bonjurno
and hello from Italy. We stayed in ltaly for two weeks and visited many cities’
including Venice, Florence, sienna, Pisa and Rome. As a monkey, I usually only
eat bananas but since we were in the country of food, I thought why not try
something different. My favorite food of those I tried was gelato.
After a
long drive in Meghan’s bag from Switzerland, we finally were in Italy. All of
my monkey friends that had been to Italy told me how amazing it was. I was so excited. We first went to the city of
Venice. Did you know that Venice is an island? There are canals that run all
through the city and there are boats and gondolas that can bring you where you
want to go. Meghan explained to me that the gondolas are fancy wooden boats
with one man standing up with an ore paddling.
They are famous in Venice. We walked all around this wonderful city and
went to the Saint Mark’s Square. I was told about the Italian delicacy gelato
so I was eager to try some. Even though it was a cold and rainy day, nothing
stopped me. I think they should add something to monkey’s diet of bananas. I
think that gelato would be a marvelous meal. Venice was a great start to our
Italian experience.
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| The Gondolas |
The next
stop was Tuscany, Florence, Sienna and Pisa. We were staying in a little Tuscan
villa with an amazing view of the countryside. One the first day, we ventured
into the city of Florence. The day started with a warm cup of hot coco and a
scrumptious cream filled pastry, yummm! Then we ventured to a leather factory that
a family friend had recommended. In Venice, I noticed there were a lot of
leather stores, so I was very interested to see how they made the various
items. My people family love to go to markets, to see the local crafted items. To
top the day off, we went out for a traditional Italian meal. I enjoyed some bruschetta, pasta and gelato.
I had a perfect day in Florence and I bet all of my friends are jealous.
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| The girls enjoying there meal |
In
sienna, we went to the famous zebra stripped Duomo. A Duomo is a church. There
were no animal’s allowed in the church, but Meghan snuck me in. I was amazed by
all of the detail put into the church. The entire floor was inlayed marble and
there were statues of all of the popes. If you have ever been in a church, you
know how much detail they put in the altar but in this church, there is that
much detail in everything. I was so impressed with this church. We also visited
a square where they used to have horse races. Sienna was well worth the stop.
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| Inside the Duomo |
We also visited the city of
Pisa. This is the home of the famous
Leaning Tower of Pisa. When we walked around the bottom of the tower, I was afraid
it would fall and crush my little monkey body. Luckily it did not. I am glad we
were not there in the summer time because it would be so crowded. I really
enjoyed Pizza I mean Pisa.
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| The leaning tower |
The last stop on our Italian
adventure was Rome. We were met by our hosts Franca and Maro and they treated
us to some more Italian food. The olives, cheese and toasts were delicious. Sadly,
the first two days it poured rain, so I stayed tucked into the little camper
trailer with my bananas. Finally, on the third day, we went out and explored
the city. We visited the Forum and the Coliseum. I was amazed by the effort
that was put into the Coliseum It must have been so difficult to make it so big
without machinery. We also went to a church service lead by Pope Francesco at
the Vatican. Even though it was not in
English, I could understand some parts. It was much different than the church
services I have been to before. After
the service we visited an amazing gelato store called Geolitti. The gelato was so delicious and on the top,
they put a scoop of whipped cream. I thought the other gelato was good but
nothing can beat Geolitti. They even had a banana flavour! We liked it so much that we went back three
times over the next week. I didn’t know that one place could have so much
history.
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| The Coliseum |
I had an amazing time in Italy and
can’t wait to go back. I wonder what adventures are to come in Spain.
