Italy Trip Report from a teens perspective
 

Hey all, I discovered that my 14-year old wrote a pretty complete trip report on our recent trip to Italy. If you other parents want the real low-down on what is interesting to at least one young teen, read on.

Well, everyone, I’m back from my trip to Italy. Overall, it was pretty fun. Here's everything I did if you are interested:

SATURDAY
I arrived in Rome in the morning, then checked in at the hotel and then we got some breakfast in the Piazza Navona, which was right by our hotel. After breakfast, we walked around the square a little and then went back to the hotel for a nap, cause it's tough to sleep on planes and because of the time difference and all that. Later, we went to the Pantheon, which is an old temple/church place. Next to that, there was this pizza place that we got pizza at, and it was the best pizza in the world! and at this place they would cut like two rectangle pieces, and fold them together and it was like a pizza sandwich. I thought it was cool. lol. We also saw the Trevi Fountain, which is a famous old fountain. it's in lots of movies. ever seen Sabrina Goes to Rome?? lol. well, if you have you know when she like pops herself to and from that place with the family or whatever? when she leaves and comes back she is at that fountain. I think anyway, I haven't seen it in a long time. I didn't really like being there though because there were sooooooooooooooooooooooo many people there, it was just sort of overwhelming I guess. I think that's all we did on saturday.

SUNDAY
we took a tour of the coliseum and of ancient rome. I liked that, because it's just one of those places everyone knows, but not many people get to ever see it in real life. we had like our own tour guide too, so we didn't have to be like surrounded by all these people we don't know, and I guess we got to see and know more than like whole big group of people would. We almost got a ticket on the bus though, cause our guide met us at our hotel and told us we should take the bus, and he was said we didn't need any tickets because it was palm sunday so no one would be checking tickets, and he had lived there for 9 months and had only been checked once, but of course, we walk on the bus and there are THREE people checking tickets, and they made us get off the bus and buy tickets. it turned out fine though, so that's good. that's mostly all we did. later in the day we went to some museum with lots of statues because my dad likes that kind of stuff.

MONDAY
we took a tour of the Vatican. it was pretty good..but ya know, it's a big museum full of old art. we saw the Sistine Chapel there too, which is a famous church that painted by Michelangelo, so that was interesting to see. We also saw St. Peter's Basilica which is THE church of the Vatican. it's where the pope gives his sermons. it was absolutely huge. it had writing on the top of the walls that the tour guide said were eight feet tall and that the statues on the ceiling were forty feet tall. Eww, around the church they had like all the different things that all the dead popes were buried in, and in some of them you could see inside of them, it was so disgusting. On the way there, we were on this bridge, and there were all these different guys selling stuff, and there was this one guy that was selling these little paper mickey mouses and donald ducks that had like elastic legs with little feet and they would dance. they were dancing between a stereo and a black bag, and later when we were talking about them, the tour guide for the Vatican told us that they were tied to the stereo with a transparent string(which I saw, by the way) and then they were tied to the inside of the bag, but then inside there was a motor that would make them dance. I thought they were really cool before I knew they had motor. lol. and I think that's all we did that day.

Here's the rest:

TUESDAY
we left rome, and took the train to venice. the train ride was 4 hours long! uh, it was boring. but we got to Venice and found our hotel. we stayed at the best hotel ever there! four people ran it(Matteo, Barbara, Francesco, and Bruno, but we never met Bruno)and they memorized all of our names. so every time we saw them they were like, "Ciao Kaitlin! Ciao Bob! Ciao Lisa! Ciao Allie!" it was fun, and they always said 'ciao' to each of us separately. and they made us crepes with bananas and nutella everyday for breakfast! they were nice. lol. Anyway, we stayed right off of San Marco Square, which is obviously a square(have you ever seen that annoying commercial with the man and the woman, and the guy's like "there's something I have to say..." and then he screams,” I LOVE THIS WOMAN!" and then he gives her a ring, god I hate that commercial! well, that commercial was in this square). And in this square was a church(San Marco's Basilica)that we visited. My whole family saw the main part of the church, but only my parents saw the museum part, because me and my sister went out to the square to feed the pigeons. There were like a thousand bagillion million pigeons in the square and they sold feed to give to the pigeons. It was really fun feeding them, cause they would fly up and sit in your hand. A few times, a pigeon flew onto my shoulder and just sat there, and it like wasn't even looking for food. Then two times, a pigeon landed on my head!! haha, but it was fun.

WEDNESDAY
umm...first, we went to the top of this bell tower, Campanile, or something like that, and looked around and the views of the city. Then, I think went to the Doge's palace, and we took a tour of that. and then, we went to Murano, which is an island like 5 minutes away from venice, and it is the glassblowing capital of the world. Unfortunately, we got there kinda late, and the island was like empty, and most of the glassblowers were done blowing. We did see one guy blowing glass. It was pretty interesting, but there was just something about that man I didn't like. I guess, just because he was only glassblowing because we were there, and not because he wanted to. But, a lot of glass shops were still open, and we looked around in those.

THURSDAY
we found out about this glassblower in San Marco Square, so we went to see him, because we(well, mostly me) didn't feel satisfied with the blower we saw the day before. this guy was better. I’m not sure why, but there was just something about him I liked better. he also made nicer things while we were watching him. He made a pretty pitcher, compared to the small vase and horse we saw the guy in Murano make, which according to Rick Steves, everyone makes. So, finding this other guy was sort of a treat. Then we walked around for awhile, just seeing all of the sights of Venice, and then after that we went on a gondola ride! it was fun, just because it was a gondola, and gondolas are fun. lol. but our gondolier didn't sing like in all the movies. lol. I wanted him to sing. but Matteo said all the gondoliers are really bad singers. That might be all we did that day. I can't really remember.

FRIDAY
we left venice, and took the train to florence. we got there, and went to the hotel, and then grabbed some lunch. But then after that, we jumped on the train and went to Pisa! I saw the Leaning Tower of Pisa! And believe me, it leans. lol. I enjoyed seeing it, I guess, in a way, for the same reason I liked seeing the Coliseum. all of that took up all of the day, so we didn't get to see too much stuff. After dinner though, me and my dad walked around florence while my mom and allie, went to the hotel. We saw a lot of the city, and it was nice. it was friday, so there were lots of people and performers out. There were lots of singers and one guy acting like Charlie Chaplin. We listened to one singer/guitar player outside of the Uffizi, which is a museum. he was pretty good.

SATURDAY
umm...I think we saw the Uffizi Museum in the morning. It's full of Renaissance-y art, which isn't really my thing, and there wasn't really any famous painting in there for me to look at. I like to look at the famous ones, for the same Leaning Tower reason I guess. And then, we went to Ponte Vecchio, which is a famous bridge, with lots of shops full of expensive jewelry. We saw the Pitti Palace, which me, my mom, and sister walked through kind of quickly, while my dad stayed longer, because he likes that kind of thing better than we do. That might be all we did that day, it's getting hard for me to remember, because it's four a.m. in Italy and I’m still used to their time. I know that night me and and the rest of my family watched the Charlie Chaplin act, because he was performing again. He was really funny. He took different people from the crowd and made them do different things. I can't really remember all the things he did. lol

SUNDAY
it was Easter! Easter is pretty exciting in florence. every year there is a cart outside of the Duomo(the church)and they blow it up with a dove shaped rocket that comes shooting out of the church. then there are lots of fireworks after it blows up. It was cool, but we couldn't see too well, so I’m sure it was a lot better from a better view. At the front of the church there were all these people dressed in funny outfits from like the 1600s, and when the fireworks are done, they all parade out. So, Easter morning was pretty good. Then later we went to the Accademia which is another museum. It has the famous statue of David by Michelangelo, so it has a slight excitement factor in the museum. It was also a really small museum so there wasn't too much to see and time to spend. I think after that, we just went back to the hotel and relaxed. My sister and I watched italian MTV. lol. we watched a lot of that in italy. sometimes it was in english, so it was good. lol.

MONDAY
we rented a car in florence and drove to Orvieto, which is a small town. the drive there took forever and we had to go through of a lot of winding mountain roads, so it wasn't so easy. we finally got there, and we found our hotel (Locanda Rosato), which wasn't right in town. So we went there, and then we went back out to the town. It was pretty small, and there wasn't too much to do. There was one street of shopping, which was full of ceramics. That night we ate at our hotel, because they make special dinners every night. I didn't like it. They served gnocchi(which I hate, but I ate anyway) and then they served lamb and rabbit, which I did not eat, because I don't eat babies or cute furry animals. lol. and that was our last night in Italy.

TUESDAY
we drove back to Rome to get on the plane to come home. Our flight was a little over 9 hours long! omg, it was sooo long and boring! I was soo close to running out of things to watch on the TV! lol. but now I’m home, and it's like 4:00 in italy, and I’m sooo tired.


so, that was my trip to italy! I may have skipped a few things or said things out of order, but like I said, it's 4 am, my brain is not functioning like it should. and, some of it was a while ago.

Hey suki,

Like thanks for sharing this like really like cool report. :)

((I))

Very nice, Suki, thanks for posting.

She could write a series of tour guides for teens, with chapters like "Renaissance-y art".

LOL ira, like I am TOTALLY lovin' your "teen speak"

what a hoot...next time bring the gnocchi home for me

I have to agree that the "old art" can be much more interesting than some of the "new art."

That was a neat travel report..It is nice to see a country through a teen's eyes..Good JOB..
I should tell Brooke my 13 year old grandchild to write a report if she feels like it.
We are going back to Italy and France at the end of May.
However, she already visited Rome and Paris 3 times so she would not experience the thrill and the wonders of seeing Rome for the first time..although that Trevi Fountain is her favourite's place.

Suki, thats so much for sharing this! It was kinda cool to get a new and fresh perspective on Italy from a teenager and fun to read! It was actually pretty interesting to me to see what things really caught your daughters attention!!
Thanks!

Suki, I've just e-mailed this to my 16 year old daughter. She's going to Rome on a school trip this June. Thanks!

Thanks for all the comments. I can't get my trip report done, but my daughter wrote this whole thing the night we returned home. I was asleep on the couch of course! Anyway, I had fun reading it, and I am glad a few of you did too.

Oh Suki, I wish I had asked my daughter who was 17 the first time we took her to Italy to write a report!

I loved your daughters impressions of Italy. Thanks to both of you for sharing it with us.

And do save this report for your daughter. I imagine she will enjoy reading it again twenty years from now.

Best wishes.

Thanks again for the kind words. LoveItaly, the amazing thing is I did not ask her to do this. She wrote this on her online journal and I discovered it the other day. She knows I check out her journal once in a while. She hasn't figured out how to block me yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time. Anyway, she doesn't mind my reading it at this point and sometimes I discover little gems like this. She is also making a scrap book so I will print this out to include in the book. You're right - it should be fun reading in 20 years.

Awesome!

When/if we ever do votes for best ever trip report, this one gets my vote.

In fact, maybe I should start a new thread....

A great report and wonderful experience for you. My daughter was in Florence (and still is) for Easter and she told me about the dove (fake she said) with the fire coming out of his tail. She said it was really funny. Thanks for posting.

Great job. (And I have to say that I hate that ring commerical too!)

ttt for the poster going to Italy with her 14-year old daughter.

Hi Suki, I reread this report written by your dear daughter and enjoyed it as much the second time as I did the first time. Please, be sure to save this for her. Just think how her children, when they are teens, will enjoy reading about their mothers impressions of Italy when she was a teen. Best wishes to you.

Loveitaly, you are very sweet to write and let me know you enjoyed Kaitlin's post. I read on another thread that you were not feeling well. I hope you are better today.

Hi Suki, I am feeling better, thank you for asking. It was obviously some virus/flu. Think by tomorrow I will be back to normal (whatever that means, LOL).

Sure wish I had thought to have my daughter write a trip report when we had her in Italy when she was in her teens. I really did enjoy your daughters report, it was precious. Take good care.