Travelling through Italy?

If you can squeeze in amalfi or the cinque terres then DO EEET.

I <3 Italia

Bloody hell, all this talk of Italy.....I need to go back again!

Stu- It was just a two zone I think but we nipped up to Switzerland for free!

Check this site for more info:
http://www.raileurope.co.uk/inter-rail/

Have fun- would love to do it again!

went all the way from Switzerland down to Nice in one long day!

Then we drove into Italy and this country was simply epic. No other words can really capture it more than that for me. The regions are just so different and each offers something that I dont think you'd get anywhere else in the world.

Vennice was our first stop but although it was very romantic I didnt actually rate it that highly. There were like a million tourists all speaking English crammed into this small city. And the canal was closer to brown then green. But it was a very romantic city and we had a good time exploring all the tiny streets and bridges and San marco square. Went through a massive royal palace too which kinda blew us away with the money that must of been used to build it. Only stayed for 1 night 2 days and by that stage I had had enough of the crowds and we made a move to Florrence.

This city suited me much better and we stayed 3 nights. Saw some great scupltures the major one being Michelangelos David .... the photo I took was of the copy NOT original though. Qued for 3 hours to get into the Uffizi Gallery .... I was expecting to see more art I recognised but saw barely any bar Botticelli's Birth of Venus. But this only illustrates my ignorance about art not the lack of art there!!! Florrenc had some really good churches and buildings to check out and we saw a killer sunset.

Spent one night in Sienna which was nice. Heard a lot of people NOT speaking English here too. Arrived in Rome the next day and based ourselves here for 4 nights. What an Epic city. What more can I say. We saw some really old buildings in the Roman Forum and of course had a look at the Collaseum. St Peters square and the Basilica/Church were the highlights for us. The Basilica was just enormous and we were told it was the biggest in the world. An Aussie we talked to said he could of kicked an AFL football and it wouldnt have even touched the sides! In the Basilica we even saw Pope John Paul IIs grave. I didnt even realise that was what we were going to see so it came as a bit of a shock to me! I'm not religious at all but really found it to be a place that brought a lot of emotions up and made me feel very touched to be in such a great place. Again, the cost to build this place must of been absolutley phenominal. And the art around the church by the big names in art were just amazing (even better cause I recognised them!!). Luckily we were in Rome on Sunday and along with maybe 50,000 others were blessed by the new Pope Bennedete XVI. Rome was definately my highlight from Italy and I would love to get back there again. Especially since I read Dan Browns Angels and Demons which was based in Rome. Great book by the way.

Finished up our travels in Sorrento near Naples where we finally had soime pizza that was great. Hadnt been so impressed with the Italian pizza before but Naples pizza converted me. Ate some real good pasta in Italy too of course. Went to Pompei which was the village destroyed by Mt Vesunius in 79AD. It had been remarkebley wellpreserved and was well worth a walk round.

Italy wasnt as expensive as I imagined. Accomdation was pretty bad ($50NZ+ a night in a campground) but everything else wasnt too extreme.