Unplanned Italy

As I run all the photographic memories of this beautiful and history rich country through my head, I am tempted to leave you with nothing more than these images. Of course, I was lucky enough in that I had the best guide, and seeing the city by scooter. Apart from all the ice cream and espressos that we consumed, another one of our guilty pleasures was going around on the scooter and letting the fresh breeze from the ride cool us off. Every single street of the city has a story to tell, and I struggled to put my camera down (even taking a few sneaky shots whilst on the back of the scooter)

From Rome we took a bus to Siena  where we stayed for three days and ate like kings. It was here that I got the first few glimpses of all the rolling hills of the Tuscan region and the ever so beautiful Piazza del Campo. We road tripped to the coastal town of Santo Stefano, and swam in clear blue sea's on Giglio Island. Not a single part of our trip was planned, and  in true adventurous style much of our accommodation along the coast entailed last minute camping with all of a tent and mattress.

As we literally ate away our 'budget' and the camping got the better of us, we headed to the mountain regions of Mount Amiata and his hometown of Abbadia San Salvatore. We were treated to true Italian home cooked meals, and exploring more of what Tuscany had to offer. Most of the time I had my head stuck out of the window and my mouth wide open in awe. The entire region, and I mean absolutely all of it, is like a beautiful painting.

I AM BUT A MERE SPONGE

Today I ventured out into Utrecht. The initial plan was to cycle there and completely wander off adventurously. Obviously the weather didn't play along with that idea and about 5 minutes into biking, we decided it was way to cold and ended up taking a train instead.

 

The train ride from Driebergen-Rijsenburg to Utrecht is a mere 7 minute train ride and only 3 Euros for a return ticket. Most of the girls have OV-chipkaarts which entitles you to a 40% discount on 'off peak' travel. This is a good investment if you plan on staying in The Netherlands for a long period of time and want to travel extensively.

 

I had been telling one of the girls that I feel like a sponge of information, even just walking down the road, I gawk at my surroundings like a child seeing everything for the first time. Its truly a magical feeling and I'm going to embrace it because It probably wont last long after being here for a year. I mentioned to them that I'm just a 'sponge on a bike' ,we thought it was quite funny and had a good chuckle.

This was my first time seeing the city side of Holland so most of the day was spent walking around gawking at everything. We were lucky in that it was September the first and there was the 'Uitfeest' taking place as well as 'Culturele Zondagen' and 'Vrede van Utrecht'. The city streets of Utrecht had such a great vibe and we stumbled upon musicians playing on the side streets on 3 occasions.

These guys had a really eccentric sound to them and gathered quite the crowd too. I got quite entranced by the music and would have stayed all night if I hadn't been for the girls shaking me awake.

There is an abundance of quaint design shops all over the city streets. Naturally I was drooling over their shop fronts. Cafes galore let me tell you, I did not see one unattractive badly dressed person. Everyone has this quirky, practical, colourful style that I am just fascinated by. Those who wear spectacles, have the most beautiful frames and yes, almost everybody was on a bike.