Italy

Hello, bloggers! Today, I am going to introduce the most important monuments and places to see in three of the most important cities in Italy: Venice, Florence and Rome.

I will start with Venice. As you know, Venice is a group of islands separated by canals and joined by a lot of bridges. The most important canal is the Grand Canal, which crosses the city. In Venice, people move in boats, gondolas or vaporettos (water buses) as there are no cars, motorbikes or bicycles. One of the most important places to visit is the Piazza San Marco (Saint Mark’s Square) in which you can see the Basilica, the Palazzo Ducal and some museums. Anther place that you can’t miss when going to Venice is the Rialto’s Bridge. But the best thing you can do in Venice is walk through its streets and admire the beautiful buildings of the city.

Our next stop is Florence. Florence is also a very beautiful city, but in a different way than Venice. Florence is important due to its architecture because in this city there are a lot of very beautiful museums, churches and buildings.  There is also a very famous sculpture: the David of Michelangelo. It is 5.17m tall and you can find it in the Galleria della Academia. In Florence, you can visit the Cathedral, which was built in green, red and white marble with a lot of details. Another church that is very important and beautiful is Santa Croce’s Church. Also, you can visit the Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), which is one of the most known symbols of this city.

We end our journey in the capital of Italy: Rome. Rome is much bigger than Venice and Florence and it has many more things to see. One of the most important is the coliseum. The coliseum is an amphitheatre, the biggest one that the Romans built during the Roman Empire. As you visit Rome, you will notice that there are a lot of fountains everywhere. The most important is the Fontana di Trevi. A lot of tourists go there every year to throw a coin in as they make a wish. Also, you can visit Vatican city, which is not exactly in Rome, but it is very near. There, you will be able to see Saint Peter’s Basilica, where all the Popes are buried, and the Sistine Chapel, which has a lot of beautiful paintings.

Finally, I invite you to visit this country and don’t forget to eat a lot of pizza, pasta and ice cream.

Skydiving

Have you ever thought of falling through the sky at great speeds? It sounds exciting, right? This sport is called skydiving and consists of jumping from planes at very high heights, only helped by a parachute, or an instructor if it’s your first time. People see this extreme sport as very dangerous, but few people die. Mortality rates in the US are 1 person per 150,000 people that jump out of a plane.

There are also variants of this sport, like wing suit flying, that consists of jumping with a special suit that allows the jumper to glide, or sky surfing, that is exactly what it sounds like: surfing in the sky. A strange variant of it is called stuff jumping and consists of jumping out of a plane with, for example, a motorcycle or a rubber raft.

I encourage you to try it, but this sport is also very expensive, because you have to rent a plane and all of the equipment. In conclusion, this is a great sport full of emotions and adrenaline. Here are some videos:

Skysurfing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBrncHJLSlU

Wingsuit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBirCbODshQ&feature=fvst

AROMATIC PLANTS

Hello, my bloggers! How was your long weekend? Amazing, wasn’t it? Today I’m going to speak about my two favorite aromatic plants. Did you know that the aromatic plants are used for many things? Indeed, they are. For example, they provide some special flavor in the kitchen. They are also used in cosmetics, perfumes, and some kind of medicine. I have always liked these kinds of plants because they amaze me with all of their properties.

My two favorite aromatic plants are Mint and Lemon balm.

We can find mint in the Mediterranean and in China. As we can see, it can grow  almost everywhere. However, it is better to plant it in wet land. Its incredible flavor and texture are very useful in some recipes and it goes really well with chocolate. This plant has very interesting properties: It is digestive and it relieves nausea. WARNING! Do not eat it after dinner; it will not allow you to sleep. 

 Lemon balm is my second favorite aromatic plant.  We can find it throughout the Mediterranean and Europe. Lemon balm is mostly used in medicine due to its properties. It has relaxing properties, and thus it is used in some infusions for better sleep. As we can deduce, it has soothing properties. It is also digestive and healing. It is also used in toothpaste.

That’s all, my friends! But, tell me, what about you?  Do you have some favorite aromatic plant? Do you know something about them? Leave your opinion in the comments. Bye!