Rome

First night in Rome was focused on exploring the area and seeing what there was to do. We went to a little Italian restaurant for dinner called Giuseppe’s which we thought was quite reasonable.

Day 1
Got tickets for “Tour Rome”, basically a hop-on-hop-off bus tour through Rome and we started off by just taking a round trip to see what there was to see. By the way before I continue, it was HOT, kinda made me miss home. L After our round trip we started going to the sights. Our first stop was St Maria Basilica, I got a little irritated with this church. There was a sign outside that said that if you want to go inside you must be dressed decently. I decided that I was dressed decently so started to walk in and I was told to cover my shoulders – they implied that I was not dressed decently … HOW RUDE!!! Anyways I put a scarf/shawl thing over my shoulders, but the point is their sign should say no sleeveless tops or something not dress decently, who are they to say what decent is? So I have not included a pic – they didn’t deserve to get advertising here. Instead there s a pic of us chilling on the pavement trying to hide from the sun for a bit.

We did a lot of walking around and we had not prepared properly (not enough water). Walking along the streets it seemed that the city was empty – very quiet and then we turned around a corner and saw a big mob of people. We managed to stumble upon Fontana di Trevi. The pool of water looked very appealing would have liked to take a swim – but I resisted, wasn’t sure I wanted to include Italian jail on my list of experiences.

We then made our way through an old Roman city – basically walked through some of the ruins and this lead on to the Colosseum. You will notice from the pic with Byron that it is not that big really but we decided to go inside and check it out anyways.

The queue for the Colosseum was another new experience, instead of a queue it was more like a big mass of people nudging forward in the hopes that they finally make it to the front. The concept of an actual queue or line to wait in did not exist. We managed to get to the front though and it was worth it. The Gladiator probably has some influence on this but walking into the Colosseum and looking over the edge to the stadium centre I could here the roar of the crowds. Was pretty cool it felt kinda triumphant – crazy I know. On our way out we saw a ghost that is obviously trapped inside with unfinished business or something, a bit spooky really. ;)

Since Paris, any sort of archway type structure we dubbed as Arc de Triomphe wannabes. This wannabe that Byron is leaning on is Arch of Michelangelo … I think, maybe Byron can correct me on that one.

We again went to Italian restaurant for dinner but we tried a new place – the waiter was very friendly and the food was good but they charged us €3 for bread we did not ask for. We had heard that this sometimes happens but since it didn’t happen at Giuseppe’s we thought we were safe. Apparently not.

Day 2
Today we planned to go to Vatican City so I specifically dressed for the occasion. My pants went below my knees and my top covered my shoulders. Before heading to Vatican City we went on a walk through a little area that seems more Italian, by this I mean we didn’t bump into hoards of tourists. Was very quiet and pretty in parts but other parts had serious graffiti problems. In fact most of Rome had serious graffiti problems even their underground trains. Our walk took us to a very pretty view point that also had another cool refreshing fountain, so we relaxed for a bit and dipped our feet into the cool water.

On our way back to tourist Rome we passed a statue of Darth Vader – didn’t realise Star Wars was so popular in Italy.

We returned to tourist city to have a look at “The Sacred Area of Largo Argentina” which is apparently where Julius Caesar was killed. We did notice that it has become a bit of a cat alley since the Roman times, lots of little hiding places and shelter for any wild cats so it makes sense.

Our last stop before The Vatican was The Pantheon with its hole in the ceiling. I loved how as the sun shone through the hole it created a spotlight … “…like God’s flash light, and we all say that prayer, say it with me now. I swear, I will never do this again, for how long?, as long as I live. And some of us have the little addition and this time I meant it.” OK that won’t make sense to all of you but some of you might understand where that comes from.

We arrived at The Vatican City and had to take some pictures first. As you can tell these pics were completely natural. ;) After admiring the outside we decided to enter St Peters, it is really impressive, the detail, the artwork, the size etc. Really is worth going to see. We had a look around at all the chapels and took another very natural pic of the two of us. We then headed off to see the tombs of the previous popes, it was hot and stuffy down there. On our way out we were faced with two of the Swiss Guards in their very “handsome” uniforms. I must admit even in those uniforms the guy with the glasses was pretty cute. ;)

We wanted to go see the Sistine Chapel too but unfortunately it was closed, what made it worse was we discovered that if we had done that first it would have been open. Life does go on so we went back to hostel to freshen up for a walk through Rome at night.

Our plan was to get take outs, Mac Donald’s, and eat our food on the Spanish Steps. I had read that there are often people serenading there but alas there were just lots of tourists. It was still quite pretty at night though and Byron found his shop.

The Mac Donald’s however was a nightmare. We found a McD’s just down the road but it must have been the slowest fast food I have ever had in my life before. Not only that, the toilets were unisex and EEEEEEW GROSS, there was not one clean toilet seat every one of them looked like they had been rained on.

After eating our “fast food” we made a stop at a couple of the sites we had already seen to get night pics. Rome at night is prettier than during the day.

This is the picture is the one thing that kinda made smart cars grow on me. You can not park like that with any other car in a parallel parking spot. It's a selling point I am telling you.

Day 3
Last day in Italy we decided to go to the beach and swim in the Mediterranean. It was a beautiful day and we spoiled ourselves by paying for the private beach where we got deck chairs and an umbrella. I am sure Byron has lots of stories to share about our experience on a European beach, but the thing that I thought was most memorable was the still sea. Never mind waves there were barely even swells.

Our last night in Italy resulted in a return to Giuseppe’s where the wine is cheap and the staff friendly. They were a lot busier this time though so service was a lot slower but was still a good evening.

Departing