I am in despair! My camera batteries died and I did not get pictures of the breakfast room :-( I guess taking 6 rolls of film in the Vatican did it... The Royal BC Museum,s collection could almost fit in some of the rooms in the Vatican Museum. The sculpture rooms are so long that standing at one end you can barely see the other. My favourite was the newest gallery added in the 18th century - the mosaic floors carpet the way and walls cut-away for each massive marble statue tower up beside me as I walk and snap and [View Full Entry]

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Ciao ciao!! We (Leanne and I) have arrived in Roma and I shall pick up the story beginning last night (from what I hear anything older than that is too stale for some readers ;-) We decided (ok...um...I persuaded) to stay in Volterra (Tuscany) pool-side or wandering the village until the late afternoon, rather than having to check out at 7:30 in the morning and not only miss breakfast, but miss out on prime resting time too! I had spent 6 hours by the pool the day before (reading, napping, taking pictures, people watching, reading, napping), so I was not in [View Full Entry]

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hi everyone we are sweltering in the roman heat up here in the northern hemisphere. still managing to get around and see all the roman sights of interest though and then duck out of it all around two oclock each day for a siesta. we are told only old people do this! but its pretty good to me! have been to the vatican, the colloseum and lots of other churches, fountains and piazza. have walked past all the posh shops you read about in magazines like prada, gucci, etc. have enjoyed some great italian wine in pavement cafes and even found [View Full Entry]

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We slept in per plan (and need!) until 9am then headed downstairs for breakfast. We returned to the room to process the outstanding blogs for 7/3 and 7/4 which gave us time to relax some more and think about the plans ahead; the rest of today, tomorrow's train travel to Florence around 2pm and an afternoon transfer to Venice the day after. We are officially global road warriors! There may be those who fly more often and to more places, but we have earned a spot on the "A" list for international travel. As a team, we are VERY good. [View Full Entry]

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Journey from Egypt to Italy via Austria We experienced a beautiful sunset over Cairo, went to sleep and got up for our journey to Austria. We exchanged gifts with Hamdy at the airport and moved on to our Austrian Airlines (a United Airlines Star Alliance partner) where we had business class seats out of Africa to Italy. Due to flight availability and scheduling we needed to link through Vienna where we overnighted at the airport (a NH Hotel, like a Novatel hotel) then back into the airport for our flight to Rome. Funny story here...we landed in Vienna and behaving [View Full Entry]

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With a low cost flight to Venice and out of Rome, and a hire car booked for the week, Venice, Florence, Piza and Rome were are long awaited destinations for me and my two son's. [View Full Entry]

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So, the past two days have been pretty boring.... Except for when we got to see the Pope. When we got to the Vatican we were escorted by a Swiss Guard into our place in the chapel... It wasn't in St. Peter's Basilica, but rather in this massive theatre which sat probably around a thousand people. Then we watched via video feed as the Pope went into the Basilica and greeted the people who weren't special enough to get seats in our building... Then, he came into our building and walked down the aisles as everyone mobbed him. Unfortunately, we [View Full Entry]

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So my friends and I were bored this morning around sunrise so we decided to take a taxi cab over to the Vatican to see if we could climb to the top of St. Peters Basilica. Turns out, this would turn into an adventure I won't ever forget. When we arrived, we were the first people in line for the opening of the square, which didn't open until 7 a.m. I went across the street and got a cappuccino because I hadn't slept the night before, so I needed a little energy boost. When I came back to the line, [View Full Entry]

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Early in the morning we left our apartment in Rome and joined the line to enter the Vatican Museum. I had heard that the line here can sometimes stretch on for hours, but to our surprise we were inside the museum after only waiting for about twenty minutes. I had also heard that the Vatican was pretty strict about maintaining a modest dress code, which really didn't seem to be the case either. In the museum we joined and English language tour which included all of us wearing pretty stylish headphones and walking around in a pack. It was funny to [View Full Entry]

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St. Peter's Basilica is an unassuming name for what seems to surpass all churches in the world. And well it should be, as it is situated in Vatican City, the residence of the Pope and the Holy See. However, it is not a cathedral. Our plans to visit the Basilica were foiled when we arrived on Saturday, June 9th, and were turned away being told that President Bush was inside speaking with the Pope at the moment. This papal visit was the cause of a spread of riots throughout Rome, particularly at the location of the American Embassy. The Embassy happened [View Full Entry]

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