Blogs from Vatican City, Europe - page 8

I watched a Bruce Willis movie, “The Last Boyscout,” in Italian last night. I didn’t know Bruce could speak Italian ;) Good stuff. I also endured the worst shower and internet hassle (trying to reserve the Florence hostel) ever—avoid Globetrotter Gulliver’s house in Rome if you have the chance… my experience was by no means the worst I saw at that place. Anyways: I write this entry on the train from Rome to Florence at 9pm after a full day of walking in the Vatican city. My heels are bruised and burning. I may take a break tomorrow instead of hitting Pisa, we’ll see what my feet think in the morning  The Vatican is, without a doubt, the most densely packed collection of masterworks in the world. They estimate that if someone were to spend ... read more

April 4, 2008 Katie and I woke up, got ready, and went to the complimentary breakfast the hostel offers. It was very good, as most breakfasts seem to be over here. We needed to figure out how to get into Rome since we are staying in Ostia, technically, which is right outside of Rome. The lady at the reception desk told us what to do. We went outside to pick up the bus. This ended up being a special one to the school, so the bus driver took us back. He stopped right in front of the bus we needed so the driver could let us on so we didn’t have to wait again. It was the tight bus, and we went to the train station. We rode the train til what we thought was our ... read more

Ciao! I am really loving Italy. It's such an adventure everywhere we go. Especially trying to upload photos in an internet cafe. So far I haven't found one that has worked for me which is kind of disheartening, but I'll live. Today has been long, but quite wonderful. We woke up at 5:45 in order to get to the Vatican early enough without a long wait. Standing in line was something in itself. When we got off the metro at our stop, some people literally started running to the Vatican. It was 7:30, an hour and 45 minutes before it even opened! But I should have figured, it was free entrance today into the Musei Vaticano... also the reason why we were going today as well. But we got there and were pretty close to the ... read more

All roads lead to Rome, the lovely reader. So I'm walking along a road ... in Rome yeah, and suddenly found myself heading towards another city. Now I've done my share of boning up on ancient history, so how could this be happening? Oh, hang on ... now I get it, the road was heading for the fortified Vatican City deep within the bosom of the eternal city. Vatican city is an independent city-state and the home of Il Papa, who continues the ancient tradition of leading the Catholic Church, while ably protected by implacable Swiss guards. I arrived recently on a flight to Rome and invite you to take a walk in my shoes, as I embark on new travel adventures exploring many of the world's famous travel destinations in Western Europe. Travel sights just ... read more

Back in Italy, went to this hostel I emailed but they didn't have my booking!!! ended up sleeping on a matress in the common room for the first night.......and the next day they said they have 2 more nights booked for me. OK. The place was cool with satalite TV! haaaa..... So the next day had to wake up early to give make the room available for breakfast, so I headed out early to start walking around Rome. It was FREEEEZING!!! " walked around the Colosseum........and the ruins in that area... then walked over to Transtevere to go to the marketplace....long walk but passed through a lot of quiet local neighbourhood! very cool. I like the style here...so mediteranean....colourful....old...but cute at the same time! Although, the place can get a little dirty.....traffic a little crazy...and lots ... read more