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Published: April 21st 2007
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C&K St Peters
Craig & Kellie in front of St Peters Arriving in Rome we were feeling the pretty tired so we took the afternoon off to relax, leaving us two full days to come of siteseeing.
Day 1 was siteseeing Vatican City, and this was fantastic. St Peters Basillica was amazing - and it was one of few things to see that were FREE! We went to the Vatican Museum where the line was all the way around the block, so Craig pulled a swifty and casually joined the not so orderly line about two metres before the entrance. So we didnt have to wait two hours, and nobody even said anything. The vatican museum was quite good however I have never seen so many people be squeezed through so many small hallways. You have to walk through many many rooms and hallways on your way to the sistine chapel (which is what everyone is really there for). To make it a bit more frustrating is the million tour guides and their groups that kept stopping and blocking the walkways. However we finally reached the sistine chapel and that was quite beautiful. The strangest thing was that whilst we were in there, there was a reasonable hum of people talking
Rome Campsite
Our Camping Roma Campsite but nothing loud. Yet, the Vatican Policeman who was in charge of looking after that room constantly stood up on a high point yelling 'attention' 'no photo' 'quiet, quiet, quiet' whilst clapping loudly for attention - really quite hypercritical, and really annoying. I could not work out why it was sooooo important that everyone be silent - its not like we were throwing a party or anything. Despite the police walking around telling everyone to put their cameras in their bags, Craig still managed to take some NO FLASH photos of the ceiling, see attached. There were many people in there though, probably 500 of us squeezed in to look at it. It wasnt that amazing - I didnt think it was any more impressive that the many other rooms and ceiling painting and decoration throughout the building - and it certainly was not as beautiful and impressive as st peters basillica. But that was that - tick that one off the list!
After that we jumped on another 'jump on jump off' open roof tour bus and went for a bit of a ride around Rome (again with commentary which is really great) and saw quite a bit
Vatican Museum
The hall leading down towards the sistine chapel... sooo many people more before venturing off to find the Trevi fountain, the spanish steps, and finally the Panthanon. The trevi fountain was lovely, however it was the people watching around it that was facinating. There was sooooo many people crammed into the little square that the fountain was in. And there were little doggies too getting their photo taken in front of the fountain with their parents! The spanish steps were underwhelming and again very very busy with tourists and beggers, But tick that off the list. We went for a stroll along the fancy Via Con Dotti that has all the major fashion labels and designers on it. Window shopping was fun. However at this stage craig's feet were starting to become a problem - craig has a tendancy to get MASSIVE BIG MUMMA BLISTERS (he got these when we went for a massive 2 hour walk in Paris in the middle of the night and they have been getting worse) so our stemena was starting to run out. We reached the panthanon and it was quite impressive. The design and construction of the dome was so amazing considering it was done in 27 BC - it was actually quite modern
the sistine chapel
The sistine chapel looking and so symmetrical and perfect in construction - very cool.
We then had to try and get home and that was an ordeal in itself - we could not find our buses, and our connecting buses and ended up walking more and more (and Craigs feet getting worse and worse) - but we finally got home and crashed.
Day 2 we were still recovering from the long day yesterday, so we took the morning to update some blogs, do the laundry and housekeeping etc. Then had lunch and at 12.30 headed off on our next rome adventure. We caught the Italian Metro for the first time and Craig put it quite elequently when he said "The Metro is really great...once you get use to the foul stench of urine"
The first train we got on was really new and yet still stank. HOwever when our connecting train pulled up Kellie was very reluctant to get on - it was so old, you could not see in the windows due to dirt and graffiti, and it was packed...it also stank.
Anywho, we got to the colosseum, and as soon as we got out train station a lovely man
Basillica Fountain
Kellie on on of the fountains outside St Peters approached us (irish, not african for a change) and kindly advised us of the english speaking tours available for the Collosseum, and I thought, how good to have these information people around the area - must be employed by the city? Then we started to escort us over, and I told him we didnt want to right now but maybe later - he told us to come back to him at the train station because HE WORKS OFF COMMISSION!! So another haggler, and then 1m later, another one, and then another one, and then another one. The whole collosseum was surrounded by brits trying to sell english speaking tours for commission. We are starting to sound very negative about the holiday, but the fact that you cannot turn a corner without being hassled and haggled is getting REALLY REALLY REALLY ANNOYING.
Anyway, we walked around the colosseum took a few pics, ticked it off the list, then craig struggled and walked through the pain to get through the Roman Forum and the paletine hill to get back to our tour bus where we had the most expensive but the BEST TASTING SPRITE EVER (note, we were very thirsty).
St Peters
Various Views withing St Peters Basillica Rode the bus for a while but it was simply SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOT. we cannot believe just how hot it has been today. Would you believe that whilst kellie was panicking about being cold on this holiday, today got extremely SUNBURNT!Who would have thought we would need suncream in Europe. More sun today, that she has been in for 12 months (thanks to working in air con shopping centre). So feeling too hot and bothered to sit in the sun on the bus any longer, we headed back to the campsite where we had discovered that they had filled the pools for the first time this season. So we promplty got in our togs and headed to the pool where there were many people, but no on in the pool despite the day being soooo damn hot - so Kellie approached the pool barman (yes, this is a pretty cool campsite, there is an onsite restaurant, full sized bar/pub takeaway pizza shop, small grocery store, and pools with pool bar) and asked the barman .."stupid question, but are we allowed in the pool?" to which he replied 'of course' so we headed to the pool enthusiastically. put our feet in...and...OH MY
St Peters
Various Views withing St Peters Basillica LORDY LORD THATS COLD! we had never felt such icy cold water before in our lives. So we tried the jacuzzi- assuming this would be lovey and soothing - OH MY LORD A COLD JACUZZI??? so we ended up lazying by the pool like everyone else for two hours chatting to a NZ couple - and kellie got even more sunburnt.
this evening we went to the onsite restaurant where Kellie had THE BEST LASAGNE EVER!!!!!!!!!! and we can now relax before we head to Tuscany tomorrow.
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Sun Burn
You would have looked like two Tomatoes rolling around Rome LOL