Roma!

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Day 1 - Arriving in Roma!
After looking for our hotel for a little while, I was very nervous when we came do a big brown door with an intercom with a little button to press for the Maikol. After heading through another door and going up in a lift we came to our hotel...... Once again a little nervous... But our room was quite nice thank goodness! One thing which amazed me about Rome is that you could be in what you think is the city and then you walk around the corner and there would be a couple of hundred year old church, or thousand year old ruins!

The first afternoon we walked to the Trevi fountain. Once again, you walk through a couple of back streets and then there is a thousand people and a huge old fountain! If you push hard enough you can get close to the fountain! It was amazing! I am not really sure what to say about it, but it was incredible. And being in Italy what do you have for dinner... Spaghetti bolognese and pizza and then gelati of course.

Day 2 Vatican City

First impression when we walked towards the Vatican was.... Do we seriously have to line up for the next two hours to get in!!! The line was massive! So we jumped on the end.... Luckily we were poached from the line by a guy offering a guided tour and jumping the queue! Probably the best thing we did that day was getting on that tour! Our guide was brilliant! She not only showed us round the Vatican but pointed us toward the best pizza and the best gelati we have had so far! The pizza place is called 'Alice' and you bought it by the slice and sat on the steps outside to eat it. Delicious! We knew the gelati must be good because there was a huge line up to get in! And for €1.50 we each got a MASSIVE gelati and it was amazing! Enough about the food, now to the Vatican!

We walked through the museum first. Apparently if you spent one minute looking at every piece of art in there you would be there for 12 years! Luckily she just took us through some of the best bits! Everything in there is so extravagant! From the marble floors to the enormous tapestry, it is all so beautiful. I guess one thing that I had to keep reminding myself of was that this was all done before modern technology was even thought of! Next was the Sistine Chapel. In my mind I had a picture of what the Chapel would look like but it was quite different to anything I had imagined. It was smaller, but more beautiful than I had thought. Quite impressive. So funny though was the guy standing at the front shouting at the top of his lungs "silence!!". Which is would be for maybe 2 seconds and then everyone would start talking again! And supposedly no photos but so many people taking them! Hot tip people, if you want to take a photo in secret perhaps turn off the flash!! Lots of people getting in trouble for taking photos (cough cough, Chris)!! St Peters Basilica was next. Once again SO impressive! I won't bore you with details but I was quite overwhelmed with all the artwork and the sculptures (none more so than Michelangelos!) and definitely the mosaics!!

We decided we would climb to the top of the Basilica (thanks to our tour guide who snuck us into the front of the line). We took the elevator which left us with only 320 steps to climb. Well that was a challenge! Small steep stairs, spiral staircases with a rope up the centre and very little head space! Not for the claustrophobic! But worth it as the view was spectacular! A few fatties stuck at the top attempting to catch their breath! Not sure how some of them got through the tight windy staircases... Glad we weren't behind them!!

Quick summary of the Vatican.... Extravagant and very beautiful. For some reason though I didn't get to meet the Pope, I thought that was included in the entry ticket. Ripped off! We then walked back over the river and through the Piazza Navona where there was lots of activity including local artists selling their wares. Back to the hotel on a packed local bus and a rest before dinner at a local Italian restraint recommended to us by our hotel owner. Very authentic and the best lasagne!! Finished off with un cafe (short black)... No trouble sleeping after that day!

Day 3 -The Colosseum and the Roman Forum.

So the colosseum was just a 10 minute walk from our hotel. Just so funny how close it is! Chris watched Gladiator on the way over so even having been to the colosseum before, he had a bit of a different perspective. So incredible that number 1, it is still standing two thousand years on and number 2, people actually came to see the brutal slaughter of other people for entertainment. Quite gruesome really!We did a walk around the forum. Amazing old arches and Temples! I would have loved to have seen it when it was intact! Next we walked to the Pantheon. I was happily just walking around, not paying much attention when all of a sudden it is there! Not that impressive on the outside - apart from the sheer size, but amazing on the inside! Such a beautiful place with amazing architecture! Impressive to say the least! Next we had our first stand up coffee in what was meant to be one of the best coffee houses in Rome! We clearly did the wrong thing, having ordered a cafe latte when everyone else was having short blacks or macchiatos! Rookie mistake! Pretty good coffee, but still no Australian premium coffee house! Next came the spanish steps. We walked up them of course, fighting our way through the hundreds of people sitting on them!

Overall Rome was amazing! I loved it! I guess the one thing that stood out to me the most was the rich, long history of the place! Quite incredible!!

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