August 26
A 7am flight and we got into Rome at an acceptable hour and made our way to our hostel which was very well situated close to the main bus and train Terminus (Termini). After settling in, we decided to take the day easy and spent a couple of hours at the internet cafe down the road organising our next few days, and hopefully a trip to Pompeii!
August 27
Our first of three big days in Rome...there is seriously soooooo much to see (and apparently this is because they have 'stolen' so much from other countries hehe). Our first stop was clearly the Colosseum, and when we got off at the train station, we were approached by an aussie guy about a tour, and i'm very glad we said yes...the line again was huge, and was good to get some insight to the colosseum and also the forum and area that is beside it.
Amazingly the Colosseum was built in ONLY 8 YEARS! crazy, considering how HUGE it is! is just crazy! Apparently one of the reasons that it has fallen apart a bit, is not due to only earthquakes, but the fact that some of the bronze that was used to hold the bricks together, was 'recycled' and was used at St.Peters square and the Basilica. The sun is so hot, and heading over to the Forum and Palentine Hill, we were nearly dying and our little hand fans were working overtime...the sweat was literally pouring of us, quite disgusting really, but everyone was the same!
Then onto the Spanish steps (seriously, just a lot of steps!), then onto a couple of Piazza's and thankfully back to the hostel, which isn't airconditioned, but at least has an electric fan! Mum, you'll be very happy, that we bypassed a pub crawl which was very inviting, and ended up watching a dvd instead!
August 28
Another big day in Rome...this time the Vatican! We got to St. Peters square and was amazed with the size of it! Again, the lines were utterly ridiculous and in the glaring heat of the sun, so i bargained with a guy and got us onto a tour group for quite a good price. O..M..G..everything in Rome is of GIGANTIC proportion...is seriously like a town built for giants, or clearly the Romans just thought they were that awesome so needed the buildings big enough to fit their heads!
The building that Michaelangelo designed, is partly hidden by a columns and statues of the apostles and some saints that another guy built and wanted to try to block out Michaelangelo's building so people remembered him, but clearly it hasn't worked hehe...but the structure is still magnificent, and his aim of the columns to make you feel like you are being cuddled, certainly works!
The museums hold a lot of 'borrowed' items from way back when, like Greek statues and tapestries and paintings from other countries.
In some of the museums the naked statues had fig leaves crudely stuck to their genitals...the tour guide said that during some popes reigns if they didn't like it they would just add the fig leaves, whereas other popes didn't mind, so some are left free.
In one of the museums was this HUGE bath, and i mean huge, would barely fit in a room of a big house, and is made of red marble which is apparently worth 30,000euros a pound!!!!!!!!!
After the museums, we entered the Sistine Chapel...WOW! The story goes that the pope wanted to commission a painter to paint the roof and 12 apprentices to help...none of the painters in Rome wanted the job because it was said to take 15 years to complete! Michaelangelo at this stage was in his mid twenties and quite despised, so to get back at him and to hopefully get rid of him from Rome forever, his name was suggested to the Pope, who then asked Michaelangelo and it's history from there. However, after Michaelangelo learnt how to "fresco" (the type of painting), he fired the 12 apprentices, worked 16-18 days 7 days a week and finished the roof in 4 years!
Is just amazing!
A little funny by note is that the other paintings around the walls were done by other painters, and the pope at the time said they were not allowed to sign their paintings...so to bypass this, they painted their faces into the paintings, and you can tell which ones they are because they are the only ones that have the eyes stare at you out of the painting! absolute crack up!
The Basilica was next...again WOW! No words can describe how massive an over the top this building is! Something like 4(?) statue of liberty's can fit in...is just astronimical! and ALL of it is decorated! By law, no other buildings can be taller than it, which is why there are no sky scrappers in Rome. The building is decorated with gold, frescos, chapels and statues. I think the most amazing thing in there was a marble statue done by Michaelangelo when he was only 23...was just astounding how life like he had got the two bodies!
Once outside we went into the little shop run by nuns, got a present for mum and grandma, and a beautiful silver cross necklace for Lisa, which just suits her sooooo much! The other interesting thing is that we sent postcards from inside the Vatican, and also outside the Vatican in Rome, and will be interesting to see which gets there faster as apparently the Vatican is on the Swiss postal system which is faster than the Italian one...which also brings me to the fact that the Vatican is guarded by Swiss guards that have the most ridiculous uniform, as again designed by Michaelangelo, who was digusted with having to not only paint and architect, but now design clothes, so he based the uniform on a court jester...hopefully the photo turned out!
So, now onto Villa Borghese...a huge garden area that used to be private grounds, to see Galleria Borghese. Quite a small museum and i'm sure on any other day we would have been impressed, but nothing could really top the Vatican today!
August 29
On our list of things to do basically our last day in Rome, is to see Piazza Navona, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain.
The Pantheon was quite impressive and well preserved thanks to in being converted into a Catholic Church, which means unlike most of the rest of Rome, it wasn't picked apart and used for other things.
We left the hostel quite late today so that we could see the Trevi Fountain in day light and then also at night time.
So we passed by the Fountain and took some pics, and then walked around to look for a nice Restaurant. After our massively packed days, we decided to treat ourselves and found a nice restaurant nearby (not expensive), but had champagne and four courses!!!!!!! Bruschetta to start, made the proper way with just olive oil, tomatoes, garlic and basil, yum! Then i had spaghetti bolognese (how could you not in Italy!) while Lisa had gnocchi, then we shared a margharita pizza, and then for dessert we were naughty and shared a tiramisu, lemon sorbet with limoncello, and a chocolate pudding thing...OMG, was one of the best meals ever!!!!!!!!!!! We had to wait a few minutes before rolling ourselves off the chair and back to the Trevi fountain for night pics.
We wandered into the church beside and lit a candle, then said good night and back to the hostel on our hugely full stomachs!
