Saturday, October 10, 2009
THREE THIRDS OF THE WAY!!
So based on the pretty safe assumption that the 33 hours of flying home isn't going to make our "top fives", we have once again picked our highlights for the last section of trip. This timeframe includes the first day in Berlin to the end of the trip - and once again the requirements are open for what can make the list. Shona * Berlin * Neuschwanstein Day * Oktoberfest * Colosseum and Roman Forum * Cinque Terre. Mike * Cesky Krumlov river cruise * Ice caves * Neuschwanstein Day * Oktoberfest * Pompeii.
Lifestyles of the rich and famous (9th October)
The morning is very lazy as we start to arrange our bags for the flight home. This includes creating a bag of things to throw away. Mike has already chucked a shirt which has shunk due to the hot water washes that Europeans love, but there are other things like our laundry detergent and face cleanser which will not make the homeward journey. With everything organised we set out to the Gare Routire (the main bus station) in the middle of town. On the way we pick up one of our favourite meals to have in France - a baguette, a wedge of brie and some shaved jambon (ham). It's definitely a deja vous moment to eat this yummy meal at the same park that we had a similar meal at around 2 months ago. From the bus station we catch the 100
bus for 45 mins to the small principality of Monaco. If you want to become a resident one must pay a fee of one million euros to be considered (anybody else having a deja vous moment?). Monaco is ruled by the Grimuldi family and they have ruled Monaco for over 700 years. If there is no heir to rule over Monaco then Monaco will become a part of France. However the next heir to the throne is Princess Caroline, Prince Albert's sister and her bloodline. We get off the bus outside the casino and check out the collectio
n of cars that probably cost more than our house - Ferrari, Mazerati and Porsche. We aren't going in this time, partially because we aren't interested in gambling and partially because we're wearing jandals and wouldn't make it in even if we wanted to. Instead, we have a look around the gardens and have a spy on all of the massive super yachts in the marina. It's pretty amazing how the other half can live. After we've oggled enough boats we head back
to Nice to shop for our niece, Laura. Walking along the Nice beach promenade we notice that it is no where near as packed as it was a few months ago. However the heat has gone from the sun and the weather appears to be turning (a few spits of rain) so we head home after our final European kebab. Back at the villa it's a relaxing evening writing remaining blogs and winding down ready to leave Europe tomorrow.
bus for 45 mins to the small principality of Monaco. If you want to become a resident one must pay a fee of one million euros to be considered (anybody else having a deja vous moment?). Monaco is ruled by the Grimuldi family and they have ruled Monaco for over 700 years. If there is no heir to rule over Monaco then Monaco will become a part of France. However the next heir to the throne is Princess Caroline, Prince Albert's sister and her bloodline. We get off the bus outside the casino and check out the collectio
n of cars that probably cost more than our house - Ferrari, Mazerati and Porsche. We aren't going in this time, partially because we aren't interested in gambling and partially because we're wearing jandals and wouldn't make it in even if we wanted to. Instead, we have a look around the gardens and have a spy on all of the massive super yachts in the marina. It's pretty amazing how the other half can live. After we've oggled enough boats we head back
to Nice to shop for our niece, Laura. Walking along the Nice beach promenade we notice that it is no where near as packed as it was a few months ago. However the heat has gone from the sun and the weather appears to be turning (a few spits of rain) so we head home after our final European kebab. Back at the villa it's a relaxing evening writing remaining blogs and winding down ready to leave Europe tomorrow.
A Nice way to end Busabout (8th October)
Today is our final leg of Busabout. We make the 10:41 train out of Cinque Terre and we are sad to leave as it has been so relaxing. However the holiday must go on. The bus 
arrives at 12noon and we're on the road by 12:30pm bound for Nice, France. It's a very pretty drive along the French Riveria and as we pass Monaco, our guide Sheree tells us all about the details. There is no tax paid there as everything is funded by the Monte Carlo casino. If you want to become a resident one must pay a fee of one million euros to be considered. If you are turned down, bye bye one million euros. Such celebs to be turned down include Jacko and Madonna. However Brangelina has a place as does Bono from U2. We've been to Nice already on this trip and so this time decided to stay at a different location because there is a hostel rated in the top 5 in Europe. Getting there turns out to be a bit of a mission. We have to catch a tram - easy, but at 5:30pm the trams are chocka and we are trying to get on with our packs and hand lugg
age. Not the most favourite people. We eventually squeeze onto the 3rd tram that passes and it takes us to the drop off point where a white van collects us to take us up a very steep hill. The hostel is an old monastery and seems to be pretty good. Maybe it's because we are end of our trip, or maybe because it is award winning we expected more. However there is black mould on the ceiling in the bathroom, which is not the cleanest, there are no lockers for our stuff, the door to the room is a fire hazard and dinner is rather bizarre. We pay 6.50 euros for fish with quinoa and tomato's. It's nice, but we have to wait in a queue for ages while the chef cooks and plates 6 meals at a time and is not very fulling. We both could eat it again. Afterwards we have to wash our own dishes. Yes it's a hostel, but it seems like 6.50 euros is a lot when we do all the waitressing work. Oh well. The rest of the night is spent trying to work out what to do tomorrow. Mike's seen a canyoning trip which sounds awesome, but we are tired and we are not sure about having wet clothes to take on the plane and it's a little over our budget. In the end we decide not to go, mainly based on two things - one: we don't have the right shoes and two: we want to buy a digital camera that is totally waterproof. Once we have a waterproof camera we will go canyoning in NZ or wherever else we end up in the world. We have an early night which is not so early because an older Italian woman is reading on her bed. Except that she has her personal light shining to light up the whole room. That is what you get in hostels and hooray we only have 2 more nights of them.
arrives at 12noon and we're on the road by 12:30pm bound for Nice, France. It's a very pretty drive along the French Riveria and as we pass Monaco, our guide Sheree tells us all about the details. There is no tax paid there as everything is funded by the Monte Carlo casino. If you want to become a resident one must pay a fee of one million euros to be considered. If you are turned down, bye bye one million euros. Such celebs to be turned down include Jacko and Madonna. However Brangelina has a place as does Bono from U2. We've been to Nice already on this trip and so this time decided to stay at a different location because there is a hostel rated in the top 5 in Europe. Getting there turns out to be a bit of a mission. We have to catch a tram - easy, but at 5:30pm the trams are chocka and we are trying to get on with our packs and hand lugg
age. Not the most favourite people. We eventually squeeze onto the 3rd tram that passes and it takes us to the drop off point where a white van collects us to take us up a very steep hill. The hostel is an old monastery and seems to be pretty good. Maybe it's because we are end of our trip, or maybe because it is award winning we expected more. However there is black mould on the ceiling in the bathroom, which is not the cleanest, there are no lockers for our stuff, the door to the room is a fire hazard and dinner is rather bizarre. We pay 6.50 euros for fish with quinoa and tomato's. It's nice, but we have to wait in a queue for ages while the chef cooks and plates 6 meals at a time and is not very fulling. We both could eat it again. Afterwards we have to wash our own dishes. Yes it's a hostel, but it seems like 6.50 euros is a lot when we do all the waitressing work. Oh well. The rest of the night is spent trying to work out what to do tomorrow. Mike's seen a canyoning trip which sounds awesome, but we are tired and we are not sure about having wet clothes to take on the plane and it's a little over our budget. In the end we decide not to go, mainly based on two things - one: we don't have the right shoes and two: we want to buy a digital camera that is totally waterproof. Once we have a waterproof camera we will go canyoning in NZ or wherever else we end up in the world. We have an early night which is not so early because an older Italian woman is reading on her bed. Except that she has her personal light shining to light up the whole room. That is what you get in hostels and hooray we only have 2 more nights of them.
Summer sun (7th October)
The sun finally decides to be present all day and super hot. Perfect for our plan to lie on the beach. The best beach in the region is at 
Monterosso and to get there we take a ferry. It's more expensive than the train, but offers a great view of all the villages from the sea. Before setting up on the beach we explore the town of Monterosso, including going to the anchovy salting centre. It's end of season and so we can't actually see the anchovies being salted, but we learn that each year 3000kg of anchovies are salte
d manually by hand by the females of the cooperative. Best of all we get to try some :-) They are different to the anchovies back home. Despite being salted to serve them they are rinsed first, thereby removing a lot of the salted flavour. As such they taste more like fish than salt. Unfortunately we are not able to buy any to take home and the ladies know this and wouldn't want to waste their product on us. But it is good to be able to sample them where they are produced. W
e wander along the boardwalk, stopping for delicious gelato and eventually need the toilet. Toilets are not so good around these parts (they are the drop hole in the ground ones) and as such Shona ends up using the men's in the train station because it is way cleaner than the ladies. That's ok though because it's time for some sun and sea. We warm up and quickly hit the water to bob up and down in the swell. It's relaxing to be in the water, but eventually we make our way out where Shona falls asleep happy in the warm rays, however as usual after 30 minutes Michael is bored. We have learnt that Mike is not a huge fan for falling asleep on the beach. Maybe because despite the massive amounts of sunscreen he puts on (whereas Shona doesn't use any) he still burns (and Shona doesn't). New plan is that Shona will lie on the beach and Mike will go for a w
alk to pick up a few presents for people and to bring back pizza for lunch. He takes his time and 40 minutes later he is back with a delicious pesto pizza! Sunbathing over we catch a train back to Riomaggiore, rinse the salt off and head with a beer and wine down to the marina to play cards and watch the sun set. Mike heads back early to start dinner and Shona eventually joins him. It's our old favourite - pesto, lotsa garlic and parmesan pasta. It's just so yummy! There are new people in our room today (all Australians) and so we chat to them until midnight when it's finally time to hit the sack.
Monterosso and to get there we take a ferry. It's more expensive than the train, but offers a great view of all the villages from the sea. Before setting up on the beach we explore the town of Monterosso, including going to the anchovy salting centre. It's end of season and so we can't actually see the anchovies being salted, but we learn that each year 3000kg of anchovies are salte
d manually by hand by the females of the cooperative. Best of all we get to try some :-) They are different to the anchovies back home. Despite being salted to serve them they are rinsed first, thereby removing a lot of the salted flavour. As such they taste more like fish than salt. Unfortunately we are not able to buy any to take home and the ladies know this and wouldn't want to waste their product on us. But it is good to be able to sample them where they are produced. W
e wander along the boardwalk, stopping for delicious gelato and eventually need the toilet. Toilets are not so good around these parts (they are the drop hole in the ground ones) and as such Shona ends up using the men's in the train station because it is way cleaner than the ladies. That's ok though because it's time for some sun and sea. We warm up and quickly hit the water to bob up and down in the swell. It's relaxing to be in the water, but eventually we make our way out where Shona falls asleep happy in the warm rays, however as usual after 30 minutes Michael is bored. We have learnt that Mike is not a huge fan for falling asleep on the beach. Maybe because despite the massive amounts of sunscreen he puts on (whereas Shona doesn't use any) he still burns (and Shona doesn't). New plan is that Shona will lie on the beach and Mike will go for a w
alk to pick up a few presents for people and to bring back pizza for lunch. He takes his time and 40 minutes later he is back with a delicious pesto pizza! Sunbathing over we catch a train back to Riomaggiore, rinse the salt off and head with a beer and wine down to the marina to play cards and watch the sun set. Mike heads back early to start dinner and Shona eventually joins him. It's our old favourite - pesto, lotsa garlic and parmesan pasta. It's just so yummy! There are new people in our room today (all Australians) and so we chat to them until midnight when it's finally time to hit the sack.
Wine, love and pasta (6th October)
The day starts with our normal Cinque Terre breakfast - pizza (and almost always pesto pizza!). It gives us energy to walk the first part of the hike again from Riomaggiore around to Manarola. This time there are no tour groups and we are able to sit on the lovers seat and make out for a photo :-) We also had the chance to stop at the bar part the way around an
d enjoy a coffee overlooking 180 degrees of ocean. The purpose of the walk was to head around to Manarola in order to take the bus up to Groppo. As well as the five villages there are a few villages in the hills which are part of the region and National Park. In Groppo they make the Cinque Terre wine. There are five different types and Shona is able to taste four. Three are white wines - grapes only from Manarola, grapes only from Levanto and grapes from all over Cinque Terre. The all over variety is Shona's favourite. Mike has a sip of all of them too, but mainly eats the crisps! The final is the special dessert wine made in the region. They pick the grapes and then dry them in the hot sun over summer and on 1 November they press them to make the wine. It's really expensive (38 euros a bottle) and tastes del
icious especially with the biscotti that accompanies it. We buy some biscotti because it is really good and within our budget (4 euros). Afterwards we walk back down to Manarola, Shona giggles all the way because the wine has gone to her head! We see geckos as well as crickets jumping which are kinda freaky as we are not sure which we they are going to go. It's a lot of fun just wandering in the sun. We make our way back to Riomaggiore and head straight to the little bay around from us to have a swim. It's a rocky beach with big slippery rocks which makes it hard to enter the water. You get your balance and then a wave hits and blows you off. The most effective tactic is to push off and swim a few strokes until you are out at a depth where you only just touch the bottom (obviously this is a different place for Mike than for Shona!) and stay there bobbing up and down. It's a lot of fun -but it's definitely a good idea to clean off afterwards because the Mediterranean is so salty. Back at the hostel we do a redo of the dinner from last night -only this time we at least double the amount of garlic that goes with the pesto and parmesan pasta. It's even better than last night -especially because Mike makes a nice side of veges to go with it (our bodies have been craving nutrients after all the kebabs and pizza!). A wonderfully relaxing day -we're starting to understand why Italians have this "it's good to do nothing' saying!
d enjoy a coffee overlooking 180 degrees of ocean. The purpose of the walk was to head around to Manarola in order to take the bus up to Groppo. As well as the five villages there are a few villages in the hills which are part of the region and National Park. In Groppo they make the Cinque Terre wine. There are five different types and Shona is able to taste four. Three are white wines - grapes only from Manarola, grapes only from Levanto and grapes from all over Cinque Terre. The all over variety is Shona's favourite. Mike has a sip of all of them too, but mainly eats the crisps! The final is the special dessert wine made in the region. They pick the grapes and then dry them in the hot sun over summer and on 1 November they press them to make the wine. It's really expensive (38 euros a bottle) and tastes del
icious especially with the biscotti that accompanies it. We buy some biscotti because it is really good and within our budget (4 euros). Afterwards we walk back down to Manarola, Shona giggles all the way because the wine has gone to her head! We see geckos as well as crickets jumping which are kinda freaky as we are not sure which we they are going to go. It's a lot of fun just wandering in the sun. We make our way back to Riomaggiore and head straight to the little bay around from us to have a swim. It's a rocky beach with big slippery rocks which makes it hard to enter the water. You get your balance and then a wave hits and blows you off. The most effective tactic is to push off and swim a few strokes until you are out at a depth where you only just touch the bottom (obviously this is a different place for Mike than for Shona!) and stay there bobbing up and down. It's a lot of fun -but it's definitely a good idea to clean off afterwards because the Mediterranean is so salty. Back at the hostel we do a redo of the dinner from last night -only this time we at least double the amount of garlic that goes with the pesto and parmesan pasta. It's even better than last night -especially because Mike makes a nice side of veges to go with it (our bodies have been craving nutrients after all the kebabs and pizza!). A wonderfully relaxing day -we're starting to understand why Italians have this "it's good to do nothing' saying!
Friday, October 9, 2009
The big walk (5th October)
So although Riomaggiore could be a wonderful place to just relax and do nothing, we decide to do the opposite and walk the 10km track that joins the five (Cinque) villages (Terre). The first stretch is the shortest, the best laid, the most scenic and the most well known. It's called the Via dell Amore and features a piece of art that has become the icon of the walk (the silhouette of two lovers kissing). Because of all the previously mentioned points, it's also the most crowded stretch, as it's easy for large tours groups of grey hairs to slowly move a
long this footpath. Once in Manarola we sample their gelato (it's very good) and walk about the tiny village. It's not too different to Riomaggiore with it's brightly coloured houses with dark green shutters. We resume the walk but this time the track is not paved, rather it's a fairly flat dirt track with the occasional large stone along the way. Shona slips on once such loose stone and it bites her ankle leaving an immediate bruise. It's not too bad only the size of an old NZ 5cent coin so she sucks it up. Just as well because the next village Corniglia is situated high up on the hill. This means a large flight of stairs (we didn't count them) to hike up to enter it. Just as well we didn't stay there because the train station was at the bottom and we didn't fancy doing it with a pack as well! The hike up definitely means we deserve more gelato which we ate overlooking the stunning view of the blue ocean. We had set out on the walk at 10am so it was now nearly lunchtime. The map says the next walk is 4km which takes 1hour 40minutes. So we hang out a bit lon
ger stopping for a pizza - margarita of course. It's made from scratch and is delicious to share. Upon setting out on leg 3 we realise that each leg gets harder and harder. This time there are massive sets of stairs to climb up (we take a few breaks to enjoy the view, perch in the shade and get our breathe back). As we walk along one part of the countryside has recently been ravaged by fire. We are not sure why, but Mike finds it disturbing that the emergency help box is 
completely melted as a result. It is cool to see the various grape vines, lemon trees, olive trees growing on terraces amongst the normal bush that grows on the super steep hills. Our water goes down fast to help keep us hydrated. At one point there is a clearing under some trees and a number of people have stopped to have a picnic or have a rest. This isn't so strange except that there is a kitty cat lying on one of the tables in the sun and i
t appears to have cat food in a bowl and water for it to eat from. It's like someone treks in each day to feed it. We start to wonder if the cats are used as pest control, rather than poisons which could potentially affect the quality of the produce? Eventually we arrive in Vernazza with slightly sore knees, going downhill is rather hard on them. As we shared the first pizza we are still slightly hungry so find another margarita to share. It's not as good as Corniglia, however it fills up the hole in our tummies. Luckily the busker singing outside takes a break while we eat. She isn't that good and only knows one song which she plays on repeat - 'What's Up' by the 'Four Non Blondes'. Vernazza is the biggest town we have be
en too with lots of brightly coloured houses with dark green shutters. A large harbour and even an old castle on the hill. We head up to the castle to check it out. The view is very cool from here and we climb up the tower to get an even higher one. No one joins us up the top for ages, so we chill just enjoying being in the Cinque Terre and also trying to work out if it is going to rain. it's clouded over a bit and we suspect that it might. Our next stretch is supposed to take an hour 10 minutes, so when a massive tour group decides to come up the top, we choose to go down and carry on. The final leg is reasonably long and slightly rougher than the others. It's still a pretty decent track - however with the odd spit of rain the rocks can beco
me a little more slippery and treacherous. We have no idea what was going through the mind of the lady we pass who's walking in jandals... mental! It is really satisfying when we round the corner and there is the path down to Monterosso the largest of the five villages. We decide that we can check out Monterosso another day but stop for a cappuccino on the beach first. We train back to Riomaggiore and use our kitchen to cook ourselves dinner. So exciting to be able to cook. It's pasta with garlic, pesto and parmesan cheese - YUM! Other people in our hostel bring back some mates so we drink our beer and wine and talk about travelling and life. At about midnight everyone seems to call it a night and we head to bed to rest our exercised and full bodies!
long this footpath. Once in Manarola we sample their gelato (it's very good) and walk about the tiny village. It's not too different to Riomaggiore with it's brightly coloured houses with dark green shutters. We resume the walk but this time the track is not paved, rather it's a fairly flat dirt track with the occasional large stone along the way. Shona slips on once such loose stone and it bites her ankle leaving an immediate bruise. It's not too bad only the size of an old NZ 5cent coin so she sucks it up. Just as well because the next village Corniglia is situated high up on the hill. This means a large flight of stairs (we didn't count them) to hike up to enter it. Just as well we didn't stay there because the train station was at the bottom and we didn't fancy doing it with a pack as well! The hike up definitely means we deserve more gelato which we ate overlooking the stunning view of the blue ocean. We had set out on the walk at 10am so it was now nearly lunchtime. The map says the next walk is 4km which takes 1hour 40minutes. So we hang out a bit lon
ger stopping for a pizza - margarita of course. It's made from scratch and is delicious to share. Upon setting out on leg 3 we realise that each leg gets harder and harder. This time there are massive sets of stairs to climb up (we take a few breaks to enjoy the view, perch in the shade and get our breathe back). As we walk along one part of the countryside has recently been ravaged by fire. We are not sure why, but Mike finds it disturbing that the emergency help box is 
completely melted as a result. It is cool to see the various grape vines, lemon trees, olive trees growing on terraces amongst the normal bush that grows on the super steep hills. Our water goes down fast to help keep us hydrated. At one point there is a clearing under some trees and a number of people have stopped to have a picnic or have a rest. This isn't so strange except that there is a kitty cat lying on one of the tables in the sun and i
t appears to have cat food in a bowl and water for it to eat from. It's like someone treks in each day to feed it. We start to wonder if the cats are used as pest control, rather than poisons which could potentially affect the quality of the produce? Eventually we arrive in Vernazza with slightly sore knees, going downhill is rather hard on them. As we shared the first pizza we are still slightly hungry so find another margarita to share. It's not as good as Corniglia, however it fills up the hole in our tummies. Luckily the busker singing outside takes a break while we eat. She isn't that good and only knows one song which she plays on repeat - 'What's Up' by the 'Four Non Blondes'. Vernazza is the biggest town we have be
en too with lots of brightly coloured houses with dark green shutters. A large harbour and even an old castle on the hill. We head up to the castle to check it out. The view is very cool from here and we climb up the tower to get an even higher one. No one joins us up the top for ages, so we chill just enjoying being in the Cinque Terre and also trying to work out if it is going to rain. it's clouded over a bit and we suspect that it might. Our next stretch is supposed to take an hour 10 minutes, so when a massive tour group decides to come up the top, we choose to go down and carry on. The final leg is reasonably long and slightly rougher than the others. It's still a pretty decent track - however with the odd spit of rain the rocks can beco
me a little more slippery and treacherous. We have no idea what was going through the mind of the lady we pass who's walking in jandals... mental! It is really satisfying when we round the corner and there is the path down to Monterosso the largest of the five villages. We decide that we can check out Monterosso another day but stop for a cappuccino on the beach first. We train back to Riomaggiore and use our kitchen to cook ourselves dinner. So exciting to be able to cook. It's pasta with garlic, pesto and parmesan cheese - YUM! Other people in our hostel bring back some mates so we drink our beer and wine and talk about travelling and life. At about midnight everyone seems to call it a night and we head to bed to rest our exercised and full bodies!
Cinque Terre at last (4th October)
The first pit stop of the day is at a car park which costs 109euro for the bus
to park at. That's ok because it's the official car park for the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We walk the 15minutes past the super tacky souvenir shops to see one of the most famous monuments in the world. It's pretty cool and we take the obligatory photos of us holding it up! Surprisingly it's next to a beautiful cathedral and baptistery. We only have forty minutes to get the photos, find food and pay 30eurocents for a comfort stop which involves a massive queue. Somehow we manage it all and get a tacky souvenir to take part in the competition on the bus. At the very start of this trip S
hona wanted to go to the Cinque Terre which is five little villages along the west coast of Italy. They are famous for their way of life, building up terraced walls on super steep terrain to farm grapes for wine, olives for oil and lemons for limoncello. The main income was from fishing because the Mediterranean is full of wonderful fish, namely anchovies. The Monterosso is also the birthplace of pesto. Of course we would want to stop here! To get to this fantastic part of Italy, we catch the train from La Spezia to the first village and our home for the next 4 nights - Riomaggiore. It's so picturesque with the brightly coloured terraces houses, complete with forest green shutters, the paved footpaths (no cars here) and Italians sitting on benches talking about something. We find our way to the hostel, which is just the office and the guy leads us back down the hill we have walked up with our packs (YAY - not!) and find our accommodation. Because we 
are a couple and we are first he offered us a double bed. We take it because we can't remember the last time we were in the same bed! Downside is that our accommodation is like an apartment, the bedroom has 3 bunk beds in it and the lounge / kitchen / dining area has our double bed. It's ok and there are two complete bathrooms, one which we can make our own so all good :-) Plus we are super excited about having a kitchen because we believe the last time we cooked was in Lauterbrunnen 2 months ago. It's the small pleasures really... It's laundry time again and our 
timing is perfect. Apparently there were thunderstorms in the region a few weeks ago and the lightening took out 3 of the 4 machines. A nice American lady is waiting for her clothes but guesstimates that she'll be ten minutes. We find some takeaway pasta spaghetti with pesto and spaghetti carbonara YUM and YUM! Our clothes go on and we eat lunch while we wait. With the washing all done we wander around Riomaggiore to check out our town. It is really rather little but we find the playground up the hill, the new lift that is being built and the road where all the cars can park. It's a big little adventure and fun just to see what is up these steps or down there. Exploring is hard work which needs feeding. Despite the kitchen we decide to eat out tonight. Our restaurant is chosen for the calamari but upon closer inspection of the menu realise that it's brought in frozen and not fresh as Shona wanted. Eventually Mike settles for the veal stew and Shona the spaghetti with anchovies, garlic and capers. It is the best pasta she has ever eaten and is in total heaven. Luckily Mike doesn't like anchovies and so doesn't want to share.
to park at. That's ok because it's the official car park for the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We walk the 15minutes past the super tacky souvenir shops to see one of the most famous monuments in the world. It's pretty cool and we take the obligatory photos of us holding it up! Surprisingly it's next to a beautiful cathedral and baptistery. We only have forty minutes to get the photos, find food and pay 30eurocents for a comfort stop which involves a massive queue. Somehow we manage it all and get a tacky souvenir to take part in the competition on the bus. At the very start of this trip S
hona wanted to go to the Cinque Terre which is five little villages along the west coast of Italy. They are famous for their way of life, building up terraced walls on super steep terrain to farm grapes for wine, olives for oil and lemons for limoncello. The main income was from fishing because the Mediterranean is full of wonderful fish, namely anchovies. The Monterosso is also the birthplace of pesto. Of course we would want to stop here! To get to this fantastic part of Italy, we catch the train from La Spezia to the first village and our home for the next 4 nights - Riomaggiore. It's so picturesque with the brightly coloured terraces houses, complete with forest green shutters, the paved footpaths (no cars here) and Italians sitting on benches talking about something. We find our way to the hostel, which is just the office and the guy leads us back down the hill we have walked up with our packs (YAY - not!) and find our accommodation. Because we 
are a couple and we are first he offered us a double bed. We take it because we can't remember the last time we were in the same bed! Downside is that our accommodation is like an apartment, the bedroom has 3 bunk beds in it and the lounge / kitchen / dining area has our double bed. It's ok and there are two complete bathrooms, one which we can make our own so all good :-) Plus we are super excited about having a kitchen because we believe the last time we cooked was in Lauterbrunnen 2 months ago. It's the small pleasures really... It's laundry time again and our 
timing is perfect. Apparently there were thunderstorms in the region a few weeks ago and the lightening took out 3 of the 4 machines. A nice American lady is waiting for her clothes but guesstimates that she'll be ten minutes. We find some takeaway pasta spaghetti with pesto and spaghetti carbonara YUM and YUM! Our clothes go on and we eat lunch while we wait. With the washing all done we wander around Riomaggiore to check out our town. It is really rather little but we find the playground up the hill, the new lift that is being built and the road where all the cars can park. It's a big little adventure and fun just to see what is up these steps or down there. Exploring is hard work which needs feeding. Despite the kitchen we decide to eat out tonight. Our restaurant is chosen for the calamari but upon closer inspection of the menu realise that it's brought in frozen and not fresh as Shona wanted. Eventually Mike settles for the veal stew and Shona the spaghetti with anchovies, garlic and capers. It is the best pasta she has ever eaten and is in total heaven. Luckily Mike doesn't like anchovies and so doesn't want to share.
Well well worth waiting for (3rd October)
The butterfly did not work because the time was an hour behind - our fault, but we woke up with plenty of time to catch the bus. Today we check out of Rome and make our way our way back along the Italian peninsular on our unrelenting quest to see as much of Europe as possible in 97 days. Our first pit stop is anything but an ordinary autogrill however a
s we find ourselves the quaint little city of Orvieto. To get into this walled city you first need to catch a funicular from the motorway up the impressively steep defensive cliffs. Once there we're given the choice of checking out the amazing scenery and take a short bus ride to lunch near the cathedral, or checking out the amazing scenery and exploring the well. We're a little over seeing cathedrals / churches and basilicas so we opt for the path less travelled, ignore the awaiting bus and pop over to the well. Even though it's right on 10am and the opening hours are from 9am -the door is firmly locked and there's no one around. Rats - the bus will have just left and no we can't do either option! As we head back up the driveway Mike spots a lady walking in the other direction with a key in her hand. She can't be just 
going to check out the view - so we follow her back and get into the well. Just another example of the work ethic of Italians for her to be an hour late huh? The well is brilliant and was built in 1537 under the fear that the pope living in the city at the time had regarding potential sieges of the city. The thought they'd have to make it 30m deep, but it took 53.1m to reach the water level! It isn't the usual well with a bucket on a rope - this one (designed by Michelangelo) has two spiralling staircases that donkeys could walk along with buckets to fetch the much needed water! It gets pretty creepy down the bottom even with the small amount of modern electrical light - we hate to think what it would have been like i
n the 16th century! The 248 steps are a bit of work to come back up, but at least we didn't add our camera to the clear pool at the bottom like one unfortunate tourist obviously had! Because the next bus is a while away - we enjoy some more views before heading back down the funicular and grabbing some pizza (margarita of course) near the bus. Not the usual toilet stop and 'well well' worth doing! Part of the reason we can afford such a long break today is because it's a short day, as Coops and Mick get us into our destination of Florence before 3pm. The approach into the city is amazing - as we drive past the lookout of Piazza Michelangelo, somewhere that Mike was very keen to go to... but something that will have to wait until next trip unfortunately. On the drive in Coops our guide tells us about the birth of the Renaissance which began in Florence many years ago. Call Shona a blonde, but it was only a week ago that she realised the teenage mutant ninja turtles were named after the four most famous artists of this period - Donatello (sculptor), Michelangelo (sculptor, painter, architect), Raphel (painter) & Leonardo (painter, engineer, theorist - one of the smartest men who ever lived). These guys were all born in Florence within a 200 year period. The renaissance was fueled because the middle working class in Florence became very wealthy through selling wool and leather etc. This meant that they had more money than needed and invented banks to put it somewhere or they used the extra money to pay for elegant buildings and art throughout the city. 
Florence is well and truly dominated by the Duomo - an almost insanely over the top sized church in the middle of the city, the forth largest in the world! It's one of the locations on Coops' slightly illegal orientation walk (tour... but hush hush) of the city on the way to dinner. We also go past the Uffizi gallery which has sculptures of important Italian artists from the Renaissance (unusually Raphael is missing from role call), the Ponte Vecchio (another of only 3 bridges in the world with shops all along it), the hidden passage across the river and past the building where the statue of David is. Apparently this is a 'must do' in Florence, however we don't feel the need to queue and pay to see an impressive statue when we've seen so many impressive statues on this trip -and when there's a massive replica on display for free in the square, plus we don't have time today. Interestingly the real statu
e used to be where the fake one is -until someone threw a table out the building window and damaged it... who throws a table out the window -seriously? We then go to a leather factory for a pretty underwhelming talk on Florentine leather -which is basically just put on so that we'll go into their factory shop. At this point we break from the group because we need to get back to the hostel (making some purchases along the way for Shona) and have dinner before meeting out friends Tim and Clara for drinks. One of the great things about Busabout is that you see people repeatedly and can make friends with some really wonderful people - even if they happen to be Australian. It's the last time we will see each other as our trips take us different directions so we talk over beer and strawberry daiquiris in the hostels' roof top bar overlooking the city till about midnight, when we go to bed and hope that our butterfly alarm clock plays ball and actually wakes us up tomorrow!
s we find ourselves the quaint little city of Orvieto. To get into this walled city you first need to catch a funicular from the motorway up the impressively steep defensive cliffs. Once there we're given the choice of checking out the amazing scenery and take a short bus ride to lunch near the cathedral, or checking out the amazing scenery and exploring the well. We're a little over seeing cathedrals / churches and basilicas so we opt for the path less travelled, ignore the awaiting bus and pop over to the well. Even though it's right on 10am and the opening hours are from 9am -the door is firmly locked and there's no one around. Rats - the bus will have just left and no we can't do either option! As we head back up the driveway Mike spots a lady walking in the other direction with a key in her hand. She can't be just 
going to check out the view - so we follow her back and get into the well. Just another example of the work ethic of Italians for her to be an hour late huh? The well is brilliant and was built in 1537 under the fear that the pope living in the city at the time had regarding potential sieges of the city. The thought they'd have to make it 30m deep, but it took 53.1m to reach the water level! It isn't the usual well with a bucket on a rope - this one (designed by Michelangelo) has two spiralling staircases that donkeys could walk along with buckets to fetch the much needed water! It gets pretty creepy down the bottom even with the small amount of modern electrical light - we hate to think what it would have been like i
n the 16th century! The 248 steps are a bit of work to come back up, but at least we didn't add our camera to the clear pool at the bottom like one unfortunate tourist obviously had! Because the next bus is a while away - we enjoy some more views before heading back down the funicular and grabbing some pizza (margarita of course) near the bus. Not the usual toilet stop and 'well well' worth doing! Part of the reason we can afford such a long break today is because it's a short day, as Coops and Mick get us into our destination of Florence before 3pm. The approach into the city is amazing - as we drive past the lookout of Piazza Michelangelo, somewhere that Mike was very keen to go to... but something that will have to wait until next trip unfortunately. On the drive in Coops our guide tells us about the birth of the Renaissance which began in Florence many years ago. Call Shona a blonde, but it was only a week ago that she realised the teenage mutant ninja turtles were named after the four most famous artists of this period - Donatello (sculptor), Michelangelo (sculptor, painter, architect), Raphel (painter) & Leonardo (painter, engineer, theorist - one of the smartest men who ever lived). These guys were all born in Florence within a 200 year period. The renaissance was fueled because the middle working class in Florence became very wealthy through selling wool and leather etc. This meant that they had more money than needed and invented banks to put it somewhere or they used the extra money to pay for elegant buildings and art throughout the city. 
Florence is well and truly dominated by the Duomo - an almost insanely over the top sized church in the middle of the city, the forth largest in the world! It's one of the locations on Coops' slightly illegal orientation walk (tour... but hush hush) of the city on the way to dinner. We also go past the Uffizi gallery which has sculptures of important Italian artists from the Renaissance (unusually Raphael is missing from role call), the Ponte Vecchio (another of only 3 bridges in the world with shops all along it), the hidden passage across the river and past the building where the statue of David is. Apparently this is a 'must do' in Florence, however we don't feel the need to queue and pay to see an impressive statue when we've seen so many impressive statues on this trip -and when there's a massive replica on display for free in the square, plus we don't have time today. Interestingly the real statu
e used to be where the fake one is -until someone threw a table out the building window and damaged it... who throws a table out the window -seriously? We then go to a leather factory for a pretty underwhelming talk on Florentine leather -which is basically just put on so that we'll go into their factory shop. At this point we break from the group because we need to get back to the hostel (making some purchases along the way for Shona) and have dinner before meeting out friends Tim and Clara for drinks. One of the great things about Busabout is that you see people repeatedly and can make friends with some really wonderful people - even if they happen to be Australian. It's the last time we will see each other as our trips take us different directions so we talk over beer and strawberry daiquiris in the hostels' roof top bar overlooking the city till about midnight, when we go to bed and hope that our butterfly alarm clock plays ball and actually wakes us up tomorrow!
Uncovering the buried city (2nd October)
Due to the metro strike we have booked to head to the buried ancient city of Pompeii. The bus leaves at 7am (and we need to be early) which is normally fine except our new alarm clock, the pretty red butterfly, did not go off. Luckily Shona, who went to bed listening to Mikes advice, (think 'wake up at 5:30am, wake up at 5:30am') woke up... at 6:20am. Yikes that is cutting it close. However we manage to both shower and be ready to board the bus at 6:58am. Our guide Paola is very good telling us about the different highways we are on, the abbeys on the road, the mountain ranges and just anything that can make our 3 hour drive to Pompeii more exciting. Shona d
ecides that she would like to live in the Campania region because they invented the pizza pie, and limoncello. It is also renowned for making amazing pasta, gelato and mozzarella (with buffalo milk). Because we are not allowed to eat on the bus (and there was no time for breakfast) it doesn't help to hear this information given our stomachs are rumbling. Needless to say the coffee and roll at the comfort stop went down rather quickly. Another fact about the Campania region is that it is one of three areas in Italy which grows tobacco. In Italy the sale of tobacco is monitored and as such you can't buy it from the supermarket, rather you have to go to a tobacco store! We arrive in Pompeii to meet our local guide (due to Italian law you must always have a local guide and Paola is not local). Our guide is Ciro (chi-row) and he reminds Shona of Willy Wonka with his curly haircut. The city of Pompeii was built at the foot of Mt Vesuvius (an active volcano), however they did not know this. In 79AD Vesuvius erupted in similar style to Mt St Helens in 1981, unpredictable and very explosive. First of all there was pumice stone which buried the city 3m deep, followed by polycystic clouds which killed anything still living, and finally dust and ash which settled on the city sealing it away for thousands of years. To this day only 2/3r
ds have been excavated so the actual amount of deaths is still unknown. Excavations of the city have revealed a number of interesting facts. Pompeii was a very civilised place where you could walk the streets stopping at shops to purchase hot food kept in stone vessels. Large stones were put across the streets to help pedestrians walk from one side to the other, but they were low enough and spaced correctly to allow the chariots to pass. In fact you can see the chariot marks in some of the stones. Art on the walls show that Pompeii was ruled by the Romans at the time of the eruption, however they were strongly influenced by the Egyptians and their ancestors were the Greeks. It was nearer the bay of Naples than today 
and as such many sailors came to town. When the sailors came to town they would be guided to the only curved street in the city by street stones carved with penis' on them (curved so that you could not see who was and what was happening down there). The brothel has been excavated and you know this is what it was by the stone beds in the five rooms and the artwork containing various positions on the walls. The sailors did not always speak the same language so they could point to what they wanted. Needless to say prostitution was legal even if the women were exotic slaves. You might also 
find the image of a penis proudly on display outside or inside a persons house. It was a sign of fertility and the people of Pompeii were very superstitious. As such you would have this image on display to bring the god of fertility to your 
house. Dave/Dad - Shona stood under one just for you... but don't get your hopes up :-) We were fascinated with Pompeii, from running water in some places, the fact that all streets have a water fountain as the street sign and the theatres were built with perfect acoustics for performances. Everything screamed civilisation and it would be amazing to go back in time and really see what it was like. Unfortunately our tour only lasted 1 hour 40 minutes meaning we saw a small portion of what has been uncovered and we would love to come back someday to explore the whole place at our own leisure.The tour offers a light lunch for 12euro. However as our breakfast of apples and pringles weren't eaten we decide (like most other people) to do our own thing. Sounds like a good option because the lunch was not worth 12euro according to sources. Anyway after lunch we board the bus and 
Ciro guides through the city of Naples (or Napoli to Italians). Shona LOVES a Napoli pizza (mozzarella, olives and anchovies) but the city can only be described as slumsville or a sh*thole. We are pleased the bus only stops once high on a hill to let us take photos of the bay. Why is it so bad, well there are 800,000 people in the region - yes that is right, they are under an active volcano which is unpredictable and it is estimated that when the big one occurs some 300,000 people will die. To house all these people are heaps of unloved apartment buildings everywhere. The bus bumps about on the dreadful roads and it can only be assumed that maintenance is not a priority. You feel unsafe looking at the place and as Ciro says beware of pickpockets and robbers because there are plenty. Despite this awful feeling Naples is home to a stunning bay, where on a clear day you can see the Isle of Capri and the world's oldest opera house. We are pleased to have seen Naples (where the drivers are worse than in Rome), because if we come back to Italy we'll know not to base ourselves there... even though the Amalfi coast is just down the road.We 
say goodbye to Ciro and drop him off at the train station before heading back along the three different highways to Rome. As we approach Rome we see the big blue Busabout bus pulled over on the right hand side of the road (remember we are in Europe and they drive on the opposite side). Uh Oh, have they had an accident? That is our bus that we are leaving tomorrow - what is going on? We need not worry, they pull up behind us at the hostel and friends tell us that they had gone into a toll gate (they are on all the highways in Europe, why won't NZ catch up and have decent roads...) but the automatic pass did not work so they reversed out. The driver reversed into a car and just touched their bumper. He did not realise so went through the toll gate. The driver of the car flashed them down and that was why they were pulled over on the side of the road. There was no damage to either bus nor car and that was great news for us . Dinner was rolls filled with ham, cheese and tomato from the supermarket across the road. The rolls are old and awful, but hey it is a cheap way to end an expensive day (the trip was 48euros each). We fall asleep hoping that the butterfly alarm clock works in the morning.
ecides that she would like to live in the Campania region because they invented the pizza pie, and limoncello. It is also renowned for making amazing pasta, gelato and mozzarella (with buffalo milk). Because we are not allowed to eat on the bus (and there was no time for breakfast) it doesn't help to hear this information given our stomachs are rumbling. Needless to say the coffee and roll at the comfort stop went down rather quickly. Another fact about the Campania region is that it is one of three areas in Italy which grows tobacco. In Italy the sale of tobacco is monitored and as such you can't buy it from the supermarket, rather you have to go to a tobacco store! We arrive in Pompeii to meet our local guide (due to Italian law you must always have a local guide and Paola is not local). Our guide is Ciro (chi-row) and he reminds Shona of Willy Wonka with his curly haircut. The city of Pompeii was built at the foot of Mt Vesuvius (an active volcano), however they did not know this. In 79AD Vesuvius erupted in similar style to Mt St Helens in 1981, unpredictable and very explosive. First of all there was pumice stone which buried the city 3m deep, followed by polycystic clouds which killed anything still living, and finally dust and ash which settled on the city sealing it away for thousands of years. To this day only 2/3r
ds have been excavated so the actual amount of deaths is still unknown. Excavations of the city have revealed a number of interesting facts. Pompeii was a very civilised place where you could walk the streets stopping at shops to purchase hot food kept in stone vessels. Large stones were put across the streets to help pedestrians walk from one side to the other, but they were low enough and spaced correctly to allow the chariots to pass. In fact you can see the chariot marks in some of the stones. Art on the walls show that Pompeii was ruled by the Romans at the time of the eruption, however they were strongly influenced by the Egyptians and their ancestors were the Greeks. It was nearer the bay of Naples than today 
and as such many sailors came to town. When the sailors came to town they would be guided to the only curved street in the city by street stones carved with penis' on them (curved so that you could not see who was and what was happening down there). The brothel has been excavated and you know this is what it was by the stone beds in the five rooms and the artwork containing various positions on the walls. The sailors did not always speak the same language so they could point to what they wanted. Needless to say prostitution was legal even if the women were exotic slaves. You might also 
find the image of a penis proudly on display outside or inside a persons house. It was a sign of fertility and the people of Pompeii were very superstitious. As such you would have this image on display to bring the god of fertility to your 
house. Dave/Dad - Shona stood under one just for you... but don't get your hopes up :-) We were fascinated with Pompeii, from running water in some places, the fact that all streets have a water fountain as the street sign and the theatres were built with perfect acoustics for performances. Everything screamed civilisation and it would be amazing to go back in time and really see what it was like. Unfortunately our tour only lasted 1 hour 40 minutes meaning we saw a small portion of what has been uncovered and we would love to come back someday to explore the whole place at our own leisure.The tour offers a light lunch for 12euro. However as our breakfast of apples and pringles weren't eaten we decide (like most other people) to do our own thing. Sounds like a good option because the lunch was not worth 12euro according to sources. Anyway after lunch we board the bus and 
Ciro guides through the city of Naples (or Napoli to Italians). Shona LOVES a Napoli pizza (mozzarella, olives and anchovies) but the city can only be described as slumsville or a sh*thole. We are pleased the bus only stops once high on a hill to let us take photos of the bay. Why is it so bad, well there are 800,000 people in the region - yes that is right, they are under an active volcano which is unpredictable and it is estimated that when the big one occurs some 300,000 people will die. To house all these people are heaps of unloved apartment buildings everywhere. The bus bumps about on the dreadful roads and it can only be assumed that maintenance is not a priority. You feel unsafe looking at the place and as Ciro says beware of pickpockets and robbers because there are plenty. Despite this awful feeling Naples is home to a stunning bay, where on a clear day you can see the Isle of Capri and the world's oldest opera house. We are pleased to have seen Naples (where the drivers are worse than in Rome), because if we come back to Italy we'll know not to base ourselves there... even though the Amalfi coast is just down the road.We 
say goodbye to Ciro and drop him off at the train station before heading back along the three different highways to Rome. As we approach Rome we see the big blue Busabout bus pulled over on the right hand side of the road (remember we are in Europe and they drive on the opposite side). Uh Oh, have they had an accident? That is our bus that we are leaving tomorrow - what is going on? We need not worry, they pull up behind us at the hostel and friends tell us that they had gone into a toll gate (they are on all the highways in Europe, why won't NZ catch up and have decent roads...) but the automatic pass did not work so they reversed out. The driver reversed into a car and just touched their bumper. He did not realise so went through the toll gate. The driver of the car flashed them down and that was why they were pulled over on the side of the road. There was no damage to either bus nor car and that was great news for us . Dinner was rolls filled with ham, cheese and tomato from the supermarket across the road. The rolls are old and awful, but hey it is a cheap way to end an expensive day (the trip was 48euros each). We fall asleep hoping that the butterfly alarm clock works in the morning.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Modern organisation vs Roman organisation (1st October)
As we head 
on the 9am bus to go to the Colosseum we decide to get off early and file the police report for our mobile phone. The officer on the front desk in typical Italian style is slowly serving a customer but asks us to tell her what we want. Unfortunately she doesn't understand English so continues with the first dude. Meanwhile more people join the queue and we are left standing there not knowing what is going on. However a sign on the wall says in various languages (including English) Stolen goods level 2. So after humming and haaing we decide to head up the stairs to see if they can help. There is shouting "scusi, scusi" because we have done the wrong thing and we are not supposed to go to the department we need directly. It turns out the big door that was wide open is a security door and she was sick of pressing the button to let people in and out, but because of us it is now firmly closed! Opps - not the impression we wanted to make. Eventually someone who speaks a little bit of English is able to determine that we want to file a stolen goods report. We get given the English version of the form to fill out and escorted to an area inside the police station to complete it. Behind us, 3 other guys eventually appear as they are here to do the same thing as we are. One guy is really nice and he also speaks quite good English, which is helpful when we then get kicked outside because it's cleaning time. Our new friend who was behind us in the queue gets called after about an hour of waiting. He goes to level 2 gets his form stamped and heads away. However he did ask about us English speaking people and told us that someone would come and get us. Finally despite being first there, we are the only ones left and 20 minutes later a guy comes out through the doors puts his hand out for the piece of paper, we pass it to him and he disappears. 5 minutes later he is back with a photocopy and the 
appropriate stamps on it. Over two hours of waiting for this - it seems as though modern organisation has gone wrong. Oh well it's a job done. Did we mention that we still hadn't had breakfast so before catching the metro in we had brunch - kebab again for Mike, pizza for Shona; the healthy travellers we are. Finally we arrive at our destination for the day - the centre of Roman games, the Colosseum! It's size is ginormous and it is amazing to imagine exactly what it would be like in it's hay day. Thousands of cheering spectators filled this area w
here hunters would roam around fake sets to kill the amazing animals brought in for the games. It has even been said that 100 lions would be brought to the arena floor at the same time, something impossible to see in any zoo -or anywhere in the world throughout history. Criminals made to star in plays where the final scene is their own death by tiger or lion etc and in the afternoon the most famous event - the gladiators! Just as we are about to go in, a lady says that she has a tour starting right now that we can do and it also includes a tour of the Palatine hill afterwards. It goes for forty minutes and then we have free time to explore the Colosseum as we like. The tour 
guide is nice, cracks jokes, but it isn't the most interesting tour and we are wondering if we wasted the 10euro (hold that thought). Interesting points to note, that the lower classes who sat at the top had the most shade, whereas the aristocrats who sat in the front rows roasted. In the early years, the whole arena could be flooded to show nautical battles (although only a few of these where held there before a custom built arena was made and the floor was modified to have two levels with elevators built in to put everything in the arena). The whole arena could be emptied in 15 minutes... much more impressive than Eden Park! There is also a temporary display on the Flavian emperors (who built 
the arena) which is certainly worth a look. we head out and begin pondering what to do for the hour or so before the next tour of palatine hill - when a lady from the same company we bought through told us we can just go on her earlier tour. Maia is wonderful and we both agree that her portion of the tour package was worth the 10euro in itself. Palatine hill is where the roman forum is, which was the heart of the city of Rome and the birthplace of the empire. The start of the city goes back to the time of Romulus and Remus, which is the story of the brothers that were abandon
ed and raised by a she wolf. You may think it's impossible to be raised by an actual wolf - but the clarification comes from the word 'lupa' which means both she wolf and prostitute! Anyway Romulas became ruler in 753BC and killed his brother, because at that time the state was considered to take priority over the family. Maia has some wonderful bits of information and obviously has a real passion for history. Did you know that the phrase "life begins at 40" comes from the fact that this was the age that the vestial virgins (of which there were usually 8) were allowed to quit the job of tending to the flame of Rome and marry? A lot of them didn't however as they would lose all of their assets to their husband and would no longer be treated like queens as they had become accustomed (i.e. they had their own private box in the Colosseum and were the only women allowed to ride alone in chariots). We're once again amazed by Roman engineering, when they excavated the area they found a bronze door from 300AD, when they turned the key in the lock - it still worked! The main road (Via Scara) to the forum was found by the archaeologists but when they first 
found it they thought that it was too well built for the time and so they kept digging. They didn't find a road and realised that they had just destroyed the Via Sacra. At least they still had the stones and could relay it. Maia explains the story behind the Temple of Antonimus. After the Romans fell the Christians wanted to knock it down to build a church. Specifically they didn't like the roman style columns, however nothing they did could get them to come down. They went so far as to get a herd of elephants in to pull them down and there are marks left in the marble where the elephants pulled on the rope. But still it would not come down. So for this reason the church was built inside the old building.You all have heard about Roman gods and at the time of Constantine he needed the people's support. Many Romans were beginning to practice Catholicism (as it promised a path to heaven for even the poorest people) and so he made Catholicism the official religion of Rome and legalised everything to do with being a (Roman) catholic. The scripture "a rich man has as much chance of making it to heaven as a camel has of passing through the eye of a needle" brought a lot of people to the church and was a great revenue gatherer as people gave their money to the church to try and buy their salvation (this is how the ridiculously large churches can be funded). It also meant that within 100 years it went from being illegal to be a catholic, to being illegal to be any religion OTHER than catholic. Anyway, with the change to Catholicism the holidays were aligned to the dates of previously celebrated festivals. Easter was matched to a pagan festival (hence the reason for bunny's) and Christmas was aligned to a sun god celebration. Within a few generations Romans had forgotten about the traditional ones.Rome eventually fell, putting all of Europe into the dark ages, because it was too big and there weren't enough countries to conquer and to take the wealth from. The Roman way of life was not sustainable as they were using the winnings found after the battles to fund everything. It was also falling apart from the inside because their lifestyle was not compatible with a lot of the catholic principles. That said they were loved by many conquered nations because they introduced running water, roads to everywhere, games & entertainment and a better way of life. After a lot of discussion we decide to head back to the camp site for dinner -Mike ordering the lasagna again and Shona having the cannelloni. For the first time on the trip we have to send something back to the kitchen as the lasagna pasta is no where near cooked and isn't edible. Italians not being able to cook pasta? What's the world coming to. Instead he has a take out pizza and gets news that the entire metro will be striking tomorrow! No buses or metro in the city outside rush hours so no way to go through our plans to see some more of Rome and the zoo (we love zoos). We book tickets for a day excursion instead...
on the 9am bus to go to the Colosseum we decide to get off early and file the police report for our mobile phone. The officer on the front desk in typical Italian style is slowly serving a customer but asks us to tell her what we want. Unfortunately she doesn't understand English so continues with the first dude. Meanwhile more people join the queue and we are left standing there not knowing what is going on. However a sign on the wall says in various languages (including English) Stolen goods level 2. So after humming and haaing we decide to head up the stairs to see if they can help. There is shouting "scusi, scusi" because we have done the wrong thing and we are not supposed to go to the department we need directly. It turns out the big door that was wide open is a security door and she was sick of pressing the button to let people in and out, but because of us it is now firmly closed! Opps - not the impression we wanted to make. Eventually someone who speaks a little bit of English is able to determine that we want to file a stolen goods report. We get given the English version of the form to fill out and escorted to an area inside the police station to complete it. Behind us, 3 other guys eventually appear as they are here to do the same thing as we are. One guy is really nice and he also speaks quite good English, which is helpful when we then get kicked outside because it's cleaning time. Our new friend who was behind us in the queue gets called after about an hour of waiting. He goes to level 2 gets his form stamped and heads away. However he did ask about us English speaking people and told us that someone would come and get us. Finally despite being first there, we are the only ones left and 20 minutes later a guy comes out through the doors puts his hand out for the piece of paper, we pass it to him and he disappears. 5 minutes later he is back with a photocopy and the 
appropriate stamps on it. Over two hours of waiting for this - it seems as though modern organisation has gone wrong. Oh well it's a job done. Did we mention that we still hadn't had breakfast so before catching the metro in we had brunch - kebab again for Mike, pizza for Shona; the healthy travellers we are. Finally we arrive at our destination for the day - the centre of Roman games, the Colosseum! It's size is ginormous and it is amazing to imagine exactly what it would be like in it's hay day. Thousands of cheering spectators filled this area w
here hunters would roam around fake sets to kill the amazing animals brought in for the games. It has even been said that 100 lions would be brought to the arena floor at the same time, something impossible to see in any zoo -or anywhere in the world throughout history. Criminals made to star in plays where the final scene is their own death by tiger or lion etc and in the afternoon the most famous event - the gladiators! Just as we are about to go in, a lady says that she has a tour starting right now that we can do and it also includes a tour of the Palatine hill afterwards. It goes for forty minutes and then we have free time to explore the Colosseum as we like. The tour 
guide is nice, cracks jokes, but it isn't the most interesting tour and we are wondering if we wasted the 10euro (hold that thought). Interesting points to note, that the lower classes who sat at the top had the most shade, whereas the aristocrats who sat in the front rows roasted. In the early years, the whole arena could be flooded to show nautical battles (although only a few of these where held there before a custom built arena was made and the floor was modified to have two levels with elevators built in to put everything in the arena). The whole arena could be emptied in 15 minutes... much more impressive than Eden Park! There is also a temporary display on the Flavian emperors (who built 
the arena) which is certainly worth a look. we head out and begin pondering what to do for the hour or so before the next tour of palatine hill - when a lady from the same company we bought through told us we can just go on her earlier tour. Maia is wonderful and we both agree that her portion of the tour package was worth the 10euro in itself. Palatine hill is where the roman forum is, which was the heart of the city of Rome and the birthplace of the empire. The start of the city goes back to the time of Romulus and Remus, which is the story of the brothers that were abandon
ed and raised by a she wolf. You may think it's impossible to be raised by an actual wolf - but the clarification comes from the word 'lupa' which means both she wolf and prostitute! Anyway Romulas became ruler in 753BC and killed his brother, because at that time the state was considered to take priority over the family. Maia has some wonderful bits of information and obviously has a real passion for history. Did you know that the phrase "life begins at 40" comes from the fact that this was the age that the vestial virgins (of which there were usually 8) were allowed to quit the job of tending to the flame of Rome and marry? A lot of them didn't however as they would lose all of their assets to their husband and would no longer be treated like queens as they had become accustomed (i.e. they had their own private box in the Colosseum and were the only women allowed to ride alone in chariots). We're once again amazed by Roman engineering, when they excavated the area they found a bronze door from 300AD, when they turned the key in the lock - it still worked! The main road (Via Scara) to the forum was found by the archaeologists but when they first 
found it they thought that it was too well built for the time and so they kept digging. They didn't find a road and realised that they had just destroyed the Via Sacra. At least they still had the stones and could relay it. Maia explains the story behind the Temple of Antonimus. After the Romans fell the Christians wanted to knock it down to build a church. Specifically they didn't like the roman style columns, however nothing they did could get them to come down. They went so far as to get a herd of elephants in to pull them down and there are marks left in the marble where the elephants pulled on the rope. But still it would not come down. So for this reason the church was built inside the old building.You all have heard about Roman gods and at the time of Constantine he needed the people's support. Many Romans were beginning to practice Catholicism (as it promised a path to heaven for even the poorest people) and so he made Catholicism the official religion of Rome and legalised everything to do with being a (Roman) catholic. The scripture "a rich man has as much chance of making it to heaven as a camel has of passing through the eye of a needle" brought a lot of people to the church and was a great revenue gatherer as people gave their money to the church to try and buy their salvation (this is how the ridiculously large churches can be funded). It also meant that within 100 years it went from being illegal to be a catholic, to being illegal to be any religion OTHER than catholic. Anyway, with the change to Catholicism the holidays were aligned to the dates of previously celebrated festivals. Easter was matched to a pagan festival (hence the reason for bunny's) and Christmas was aligned to a sun god celebration. Within a few generations Romans had forgotten about the traditional ones.Rome eventually fell, putting all of Europe into the dark ages, because it was too big and there weren't enough countries to conquer and to take the wealth from. The Roman way of life was not sustainable as they were using the winnings found after the battles to fund everything. It was also falling apart from the inside because their lifestyle was not compatible with a lot of the catholic principles. That said they were loved by many conquered nations because they introduced running water, roads to everywhere, games & entertainment and a better way of life. After a lot of discussion we decide to head back to the camp site for dinner -Mike ordering the lasagna again and Shona having the cannelloni. For the first time on the trip we have to send something back to the kitchen as the lasagna pasta is no where near cooked and isn't edible. Italians not being able to cook pasta? What's the world coming to. Instead he has a take out pizza and gets news that the entire metro will be striking tomorrow! No buses or metro in the city outside rush hours so no way to go through our plans to see some more of Rome and the zoo (we love zoos). We book tickets for a day excursion instead...
In search of Angels, Demons and Roman sights (30th September)
Today was supposed to be the Colosseum but because we got n
o sleep last night we sleep in and get going around 11am. First metro stop is Spagna which is the stop for the Spanish steps. The steps were actually a gift from the French, but are called the Spanish steps because the Spanish embassy is near the bottom. We sit and ponder the steps, well Mike isn't sure what the fuss is about, and watch the people around us. A short walk away is the Trevi fountain. We are not sure why it's famous, but it is a beautiful fountain with a sculpture of Neptune and four horses. If you throw a coin over your left 
shoulder it means you will come back to Rome. Two coins means you will find love in Rome and three coins means you will get married in Rome. Shona threw one coin in order to come back (Mike at this point isn't convinced about coming back to Rome). We find a take away pizza place, which interestingly charges by weight but still fills the hole. Next on the agenda is one of the most impressive and awe inspiring structures in the world - the Pantheon. It is an architectural marvel because it was built around 120AD and it has a perfect dome made of concrete (a Roman invention) for the roof. The height from the top of the dome to the floor is also the same a
s the diameter of the semi sphere to an amazing degree of accuracy. All the architects of the famous basilicas around the world studied this dome before designing theirs. It is also one of the oldest buildings in the world. There is a hole in the top of the dome (an oculus) to let the light in. This means that rain does come inside, but due to the holes in the floor it washes away. Clever huh! From the Pantheon we head to Piazza Navona which is a massive rectangular space filled with three different fountains 
(the middle one being water from Angels and Demons) and artists. From the King Tut mime, to the painters and cartoonists there is heaps to see and browse around. Wandering a city like Rome can be interesting and cheap - perfect for a backpacker's budget! Eventually we meander through the Roman backstreets, past some fantastic scooter parking to find ourselves at Castel Saint D'Angelo again. We are interested in seeing this castle 
because it has a secret passageway to the Vatican which was built for their escape should it be required. It is also the end destination for Angels and Demons. These days the castle is a museum showcasing it's different uses over the years - castle , prison and fortress. It also has some amazing views of the Roman skyline, so we soak up the sun as we sit and ponder for a few minutes. The last stop of the day is to Piazza del Polpolo which has 3 churches around it. One is the earth church from (you guessed it) Angels and Demons. We cover up from shorts and singlets to sarongs and T shirts to enter the church. We imagine they must be annoyed with the countless number of tourists doing what we are doing, walking into the church, finding the right bay and taking a photo, before turning on our heels and 
wandering out the door. I guess they would get slightly more donations now compared to what they did back then though. This square is funnier than Piazza Navona because it is full of Indian guys trying to sell a red rose. They come up to you and say "here is a present for you lady". You say "no thanks" they get in your way and say "it's free". Yeah right, as soon as you take the rose they follow you asking for 5 euro or more. At one point a guy won't leave Shona alone so she says "Would you f*ck off" because they were not accepting the polite version. Strangely he got really offended by being sworn at "I'm just doing my job". We found it rather funny that they feel that they can be completely obnoxious, ignore your requests and keep getting in your way, but swear at them and it's not nice. Poor little dittims :-) After this fun we head home via the metro and bus to our quaint little private room with en suite. It is really nice and would be the next best place after Zurich to get sick. Dinner is Mike's choice of a kebab from a place just by the metro stop. It's nice and clean and the kebabs are good.
o sleep last night we sleep in and get going around 11am. First metro stop is Spagna which is the stop for the Spanish steps. The steps were actually a gift from the French, but are called the Spanish steps because the Spanish embassy is near the bottom. We sit and ponder the steps, well Mike isn't sure what the fuss is about, and watch the people around us. A short walk away is the Trevi fountain. We are not sure why it's famous, but it is a beautiful fountain with a sculpture of Neptune and four horses. If you throw a coin over your left 
shoulder it means you will come back to Rome. Two coins means you will find love in Rome and three coins means you will get married in Rome. Shona threw one coin in order to come back (Mike at this point isn't convinced about coming back to Rome). We find a take away pizza place, which interestingly charges by weight but still fills the hole. Next on the agenda is one of the most impressive and awe inspiring structures in the world - the Pantheon. It is an architectural marvel because it was built around 120AD and it has a perfect dome made of concrete (a Roman invention) for the roof. The height from the top of the dome to the floor is also the same a
s the diameter of the semi sphere to an amazing degree of accuracy. All the architects of the famous basilicas around the world studied this dome before designing theirs. It is also one of the oldest buildings in the world. There is a hole in the top of the dome (an oculus) to let the light in. This means that rain does come inside, but due to the holes in the floor it washes away. Clever huh! From the Pantheon we head to Piazza Navona which is a massive rectangular space filled with three different fountains 
(the middle one being water from Angels and Demons) and artists. From the King Tut mime, to the painters and cartoonists there is heaps to see and browse around. Wandering a city like Rome can be interesting and cheap - perfect for a backpacker's budget! Eventually we meander through the Roman backstreets, past some fantastic scooter parking to find ourselves at Castel Saint D'Angelo again. We are interested in seeing this castle 
because it has a secret passageway to the Vatican which was built for their escape should it be required. It is also the end destination for Angels and Demons. These days the castle is a museum showcasing it's different uses over the years - castle , prison and fortress. It also has some amazing views of the Roman skyline, so we soak up the sun as we sit and ponder for a few minutes. The last stop of the day is to Piazza del Polpolo which has 3 churches around it. One is the earth church from (you guessed it) Angels and Demons. We cover up from shorts and singlets to sarongs and T shirts to enter the church. We imagine they must be annoyed with the countless number of tourists doing what we are doing, walking into the church, finding the right bay and taking a photo, before turning on our heels and 
wandering out the door. I guess they would get slightly more donations now compared to what they did back then though. This square is funnier than Piazza Navona because it is full of Indian guys trying to sell a red rose. They come up to you and say "here is a present for you lady". You say "no thanks" they get in your way and say "it's free". Yeah right, as soon as you take the rose they follow you asking for 5 euro or more. At one point a guy won't leave Shona alone so she says "Would you f*ck off" because they were not accepting the polite version. Strangely he got really offended by being sworn at "I'm just doing my job". We found it rather funny that they feel that they can be completely obnoxious, ignore your requests and keep getting in your way, but swear at them and it's not nice. Poor little dittims :-) After this fun we head home via the metro and bus to our quaint little private room with en suite. It is really nice and would be the next best place after Zurich to get sick. Dinner is Mike's choice of a kebab from a place just by the metro stop. It's nice and clean and the kebabs are good.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
The country within a city (29th September)
Fortunately we DO wake up early and make our way into the centre of the city by a 20min bus ride and a 20min metro ride. We were unsure of how long it would take 
(Italians are pretty laid back about time and timetables don't seem to exist here) so play it safe and get in early. We've become pros at working metros on our trip -but we were a little unsure when it came to Roma. Are we on the right line? Are we heading in the right direction? Turns out the reason for the lack of signage is because there are only 2 lines - 
so if you follow the crowds you're unlikely to go wrong. We pop out just off the street map we're supplied, but find our way to the Vatican museum pretty easily. Along the way we get our first real taste of Rome traffic. They are nuts -totally nuts! We'd been told that the trick on a pedestrian crossing is to wait for a nun and hide behind her as she crosses the road. The reason for this is that around 86% of the population is catholic - they won't stop for anyone they don't have to, except a nun! The other way to get across is just to make eye contact with the cars, hope they 
will stop and ignore the many many many scooters. Stopping for a scooter is a bad idea because they organise their path based on where you're about to go... so you get used to them zipping in front / behind and all around you. We have a little time to kill so we find a lovely optometrist that replaces the lost screw from Shona's sunglasses (she didn't know she had a screw loose and it fell out in Venice, the third pair of glasses to fail on this trip). We also find a call shop and call Venice as planned. Of course the woman last night had done nothing, so we have to explain the story all over again and we're told to call back in an hour so that she can check with housecleaning! Not going to work because within an hour we've met back at the Vatican museum, found our "skip the line group", bypassed the scarily big queue and been dropped off inside one of the largest museums in the world. In la Louvre in Paris is seemed like every second sign showed the way to it's most famous painting. In the Vatican it's pretty much every single sign that ushers people to it's most famous chapel, but to get there you must go through most of the other displays. We break from the flow of traffic however and spend some time checking out the courtyard and it's bizarre modern sculpture. It was gifted to Pope John Paul II and symbolises the "world within a world" that is the Vatican City... refreshing to see some 
art work in Rome that isn't more than 1500 years old! Also refreshing is the snack in the Vatican cafe. Even though they're really busy, the service is awesome, the food is good and the price is more than reasonable. They are hard working, so obviously the law of "it's good to do nothing" doesn't cross the Vatican border. The Raphael rooms are interesting -although it's disappointing to hear that his students actually did a lot of the paint work. This was a common occurrence at the time - it would be impossible for the most famous sculptures and fresco painters to have actually physically done all the work themselves, so instead they oversaw the work based on their 
designs. Eventually we make it to the Sistine Chapel and our friend Rick Steves talks through our ipods to explain the most significant features of what is regarded the greatest work of art by a single artist. This work is different to Raphael's room, the whole ceiling was done by the hand of Michelangelo. The colours have remained so bright because it is a fresco, which involves applying wet plaster, then painting over the top before it drys and locks in the colours. This meant that the assistants had to apply 
the right amount of plaster for the day's work - and also meant that any mistake required a section of plaster to be scrapped off. Michelangelo turned down the job a couple of times (because he considered himself a sculptor at that time) but finally relented so long as he could paint what he wanted to paint. The result is one of the most famous comic strips in the world, nine main panels depicting the steps of creationism, surrounded by angels and apostles. We spend about 15mins gazing at the ceiling and started to get symptoms of "church neck"... how many massages must Michelangelo have had during 4 years of looking up? An interesting note is that the figures at one end of the ceiling are smaller than the other end. At the midway point (the famous scene of Adam and God reaching out to each other) he took down the scaffolding and decided that the impact wasn't grand enough. For the remainder -the figures are even bolder and the result is a truly amazing space (once again - photos don't do justice). Speaking of photos -you're not allowed to take photos in here and you're meant to remain silent. It therefore sucks that there has to be several staff members who's job it is to tell people to be quiet and to stop taking photos. Luckily we saw at least one guide who didn't mind putting her hand over a rouge camera lens... even though the idiot just walked a few step and got a different angle! The end wall was also done by Michelangelo many years later and depicts the final judgement. This is the time when all souls are to be dug up from their graves and Jesus gets to pick who's been naughty and who's been nice. The most interesting thing is the contrast between the ceiling and this wall. In the years in between the world became a much less positive place so the mood of the work is much much darker than that of the ceiling. One of the 200 souls being sorted is a prudish catholic who said that it was indecent to show male genitalia in art work... his genitalia are painfully covered by a snake! The sagging bag of skin close to the center and on the dammed side has Michelangelo's face -what does this say about his mood at the time? 
We took the sneaky side exit, which spits us right outside the entrance to the dome of St Peter's basilica - a nifty shortcut as it means we don't need to re queue to enter the country! Walking up the 551 stairs is only 5euro and ticks off our "climb something high" policy for Rome, gives us a great view of the city as well as a wonderful view down to all the tourists inside the church. We can appreciate from this height just how massive the room below is and are amazed by the amount of detail put into it's creation. We descend and come out inside the basilica and once again Rick talks us through the main features. This place is ridiculous, talk about flashy and over the top and you aren't even close to describing it. At the age of 70 our man Michelangelo was asked to put on his architectural hat which he accepted on three conditions (1) that he wouldn't be paid (2) that he would be provided with an army of workers to complete as much as possible before he died (3) that no one would change his design of a simple even sided cross +. Guess what happened once he died? The church decided to expand this already gigantic building and extended on arm to make the traditional christian cross shape... thanks for all the free work though Mike! We see the door that's only opened every 25 years on the way out into the square (past the Swiss guards in their pajamas). St Peter's square, like the church, is ridiculously big. We check out the obelisk, see the pope's room and stand on the sweet spot where the columns line up. Given that it's only 4pm, we figure that there's still some time to check out more of Rome. However, by the time we wander around, stop for gelato, called Venice again (housekeeping claim it wasn't there when they cleaned -liar!) and make our way to Castle St d'Angelo it's 5pm, so we'll leave the inside for another day. Back at the camp ground we make it pasta night as Shona has the spinach ravioli, Mike has a generous and delicious lasagna and we share a salad for some much needed nutrients. The plan is to use the wifi and then get a good nights sleep... however this is far from what happens. The noise for the camp club keeps Mike awake till closing time at 2am and then the aussies in the next room obviously have issues with alcohol and fight till about 4am. The screams of the girl is enough to get security around, which just makes the guy yell louder -it's small comfort to know that they'll be kicked out the next day when we know that we're going to be totally shattered...
(Italians are pretty laid back about time and timetables don't seem to exist here) so play it safe and get in early. We've become pros at working metros on our trip -but we were a little unsure when it came to Roma. Are we on the right line? Are we heading in the right direction? Turns out the reason for the lack of signage is because there are only 2 lines - 
so if you follow the crowds you're unlikely to go wrong. We pop out just off the street map we're supplied, but find our way to the Vatican museum pretty easily. Along the way we get our first real taste of Rome traffic. They are nuts -totally nuts! We'd been told that the trick on a pedestrian crossing is to wait for a nun and hide behind her as she crosses the road. The reason for this is that around 86% of the population is catholic - they won't stop for anyone they don't have to, except a nun! The other way to get across is just to make eye contact with the cars, hope they 
will stop and ignore the many many many scooters. Stopping for a scooter is a bad idea because they organise their path based on where you're about to go... so you get used to them zipping in front / behind and all around you. We have a little time to kill so we find a lovely optometrist that replaces the lost screw from Shona's sunglasses (she didn't know she had a screw loose and it fell out in Venice, the third pair of glasses to fail on this trip). We also find a call shop and call Venice as planned. Of course the woman last night had done nothing, so we have to explain the story all over again and we're told to call back in an hour so that she can check with housecleaning! Not going to work because within an hour we've met back at the Vatican museum, found our "skip the line group", bypassed the scarily big queue and been dropped off inside one of the largest museums in the world. In la Louvre in Paris is seemed like every second sign showed the way to it's most famous painting. In the Vatican it's pretty much every single sign that ushers people to it's most famous chapel, but to get there you must go through most of the other displays. We break from the flow of traffic however and spend some time checking out the courtyard and it's bizarre modern sculpture. It was gifted to Pope John Paul II and symbolises the "world within a world" that is the Vatican City... refreshing to see some 
art work in Rome that isn't more than 1500 years old! Also refreshing is the snack in the Vatican cafe. Even though they're really busy, the service is awesome, the food is good and the price is more than reasonable. They are hard working, so obviously the law of "it's good to do nothing" doesn't cross the Vatican border. The Raphael rooms are interesting -although it's disappointing to hear that his students actually did a lot of the paint work. This was a common occurrence at the time - it would be impossible for the most famous sculptures and fresco painters to have actually physically done all the work themselves, so instead they oversaw the work based on their 
designs. Eventually we make it to the Sistine Chapel and our friend Rick Steves talks through our ipods to explain the most significant features of what is regarded the greatest work of art by a single artist. This work is different to Raphael's room, the whole ceiling was done by the hand of Michelangelo. The colours have remained so bright because it is a fresco, which involves applying wet plaster, then painting over the top before it drys and locks in the colours. This meant that the assistants had to apply 
the right amount of plaster for the day's work - and also meant that any mistake required a section of plaster to be scrapped off. Michelangelo turned down the job a couple of times (because he considered himself a sculptor at that time) but finally relented so long as he could paint what he wanted to paint. The result is one of the most famous comic strips in the world, nine main panels depicting the steps of creationism, surrounded by angels and apostles. We spend about 15mins gazing at the ceiling and started to get symptoms of "church neck"... how many massages must Michelangelo have had during 4 years of looking up? An interesting note is that the figures at one end of the ceiling are smaller than the other end. At the midway point (the famous scene of Adam and God reaching out to each other) he took down the scaffolding and decided that the impact wasn't grand enough. For the remainder -the figures are even bolder and the result is a truly amazing space (once again - photos don't do justice). Speaking of photos -you're not allowed to take photos in here and you're meant to remain silent. It therefore sucks that there has to be several staff members who's job it is to tell people to be quiet and to stop taking photos. Luckily we saw at least one guide who didn't mind putting her hand over a rouge camera lens... even though the idiot just walked a few step and got a different angle! The end wall was also done by Michelangelo many years later and depicts the final judgement. This is the time when all souls are to be dug up from their graves and Jesus gets to pick who's been naughty and who's been nice. The most interesting thing is the contrast between the ceiling and this wall. In the years in between the world became a much less positive place so the mood of the work is much much darker than that of the ceiling. One of the 200 souls being sorted is a prudish catholic who said that it was indecent to show male genitalia in art work... his genitalia are painfully covered by a snake! The sagging bag of skin close to the center and on the dammed side has Michelangelo's face -what does this say about his mood at the time? 
We took the sneaky side exit, which spits us right outside the entrance to the dome of St Peter's basilica - a nifty shortcut as it means we don't need to re queue to enter the country! Walking up the 551 stairs is only 5euro and ticks off our "climb something high" policy for Rome, gives us a great view of the city as well as a wonderful view down to all the tourists inside the church. We can appreciate from this height just how massive the room below is and are amazed by the amount of detail put into it's creation. We descend and come out inside the basilica and once again Rick talks us through the main features. This place is ridiculous, talk about flashy and over the top and you aren't even close to describing it. At the age of 70 our man Michelangelo was asked to put on his architectural hat which he accepted on three conditions (1) that he wouldn't be paid (2) that he would be provided with an army of workers to complete as much as possible before he died (3) that no one would change his design of a simple even sided cross +. Guess what happened once he died? The church decided to expand this already gigantic building and extended on arm to make the traditional christian cross shape... thanks for all the free work though Mike! We see the door that's only opened every 25 years on the way out into the square (past the Swiss guards in their pajamas). St Peter's square, like the church, is ridiculously big. We check out the obelisk, see the pope's room and stand on the sweet spot where the columns line up. Given that it's only 4pm, we figure that there's still some time to check out more of Rome. However, by the time we wander around, stop for gelato, called Venice again (housekeeping claim it wasn't there when they cleaned -liar!) and make our way to Castle St d'Angelo it's 5pm, so we'll leave the inside for another day. Back at the camp ground we make it pasta night as Shona has the spinach ravioli, Mike has a generous and delicious lasagna and we share a salad for some much needed nutrients. The plan is to use the wifi and then get a good nights sleep... however this is far from what happens. The noise for the camp club keeps Mike awake till closing time at 2am and then the aussies in the next room obviously have issues with alcohol and fight till about 4am. The screams of the girl is enough to get security around, which just makes the guy yell louder -it's small comfort to know that they'll be kicked out the next day when we know that we're going to be totally shattered...
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