apologies everyone for the lack of blog, we've not really had much chance to access the internet other than to check e-mails. besides, we've been having too much fun :)
we bid farewell to france, with high hopes for italy. the train ride was as usual a very long one, but we eventually arrived in florence. we were hoping for a fresh change of scenery and culture from france, and we were not disappointed. florence was so welcoming in every aspect of the word. it seemed to have a really nice glow about it. we made our way to the camping grounds, which were only 5 minutes walk from the centre of town (five very steep minutes) and were absolutely blown away. from the campsite itself, we had a full panoramic view of florence and right into the hills. it was amazing. (i'm trying not to write awesome too much, but just between you and me, it was AWESOME!) we had such a nice stay there.
every night we went to the bar area, ate dinner overlooking the city, and sipped on an icy cold tuborg beer. that definately is the life. we explored around the city for a few days, going to the famous gold bridge and the leather markets - ange bought a leather bag that she was very excited about, we saw michelangelo's david - well, the fake one out the front - which was good enough. one thing i find really amazing about the italians is how much they like a good tan. florence has no beach, but it didnt stop a whole load of people going down to the local marshlands in their budgy smugglers and bikinis and actually hiring deckchairs to lay in the sun for hours! it really is a funny sight to see, but i must say, they put a lot of effort in, and it pays off. italians have the most amazing evenly tanned skin. here i was thinking i was getting a nice mediterranean tan, until you stand next to an italian and look like frosty the snowman.
one of the days we took a day trip to siena, which is a very cute little place with lots and lots of gothic architecture. we spent most of the daywwinding through impossibly small alleyways that open out to massive piazzas.
on another day we took a day trip out to pisa, of course to see the tower. that day trip wasnt really a day trip, because once you've seen the tower and taken a photo that looks like you're holding it up (which i think is hilarious and made ange take a hundred of me holding the tower up), theres really not a lot more to see..
so after 5 really nice relaxing days in florence we packed up our things and headed for roma.
so we got to rome, checked in to our hostel and went out for lunch/dinner. we went to a pasta place down the road from the hostel and ordered tortellini. well, we got fettucine and it tasted like dishwater. not a great start. on the second day we set off with high hopes to see the colosseum. we walked down a main road, got slightly lost and then turned a corner and it was right in front of us! it was breathtaking. we sat outside it for a while before heading off to explore the rest of rome. we got hopelessly lost and ended up in suburbia, which was strange.
when you think of rome you think of ruins, togas and sandals, not modern apartments. we realised we were off the tourist map we had, so we found the river and headed to the west bank. we found the piazza we were looking for (apparently it had the best coffee in rome) but the shop was shut. instead we went to 'pizzarius' for lunch and had THE BEST PIZZA EVER! my faith in italian food was restored! we went back there every day.
on the friday we got up early to go on the walking tour organised by our hostel only to find out that it was cancelled. we headed to the cute espresso bar next door before walking back to the colosseum (hereafter know as 'the big C' because its really annoying to write) to do a tour of that and palantine hill. the big C was definately more impressive from the outside, but still worth going in.
we did it with a tour group, so we skipped the HUGE queues. hooray! after the big C we headed over to palantine hill to see where the ancient roman palace was. the tour was worth it because its hard to imagine amazing gardens and marble arches from the rubble that is left today.
we made sure our knees and shoulders were covered before going to the vatican. saint pauls basilica was stunning. it was massive. jess was disappointed with michelangelo's ceiling, but the rest of it was impressive. we went into the tomb below the basilica and saw all the popes graves, including the recent pope before climbing the cupola, or the tower. it was SO crowded at the top and not worth the effort, really.
we saw the spanish steps, which were so crowded you couldnt move, and the piazza nuova before heading out to the beach on the sunday. well, the beach was not like anything we ever imagined. it was just rows of umbrellas and deck chairs and people frying. there must have been at least 100 people on the beach and of them about 7 were swimming. we dumped our stuff, ran into the ocean, 'cleansed' as jess would put it, got out, dried ourselves and got out of the sun. people thought we were crazy! we were the only girls that went in the ocean.
we met up with jon and fee when they got to rome. it was great to hear some australian accents again! and having a guy around meant that we got jeered at less. we went to the trevi fountain, the pantheon and through piazza navona before taking them to the awesome pizza bar we found. they agreed that it was totally awesome. we wandered around for a bit, found the spanish steps and piazza poppola. we saw a sign for a michelangelo exhibition so we went to check that out. they had examples of all the inventions that michelangelo had written about, and it was hands on so we got to play with them. our favourite type of museum. that night we went and sat in a dodgy park near out hostels drinking wine and watching the locals.
the next day, our last day in rome, we went to the catacombs south of the city. they were cool; well, more freezing! there were no bones or skulls down there which was disappointing. i expected them to be as they were when they found them. after that we headed to the vatican museums. they were huge, long and draining. by the time we got to the sistine chapel we were exhausted and it was so packed we found the exit as quick as we could.
then it was arriverdeci rome, buongiorno sorrento...
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