Greetings from lovely Roma! We absolutely love this city...so much to do and see. We arrived safely from Sorrento, if nearly 2 hours late thanks to a delayed train from Naples. We found our hostel which was thankfully close to the train station. We walked in the front door and the night reception guy (I don't know, what else would you call him?) burst into the Canadian national anthem. In French. Seriously. He was incredibly chatty at 12:30 at night when a very tired Erin and Megs were not. We FINALLY got checked in (but not before hearing about this guy's life...he lived in Montreal but is Swedish and incidently, just lost his passport, is now doing a PHd, lives with his boyfriend in a better neighbourhood the he used to because he got robbed twice, and so on and so forth) and hit the sack. Day 1 in Rome was mostly just a lot of walking and seeing a lot of the sights. We saw the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona and the Vatican/St. Peter's Basillica from the outside. We got back to the hostel that night to find out that they put on a free pasta dinner each night. This was excellent news as we were thinking that eating out all the time in Rome was going to be very expensive. We met some cool people that were also staying at the hostel and called it a night pretty early.
We got up and got rolling pretty early on day 2 as there were things to do and places to see! We went straight down to the Colluseum in hopes of beating the line up. We were sort of successful and only ended up waiting about 20 minutes to get in. I must admit, the Colluseum is probably one of my favourite sights in Rome. It's amazing to think how it was built and all the amazing things that went on in there. We rented the audio tour thingys so got a great overview of all the different sections. While in the area, we also walked around the Roman Forum and the Palantine Hill. When Erin was in Rome in May, she went in search of the Catacombs but didn't find them so we thought we would try out luck. Well, not so much. We wandered down in the general direction from the Colluseum and found ourselves walking 'off the map.' Not good when you have no idea where you are! We gave up on this idea, and walked back into the map. We went out for a couple of beers that night with 2 Brits from the hostel. The place we went to uses tokens to pay for drinks. What is that all about?! Oh well, good times.
We had a tour of the Vatican booked for day 3 so off we went in the morning. We first went into the Vatican Museums and saw some sculptures and some different hallways with tapestries. Very cool but because it was so packed, we didn't get to spend much time looking at the exhibits. The next stop was the Sistine Chapel. I can't even put into words the enormity of this place and how absolutely stunning it is. Evidently, Michaelangelo didn't even want to paint it, he was pretty much forced into it. He spent nearly 10 years on the 'Last Judgement' which is the alter piece and the ceiling, which depicts 3 different stories, including the creation of Adam and Eve. We had about 15 minutes in the Chapel and honestly, 15 hours wouldn't even be enough to see everything. From there, we were led into St. Peter's Basillica, which is the largest church in the world (and ironically, the Vatican is the smallest country in the world). The Basillica is weird because you know it's big and it looks big, but it's very deceiving. The tour guide pointed out some lettering close to the top of the church, and yes, it looks large, but she said the letters alone were 10 feet tall! Unbelievable! The amounts of wealth in the Vatican are astounding...the Basillica is plated in gold and it has the largest art collection in the world. Last night was 'Notte Bianca' which translates to the White Night. All the shops and museums and restaurants were open late and all the piazzas in the city had entertainment. We walked around for a couple of hours taking in all the sights. Very cool to be in the middle of something so huge and popular.
Whew! This now brings me to today. We said goodbye to our British friends this morning and moved hostels for out last night in Rome. We are now very close to the Vatican City so we'll be off tonight to try to get some night shots of the Basillica and the Square. A month of walking miles everyday has caught up with us and our feet are not so much as loving us at the moment, so we ended up taking a bus tour for part of the afternoon. The commentary was disappointing, but we learned a few things we hadn't heard before. The guys selling the knockoff purses, wallets, belts etc were out in full force so we perused past a couple of vendors.....'special price, just for you pretty lady...it's real Prada!. Yea sure, special price just for us...and 15 Euro for a real Prada purse? I think not!
It's off early tomorrow morning for Pisa (and yes, we will be taking the obligatory tourist shots of holding the tower up!) and then on to Milan tomorrow evening. I can't even believe we'll be heading off to Dublin on Tuesday night, the past month has flown by!!! Oh well, we'll make the best of our remaining 2 days in awesome Italia!
Ciao ciao!
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Thursday, September 6, 2007
And we climbed a mountain!
Buon giorno from Roma! Before I get carried away here, we better rewind the clock a couple of days to Florence (or Firenze as we call it now that we speak Italian and all) and Sorrento. We arrived bright and early in Firenze, and no I'm not lying. I think the train arrived at something like 6:15 in the morning...yes, Erin and I were in a spectacular mood after another night train. Oh well, time to move on from the tiredness and see the city. After a much needed coffee and breakfast, we set off from the train station. Our first stop was the Accademia to see 'The David.' No trip to Firenze would be complete with out it. It was great actually, since we were there early, we didn't have to stand in line. It really is a spectacluar piece of art, it's hard to describe because it is so much larger then you think and much more detailed. Definitely worth the price of admission to the Accademia alone, and a good thing too because there really isn't that much else to see. We strolled along the river and had another coffee (no sleep, people...what we were supposed to do?!) and found the Uffizzi Gallery. We had luckily pre-booked our tickets so we picked them up and skipped the line. Yay! Again, lots of spectacular art to be seen...the Birth of Venus and lots of Botticceli. It kinda sucked because alot of the gallery was closed so we really didn't spend as much time there as we thought we would. We found our 'hotel' after a long and sweaty walk and checked in. Because there were hardly any guests booked for that night, we got a free upgrade...ensuite bathroom...always a bonus! Then came our string of bad luck...it always comes in 3's you know. We had gone to American Express to cash some travellers cheques and it was closed. That didn't please us in the least as the average commission at other bureau du changes was 14%. Next bad thing was that the Duomo was closed when we arrived to go in. Evidently, it closes early the first Saturday of every month. Yeah, like we knew that. And lastly, we had to pay 20 Euro to reserve our train to Naples, even though we both have rail passes. All these things added up on top of the tiredness we were already feeling left us in pretty bad moods. We went back to the hostel (actually, it was more like we dragged our sorry butts back) and had popcorn for dinner. Yes, our first night in Italy and we had popcorn.
Day 2 in Florence was shopping day so of course our moods had drastically improved. We first walked up the Piazzale de la Michealangelo (the first of many hills/mountains to come) and got a stunning view of the city. Then it was shopping time...yay! We entered the leather market and it was so hard to choose what to buy...lots of purses, not very much room to pack them all! E and I both settled on purses that we liked and had to stop there otherwise things would have gotten out of control. We tried going to the Duomo again, but it was Sunday and that equals Catholic mass. Tourists are only allowed in between masses, so the line was ridiculously long so that will just have to wait for another trip. We caught our train to Naples (so glad we were only there for approx 30 minutes) and got on another train for Sorrento. We caught our first view of the Italian coast and it is beautiful!!! The hostel in Sorrento was lovely, but the dorm room had 14 beds crammed in it...not a lot of space to be had. We went to bed but were awakened in the night by the loudest snorer ever!!!! Let's just say the walls of the stone building were shaking. No joke.
Our first day in the Sorrento area was spent at Pompeii and the 'beach.' Pompeii is amazing, it's astonishing how advanced the ancient Romans were. We walked around for about 2.5 hours but the heat was getting to us both so back to the hostel we went to get our bathing suits and find the beach. You walk down this long and steep staircase and get to a junction...private beach to the right and public beach to the left. We didn't have 20 Euro on us for the private on so off to the public one we went. 'Beach' is a general term...it was more of a concrete slab built out into the ocean. But whatever, the water was lovely and it was a nice way to spend a hot afternoon. The hostel is also a cooking school and every night they put on a dinner. It's 15 Euro but you get 4 fantastic courses. Dinner was delicious and combined with a 5 Euro litre of red wine, good times were had by all!
We had signed up for a tour of Capri Island at the hostel and it was supposed to be our 2nd and last day in the area. The weather had other plans for us though, as it was cool and cloudy with rain definitely on the way when we woke up. After some debating, we decided to stay an extra day with hopes that the weather would be better. We relaxed in the hammocks pretty much all day with only a trip into town for lunch interrupting our relaxation. We agained had the dinner at the hostel and at bedtime, we were sure the weather would work in our favor.
Well, we were sort of right. The sun was shining and the birds were singing but the wind was also howling. Sal (the tour guy) arrived and said the trip was cancelled again today as the water was too rough. We just can't catch a break! We stayed an extra day just to see Capri so we were going to make it happen. We caught the hydrofoil and off we went! The Blue Grotto was closed so that sucked, but we still had a great day! We hiked up to Capri Town from the marina and found the Natural Arch, and part of the afternoon was spent at the beach. Yes, sunbathing on Capri Island...we lead a very hard life. We arrived back in Sorrento with time to grab our bags and catch a train to Rome, which is where we are now.
It's hard to believe that we only have 2 cities left, but we'll make the best of it!
Signing off from Roma...
Megs
Day 2 in Florence was shopping day so of course our moods had drastically improved. We first walked up the Piazzale de la Michealangelo (the first of many hills/mountains to come) and got a stunning view of the city. Then it was shopping time...yay! We entered the leather market and it was so hard to choose what to buy...lots of purses, not very much room to pack them all! E and I both settled on purses that we liked and had to stop there otherwise things would have gotten out of control. We tried going to the Duomo again, but it was Sunday and that equals Catholic mass. Tourists are only allowed in between masses, so the line was ridiculously long so that will just have to wait for another trip. We caught our train to Naples (so glad we were only there for approx 30 minutes) and got on another train for Sorrento. We caught our first view of the Italian coast and it is beautiful!!! The hostel in Sorrento was lovely, but the dorm room had 14 beds crammed in it...not a lot of space to be had. We went to bed but were awakened in the night by the loudest snorer ever!!!! Let's just say the walls of the stone building were shaking. No joke.
Our first day in the Sorrento area was spent at Pompeii and the 'beach.' Pompeii is amazing, it's astonishing how advanced the ancient Romans were. We walked around for about 2.5 hours but the heat was getting to us both so back to the hostel we went to get our bathing suits and find the beach. You walk down this long and steep staircase and get to a junction...private beach to the right and public beach to the left. We didn't have 20 Euro on us for the private on so off to the public one we went. 'Beach' is a general term...it was more of a concrete slab built out into the ocean. But whatever, the water was lovely and it was a nice way to spend a hot afternoon. The hostel is also a cooking school and every night they put on a dinner. It's 15 Euro but you get 4 fantastic courses. Dinner was delicious and combined with a 5 Euro litre of red wine, good times were had by all!
We had signed up for a tour of Capri Island at the hostel and it was supposed to be our 2nd and last day in the area. The weather had other plans for us though, as it was cool and cloudy with rain definitely on the way when we woke up. After some debating, we decided to stay an extra day with hopes that the weather would be better. We relaxed in the hammocks pretty much all day with only a trip into town for lunch interrupting our relaxation. We agained had the dinner at the hostel and at bedtime, we were sure the weather would work in our favor.
Well, we were sort of right. The sun was shining and the birds were singing but the wind was also howling. Sal (the tour guy) arrived and said the trip was cancelled again today as the water was too rough. We just can't catch a break! We stayed an extra day just to see Capri so we were going to make it happen. We caught the hydrofoil and off we went! The Blue Grotto was closed so that sucked, but we still had a great day! We hiked up to Capri Town from the marina and found the Natural Arch, and part of the afternoon was spent at the beach. Yes, sunbathing on Capri Island...we lead a very hard life. We arrived back in Sorrento with time to grab our bags and catch a train to Rome, which is where we are now.
It's hard to believe that we only have 2 cities left, but we'll make the best of it!
Signing off from Roma...
Megs
Monday, September 3, 2007
You knew it was coming...
The hills are SO alive with the Sound of Music! Yes, we arrived safely in Salzburg and are in Sound of Music mode! The hostel (which is actually just outside of the city in the mountains, and is more of a B&B) is very nice, and because we arrived quite late in the evening, we were even picked up at the main train station. Day 1 in Salzburg started with us journeying into town. We saw most of the old town and mostly just putzed around (in the rain) until the start of the Sound of Music tour. We boarded the tour bus with lots of like-minded people, but I have to admit, E and I sure did sit in the very first row! Trudy (no, not Julie :)) was the tour guide and started things off with a little sing-a-long of "let's start at the very beginning....." Erin and I were in our glory! We saw all the important sights of the movie that we actually filmed in Austria...apparently all the inside scenes of the movie we filmed on a sound stage in Hollywood. We visited Leopold's Crown Palace (the rear of the house and lake scenes), Hellbrunn Palace (the gazebo), the Nonnberg Abbey (where Maria was going to become a nun), the lake district and the town on Mondsee (the wedding scene) and the Mirabelle Gardens (Do Re Mi song). And yes, Erin and I sang, danced and pranced everywhere Julie Andrews did. Really, it was a momentous day for both of us...with about 100 pictures to prove it! Also in the Lake District is the headquarters of Red Bull...I had no idea it was even Austrian. The tour and guide were fantastic and we couldn't have asked for anymore...there was even one Euro beer on the bus...yay!!! (hehe)
We were tired by the end of the tour and not really feeling like eating, so we picked up a frozen pizza to take back to the B&B with us, assuming that we would just be able to ask to use the kitchen. Interesting assumption as it turns out. After hiking up the HUGE hill back to the house, we found that there was no one there. What were we to do? We had this stupid frozen pizza and no way to heat it up. So we broke into the kitchen....before you freak out, the key was in the door so we just let ourselves in (and prentended that we didn't see the "privat" sign....my argument would have been that we don't speak German so we couldn't read the sign!). I stood guard while E cooked the pizza and up to our room we scurried when it was finished. Whew! Didn't even get caught!
Day 2 started with us trekking back down the hill with our packs, trying not to fall head over heels. We took the Fenicular up to the Festung Hohensalzburg, which is a big fortress overlooking the city. We went into the museum there and went on the audio tour. We then re-visited the Nonnberg Abbey...seriously, not overly impressive in real life. We just wandered for the rest of the day, having dinner before catching a train to Villach (I dunno, some town close to the border with Italy). From there, we boarded a midnight train...no not to Georgia, but to Florence!
We are actually now in Sorrento, but seeing as though time is running out, I will have to write about our 2 days in Florence at a later date.
Ciao from Italia!
We were tired by the end of the tour and not really feeling like eating, so we picked up a frozen pizza to take back to the B&B with us, assuming that we would just be able to ask to use the kitchen. Interesting assumption as it turns out. After hiking up the HUGE hill back to the house, we found that there was no one there. What were we to do? We had this stupid frozen pizza and no way to heat it up. So we broke into the kitchen....before you freak out, the key was in the door so we just let ourselves in (and prentended that we didn't see the "privat" sign....my argument would have been that we don't speak German so we couldn't read the sign!). I stood guard while E cooked the pizza and up to our room we scurried when it was finished. Whew! Didn't even get caught!
Day 2 started with us trekking back down the hill with our packs, trying not to fall head over heels. We took the Fenicular up to the Festung Hohensalzburg, which is a big fortress overlooking the city. We went into the museum there and went on the audio tour. We then re-visited the Nonnberg Abbey...seriously, not overly impressive in real life. We just wandered for the rest of the day, having dinner before catching a train to Villach (I dunno, some town close to the border with Italy). From there, we boarded a midnight train...no not to Georgia, but to Florence!
We are actually now in Sorrento, but seeing as though time is running out, I will have to write about our 2 days in Florence at a later date.
Ciao from Italia!
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