Roma!

Allora, where were we? Mid Friday afternoon we arrived in Rome. We immediately lined up to book our seat reservations back to Germany on the Tuesday, however after half an hour of waiting and over 100 ticket numbers in front of us we decided to come back in the evening when it was perhaps less busy. We took off for our accommodation down Via Cavour, which was described as only a 15 minute walk by the hotel. With heavy backpacks and assorted luggage and 37C, it did feel closer to half an hour. However, just as we were getting disheartened, what's that peeking down a street to our left? The colosseum! I had completely forgotten that we had booked a hotel close to the old city. The hotel itself was a little piece of bliss, we had forked out a little extra on this last stop and had our own ensuite, huge bed, tv, but most importantly: air conditioning. Oh man, I was in heaven. I finally got to rest somewhere in under 30 degrees. Paradise. They supplied breakfast for us every morning to our room, usually croissants, fruit, yoghurt, toast etc. The place gets 5 stars from me, minus one half-- the toilet was squeezed so close to the shower in the ensuite you had to sit diagonally! Mind you, the bidet had prime position... You'd think they could have designed that one slightly better! The man at the front desk was extremely helpful though, so extra points for that. He immediately gave us a map and pointed out all the things on a tourist's checklist, as well as bus information to the Vatican. He pointed out good places to eat, places to shop, and places that were too expensive and should be avoided. Exactly what you want on arriving in a new city.

After resting in the hotel and getting refreshed, we headed down to a lookout over some ruins at the end of our road. Completely oblivious, we were actually looking out over the Roman Forum, Rome's ancient civic centre. Getting hungry, off we trotted to find something for dinner. In Italy all the waiters stand outside their restaurant, and if they catch you even peeking a sideways glance at their menu, you're practically ushered in the door before you know what's happened. We held out until we found a small place that seemed in our budget and pretty cute. This place made us laugh the entire way through our meal. First we chose to sit inside, where we sat down at a table with what appeared to be rickety outdoor furniture. Our serviettes were a piece of paper towel. While we were waiting for our food, the couple outside got harassed by a piano accordion player and his accompanying tambourinist, the kind of stint where they play until you give them money. Now the girl of the couple made the mistake of pulling out a €100 note, claiming she had no change, but headed into the restaurant to see if they could change it. They couldn't, but offered to run to the bank to do it for her. The troupe saw the note and thought JACKPOT, and assaulted the whole restaurants ears for 5 or 6 songs with what was only mediocre playing and an even worse voice, while they waited for the change to arrive. I had to laugh at the poor couple, they couldn't enjoy their food or even hold a conversation with that awful music blaring right behind their heads! Very funny to watch inside though. Then, the power went out. The cook appears out from behind a curtain from the kitchen (yes, a curtain was all that separated us), runs off quickly and fixes it. "Bene, bene, all fine," the waiter assures us. Food was great anyway, and we head to the counter to pay. After paying at the cashier, The waiter turns to us, brazen as day and says, "Tip not included, ok?" and stands waiting expectantly with his hand outstretched. Now tipping is the norm, but at your discretion, and Harry and I had been pretty good about leaving a couple of euros if we particularly enjoyed a meal or the service was terrific. But never had we been asked outright for money by a waiter! Always a first. Turns out anyway that this place gave Harry an upset stomach, the poor fella spent all the next afternoon with his head in a toilet. But even Harry agrees he would never have traded that humorous experience at that quirky little place, for all the laughter it gave us.

Saturday morning we had planned to do the colosseum and the roman forum, which are included in one ticket over a 2 day pass. Some genius on TripAdvisor (seriously, that website is gold) tipped us off to get our tickets at the forum and do that first as the line is much shorter than at the colosseum. Sure enough, after a 10 minute wait we had our tickets and had arrived just in time for an English speaking tour. The forum was fascinating, even though it takes a fair bit of imagination to envisage these huge marble buildings from the pile of rubble that was left. The tour guide was great though, she took us through the history of the place from its time as a cemetery in the middle of a marsh to the civic centre and powerhouse of one of the most advanced civilisations in the world. We then spent a further two hours exploring the Palantine Hill (the centre most hill in Rome, recent excavations show people have been living there since 1000BC! Also the place where all the famous roman emperors built their palaces), however by 2pm it was so hot we were no longer taking anything in and it was time to find shade. Poor Harry was feeling crook by this stage too from our dinner last night, so we headed back to the hotel and there we stayed for the rest of the day. Sleeping, reading, watching the Olympics, it was nice to kick back a little (even if it was amongst Harry's impression of the exorcist).

Sunday he was feeling better and we got up early to hit the colosseum before the heat of the day. The best advice ever was getting those tickets at the roman forum the day before, it felt so good to waltz past lines of people ticket already in hand and head straight through (it was over an hour and half wait by that stage, in the full sun - boo yah!). Quick line up for the audio guide, and we were in. The colosseum is something else, not just for its sheer size (it held approximately as much as the MCG), but for its gory and bloody history. These people watched people and animals slaughter each other for fun! What surprised me most was its advanced techniques as a THEATRE; a giant canvas shade wing to shelter people from the sun, a complicated system of pulleys, elevators and switches that could create trapdoors, or allow gladiators and animals to appear in the centre of the stadium as if by magic. The audio guide was great and very informative, well worth forking out the extra money just to understand what you were looking at. Quick lunch back at the hotel (kebab pizza, amazing) and then were set out on foot to circle the city and see the typical tourist checklist; Piazza Novena, the Pantheon, the Spanish steps and the Trevi fountain. We got around them all in a couple of hours, as there wasn't much to do other than take a photo and keep moving. The Trevi fountain was packed, naturally, but we still managed to find a space to throw in a coin or two, to make a wish and guarantee our return to Rome. Footsore and sweating like mad, we trudged back late evening, pretty pleased with what we'd accomplished that day. Dinner and amazing gelato to follow (gelato was so good we went back every night after. I don't think I'll be able to eat ice cream in Australia again).

Monday was the day for the Pope! We hopped on a bus to St. Peters square, which is beautiful in itself. It is overshadowed by the magnificence that is St. Peters Basilica, which we immediately joined the line for. Thank god I had done some research beforehand, and knew that they wouldn't allow women to enter with bare knees or bare shoulders, regardless of the heat. I came prepared with a longer skirt and a scarf for my shoulders, but I saw many women get to the head of the line only to be turned away for being dressed inappropriately. Now Harry and I have seen a lot of famous churches, cathedrals and basilicas in our time, but this church is the seat of Catholicism for a reason. It is utterly gorgeous inside, decorated, frescoed and painted to within an inch of its life, and so full of art, you hardly know where to look. I saw the shrine which sits above where St. Peter himself is buried, and got to go down into the first level of the crypts. All I kept thinking was now I want to read Angels and Demons again! We decided against climbing the cupola, I really couldn't face another church climb after the Santa Maria de Fiore. Jumped in line for the Vatican Museum, as I really wanted to see the Sistine Chapel and Michaelangelo's famous frescoes. Here's what they don't tell you in the guidebooks: the museum is huge. And it's a one-way design. Also, the Vatican owns a LOT of art and artefacts. We walked over an hour just to get to the Sistine Chapel, being herded like sheep for kilometres of corridors, only to almost punch someone with people-hatred when the crowd would bottle neck at a narrow point and you were crammed together like sardines. People get so pushy, and were snapping photos in the middle of doorways and being overall irritating. Art overloaded, we finally reached the Sistine Chapel after over an hour. It was beautiful, everything you imagined... Minus the people. Still, we got a quick look at the chapel before hightailing it out of there (they just kept cramming and cramming more people in...), even got a couple of photos, even though you're not meant to, everybody else was so I couldn't resist! Headed for the exit, thinking this was it, but NO. They made us walk kilometres back again, and just when you would think you'd finally made it out, you would turn the corner and there would be another hundred meters of art to absorb. I'm going to say something here that might make me sound very uncultured, but art museums bore me. I appreciate art in the sense that it aesthetically pleases me, not just because it's by this-and-this famous artist, or it depicts this-and-this famous scene in history. After awhile, it gets to much to take it, and we just barrelled as fast as we could away from all the Madonna's with Christ and busts of famous people. Dinner and gelato (again!) and then it was time to pack the miscellaneous mish mash that were our belongings for our early train back to Germany.

After 12 hours+ under way, from Rome-Milan-Basel-Mannheim-Schlierbach on a train, we finally arrived back at my grandmothers house (mum, you can breathe a sigh of relief now). We slept in this morning, at a fabulous lunch and am now chilling on the balcony. If you're lucky, you may get one more blog out of me before we head back to Australia on the 18th of August. See you all soon!

Firenze

Hello! Again! Harry and I have had lovely, albeit sweaty time in the city of art. I will include a weather forecast below from our time in Florence so you get an idea. 37C at 65% humidity and we were walking around sightseeing. Madness! Harry can't understand my urge to plunge myself into cold water with this weather (my brain is trained to think "hot weather = jump in mums pool". It's confused), thus to satiate this unfulfilled desire I've been taking cold showers three times a day.
Now where did I leave off? Oh yes, about to have amazing pasta...

... And amazing it was. We found the place on trip advisor (the app has been a godsend) and it was also suggested to us by our hostel, so it seemed a go. Likewise, it was literally just around the corner. We didn't have a booking, but thankfully Italians eat at ridiculous hours so all the bookings were for 8:30, 9pm and we were given a table under the proviso we were finished in two hours. Easy! We started off with tomato bruschetta... Oh. My. God. The tomatoes here taste like they were sent from the gods, not the watery, too hard crap we get in Oz from Woolies. Out of this world. Nothing but the tomatoes, fresh basil and drizzled in olive oil and I practically asked to marry the bruschetta right there and then. Pretty sure we could have lived happily ever after. But then came dinner. I had gnocchi in a sweet roast peppers cream sauce, Harry had parpadelle with wild boar in a red wine sauce. Both were utterly divine, and I'm pretty sure it's the best gnocchi I've ever had, let alone the sauce that smothered it. Had to be mopped up with complimentary bread, naturally. Harry devoured his with as much gusto. Even though I thought I was full, the waiter suggested tiramisu for dessert and I said yes (I have a weakness for it, okay?). Good again, but cream to coffee ratio was all wrong. Need to try mums again when I get back (hint, hint). Yummy all round, and very well priced as well.

Strolled down to the cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore in the morning (you can literally walk from one side of Florence to the other in 40 minutes). Passed a ticket office on the way, straight away booked tickets for that afternoon for the Galleria dell'Accademia to see Michaelangelo's David. Anyway, arrived at il Duomo, and the line was huge. And it was hot. So when a lady came round and offered us priority passes for €15, we jumped at it. Normal entry was €8 anyway, and this allowed us to jump to the head of this line for the dome and also for the line to get inside the cathedral, which was already snaking far too long in the sun. Saved us time too, as we were booked in for David at 3pm. Well worth it, walking passed all those hundreds of people and flashing my card at the guard and going straight through. Now to begin the 463 stairs to the top. I was prepared though: water bottle in one hand, fan in the other and legs well trained after London, Paris and Heidelberg. Was quite easy as you could only go as fast as the slowest climber anyway. Got mildly claustrophobic as you paused on a narrow winding staircase, but we were soon moving again. You got to walk right around the top on the inside of the cathedral right near the frescoes on the inside of the dome, great way to see the detail and huge amount of work that went in. The climb up between the walls to the top of the dome was insanely steep, more like a ladder in incline in spots. But well worth it. Arrived sweating and puffed out on the roof, to a great view over the red tiled roofs of Florence and the Tuscan hills beyond. The dome itself is an absolute feat of architecture, it literally is holding itself up in the air. Kudos to you, Brunelleschi! Back down again (that almost hurts your legs more), skipped the line again and entered the cathedral itself. The cathedral began construction in 1296 (I can't even comprehend how they would have tackled something this huge without modern day resources), designed by the prolific Arnolfo di Cambio, who was also supervising construction of Santa Croce and Piazza della Signora at the time (busy guy). After his death, the project was taken on by architect after architect, who made several modifications. Last but not least the famous dome was finished in 1436 after 16 years of construction. Inside, it is quite minimalist in comparison to the Notre Dame or Saint Paul's, with the exception of course of the frescoes on the dome, depicting the Last Judgement. Now that is some serious artwork. Tried to get a picture on the iPhone below so you get an idea.

Then off to a market that runs around the Medici Chapel, picked up something for the boys and a leather belt (small, nothing impressive and more out of necessity as the tie to my black shorts was left in Switzerland). On the way to our time slot at the Galleria dell'Accademia we stopped at a Gelato place suggested to us by the hostel. I think I've had one every day so far, and will continue to have one every day until I leave Italy. This stuff is gold. Anyway, this place was clearly a family run, homemade place, well worth the visit. I had a nice tangy lemon, while Harry, being brave, chose something called Sicilian Spirit. We ended up switching, Harry couldn't quite cope with the taste explosion that was his. It was like eating a mandarin that had been grown in Zeus' garden, picked by Aphrodite and then frozen between the legs of a virgin. To me, anyway. Harry said it tasted like the pips of a mandarin grown in Hades' garden). Sure there were some bitter bits that reminded you of accidentally biting into a mandarin pip, but it was all part of the experience. I thought it was amazing, anyway. Harry polished off my lemon. Onto the Accademia, shuffled in the entrance, through security, round the corner and then... Bam. David. Now I am no art connoisseur, sometimes I don't even understand it. But David is Michaelangelo's masterpiece, and this is obvious even to the uninitiated like me. He is a sight to behold, 17ft high and a wonderful specimen of a man. All carved out of marble to such incredible detail down to the veins standing out in his arm and hand. Great ass too. Very impressive and had to sit down just to fully soak him up for a couple of minutes. No photos allowed, but I did get one of the less-impressive copy that stands in Piazza della Signora, for those completely artless souls who have no idea of which statue I am talking about. The rest of the Accademia was a bit of a miss for us, all religious paintings (well termed on trip advisor as "a one-hit wonder with David"), but we both agreed it was still worth the entrance fees just to see David :) Back to the hostel to recover our feet and legs, found €4 pizzas for dinner (like large size each, bargain!), and attempted to sleep through 28C heat with only a fan...

Thursday we walked to the Piazza della Signora which is a square filled with beautiful sculptures and with quite the history. Back in the 15th century, artist and religious zealot Savonarola successfully kicked the Medici's out of power, and created a massive bonfire in the square to purify the city. He burned anything deemed immoral or erotic, including books, furniture, art and cosmetics. However this pissed off the Floretians, and his over-zealousness somehow or another pissed off the pope and he was banned from preaching. But good old Savonarola wouldn't listen and was eventually hung and burned at the stake in the same square he staged his purification. Italian irony at its best. Anyway, this great square also houses the Vecchio Palace (which looks like it was created out of Harry's dreams), but murphy's law would have it that it closes early on Thursday's, so we made plans for an early visit the next morning before our train to Rome. We moved on to the Ponte Vecchio, a very famous old bridge that used to have a fish and meat market on it. However, the offal and scraps used to fall into the river and travel downstream to Pisa where it fouled their water, so in the 1600s it was decreed only jewellery was allowed to be sold on the bridge. Italian logic at its best. Extremely expensive things only, but fun to look at! We then headed to the Boboli Gardens. However, we were there in the hottest part of the day, so this made for a tough trip. Find shade in one tree, sit and cool off. Find shade in another grotto, sit. The garden itself was very beautiful, if not dry and a little thirsty. The heat made walking around particularly hard, I'm sure it's better in its fully glory in spring when everything is green and the weather cooler.

That night we caught a bus up to Piazza Michaelangelo, which is high on a hill overlooking the city, to watch the sunset. This was incredible, the red sun sinking into the Tuscan hills and lighting up the Santa Maria del Fiore with incredible colour. And cost us only €2.40 in bus tickets!! Can't wait to show you photos. By the time we got back down the hill all the restaurants were closed, so it was yet another emergency trip to Maccas.

Up early to pack, and off the Vecchio Palace. Very cool, actually not a palace built privately, but originally built when the republic began for parliament-like gatherings after the Medici's were exiled. This didn't last long though, and the Medici's were back and took it over again. Great building, with absolutely every room frescoed. Spent most of your time with your neck craned backwards looking at the ceiling! Quick stop at a leather market mum vaguely mentioned from her memory of 30 years ago, then off to our train to Roma...