European Wonder - Part 4

Day 8 - Whirlwind Roma

In the morning we catch the bus into Rome as far as it is allowed to go then hop onto the city's underground system to travel the rest of the way to Vatican City, our first stop of the day. Rome's subway system is extremely simple compared to most other big European cities we have visited, just two lines that cross in a t. Apparently, there are far too many ruins that one would run into in the process of trying to create more lines. We emerge outside the Vatican walls and head over to the Museum for our early morning walking tour. After a short wait (sorry all in the non-group line which we bypassed) we were issued ear buds and receivers and were off on our marathon. Our guide turns out to be an Aussie and quite cute, but he rushes us through two hours of halls. Tomb, statue, tapestry, ceiling, mural, trompe l'oeil, it all passes in a whirl.

We finally arrive outside the Sistine Chapel and prepare to go inside. The floor is absolutely mobbed with people craning back for a good view of the famous ceiling. The chapel is actually quite small and is impressive, but you can certainly see more detail from looking at close range photography of the images than from standing far below. After the chapel we head on over to St. Peters Basilica. I take a look at Michelangelo's famous Pieta which is now behind glass because it was smashed by someone several years ago and subsequently repaired, do a quick circuit of the basilica, and exit to wait for my clan. After 15 minutes I'm beginning to seriously wonder if I've been left behind but it turns out that SB, SJ, and K can spend a rather long time wandering around a church. We take a quick look into the shops, pose in front of some Vatican guards in over the top costuming, then hop in a taxi to get over to the Colosseum.

At the Colosseum, we join a tour group to gain faster access to the place and learn some interesting tidbits...all of which are later contradicted by what our Top Deck tour guide tells us about the Colosseum on our walking tour of Rome...who to believe? Our walking tour after the Colosseum consists of seeing the ruins of the Roman forum, the Victor Emmanuel II monument (the man who united all the italian city states into Italy), the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain, and the Spanish Steps. We throw coins over our shoulder into the fountain, the first for a wish, the second which means we will come back to Rome, and a third if you want to marry a Roman. I opt out of throwing the third coin.

Oh, and did I mention the absolutely wilting heat? All of Italy turns out to be a sauna. My suggestion is certainly to go in a cooler part of the season!

Day Nine - Where art thou Romeo?

We board the bus for another day of travel, this time to Venice with a stop in Verona. Verona is a cute town with a working coliseum - they stage plays etc. in it. We wend through the streets filled with designer shops to a small courtyard which purports itself to be the home of Juliet's balcony. I have no idea of the historic accuracy of this claim...apparently the play was based on actual families from Verona...but lets just say I'm a tad bit skeptical.

Anyway, the courtyard features a statue of Juliet with rather shiny breasts. Legend has it that if you rub her breast, you'll find your true love. So, of course I did it. Who doesn't want to find that true love...of course I'd rather not end up all star-crossed and dead over it! Then on to Venice where we arrive at our campground on the mainland and are introduced to Venice's persistent mosquitoes. Bug spray most definitely required. A novelty of the cabins here turns out to be air-conditioning our first and last of all our accommodations. In the evening we dress in toga for a "toga party" at the bar. The party is interesting but after a short while I retire from dancing for a cold shower and sleep. One can only take so much dancing in weather that is bordering on the heat of hellfire.

Full pics (of which there are many from Rome) available here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/atreides22/sets/