When in Rome.....

Since our last blog (which seemed so long ago) we drove down to the heart of Italy, Rome. On the way we stopped in a little village on the West Coast and camped along the water’s edge. The town itself was fairly quiet, however seemed to be well known for their kite-surfing. It was lovely having a couple of drinks on the water watching the surfing for a few hours.

On driving into Rome, we were lovingly welcomed on the highway by what seemed to be some sort of welcoming party, they could almost be mistaken for prostitutes standing on the side of the highway... (They actually had hookers on the highway!) We arrived in Rome and found an excellent camp ground with a swimming pool, excellent facilities and free wifi. even though we still didn’t post a blog!! How slack!!

We went into central Rome and visited the Trevi Fountain which was packed full of tourists. We had to fight for a spot along the fountain to throw our coin in while watching our belongings carefully so we wouldn’t get pick-pocketed. There was even a couple of dodgy guys stealing coins out of the fountain using a specially crafted stick with something on the end to grab the coins (Even the Roman bums are inventive!). That night we had a massive one, stumbling back to Cal at 4am, so we decided it was best to spend the day relaxing by the pool.

The next day we were all refreshed and joined the millions of tourists that cram into Rome each day. We did a fantastic tour of the Colloseum and the Roman Forum which was incredible. Seeing the ruins, and hearing of the size and magnificence of the buildings that once stood. It’s easy to see that no city in the world will ever have the same importance to the rest of the world as what Rome did in it’s prime. The descriptions of the Emperor’s palaces that stood on the grounds of the Palatine Hill over hundreds of years almost defy belief; you really have to see at least the remains to believe it.

As our tours the day before were so great, we decided to do the same for Vatican City. Unfortunately though the extra money we paid to skip the line wasn’t worth it as there was no line. So looks like we were ripped off. Never mind. The Vatican Museum was as great as expected and we can understand why it’s said that it’s the best museum in the world, beating the Louvre in Paris. We visited Sistine Chapel which was much of a disappointment. The art work is absolutely beautiful and we’re sure it would be amazing if you could be in there with only a few people, but there were hundreds of people crowding the room, being loud and generally disrespectful. We didn’t find it to be a very spiritual nor calming experience at all. Our luck did change however. During the day the line up to visit St Peters Basilica was huge, people would have been waiting well over 1 hour. Because we arrived later in the day, we walked straight in. There was security checkpoints of course, however they weren’t too concerned with security...their IPhones seemed to be a lot more interesting. Andrew even set off the alarm in the metal detector, and the guard seemed quite distracted and upset that Andrew set it off...never mind he just said "keep moving" then gave his full attention to his phone again.

We entered the basilica and were completely blown away, everything that the Sistine Chapel lacked, the basilica made up for 10 fold. This place is an ABSOLUTE must see when coming to Rome, weather you’re religious or not, this is one of the most amazing buildings in the world! What made this experience so much more special was that we were lucky enough to walk in as mass was starting. There were a small number of people sitting at the front of the church which looked as though it was blocked of by security guards about half way down the church. Fortunately we were brave enough to ask the security guards if we could attend mass, and they said that it wasn’t a problem. So there we were, attending mass at St Peters Basilica which was performed by a number of Cardinals. We found the whole experience breath taking.

Andrew came down with the "man flu" late Friday night so we rushed home to drug him up and let him rest. The next day he wasn’t any better so stayed in bed all day. Before anyone asks (as we all know how Andrew gets with the "man flu"), he has had massages, been pampered and yes...has even had his hair played with...Jamie likes to think this added to him feeling better, it had nothing to do with the cold and flu tablets.

Promise we’ll update this again sooner...

A&J xoxo