Day 56: Sunday, March 13, 2011

Kevin waiting in line at the airport 

Me waiting in line at the airport

Today we had to wake up super early because our flight was 8:30.  There was a bus to the airport leaving from the Central Train Station at 6:30; we were only about a 10 minute walk from the station, so we figured if we left the hostel 6:15 we'd be good.  Mistake.  Did we not think that we would need to A) find where the bus is located B) buy a ticket for the bus C) ensure we got seats?  When we got there, the 6:30 bus was completely full, and the next bus wasn't leaving until 7:10.  It takes about 40 minutes to get from the train station to the airport, so the 7:10 bus wasn't going to work.  Kevin, being the little stubborn pants that he is sometimes, starts freaking out saying over and over "we missed the flight, we missed the flight."  Well, obviously there is more than one way to get to the airport!  We walked outside to where the cabs were lined up, and one man agreed to take us to the airport for 30E. He had the pedal to the metal the entire time; we literally got there in 20 minutes.  We checked in, waited in line after line after line, then finally boarded the plane and flew back to Milan.

By the time we got back from the airport it was almost noon.  We were both exhausted from such an awesome weekend, so we climbed into bed, turned on some Glee and fell asleep for a couple hours.  We spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out and watching some shows.  For dinner, we decided to do Apertivo again.    We went to the one that was a bit further, but with better food.  It was really crowded, but we still got a table, ate dome decent food, and drank some delicious Miami Vice's :)  

Kevin and I at Apertivo

Day 55: Saturday, March 19, 2011

Kevin and I in St. Peter's square 

We got up around 10 and got out the door by 11.  We didn't think we had a ton to do that day so we weren't in a huge rush like we had been Friday. Jack and I hopped on a bus at the train station that took us almost right to Vatican City.  It was about a ten minute bus ride and we crossed the Tiber River on the way, getting a good view of the Mausoleum of Hadrian, a huge fortress used as a refuge by some of the emperors and popes over the centuries.  When we got to the Vatican we were both blown away.  St. Peter's Square is huge, and is surrounded by these huge column walls.  We stood in the middle of the square for a few minutes just taking pictures and enjoying the view and then headed to see how the lines were.

St. Peters Basilica 

 This is the start of my panoramic picture capturing: 

Picture 1) Facing away from the Basilica 

Picture 2) Moving clockwise 

Picture 3) St. Peters Basilica 

Picture 4) Huge columns that formed a horseshoe shape
around the square 

Picture 5) The last of the panoramic view 

So that is exactly what St. Peter's Square looks like :)

St. Peter's Square 

As we were walking I walked right past one of my best friends from USC, Alex.  I knew he was going to be in Italy that week but with no phone I didn't really see much of a chance to meet up.  And we just happened to walk right past one another in the center of St. Peter's Square, amongst 5,000 people also in the square.  Small world.  We caught up for a couple minutes but he was with a group and they were moving so Jackie and I moved on to try and get into the Vatican Museum.  Well we found out that it was 15 euro to get in and the line was about 2 hours.  Bummer.  We ran into some tour promoter who we haggled the price down to 30 euro and decided to do it.  It was worth 15 extra just to skip the two hour line so we went for it.  Once we said yes the guy starts in a full sprint towards his office.  I kept up about two feet behind him most of the way, but Jackie was struggling.  She's so small and her legs can only chop away so fast.  Normally Jackie is a surprisingly fast speed-walker but this guy had her beat.  I kept having to fall behind and grab her and tell her to keep up.

Walls to the Vatican 

Laocoon and his sons 

We arrived at the office out of breath just as the tour was starting.  Our tour guide was named Anton and he had a very strong British accent that became tough to understand when he would get excited about something and start talking fast.  Going through security at the front of the museum was a joke.  I could have been carrying a rocket launcher and wouldn't have been stopped.  The security guards were all standing together cracking jokes as people were setting off the metal detectors over and over.  We started the tour, and we both really enjoyed it.  We had a little trouble hearing sometimes because the headsets we were using weren't the best quality, and they only gave you one earpiece.  But, if we stayed close to Anton, we could hear fine.  Our tour of the Vatican Museum was about an hour long.  That sounds like a solid amount of time, except that the Vatican is the largest collection of art in the world, even bigger than the Louvre in Paris.  If you were to look at each piece of art for 10 seconds, it would take seven years without sleep to see everything.  There is so much art in every single room, and the museum itself was absolutely humongous.  And it was gorgeous.  Every ceiling, even in the corridors that connected to the bathroom, were so beautifully painted.  We went through a few of the most famous corridors in the museum and saw some amazing sculptures.  Anton did a great job of explaining the important pieces and also pointing out a few of his favorites.

Courtyard in the Vatican.  The gold globe is the newest addition
to the museum. 

Michelangelo's favorite sculpture that inspired
much of his own art. 

One of the many spectacular ceiling's
in the Vatican.

Maps from the 1400's that were 90% accurate. 

Guards at the door of the Basilica 

Finally, we arrived at the Sistine Chapel.  Unfortunately, cameras were not allowed in the Chapel, and it was very strictly enforced.  There were security guards screaming "NO CAMERAS" and "BE QUIET" the entire time we were in there.  Really took from the serene atmosphere.  Fortunately for us, Anton happened to be an expert on the Sistine Chapel.  He took us piece by piece through every frame on the walls and ceiling, going into full detail.  He also knew so much about the background of the contract to have it painted, like how Michelangelo hated it and wanted nothing to do with it, rushing through it so he could get to his sculpting.  All of it was very interesting.  We spent about 45 minutes in the Chapel, and then the tour was finished.  In the Sistine Chapel there is a door on the far corner that leads right to St. Peter's Basilica.  But the gift shops were on the opposite side of the museum, so in an effort to get the tourists to buy souvenirs, they have security at the convenient exit, and make everybody walk all the way back through the museum and then around half the city walls just to get back to the Basilica.  Really annoying.  So Jackie and I, and another couple we befriended from Paris, went to a little restaurant on the way towards the Basilica.  We got some pretty good pizza, then headed for the church.  We waited in line with our Parisian friends, then went our own separate ways.  Inside St. Peter's was amazing.  It was so humongous inside, and it reminded me of the part in Lord of the Rings when they go into the Mines of Moria, just gigantic.

Entrance to the Basilica 

Alter in the Basilica 

Kevin :)

Me looking very small next to the big statues

We walked around inside the church and took a few pictures of the sculptures and architecture inside.  It was getting late and I really wanted to see the tomb of John Paul II, but couldn't find it.  We got sent in three different directions by everyone we asked, finally able to find it with about three minutes until they were closing for the night.  Lucky me!  I apologized to Jackie for making her run around like a madman, but she was understanding as usual.  We left the Basilica as the sun was starting to go down, and decided to take the metro to the Trevi Fountain instead of walking.  We wanted to be able to get pictures of it during the day because the camera wasn't doing very well at night.  We hurried to the metro and got on when it was fairly empty.  Well, at the next stop half of Rome got on and we were shoved into the middle.  Our stop was the next one, which nobody had to get off except us.  So all the people crowding to get on at our stop didn't let us out.  We literally had to body check people out of the way until we barely got out as the doors closed.  Close call!  We passed by the Spanish Steps, where it was totally packed.  Luckily, at the pub crawl the night before we got to see the Steps fairly empty because when we got there after the metro, it was a zoo.  It's the number two pickpocket spot in the world so we didn't stick around long.

In front of the Spanish Steps 

Number two pick-pocketing spot in the world.
Not very comforting.  I clung to my bag the
entire time.  

Kevin and I at the Trevi Fountain 

Afterwards, we went to Trevi, and it was beautiful.  It was really crowded, but we managed to get a good seat and take some great pictures.  It's the largest fountain in Europe (I think) and it was very cool.  Jackie and I threw in a couple 1 cent euros and made a wish, then went and got a good spot and watched the sun set behind the fountain.  It was very cool.  We had done a ton of walking that day so it was nice to just sit and relax for a bit.

The disappointment of going into Hard Rock then being forced to leave because of time had really gotten to Jack.  We decided to go back for round two.  We were just going to stay in that night so we could wait as long as necessary.  We headed over there and got a reservation, then headed back to the hostel so Jackie could change because she was very cold.  We got back and two minutes later our name was called.  We both ordered burgers, split a side caesar, and got two waters for a grand total of 50 US dollars. Wow.  But, it was really good and we had some fun just hanging out at the restaurant so there are bigger tragedies than an expensive burger.

Kevin and I on the Trevi Fountain  

Trevi Fountain - Rome, Italy

Biggest rip-off of our lives! 

Day 54: Friday, March 11, 2011

Today, Kevin and I were in Rome.  However, HE is going to be a little guest blogger and tell you all about it :)  He said he is going to do it this weekend, so if its not up, don't blame me!!! I know he'll do a fantastic job!  He is doing all the writing, and I'll add the pictures when he's done! Take it away Kev...

So we decided that I should write the posts for Rome, so I'll try to live up to Jackie's great posts.  We had decided on Thursday night what our plan would be, and decided we would do Ancient Rome on Friday and the Vatican on Saturday as our two main goals.  Ancient Rome is in the southeast part of the city and the Vatican is in the northwest so we wanted to cover all of the secondary sights on the southern side when we did the ancient stuff, and then the the same for the northern side on Saturday.

Pigeons gathering outside of St. Mary's.
It seemed very picturesque.  

We left the hostel around 9:30 Friday morning and headed towards the city.  The dude working at the hostel told us it was about a 20 minute walk to the Colosseum, so we took that as a 45 minute walk.  Everyone in Rome must be hauling ass whenever they walk anywhere.  So we stopped at a little bakery right outside St. Mary's Church before going in so we could grab a couple cheap pastries for only about 60 cents a piece; best deal I'd seen since arriving.  Then we went in to St. Mary's.  It was a really beautiful church, outside and inside, and the only problem we encountered was not knowing what was important about the church aside from its visual attractiveness.  We only went there because there was a landmark on our map pointing to it, and all of the plaques inside were in Italian so we were kind of blindly walking around inside.  I guess it was nice to just appreciate it for what it was!

Kevin and I outside of St. Mary's  

Kevin doing a fantastic job navigating us all
around Rome!

We kept it moving, knowing we had a lot of ground to cover.  There was another really cool looking building on the way towards the Colosseum on the map, but when we got to where the map told us to go, there was nothing there.  There was a lot of construction going on in the area where it seemed to be so we figured they were just doing some work on it.  I guess the same company that makes Jackie's GPS made the map we were using.  We weren't too worried about it because we could see the top of the Colosseum in the distance so we both got pretty excited.  When we got there, the line was awful and it didn't look to be moving much.  We wasted about 15 minutes of some poor tour promoter's time discussing whether we would join his tour, only to end up saying no and jumping in with another tour that was cheaper. Sorry about it.  The Colosseum was awesome, and some of the views inside were just amazing.  It was so cool to think about all of the history inside the Colosseum, and that we were walking in the same steps as some of the most influential people in history, like Russell Crowe.

Colosseum from the outside 

We did a tour with some Italian lady that was actually really lame.  It was cool that we got to skip the lines but the tour sucked.  All she did was talk about how its been restored, and how it was built.  She barely touched on any of the cool stuff that we were interested in, like gladiators and lion fights.  But aside from that, it was really one of the most amazing things I've ever seen.  It was crazy to think how it held 70,000 people, more than Virginia Tech's stadium, but the Romans built it 2000 years ago with their bare hands.

View from inside the Colosseum 

The Colosseum from the inside 

Kevin and I 

Kevin inside the Colosseum 

Me on the second level of the Colosseum 

Kevin and I <3

Outside the Colosseum,
on the way to Palentine Hill 

After the Colosseum we were pretty hungry but didn't want to miss the next section of the tour.  The next part was the Palantine Hill and the Roman Forum.  Palantine Hill was the original hill of Rome where the city was founded 2700 years ago.  There were buildings up there that were original structures that have somehow withstood the weathering of time.  Our tour guide for the Hill was much better.  She was a British woman and she was very energetic and knew a lot about the history of the city.  We did stops on the way up the hill at different spots where there was a good view of the city, and ended up at the very peak of the hill, and we could see the entire city.  It was the second most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life (the first being Jackie), and the only thing that kind of ruined it for me was the precarious position the tour guide put herself in.  At the top of the hill she decided to sit on top of a fence, without holding on to anything and half of her butt hanging over the edge.  A strong gust of wind would have sent her plummeting about 500 feet to the bottom of a rocky shaft.  Fortunately she was fine, but unfortunately, I am so afraid of heights that by just looking at her in that position, I thought I was going to pass out and had to look away.

Ruins from the top of Palentine Hill 

More ruins

Kevin and I on the top of the hill 

Me on the hike back down the hill  

Kevin on the way down the hill 

Me outside the Emmanuel Vittorio II monument

From there we walked around the Forum for a bit, then went and looked for some lunch.  It was four o'clock by that time and all we had eaten was a 60 cent doughnut that morning.  We headed towards the rest of the sights we were going to do, but our attention was caught by the monument to Emmanuel Vittorio II, the first King of Italy.  It was a huge white monument that we were both fascinated by.  Neither of us could get over how huge the thing was.  We tried to get a picture that really emphasized how big it was, but nothing could do it justice.  Just take our word for it, it was enormous.  Jackie was very scared.  She's very little and hasn't ever seen anything that big.  I had to tell her that it was just a building and everything would be okay.

Kevin and I on the stairs of the monument

Kevin at the top

On the top of the monument

We ended up just hanging out there for quite a bit, really soaking in the massiveness of the monument then decided we were really hungry and needed food.  We went into a restaurant that was absolutely awful.  The menu was so overpriced but we didn't have many options so we figured we would just bite the bullet.  Painful bullet.  Our total ended up being about 25 US dollars for two kid sized plates of pasta and some Pringles.  I ordered gnocchi and they brought out about 15 gnocchi, equal to 4 bites.  Jackie finished her spaghetti and was still hungry so I gave her about half of my gnocchi.  I'd much rather suffer and be hungry than see her hungry so it was worth it to know she was satisfied.

From there we went to the Pantheon, an ancient temple that is the only original ancient dome still standing in Rome.  It was a really cool looking building, but we couldn't get a good picture of the outside because it was kind of in the middle of an alley.  All the other monuments and buildings were very open and viewable but the Pantheon wasn't.  We went inside and it houses the tombs for some of the most famous Italians, like Raphael and Emmanuel Vittorio II.

Dome of the Pantheon 

Tomb of Emmanuel Vittorio II 

We figured that we had seen enough that day, knowing we had a full day tomorrow to see the rest of the big sights.  Plus, we had heard about a pub crawl designed for tourists that started at 9.  We wanted to have time to go back to the hostel, get dinner, and make it there by 9.  We headed back,* got ready quickly then went out for dinner.  There was an ad for a Hard Rock Cafe nearby, and Jackie is having American cuisine withdrawals so we decided to head there.  We got there and it looked amazing.  It smelled so good inside and had a very American feel to it.  But our hopes were dashed when we heard that there was a 45 minute wait, and we only had about an hour and a half until the pub crawl.  Jackie was very disappointed, and we ended up settling for some Italian restaurant.  Jax got chicken and potatoes and I got some crappy pasta.  Needless to say, they both sucked.  Another bad meal.

The drink we got at
The Drunken Ship 

We were tight on time so we headed over to the Spanish Steps to meet with the rest of the pub crawl.  Well, we were the only people there and the guy running it spotted us out pretty easily.  He gave us a map and told us which way to go. When we got to the bar it was so quiet inside that you could hear the one waiter inside walking around.  Bad start.  We still decided to check it out, and found out that it was going to cost us about 70 US dollars total for 30 minutes of free beer and two free shots.  Not worth it at all.  We ended up quitting and just heading back to the Drunken ship, the bar we went to the night before.  It ended up being a pretty good time.  They had a pretty sweet deal, a pitcher of pretty much any drink you wanted for 19.50E.  So we got two!  The only down part of the night was these two really annoying people that help contribute to the "asshole American" stereotype.  One was a drunk chick that thought she needed to scream everything she said, and went up to the table next to ours and screamed "AMERICA, HELL YEAH!"  It was obnoxious.  The other annoying American was some d-bag that was playing beer pong, and every time he took a shot he did some stupid little ritual with the ball, rolling it back and forth then flicking it up in the air.  He also took a shot where he tried to bounce the ball off the wall into the cup, and missed horribly.  At least Jack and I had fun laughing at how stupid some of the people were.  We called it a night around 1:30 or 2 and headed to the hostel so we could do some more damage the next day!

Coco Loco's at The Drunken Ship :)