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Day 41 - Dubai

We flew into Dubai at some ridiculous 5:30am. There were two buses that met us on the tarmac and they were standing room only! The buses were fairly full and I actually nearly stacked it in the bus because I was so tired and didn’t hold on for a few seconds! We got through customs and collected our luggage and were met by people from our hotel, the Dusit Thani. They brought around the Mercedes van for us, wheeled our bags for us and packed the car for us! Inside the (leather interior) van were cold towels (with a fresh orchard flower on top) to wipe our faces with, bottles of water and a wooden box filled with dates stuffed with nuts and these little spice balls. We drove through the outskirts and into Duabi. I couldn’t believe how flat the ground was and the constant haze that covered the city, from either smog, dust or both! The city of dubai looks as though someone has taken sleek, silver planks and just thrown them into a piece of random ground somewhere. The city just pops up, out of nowhere. Another phenomenal thing was the amount of traffic at such an early hour. At some points on the highways, traffic was nearly at a standstill it was so busy…at it wasn’t even 7am yet! From our car, we saw the Burj Kahlifa and it is such an elegant building in such a harsh environment. Driving into Dubai is like going from desert and within the blink of an eye, being surrounded by lush lawns and flowerbeds and million dollar buildings everywhere.

 We arrived at our hotel and it was beautiful! It’s five star or something and it is actually an awesome place. The lobby smells like lemon grass and there is sometimes a woman playing a thai instrument. Even though it was early, our room was available! Our bags were taken up for us to the 22nd floor! Our ‘room’ is actually an apartment, with a master bedroom (and ensuite) another bedroom, bathroom, kitchen and living area. From the bedroom Evan and I are in, there are views of the Burj Kahlifa! After being on the plane for so long without getting much sleep, I had the most amazing shower all trip! The pressure was amazing and the hot water never ran out either. The other three kindly waited for me to finish, and so together as a family we all headed up to breakfast.

 Breakfast was utterly amazing!!! It was the biggest buffet I think I’ve seen in my entire life! There was Arabic food and then a huge spread of cheeses, sweet pastries, ready made smoothies, bircher museli, fresh fruit, bread and hot foods! After our flight and without pressure of having to go anywhere, we all relaxed and enjoyed a long breakfast. There are waitors constantly ready to refill your coffee cup…which was rather brilliant! From our table, we had views of the constantly bustling city beneath us and also of the Burj Kahlifa. It was absolutely amazing. After breakfast, we went back to our room, the other three freshened up and I just chilled around for a bit.

 We found out there was a shuttle bus to the Dubai Mall, so at 11am or so, we caught the bus over to the mall. The mall is crazy…no insane. It is huge, over the top and overly western. Each shop is about twice the size of our ones and I just got the impression that they had to prove they were so western by making everything bigger and better! I couldn’t believe there were tourist guide maps to direct you around the mall, it was that huge! We found biscuit shops that were so large and brimming with stock, but empty of anyone except the shop assistant. What really made my day though, was that we found a Pierre Herme macaron stand. So after 6 weeks, we finally got to taste the macarons that we lost on a train somewhere! Dubai mall also has an acquarium. Like, an actual acquarium. So seeing that was rather crazy, and although we didn’t go in (I couldn’t bear the thought) they were advertising a “King Croc” that they had gotten from Australia. So home seems to be following us wherever we go! Whilst we were standing at the acquarium, a mall car went by (like the gold buggies we have at airports or some of the bigger shopping centres), but here it was a mini Rolls Royce! So I guess that says something about the standard of the Dubai Mall! We explored probably only a fraction of the mall, we went outside and saw the big man made pool that has the water displays and we found a few Lebanese restaurants that looked good for dinner! Unfortunately, I didn’t have sunglasses with me and I really paid the price for that! From the side of the pool, the Burj Kahlifa was looming over head and it is one seriously elegent and beautiful building!

Everything was just bigger and better…except the mall was fairly empty! I understand why now, as we found out that the mall didn’t close until 1am. WHAT?!?! I thought that was absolutely crazy!!!! After going outside, we explored the downstairs level, where we bought tickets to go up the Burj Kahlifa (at 10:30pm because all other times were booked out!!!) and stopped to have a bite to eat and chill because our fatigue was catching up with us! Dad and I got mango smoothies and Mum and Evan bought pomegranate juices…which were absolutely disgusting!!!! So, their faces made for a good laugh!!!

 Our fatigue was really noticeable now, so we navigated our way out of the Dubai Mall and caught a taxi back to the Burj Kahlifa. I think I staggered back to our room (well, apartment) through slitted eyes and we all crashed for a good few hours!!!

 We slept for a good four hours or so, waking at about 5pm. Mum woke up first and had been looking through ‘Arab Adventure’ catalogues so we could pick a desert safari to go on the next day. Our hotel was really awesome – we could book our tour through the concierge! That was awesome, and we picked this full day tour and we had to take our passports, as we actually entered into Oman…!!!! YEW! However, we had to purchase the tour in cash and just when we needed our debit cards to work…the bank decided to do maintainence (it was about 1am at home). So thankfully, the cards eventually began working again and we were able to pay for our tour! After that we chilled for a bit more, I couldn’t quite adjust to the sudden heat! Dubai’s winter was 24-28degrees, and there summer is usually 50degrees! Mum and Dad had planned our stay in Dubai to be a few days of luxury before we returned to ‘reality’ back in Australia! So it was really nice to just chill and not feel bad about missing all the sites, as we already knew we would be covering them all!

 We had previously decided earlier in the day to have dinner at a Lebanese restaurant in the Dubai Mall before we went up the Burj Kahlifa. We checked our hotel’s courtesy buses and found that there was in one in 20minutes and the next one would have been too late! So at 6:30pm, we were on the Dusit Thani’s courtesy bus to the Dubai Mall. We went down to the bottom level of the mall, where all the food shops are. We went into this Lebanese place as it was absolutely packed, even though it wasn’t the fanciest looking restaurant on the internal strip! Inside, we were seated with the fruit bar, where they made fresh fruit juices next to us and with the sweet bar, filled with all sorts of Arabic and Lebanese treats behind us! I saw a kiwi fruit juice get made and oh gosh, it looked brilliant. It was absolutely amazing! It was 100% kiwifruit and was absolute heaven to drink! Next was the food. Dad suggested we order a ‘mixed plate’, so we had hummus, tabouli, eggplant and meat! I also ordered hummus with meat on top, mince type sausages and oh gosh, it has to be probably one of the highlight meals of the entire trip. The food arrived surprisingly quickly, but I could only imagine how many people there were in the kitchen! All the food was so fresh, cooked to perfection and burst with amazing flavor in your mouth! It was a taste sensation not to be missed…and we ate the whole lot! What was also amazing about the restaurant we were at, is there was constant table service. Our table water was replaced about every 10minutes and there was fresh and warm Lebanese bread on our table to replace the older break at insanely regular intervals! It was absolutely fantastic and just an utterly incredible experience! When we had finished our meal, it was a huge feat! And there was absolutely no way I could fit any more food into my body anytime soon!

 Although our table was inside, the restaurant faced out onto the man made lake that had the Dubai fountains. Every hour, on the hour, the water display went off and we found that by the time we finished eating it was 8:55pm. We quickly made our way to the back of the restaurant and out onto the walkways. Watching the water display was rather interesting, I have never seen anything quite like it. There was music accompaniment of a woman singing a song in Arabic and it sounded absolutely superb! The water fountains though were breathtaking and yet hilarious. The water was shot out at certain times so it looked as though the water was spraying or jumping in time with the music. There were different lights illuminating the water shot into the air and the whole show had the backdrop of the Burj Kahlifa and the rest of suburban Dubai. So the show was absolutely stunning, but really reflected how attractions, well everything in Duabi is man made.

 We left the restaurant at about 9pm and still had some time to kill before our booking to go up the Burj Kahlifa. We split up, Dad and Evan heading off in the direction of some electronic shops and Mum and I browsed some female stores! We went to Selfridges and checked out the incoming winter fashions. Unfortunately, the store was rather massive and just totally overwhelming! So we had a lovely browse and then evacuated ASAP! Mum and I then went down a level, to Sephora. I had never been in one of these stores before, so it was interesting to have a look around. I have never seen such a huge shop before jam packed with make-up! Unfortunately, there was not any bargains, so no purchases were made. I now understand why the mall closes at 1am, as it got later into the night, the mall just got more jam packed! So it must be a Middle-Eastern thing, that people lie low during the day’s heat and then do most of their activities at night. They must have crazy sleeping patterns! Mum and I kept exporing, checking out a few levels and poking our heads in a few more stores, but they were all the same…and massive shop after massive shop became overwhelming all too quickly. Being Mum and I, we headed back down to the food level and retired at a café there. We ordered the ‘special’ coffees of this place, Mum getting a classic coffee and I tried a vanilla hot chocolate. Both were utter rubbish…and not much got drunk! I also got a slice of a berry tart, because I had walked past the same type of cake earlier in the day and it looked utterly divine! So thankfully, I had the tart to comfort me over the horror of my hot chocolate.

 At 10:30pm (give or take a few minutes) we headed over to the Burj Kahlifa entrance. We had to walk through these displays, showing how the construction of the building was staggered over 6 years. There were diagrams being shown on a display screen, which was pretty cool because it was like watching the building being built over a time lapse! We then had to line up to wait for the express lifts that would take us up to the 124th floor, the viewing platform! There were three separate lines that helped stagger the flow of people and the lines did move surprisingly quickly! We didn’t have to wait long to get inside a lift and the trip up to the viewing platform was fast and actually really hilarious. The lift was black and had LED lights that would flash in different sequences, so it felt like you were in some mini rave or nightclub with another 7 or so people!

 Once we got up to level 124, it was actually amazing. But one thing I was really surprised about was how packed the Burj Kahlifa was, and also the number of mothers with babies and toddlers in prams…so late at night!!!! I first walked out onto the main viewing platform, which was covered in in glass. The view was absolutely amazing! Because we were so high above the city, it looked like someone had thrown a bunch of stationary and moving lights onto the floor and we got to look down on it all! We could see the Dubai Mall and their lagoon (or whatever they call it! Haha). I just couldn’t believe how congested the roads and highways were…also at such a late hour! But what was cool, is if I turned around, the rest of the Burj stretched above, lit and looking extremely elegant! We walked around the entire floor as a family, stopping to check out the city and trying to figure out where everything, like our hotel, ‘The Palm’ and the Burj Al Arab were! Once we had finished walking around and checking out what looked like fairy land beneath us, Mum and I headed back out onto the viewing platform one last time! We then headed back down in the crazy rave lift and headed back out of the Dubai Mall.

 We caught a taxi from our Mall, back to our hotel and we didn’t end up getting into bed until 12:30am!!!!

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Day 40 - Last Day in Rome...and Europe!!!! 

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Day 40 - Rome

This morning, was a relatively early wake up! I got out of bed at about 7am, showering, having breakfast and continuing with packing! At about 9:30am, Evan and I left our apartment and headed down the end of our street to the taxi rank. There, we caught a taxi to Piazza Venezia, as we were going to go to the very top of the War Memorial, or ‘The Wedding Cake’ as it is locally known. The tazi ride was actually fairly short as there was surprisingly little traffic congesting the streets for this late peak-hour time. When we walked up to ‘The Wedding Cake’, only a single doorway in the entire fence was open for the public to walk through and there was a slightly intimidating guard at that entrance. The War Memorial is certainly grand, the white marble was so stark against the clear and bright blue sky and it was such a stunning contrast! The building had so many ornate marble edging; it actually resembled a multiple tier wedding cake! We walked inside (the inside is pretty much all marble) and up a few flights of stairs to reach the middle level. We passed so many elegant marble statues and also many guards!!! We walked around to the back of the memorial and caught a lift up to the very top. Up the top, the view was magical. The top section boasted probably one of the highest views over the Roman landscape. Behind the building was the Roman forum and Trojan’s Market and I really enjoyed getting another ariel view of these amazing places! The sun was bright and shining, with a clear blue sky and there was no wind – so it was all rather perfect!!! After we had had our fill of the amazing Roman view, we retraced our steps out of the Wedding Cake and caught a cab back to the taxi rank down a few doors from our apartment. We regrouped with Mum and Dad and then headed over to the Vatican.

 When we got into the taxi, our driver finished the end of his cigarette inside (much to all our horror) and we quickly wound down all our windows for the next few minutes! We arrived in St Peter’s Square at 10:44am on the dot, where we booked in for the 11am ‘tour’ with the group who supply the Roma passes. This tour meant we skipped the queue into the Vatican Museum, but it was not a guided tour of the Museum, meaning we could enjoy it at our own leisure. Whilst waiting for our line-skipping escourt, I hunted for coffee and bought two ‘Caffe Latte’ from a nearby store and the takeaway beverages were served to me in normal plastic cups. How strange! I also can’t get over the number of beggars around the big religious attractions. At 11am, the group of about 25 walked from St Peter’s Square around to the entrance to the Vatican Museum. The walk (along the wall of the Vatican) brought back my memories of going through the Museum with school, and I realized not many can say they have been to the Vatican or the Sistine Chapel twice by the time they were 18! Once through the entrance into the Museum (and putting everything on my person through scanners) we were then free to explore the place! What I have always found amusing about this museum, is every time you turn around, there is another gift shop selling all the same souvenirs, books, pencil cases and post cards (a lot of the merchandise with the Pope’s face on it)!!! Its like they keep reminding you of your uncertainty of buying a certain item, enticing you to purchase it.

 We got maps of the museum (and most of the time couldn’t conceptualise where we where) and then went exploring! At one point, Dad got out of the wheelchair to walk up some stairs and Evan (who was pushing him) said, throwing his arms back, “IT’S A MIRACLE!!” We visited long galleries filled with marble busts, dating back to the first century BC. We went into Egyptian rooms, where we found Mummies at different stages of being unwrapped from their embalming process. It was both fascinating and gross, as the skin was a blackish colour and looked like a rubbery paper! We went down a level and walked down these halls, that had to be at least 600m long. They just kept going!!! The ceiling was painted in the most vibrant and opulent colours and along the walkways were cabinets that were painted in pastel colours, with birds, the Vatican keys and gorgeous little sceneries on the front! I couldn’t believe the wealth of the Vatican’s collection. Apart from the cabinets, there were jewellery displays, maps, archaeological items, stained glass windows and marble sculptures or reliefs along the entire hall! It was rather amazing!

 We were trying to find a lift, so we could go down a level to the hall of tapestries for Mum. We were told there was a lift at the end of the hall, so we kept on going!! We ended in a room that had ornately embroidered priests robes displayed. So we thought we were getting warm! The robes were absolutely stunning and were just beautiful, porbably even more beautiful and ornate than any other garment I had seen before! On the other side of the room was a wheel chair platform that transported Dad down a half flight of stairs. So not quite what we were expecting, but better than nothing! We then followed a winding corridor (which the security guard had ensured was clear for us) and then, we just walked out into THE SISTENE CHAPEL. Like what!!!! I hadn’t made a connection between the direction we were heading and the hundreds of signs pointing to its location! So, ha! We accidently floundered upon the Sistene Chapel. But ah, it was just beautiful. Unlike last time I was there, I got a chance to admire the mosaic floor of the chapel. I stood and just craned my neck, examining, admiring and just loving the masterpieces painted by Michelangelo and his apprentices. After about 15minutes, I actually got a seat around the edge! That was awesome, and I also helped a gentleman use the front camera of his iphone to take photos discreetly of the chapel. It was just a beautiful, calming and unreal place. It was such a pleasure!! What was also nice was there was a Priest who said a simple and beautiful prayer in three languages (Latin, Italian and English) and then offered his services to bestow a blessing upon anyone who asked for it. Ah! I absolutely loved that place. We headed back out into the Museum the same way, and Dad just looked awkward and stranded on the wheelchair lift! He kept pulling funny faces and, the guard decided he wasn’t going fast enough and so pressed the button harder, so the lift got louder and faster. The change was really comical and we all (the guard included) started laughing until there were tears in our eyes! After the Sistene Chapel, we discovered the hall of maps and then the hall of tapestries. Both were awesome! The maps were so detailed and stunning – but on most, I thought there was more effort and detail put into the border decorations rather than the actual cartography. However, the tapestries were absolutely stunning. They were in a darkened hall (Naples Museum should take some of the Vatican’s advice on preserving things!), but the vibrancy of the colours still showed up on the camera without flash. The tapestries were massive, covering the entire walls, from floor to ceiling (which had to be at least 3 or 4 meters!). I couldn’t believe they were hundreds of years old. They were all so complex and preserved immaculately!

 After we had finished our exploring, we had lunch in the courtyard of the Vatican Museum. It was such a superb ending to Europe. We were sitting in the winter Roman sun, eating pesto and tomato pasta and just loving being in this ancient place. What was rather great was the table next door to us were Australians (of Asian descent) on exchange from Monash University, also eating Italian cusine, discussing the lack of Wifi in the Vatican and talking in the broadest Aussie accents!!!

 After our delightful lunch interlude came to a close, we left the Vatican and walked back over the River Tiber to our apartment. We walked over this footbridge (watch a sweep oar) and really enjoyed our last time exploring the ancient city in the lovely afternoon sun!!! Once over the river, we went down these little side alleys (which was actually the street that connected with the one our apartment was on!) We passed some delightful shoe shops, great florists and we stopped in a few op shops! There was an amazing trench coat in one, but unfortunately, it made me look like a mushroom. It was all just spectacular and wonderful and made the thought of heading to the airport in only an hour or so rather unbearable and sad.

 Once back in our apartment, we finished packing our bags, squeezing in the last few items and purchases and then zipping them shut!! We said farewell to our absolutely gorgeous apartment and then, at 4:30pm, headed down our street to the taxi rank. We got two taxis out to the airport and it was a chance for me to visually say goodbye to one of the most beautiful (and one of my favourite) cities in the world. We then hit the suburbs and then we drove out over highway type roads. Mum and I thought our taxi ride would be our last ever, as our driver drove at 152km/h and was leaving a breaking distance I wouldn’t even leave travelling at less than half that speed!!!!!! Mum and I literally had our lives flash before our eyes. Unfortuantely, she was in the front seat, so it was difficult to hold hands, considering it may well have been our last time together!!!

 Once at the airport, all our bags went through (phew…just!) and we then headed past customs and into duty free. We stopped in a coffee shop and I spotted a show shop across the way. They happened to have the style of boot I love…and in my size!!! So huzzah – Mum was particularly stoked that I was able to get Italian leather boots….and in Italy!!! I managed to squeeze them into my hand luggage, which was an effort, but it just meant that I had to carry another jumper. Whilst I drank my coffee, all I could think was that I didn’t want to be here (or in that dreadful taxi)…I wanted to be back in our apartment, possibly around the corner at the wine bar drinking mojitos and planning what churches I would discover the next day!! Europe had been amazing and I was really sad to have to contemplate leaving it, but thankfully we still had a few days in Dubai before our holiday ended! Eventually, it got around to 8:30pm or so and we boarded our flight headed for Dubai. Take off was uneventful, but flying over Rome and then watching it become a throbbing blob of light was so bitter sweet!!! As we knuckled down for sleep, Evan decided a few shots of vodka would help him along the way…which was rather funny!

 As the flight to Dubai was only about six hours, I barely used my laptop and attempted to sleep for part of the way!

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Day 39 - Rome 

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Day 39 - Rome

This morning we were up, had breakfast and out of the apartment fairly early! We had a fairly packed day planned, so we got into it right away! We caught a taxi from the end of our street to the Colosseum. The taxi dropped us on the other side of the Colosseum to where the entrance was, but that turned out to be fine because we got fairly awesome views of the Colosseum as we walked around it! It is such a large and impressive building; everything about it is so elegant and beautiful!!! When we got to the entrance, as we had Roma passes, we got to go down like a ‘priority’ line, which was great, as the other line was heaps long!!! So, although the passes were expensive – we saved so much time! The inside walkways were so dark, a stark contrast to the bright sun outside! Mum got two audio tours for Evan and I, and Mum and Dad enjoyed a stroll around together!

 I absolutely loved being inside the Colosseum again, particularly after studying parts of its role and purpose in Ancient History. I couldn’t believe I was walking in a structure that was at least a thousand years old! The audio guide first took you around the top floor, showing you original stairs, the cross meaning the place was sanctified (even though there is no absolute evidence that Christians were killed in the Colosseum) and the underground stalls where animals and gladiators were kept, beneath the ring. I still find it phenomenal that an Ancient society could be so advanced, sophisticated and able to create structures that withstand the tests of the open air and time! What was particularly lovely was as I walked around to the southern side of the Colosseum, I had the warm, wintry sun on me (Rome has such a mild winter)! The audio guide then took me to out of the arches, onto a balcony type area. From there, I could see the Roman road, with the huge marble Arch of Constantine and the Roman Forum with the Capitoline Hill! I then went to the downstairs part of the Colosseum and I really struggled with the audio guide, as I couldn’t quite figure out where all the monuments it was indicating at where (so I ended up ditching it and just exploring myself)! One thing I found myself marveling at, was how small the arena, or area for the munera to take place actually was! I always expected it to be the size of a good football field, but it was about a third that size! But I suppose – it kept the fights contained and actually ensured that gladiators couldn’t run away or escape each other! I loved just walking around the ancient place, its a great feeling to walk over cobblestones, where your feet are always uneven! The bricks and other parts of the construction were also just amazing. Seeing how marble, mud bricks and architectural features were used to create such an elegant, public building was absolutely phenomenal.

 When we decided to leave, we found the exit was on one side of the Colosseum, and the office where we bought the audio guide was directly opposite on the OTHER side! Mum and I enjoyed walking back around the Colosseum (we had to navigate our way up and down stairs to actually access the section we wanted), just marveling at this historic place, lit by the lazy winter sun! On the way back around, we both admired column fragments that were ornately carved, Gladiator cells with ferns growing in the water troughs and we walked in and then hastily avoided the tourist shop – where you could purchase mini gladiator figurines! Once we exited the Colosseum (I have to admit, I really didn’t want to leave it), all four of us turned around and just admired the beautiful creamy building against a bright blue sky.

 We began the walk from around the side of the Colosseum, past the Arch of Constantine and over to the Roman Forum. Evan, being typical Evan, was approached by people selling selfie sticks, saying “selfie, selfie” and thus, took a selfie with a few of these people! We found it funny, but I don’t know if they did…because we didn’t buy one of their selfie sticks (Mum and I discussed how we should have bought one way earlier in the trip!!). We walked next to the Arch of Constantine and I had to stop to admire the marble, as I was otherwise preoccupied with choosing which large cobblestone to step on! The arch was phenomenal, with detailed figurines and scenery carved in, displaying triumphant scenes of Constantine’s military success. We continued walking along the Via Sacra that led into the Forum. The cobblestones were huge! The road was more large stones that had been worn flat due to thousands of years of traffic. It was an amazing feeling to be walking along the road, knowing so many historical figures and triumphs had done the exact same thing. Once again, I was starting to get really excited (so much so, it was another little girl moment again with lots of squealing and jumping!)

 Walking into the Roman Forum was a dream come true. Leading up to it, we walked past columns of a Basilica (with a girl in Korean traditional dress posing for photos!) and picked up a video guide (which was an audio guide) at the entrance gates. Once inside, we looked straight at the Arch of Titus. It was amazing and I was in love. I stayed for a while just listening to the audio guide and walking around the beautiful arch. It was an impressive arch, not quite as ornate on the front as the Arch of Constantine, but incredibly detailed in the under section where there were beautiful relief sculptures! It was so stunning! We continued out onto a number of platform type places where we got some amazing views down onto the entire Forum. After studying it so much in year 11 and 12, I was actually so excited, particularly to put everything I had learnt into context!

 I loved walking around and examining all the buildings, I think no picture could ever do the real thing justice! I used the provided map as a guide, following the suggested route around the buildings in the forum. I first looked at the Basilica of Maxentius. It had three huge arches and was most certainly an example of grand Roman architecture! We continued walking down the biggest street in the forum, stopping to look at the ‘Medeival Porch’, which was spherical and domed! The entranceway to this building had beautiful ornate marble doorframes that were utterly divine. We continued down to the Temple of Antonius and Faustina, which is a Temple known for being rather grand. There are 10 large and incredibly grand columns out the front (one has cracks that show where people have tried to pull them down, unsuccessfully). The main entrance door (an emerald green) is meters above the entrance steps, so archaeologists believe there is a flight of steps that have been removed at some point in history! We walked past the Basilica Amelia and marveled at the Curia Julia – the Senate house, which has a noticeable lean! In front of the Curia Julia is the Arch of Septimius Severus, where there were construction works, where they believe they have found the remains of one of Rome’s first consuls. Together, we all walked over to the Capitoline Triad – the Temples of Saturn, the Tabulatium and the Temple of Vespasian. To see these two temples was actually mind blowing for me. Both the Temple of Saturn and the Temple of Vespasian were prominent in my year 12 studies, and being at the site, being close enough to touch their marble was phenomenal! At the Temple of Saturn, Mum and I walked around the entire ruin, taking in the grandeur of the remaining columns and checking out the underground section which was used as Rome’s treasury. I quickly went around the back of the Temple of Saturn, did a short steep walk to where I found the Temple of Vespasian. It was much smaller and dwarfed by Saturn next door, but both would have been such beautiful buildings!!! We then walked past the Basilica Julia (another favourite of mine) and it was just so awesome to be there in person! Unfortunately, only a half of columns survive, but to know that I was standing out the front of such a historically valuable building was just amazing!!!! We finished our time in the forum by heading over to the Temple of Vesta and the House of the Vestals (Virgins). I had studied the Vestal Virgins in year 11 and once again, it was absolutely awesome to be there! The Temple was significantly smaller than I had expected, but not all the building had survived. We walked around and headed into the House of the Vestals. There were beautiful mosaic floors, ornate marble features and a line of marble statues inside the long (now grassed) atrium or hallway, with multiple impluviums! In one of the still standing rooms, the under floor heating system was still visible. After being in the forum for nearly two hours, our stomachs were telling us it was lunch time – being 1:30pm and all! We began the walk out, which was bitter sweet. It was devastating to leave but it was such an enjoyable place to visit! On our way out, Mum photographed each of us drinking water from a running Roman tap, that had been used as free drinking water back during the Republican period. The water was cold and fresh, and it is awesome to think that Caesar may have possibly drunk from the same tap! Ahh!

 We decided to have lunch around the Vatican, as we would then visit St Pauls Basilica after lunch! With our Roma Passes, we had unlimited access to the Crisitano hop-on-hop-off bus. We walked out of the Forum, past the Arch of Constantine, to the huge stretch of bus stops, where every tourist provider seemed to have had a stop! After about 10minutes or so, our bus finally turned up and we were the only people on board! So that was pretty hectic. We told the driver and attendant that we wanted to go to St Pauls Basilica, and went directly there (along the designated bus route though!). We drove past the Circus Maximus and the ancient ruins of taller buildings on the border of the Roman Forum. Once we arrived at the bus stop, we asked one of the Cristano bus ladies where she would recommend going for lunch. She indicated to go up to the edge of St Pauls square, follow its perimeter, go through the arches, walk along for a bit and we will find some great places to eat. So we did! We walked beneath the arches that had a stunning mosaic of the Madonna and Child on it. We walked along and found the most delightful little café/restaurant to eat at. We chose to eat inside, even though it was a lovely day, as there were smokers outside! The café was so cute and quirky. Our table was right next to the counter, so I could see an array of cakes, sandwiches and other fresh foods on display. The walls were covered in black and white tiles, where if aligned, they created the engative images of chooks (the chooks being in black, that is!). It was such a lively, cramped and bustling place and not touristy at all. We all had amazing pizzas (I had pizza funghi) and although it wasn’t Napoli pizza…it was absolutely amazing!! Our table was fairly small for four people, so four pizzas, chinottos and water was an incredibly tight squeeze! We were at the café for a bit more than an hour and it was a great time, watching people, talking, laughing and eating together as a family and discussing the rather odd interior decorations. After we had finished our meal, we rolled out (the pizzas were quite large!) onto the smoke filled street at about 3pmish!

 We walked back to St Pauls Basilica, only to find that our passes to skip the line into the Basilica finished at abput 2:30pm. So we joined the line, that we thought looked fairly long, but actually moved ridiculously quickly! Evan and Dad jumped the queue, whilst Mum and I were in the line and had some incredible conversations with a gentleman (there with his wife and child) from Brazil. The man’s grandfather had migrated from Italy to Brazil, but says he made a mistake by not going to Australia! He was a delightful person, with very well thought, logical and strong views about the hypocrisy of war and the Catholic Church. The conversation arose after we had to go through scanners (on the edge of the covered colonnades in the Square) before we could walk up to the Basilica. As the Brazilian said, when he was here 20 years ago, one could just walk straight up into the Basilica!

 Mum and I rejoined Dad and Evan on the walk up to the Basilica. We ascended the steps into the beautiful Basilica and stopped near the entrance to admire the grand marble and other decorative work! The entrance hallway has one of the most beautiful ceilings I’ve ever seen…it was simply stunning! We all walked into the main section of the Basilica together, and it was amazing. The walls and floors were inlaid marble and all the arches and ceilings were rich frescos and beautiful relief work. We walked around the whole place! Dad and I went around together and we would stop under every arch, admired every altar and dome to check out and discuss the frescos! When we got up to the back corner, we saw there were stairs leading down. We took the plunge and headed down into a crypt that held the tombs of Popes. Unfortunately I couldn’t take photos down there, but all the tombs reflected the fashions of marble sculpture throughout the years. Some were blocks, with engravings made. Others had elaborate relief sculptures with ornate inscriptions and a few had roses with them! It was both skin crawlingly creepy and such a peaceful place. Though I had to laugh at all the spots waiting for the next Popes!

 When we came out from the crypt, Dad and I continued on our tour of arches, altars and domes. We found one altar that had a glass case with a body inside. I’d seen this in a few churches around Europe and Italy (like in Bologna) and I thought they were wax casts of the Pope or whoever it was representing. However, Dad was like “no, no its probably the actual person.” Wanting to prove him wrong, I asked a Priest standing near by who it was. The body was Paul the 18th or someone and it was his actual body. I nearly gagged. How could that be considered normal!?!? I returned to Dad, told him the shocking discovery and then we discussed how the body must have, like taxidermy, had all the inside ‘stuff’ taken out so the skin/outer layer wouldn’t decompose (because the preservation of the body is what made me think it was a wax cast!!!). So that gave me the creeps, so I went and found Mum and showed it to her as well!

 Later, Dad and Evan were inspecting the marble floor or something and Mum was checking out an altar elsewhere. We were back near the entrance to the Basilica, and I noticed that there was a constant crowd (so not a tourist group) flocking to this one altar near the door. Curious, I headed over to see what the attraction was, hoping it wouldn’t be the body of another Pope. On the altar, beautifully displayed, was a marble sculpture of the Madonna holding Jesus after he had been taken down from the cross (Madonna and adult haha). I immediately recognized it (it was incredibly similar to the Madonna and Child in Brugge), and I had a sneaking suspicion it was a Michelangelo work. I whipped out my phone, did a quick Google and discovered that I was looking at The ‘Pieta’, indeed by Michelangelo. Well, I swear I could have jumped out of my skin. I love how I just keep accidently discovering Michelangelo works everywhere!!! It took me about five minutes to elbow my way to the front of the crowd, where I could get a clear view of the ‘Pieta’ to get a great photo. As I did this, I looked to my right and saw there was a woman standing next to me with Neopolitan ice-cream hair. Her hair was white, pink and a dark chocolate colour. I took a double take and when I walked away, I turned around and took a sneaky photo of this woman’s hair!

 We walked out of the Basilica and Mum and I went around to the other side, where and watched the Vatican guards for a bit. They looked slightly ridiculous and I could see that they had a hard time keep a straight face when so many faces were staring at them. There were not barriers between us and them, and Mum dared me to walk up to one of them. I dared her because I was too unsure to do it or not. We both wanted to, but decided against it as we didn’t want to end up in jail or something with only a few days left in Europe! So, rather than thinking mischievous thoughts, Mum and I went into the Vatican post office. For three euro a stamp, we sent some postcards back to Australia!!!! We decided that each stamp was so expensive, that sending post cards from the Vatican was definitely monumental, so Mum took photos of me posting them!

 As it was beginning to get late, we decided not to bother waiting for the Cristiano bus and instead grabbed a taxi that took us straight to the ‘Wedding Cake’ or War Memorial. Although the website said it didn’t close until 5:30pm, we got there at 5pm and the gates were closed!!! That was slightly disappointing, but we decided that Evan and I would go there first thing the next morning so we could see the awesome view of Rome from the top of the War Memorial!! So instead, Evan and I took photos of each other out the front, and in one photo, Evan accidently covered part of the flash so I look like I have a spotlight on me!We decided we were all in need of some coffee and a bite to eat, so we walked along the front of the war memorial, across the road, to a strip of cafes that faced onto some Roman ruins. We went into the most cosy little place, where we all enjoyed coffee and had a great time chilling and having a good old chuckle. As there were four of us, we had a little adjacent room all to ourselves. There was a huge window next to us, so we had a perfect view of Trojan’s column!!!! After we had finished our drinks, we went outside and explored the ruins there, which turned out to be Trojan’s forum and market. There was a slight wind, but it wasn’t overly chilly, so we enjoyed walking along the ruins and back together! I found a bronze sculpture along the way of who I thought was Caesar, but it was a Julio-Acclordian (I can’t believe how complacent I was about a Julio-Acclordian…Rome was just packed with so much history!!). We could walk out into a section of some of the ruins and I saw some of what I thought to be mosaics, but after closer inspection, were actually modern tiles. I was rather confused as to why they would be there, but I suppose “When in Rome” hahaha!

 When we walked back, we had decided to go to one of the shopping strips recommended to us by an Italian friend back in Sydney. We walked over to the taxi rank, where we caught one over to Via Ottaviano. Our taxi driver had an ipod and was listening to the Radetsky march (which would have made us shudder after the bad concert in Vienna, but this version was played beautifully). When the next piece came on, and was also classical music, we complimented him on his taste! Although he couldn’t speak much English, we were somehow able to communicate that we liked the music, so he turned it up so loud! This made all five of us laugh and we had the best taxi ride of my life to Via Ottaviano (all because of good music!). When we arrived, a few shops had already closed, but some were still open! Mum and I went into a shoe shop to look for a pair of boots I had in mind. We found multiple, beautiful pairs that I would have happily taken, but none had a size large enough for me. Damn! We continued to walk along the street, until we found a clothing store that had a shirt out the front that immediately caught my eye. We went inside, and gosh there were just so many beautiful clothes! I bought the shirt I had seen outside (it’s a creamy white with navy blue) and although Mum had tried on a number of jackets and coats suggested by the shop assistant, she didn’t end up buying any as they were all too heavy for the Australian climate! After we made our purchases, everything was closing up on the street. We found a taxi sitting there waiting, and we caught it back to the taxi rank at the end of our street.

 We had decided to have dinner at the restaurant 433 at the end of our street, and my goodness we were not disappointed! We got a bottle of the Tuscan wine we had had the few days before and we all enjoyed sipping on this amazingly light wine. For dinner, I had pasta with artichoke and black pepper and it was absolutely to die for. Once again, the Italian way of cooking and preparing food absolutely wins one over!! We then got these amazing berry desserts and we got two to share between the four of us!

 After our divine meal, we walked back to our apartment and hit bed!!!

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Day 38 - Rome 

[ash-goes-travelling-blog]

Day 38 - Rome

This morning, we slept in! We had a lovely breakfast of bloodorange juice, cheese that we didn’t eat yesterday and cereal. We left our apartment at about 11:30am and we decided we would head straight to St. Peter’s Square, where we could pick up our Roma passes. We walked over to the Vatican and it was such a beautiful winters day! Although the sky was slate grey, the buildings and streets seemed to be bright! We crossed the river Tiber and part way, watched a single scull on the river get close to our bridge and then turn around to head back the other way! What was really cool, is that after we crossed the river, we were looking straight down the road to St. Peter’s Basilica and the square! After walking along the road, we eventually made it to St Peter’s Square, where we went over to the office where Evan organized the pick up of the passes. Dad and I were sitting outside and we were both astounded at the number of beggers there were…particularly right outside the most affluent church establishment in the world! Apart of the Rome pass is we had unlimited access to a hop-on-hop-off bus that goes around all the main Roman sights! We wheeled down to the bus stop and only waited for about 10minutes for the bus!! We boarded the bright yellow ‘Christianos’ bus, with the intention of getting off at the Colosseum. Unfortunately, my headphones onboard didn’t seem to work, so Evan and I ended up sharing earbuds. We passed national monuments and churches, even the church of the Pope (before St Peters basilica), where Pilgrims would walk up the stairs on their knees! However, we were driving past what turned out to be the National Museum of Roman History and I saw a banner on the side of the building that held an image of the Discus Thrower. Mum, being Mum, had the immediate reaction of we are never going to get back here, so we better get off!!! The next bus stop turned out to be only around the corner from the Museum and there all four of us alighted!

  Walking up to the Museum was actually crazy and I was actually jumping around like a child who had drank too much red cordial! We got into the Museum and visited room upon room of grand marble statues, busts, reliefs and burial coffins. On the first floor was an exhibition on Augustus and the Julio-Claudians. In the exhibition, there was the Roman calendar (and we saw the Ides of March!), the famous marble statue of Augustus as Pontifex Maximus and a circular tablet celebrating Octavian’s (Augustus) birthday on the 23rd of September, the same as Mum’s!!! It was one of the most beautiful Ancient history indulgences! We all then went upstairs, where there were galleries of marble sculptures. It was here that I found the Discus Thrower! I spotted it straightaway when coming out of the stairwell, and every other sculpture melted into insignificance! The Discus Thrower was smaller than I had anticipated, but as my parents pointed out, people were a lot smaller then, than we are now! I told my family how the Discus Thrower before us is actually the original Roman copy of the Hellenistic bronze staute, and the statue beside the Discus Thrower is a Roman copy of a copy! On the same level, I found the most intricate relief sculpture, depicting the clemency and rage of the Roman patricians. The work was huge and so detailed! It was an absolute delight to take time and admire the sculpture. I then headed upstairs (where the other three already where…woops!) and there were hundreds upon hundreds of mosaics! They were all amazing, vibrant and in one room, they had removed a fresco from its original place and re-created the room inside the museum!! It was amazing to be in a room with an intact fresco around you!!!!!

  It was already about 2pm, and our stomachs were calling us to food, so we exited the most amazing and heavenly museum and headed back around to where we had gotten off the bus. There were a few touristy restaurants there, and although they looked cringey…it was food! We each got a freshly squeezed orange juice to restore our blood sugar and they were absolutely amazing!!! For lunch I had gnocci with tomato, and it was actually amazing. The food was so fresh and light and absolutely tasty! So, unlike the touristy restaurant in Venice, the food at this place was absolutely astounding!! By the time we had finished lunch, it was nearing 3:15pm. As the Colosseum closed at 4pm, we decided we would go there tomorrow! So, as we were within blocks, we instead visited churches that Mum and Evan wanted to visit.

We walked to Basilica of Saint Mary’s of the Angels and Martyrs, and goodness, it is still the most beautiful church in Rome (in my opinion)! From the outside, the Basilica doesn’t look like much, just being Ancient Roman bricks (it being the baths in its ancient life). However, it is just breathtakingly beautiful on the inside…and much larger on the inside!!!! The frescos on the ceiling and inlaid marble walls and floors were just spectacular. I wheeled Dad around (under strict instruction) and together we examined the most elaborate and ornate altars and the sundial!!! Together as a family, we sat in the pews and took in the surroundings. The church was so quiet, but a meditative silence, as there was a cd playing music that was Priests singing. Mum had bought a pamphlet about the church, and together we discovered that it the painting above the main altar was done by Lorenzo Lotto!!! Again I nearly died! I had studied Lorenzo in art (and hadn’t been able to discover where any of his originals are in Europe). So, the fact that I had found one of his works was absolutely astounding!!!!

  After going to that church, we walked diagonally across the main square and spent some time in some bookstalls! Whilst we were at the bookstalls, there was a huge noise that erupted from one of the local cafes…and I thought there was a brawl! But no, it turned out someone had scored in a soccer game that was being broadcast…so it was then that I truly appreciated that I was in Italy haha! The bookstalls had the most amazing spread of books. One volume I picked up, that was about to be sold to another gentleman, but he kindly let me read it, was an original published in 1850!!! It was actually rather sad to look at these books, al paperback volumes and some of quite a considerable age, were being sold on the street in exposed air!!!!

  For Mum, we then walked up a few blocks to, St Bernard at the Baths, a round church, which is unusual Roman architecture! We didn’t spend as much time here, having a quick whip around because we were starting to get very complacent about seeing churches!! The floor inside was absolutely stunning. We went into a little side altar, probably for private dedications and the ceiling was just breathtaking! After our time in that church, it was nearing 6:30pmish. We headed back to the closest hop-on-hop-off bus stop and headed back to Piazza Navona!!!

  Once back in the apartment, we chilled! As we had had such a late lunch, none of us were hungry enough for dinner – but I grazed on some break sticks and some cheese now and again. I caught up on my entire Naples blog, which was actually great!!!! Dad headed to bed early as he hadn’t slept well the night before, so it was us three just chilling and doing our respective thing. Throughout the evening, Mum kept saying “lets go to a winebar”, but my response was “It’s a Sunday night. What’s going to be open?” At 11:45pm, Mum and Evan went off to see if there were any bars open and I told them to call me if they found anything good! Of course they did and I quickly exited the apartment and hit the cobblestone streets! Mum and Evan had just walked a few hundred meters down the route we take to Piazza Navona and had stopped at a little bar/restaurant. Mum had a limoncello, Evan ordered a pizza and a beer and I ordered my first mojito. When I was ordering, I pronounced it phonetically (with a very noticeable aussie accent) and I think the waitor nearly had a heart attack! After being instructed how to pronounce the cocktail correctly, a beautiful mason jar, with mint all around the place arrived! It was utterly amazing and I think the barman put at least three shots of rum in, probably as payback for me not being able to say the drink’s name properly. So, as I hadn’t eaten in more than six hours, the alcohol went straight to my head. And I can say, I felt the most intoxicated I have in my entire life, in Rome, with my Mum! I felt very light (light headed and light limbed) and very, very giggly (my Mum and Brother laughed at me more than once!). At about 1am, we headed back to the apartment and in our slightly intoxicated states…Mum and I skipped and pretended to be fairies down our cobblestone street (no stacks!). Getting into bed was such a delight and I slept very, very soundly!!!  

[ash-goes-travelling-blog]

Day 37 - Rome

[ash-goes-travelling-blog]

Day 37 - Rome

This morning, we got up bright and early! We packed our bags and closing them is beginning to become a challenge! We took all our luggage down in the small lift, to the awaiting cab outside. Unfortunately, although Dad had specified a ‘very big car’ when he had booked the taxi, they sent some midget car! So, we piled all our luggage and Dad in one car and then Mum, Evan and I walked down into the piazza behind our apartment and caught a taxi to the train station. It was a rather sad occasion, as we were boarding our last train trip of the entire trip!!! It was a comfortable ride, travelling at 310km/h, so it was a fairly brief goodbye to the rapidly disappearing Mt Vesuvius!!!! Along the entire trip, we passed the Roman Road at frequent intervals, as it seemed to meander across the countryside! We were able to identify the road as it was lined by trees, pruned in the distinguishable Roman way – cutting all limbs off along the trunk, so the foliage looks like a mushroom cloud on top of the trunk! I loved our last train trip, I read “Death Comes to Pemberly” (the book that the TV series that I watched on the flight over from Sydney was based off).

  We alighted a train for the last time and had finally arrived in Rome! When I did Europe in 2010 with school, Rome had been my favourite city and I have to say, I was eager to see if my opinion of the city would change after finding Florence and Paris (even Naples) such amazing places. We arrived at about 9:20am, but wouldn’t gain access to our apartment until 10:30am. We decided that we would chill for about 40minutes at a particularly nice café in the train station, rather than take a gamble on finding a coffee shop in the immediate streets around our apartment. The coffee we had was actually amazing, and the coffee drinkers (Mum, Dad and I) all agreed that we were finally in ‘Decent coffee region’ of Italy. We were sitting around the table and I used Evan’s serviette to blow my nose (I know that too much information, but this story gets funny) and stuck it in my pocket. About 10minutes later, Dad wanted to double check that we had all the details, like the address and contact number of our apartment. He had written it on “a piece of paper” and had given it to Evan. Except, there was no sign of any paper on the table. We checked the floor, our backpacks and blood pressure was certainly on the increase. Thankfully, the contact number was in Dad’s call history on his phone and someone had also checked out the address on Google maps on one of the iphones, so there was still a record of the address. It was then that FINALLY Dad or Evan specified that the details had been written on a serviette (as Mum and I had been looking for a scrap of Paper). It was then (after this new information had come to light) that I had just used the serviette with the details written on it to relieve my sinuses. What a joke!! I hadn’t seen any writing on the serviette and all laughed at how I had found a practical use for our accommodation details. After these exciting events, Mum and I went off in search of a bathroom. We walked the entire length of the new train station (many shops were still under construction) and we couldn’t find a bathroom! That was rather annoying!

  At about 10:15am, we caught two taxis from the station’s taxi rank to our apartment. On the way, I admired Rome. I’m still in love with it more than ever. Dad and I discussed later that afternoon how Rome seemed to be a chunk of every other city all in one place. On some buildings, the window decorations looked as though they were Venetian. Some architecture resembled that of Naples (though much better cared for) and other street corners looked as though we had just returned to Florence. Our taxi driver didn’t have a GPS but seemed to know Rome like the back of his palm. ALAS. We eventually figured out that he had missed the turnoff into our street and we spent at least 15minutes driving around narrow, cobbled streets, being forced to reverse and take a grand tour of these streets as the driver kept getting caught on one way streets. I felt so bad for him, the poor gentleman was just so flustered! It got to the stage where Dad and I had google maps out and directed the poor gentleman to the end of our street (and only a 70m walk from our apartment building, google maps revealed). It turns out that we had actually driven past the exact street that was our destination before our driver got flustered. So the poor bloke! Our taxi fare turned out to be 13euro dearer that Mum and Evan’s, as Dad and I didn’t want to make the taxi driver’s income suffer because he got confused!

  We dragged our bags down some fairly uneven cobbles to the door to our apartment. The door is so beautiful! It’s a heavy wooden door (you only open a small section of it to enter the internal courtyard), lined with stone bricks and has metal studs around the bottom (blunt, thankfully!) Our apartment is on the second floor and again, without an lift! But oh well, not too many flights of stairs! Our apartment was certainly a treasure to walk into! Its very vintage-y with heaps of wall decorations! The main lounge room is a light blue with marble pillars painted on the two long walls. Above one of the hall tables, there is a violin, ukulele and other small string instruments hanging up. On one of the walls, next to the windows, there are plates hanging on the walls. Throughout the apartment (even in the bathrooms!) there are framed drawings, etchings, vintage world maps and botanical diagrams of flowers! There are plenty of tables, with the coolest lamps on top. It is such a delightful place and I would totally move in permanently tomorrow! As it was nearing lunchtime, Dad did some unpacking whilst the other three of us walked to the other end of our street to the supermarket, where we bought breadsticks, cheese, prosciutto and then these olives in crumbed balls (which we didn’t like!). We returned to our apartment and had a lunch feast of fresh bread, cheese, meat, blood orange juice and the most amazing fresh fruit! We had strawberries, which were absolutely massive and yet so sweet! We had a huge discussion, and we have decided that Australian strawberries (and other fruits) are picked too early and they don’t reach their full potential!

  At about 12:30pm, we left our apartment and walked a block or so to Piazza Navona. It was so beautiful! The sun was shining, the marble was a bright white and the fountains were actually working – such an odd site for winter!! The piazza wasn’t packed, but it was fairly busy and we all enjoyed walking around and taking in some of the famous water fountains! We found the tourist information, at the opposite end of the square, which was absolutely useless as the lady claimed they were closed (a siesta with the door open) and it took some time before the lady presented the city map for us to purchase. We then gathered our bearings and walked the two or so streets to the Pantheon. Along the way, we passed popular cafes, little cobble stone streets that had flower boxes at every apartment window and a bike that had a front basket filled with vibrant potted flowers! We came to the Pantheon from the back, so we walked around it’s side, admiring the ancient Roman building technology until we made it around to the front of the church. It was a grand, impressive and very beautiful building!! There were many in the square before it, buying ice-cream, sitting on the stairs chatting or discussing the Pantheon before them. We made our way into the church and I had to stop (frequently) to admire the ornate stone work that adorned the top of pillars and across the top of the building. Inside, it was just marble everywhere! I love the Pantheon, as it just IS the Ancient Roman adaption of Hellenistic culture. The domed roof, with the hole in the entre shone light straight down into the church, providing light in a place that otherwise would have been very dark! I enjoyed walking around, admiring the inlaid marble floor and taking in the marble statues and countless frescoes. After looking around, we gathered together as a family, sitting on the pews, pointing out interesting things to one another and then discussed the order in which we could visit the Spanish Steps, Babington’s Tea Rooms and then do some shopping.

  There was a taxi rank to the side of the Pantheon and we decided that the car would be the best way to get over to the Spanish Steps! We drove through bright and ornate architecture, couples and families out for the afternoon. We were dropped up the road a bit from the Spanish Steps which was absolutely fine! I stood near the fountain at its bottom and just enjoyed the many – tiered steps! There are always people trying to sell you stuff across Europe (like bags, selfie sticks, scarves or tacky touristy keyrings) but around the steps, these people try to shove roses in your arms to force you to buy them! As I was standing with Evan, we were a rather large magnet for many rose sellers and they insisted, even after we explained that we were siblings that Evan should get me a rose (and No definitely doesn’t mean ‘No’ until you have repeated it at least 5 times). Mum, Evan and I then walked to the top of the Spanish steps, where we got an awesome view of the Roman skyline! We explored where Mum and dad stayed last time when they were in Rome, checking out the location of their hotel and their favourite café (both not even half a block from the top of the Spanish Steps). We then walked up another flight of steps into the Church above the top of the Steps. It was old (I don’t remember the specific date) and although the façade was under renovation, we still got to see an awesome view of Rome! What I loved about the inside of this church, was the walls and ceilings are hand painted frescos that are full of vibrant colours, the strength of their colour certainly makes you question, or at least ponder at their age! We lit a candle for my Nana in the Wheelchair and my Pop and then began our descent to Dad!

  On our way down, a gentleman just came up to Evan, asked him to stick his little pinky out and then began to make a string bracelet out of the colours of the Italian flag. It was fascinating to watch! He knotted three strings together, then tied that around the wrist and then twisted the strings more and then wallah! You have a bracelet! I also got one and after a brief interrogation about my current relationship status, was told that this bracelet was an Italian good luck charm for me to “get a boyfriend”.  So that caused a few laughs amongst us! We came back down the Spanish Steps and found Dad, sitting on some Marble and as the steps were so busy, we could only see his head – and we thought he looked like a statue or gargoyle! So that caused even more laughs!

  We headed into the Tea Rooms, directly next door to the Steps. It is a place called ‘Babington’s Tea Shop’ and was begun by an English Lady in the 19th century and is still in business today. Mum and Dad told me all about the tea room 18months ago – so it was a very anticipated visit! The tea rooms were absolutely delightful. We had a lovely, cosy table that had two chairs and then two cushioned benches and the tearooms had that delightful hum from all the conversations happening. The tea cups and saucers were a bright tiffany blue and we each got ‘The Afternoon Tea’, where we got tea and then a plate of 6 small cakes. Dad and I got the same green tea (Blue Lady) and when the glass tea pot arrived, it was so large (I got 4 cups of tea from one tea pot!) I thought it was for Dad and I to share! Mum had a tea, and it was served in the traditional manner! She was given a silver tea pot, with a matching silver pot of hot water, so she was able to keep using her tea bags! The cakes were also delicious and the perfect size! It was such a pleasant afternoon and very, very civilized! We all enjoyed our time at Babington’s Tea shop and Mum and I had much deliberation about what tea and then what canister to purchase!

  As a family, we then walked from the Spanish Steps and found some pretty amazing shopping strips! We first walked along all the massive international designer stores and we saw a furniture place that had an armchair in an array or very strong colours! We walked away from those shops and after a few blocks, found where all the locals shop!! The streets were packed (like a sea of people) and it was evidently a popular shopping street! I looked in a few shoe stores, and although I found designs I liked…they only ever had the size below mine!!! However, Evan scored in a mens store and bought something like five beautiful shirts. Dad, with his amazing long term memory, remembered the location of the leather handbag store where Mum got her fluro handbag last time she was in Rome. We walked down this street (past the Trevi Fountain) passing about 4 other leather stores until we found the exact store that Mum had purchased that bag! The shop was actually packed with bags. It was so full, you could barely see the actual walls of the shop!!! There was every size, shape but unfortunately not every colour of bag to pick from! Although they did not have the fluro leather bag that Mum wanted, she bought a bright pink and green handbag and then both Mum and I got wallets!! After a brief discussion, Mum and I walked back down to the Trevi Fountain. Unfortunately it was under maintenance, so the fountain was empty. But instead, they had a scaffolded walkway that allowed pedestrians to walk above the fountain and get within a few metres of it!!! So, Mum and I have these awesome photos of us with the scaffolded sculptures straight behind us!!!

  We decided to catch a taxi back to our apartment, as it was already about 7:30pm. We walked to the end of the cobble stone pedestrian streets and luckily enough, even though there wasn’t a taxi rank, there was a free cab sitting on the other side of the road!!! The timing was perfect!!! We were driven to the taxi rank at the end of our apartments street, and throughout the duration of the car trip we decided that we should have dinner at the restaurant we had seen at the other end of that street, whilst we had been making our way to Piazza Navona!! After we alighted the taxi, Mum and Dad headed straight for the restaurant, whilst Evan and I did a quick sprint up to our apartment (and fiddled with the front door for a few minutes!!), dumped our shopping and then walked to the end of the street. The restaurant was called 433 and was named after an Italian soccer coach who dropped from A-league to B-league to remove himself from its corrupt environment. But soccer aside, we had the most amazing dinner! Mum and I enjoyed a Tuscan white wine, which was so light and perfect, it was actually to die for!!!! I had fresh pasta with eggplant, tomato and grated ricotta on top (the cheese was hard and not the moist stuff we usually get in woolies!!). This meal was literally to die for. I could not believe how so few ingredients created such a mouthwatering and just utterly amazing feast! Mum had also ordered an artichoke (on the side) and that was just divine. The artichoke was so light and exploded with flavor with each bite…we now both understand why there is such a craze about artichokes!!!! So, utterly, utterly amazing!!!!! 

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Day 36 - Amalfi Coast 

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Day 36 - Amalfi Coast

Today, we did a tour of the Amalfi Coast (with a private driver and car). We were to meet the driver at what my Dad thought was the square a few blocks behind our apartment, but it turned out to be the one down the same road only a few hundred meters! We got settled into the car and then drove through Naples and hit the highway, passing both the sites of Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius. Naples is on one end of a very large bay and we drove around to the other end of that bay! What I love about Italian roads here is if there is a mountain that a road can’t be built around, then they build a tunnel and go straight through the mountain – so there were heaps of tunnels that we drove through! Mum thought the roads were going to be treacherous and easy to drive off, but the roads were great and there was stonewalls along all the roads we drove on.

  Our first stop was Sorrento and driving up some of the hills provided the most exquisite views of the water, Mt Vesuvius and the urban sprawl below! We stopped on the side of the road just before Sorrento. From there I got awesome photos of the sheer cliff faces and the abundance of lemon trees!! Sorrento is quite a quaint and delightful little place (a very, very strong contrast to Naples)! The buildings were vibrant and there were fruit trees lining the streets. We had about an hour, so we ventured off one of the lanes, walking past some fairly touristy shops and other fairly pleasant ones! We stopped in a little chocolate shop, where we sampled chocolate-coated almonds and coffee beans and bought some of what we sampled! We asked for directions to the best spot for viewing the ocean, so upon our exit, we walked 100m and then took the second right. And then wallah! We had one of the most spectacular views before us of the beach and ocean! The sand was black (which makes sense as its volcanic, but I was still expecting Australian standard sand!) but the ocean was a bright and clear acqua colour! After soaking in the view, we meandered back to the main square, poking our head into a little church along the way and stopping for a good browse in an inlaid wood shop. All the streets were magical and very much the stereotypical scenery of Southern Italy. There cobble stone streets with gardens of lemon trees and flowering vines and plants!

  Once back in the car, we drove for another 40mins or so to Positano. Our driver was extremely lovely, slowing down on some sections of the road so we could get good photos out the windows and then stopped at all the good places so we could get photos of the view and towns below! Positano was my favourite place of the entire day! The entire town was built on the slopes of mountains and all the streets were incredibly narrow and thankfully only one way! The buildings were bright, happy colours and laden in vines and flowers. We stopped at a car park, whereupon we all walked down past a café (where we had great coffee!), summery shops and through a paved walkway that was protected from the sun by vines (very, very Italian). All the streets are little rabbit warrens, where buildings are all wedged in together, with tiny, quaint doors and bright and colourful mosaics, tiled house numbers and lots of vibrancy and colour! We walked down to the edge of the Mediterranean, where we stuck our hands in the water, took photos of a heart made out of stones on the beach and admired the amazing view of the town sprawled across the hills! Evan was skipping stones (apparently the stones were of optimum flat-ness) and they actually went a long way!!! What I found intriguing was the waves, once on the shore, would soak/drain straight through the pebbles, whereas in Australia, the water sits on top of the sand before it recedes. It was interesting and great to watch!! We returned to our car and began the drive to Amalfi (the town). Along the way we stopped at a stonework and ceramic shop. The entranceway was multicoloured ceramic tiles and was so bright and happy! Inside was just an ocean of colour, fruit, scenery and beautiful, beautiful ceramics. There were tea sets, crockery sets, tables of all shapes and sizes (made of stone and then painted over in ceramics) and it was all rather wonderful. The lady showed us ‘behind the scenes’ and we saw the painting process of the tables and also found out the tables were shipped all over the world. She also told us that this was a family business of three generations…whoa!!!! It was such a packed shop that was also packed with colours!

  We then continued our drive to Amalfi and the view out of the window was so delightful!!! We stopped at a restaurant that our driver recommended, where we tried the local favourite ‘Lemoncello’ (lemon, alcohol, sugar) which is initially sweet and then bam the alcohol hits your taste buds like a brick wall. Our guide from Pompeii and Herculaneum told us that she makes Lemoncello herself – that is 90% alcohol. Thankfully, the stuff we tried was only 30% alcohol (and still that was a shocker!). When we were leaving, the restaurant gifted us with lemons (at least 6 times the size of the ones in Australia) and a bottle of wine! After lunch, we were driven down to the town square of Amalfi. We walked out on one of the break walls where I was able to get photos of the Amalfi coastline, the town Amalfi and the ocean! We ventured into the square, where Mum and Dad bought Lemoncello and I explored the church (which was gorgeous marble and the outside really reminded me of the Basilica in Sienna!). After our brief time in Amalfi, our driver took us up to Ravello, a town above Amalfi (700m above, our driver told us). From there, we got absolutely awesome views of the coastline and Amalfi below! One thing we all marveled at was how dense the buildings are – there are Villas built precariously off the sides of mountains and apartment buildings right on top of each other! Although its quaint and lovely (and I want to come back in Summer), it makes one appreciate the space we have in Australia!!! We then spent a short amount of time exploring the main (and only) square in Ravello, where we got fantastic views of the mountains and saw the gardens of the huge Villa there, that is also a popular concert venue for ensembles like the London Symphony Orchestra.

  We then drove back to Naples over the mountains and my goodness they were beautiful! The road was like Cambewarra Mountain (near Kangaroo Valley) on steroids or something – the hairpin bends were crazy (making Galston Gorge look like childsplay) and the views were just spectacular (thankfully I wasn’t driving as I would have found the view so tempting)!! We all dozed in the car and arrived safely back in Naples, at our drop off point at 5:40pm. It was such an awesome day! Our driver was fantastic – at no point during the day did we feel nervous or felt our lives flashing before our eyes. We returned to our apartment, where we chilled out! At about 7:30pm, Mum, Ev and I hit the streets to do a bit of shopping. We found amazing men clothes stores and stocked Evan up with amazing Italian clothing!!! As we weren’t yet ready to return to the apartment, we found a little café/bar place, where we all ordered hazelnut hot chocolates (hot chocolate with hazelnut chunks). The lady who owned the place didn’t have very good English (still better than our Italian) so there were some fantastic hand signals, lots of pointing and gestures and then heaps of laughs and smiles when both parties finally understood one another!!! We enjoyed consuming the drinks, chatting and trying to make our last night in Naples go on forever! When we returned back to the apartment, we made hot lemon drinks using the lemons we were given today and oh gosh they were amazing! They were sweet and juicy and also huge!! We all then faced the (getting fairly challenging) task of packing our bags and ensuring they manage to zip close for our trip to Rome! 

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Day 22 - Drežnica (Boxing Day)

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Day 23 - Drežnica 

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Day 35 - Naples

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Day 35 - Naples

This morning was a rather fantastic sleep in, as I didn’t actually get out of bed until 9:30am (how scandalous!). We all enjoyed a slow morning, taking it in turns to have showers, as although there are two bathrooms, there isn’t enough how water to sustain any heat or pressure simultaneously! We ate some brekkie, lounged around, catching up on some international news and booking a private tour of the Amalfie Coast for tomorrow.

  Dad seems to have caught a cold from our bus tour of Tuscany (some idiot went on the trip, sitting in front of Dad with a fairly infectious cough) so we all agreed it would be better for Dad to chill in bed for the day and enjoy the view of Naples apartment buildings from the window (hahaha). The three of us then (finally) left our apartment at about 11am and walked for a few minutes to the Naples Archaeological Museum, which holds most of the original artifacts discovered at the Pompeii, Herculaneum, Oplontis and the 4th town (whose name escapes me woops). Unlike all the surrounding buildings, The Naples Museum seems to be the most cared for, with minimal to little graffiti on it. Inside the museum, I dumped my backpack and jacket into a locker and then headed to the first floor, which held most of the artifacts from Pompeii and Herculaneum. The Museum was beautiful. The staircase (which we had to walk up to get to the first floor) was grand, with beautiful marble stairs and statues adorning the space. Once on the first floor, all the exhibition rooms led off a central ‘Ball room’, which was beautiful frescos all over it! We first went into the room of ‘The Villa of Papyri’. I specifically studied this building, as within it was found over 100 preserved papyri scrolls that contained the only surviving copy of Greek and Roman literature, philosophies and law. It was amazing to see two of the original, carbonized scrolls that were found by archaeologists in the 18/19th century in Herculaneum. Although I studied the building, I never actually realized how large and extensive it was! The museum had dedicated three large rooms to the frescos, marble paintings and marble sculptures all found in the Villa. One thing I thought was awesome, was that in the library, the owner had used busts of authors to mark and identify the works on the particular shelf written by that individual. This aided archaeologists in identifying the authors of volumes where the ones found in the Villa of Papyri are the only surviving copies. 

  We then ventured into three rooms that held artifacts of household utensils. There were medical instruments; tweesers and tong- things used for extracting teeth. Sturdy frypans, with little indents on the side to help pour out the contents. Complete silverware sets, with little figurines as handles, copper light holders and GLASS!! The glasswork was amazing, there were bowls, vases, window panes and I think the items certianly give Murano a run for its money! There was one vase in particular that was white glass on a dark blue, styled to look like a Cameo vase in precious stones. It was utterly beautiful and it was in such pristine condition that I couldn’t believe it was at least 2000years old.

We then went into extensive rooms that displayed the frescos found in both Pompeii and Herculaneum. They were stunning and the colours were so vibrant, it was again, hard to believe they were over 2000 years old and not dome extensive and elaborate hoax! It was such an amazing feeling to see works that I had only ever seen in my yr 12 textbooks in real life!!! There were so many it was slightly overwhelming. The archaeological record is so big and rich, it’s just a shame that they aren’t preserved well enough. Throughout the entire museum, frescos were only protected from direct sunlight through fairly thin blinds/curtains and bar two, none of the frescos had glass coverings. As the guards were understaffed, only personal control and appreciation of the artworks can stop an individual from smearing their hands all over the ancient frescoes. One thing that was seriously disappointing was that due to low staffing levels, the room dedicated to The Temple of Isis were closed – and they were the paintings I specifically wanted to see.

  We then headed down to the Mezzanine floor, where we saw multiple rooms of the beautiful mosaics found at both sites. Some of the mosaics had individual stones so small, that from a distance they looked like paintings. Again, it was utterly amazing to see some of the mosaics I had studied in real life! All the mosaics were in bright colours (perfectly preserved), displaying imagery of animals, crops, the fertility of the Campania region, Nilotic imagery (Egyptian animals and scenery) and the famous ‘Alexander Mosaic’, that was discovered in the House of the Faun in Pompeii and consists of 1 million individual painted stones. These rooms are certainly a highlight of my trip and I still can’t believe I saw them! We also went into the ‘Secret Room’ which contained images of what I’m sure you can imagine for yourself. I also, purposefully, did NOT take photos in there!!

  After spending a good few hours looking around, all our stomachs were communicating with us that we required Pizza! One of my Mum’s friends visited Naples only a few months earlier and recommended a pizza place where she said she had had eaten the best pizza she had ever had. With the assistance of google maps, we walked for about five minutes and found the restaurant. I was actually so starving, like I felt as though my knees were about to collapse! We ordered pizzas (Evan had margarita pizza with buffalo bocconcini, I had pizza with mozzarella, mushrooms and proscuitto and Mum had pizza with buffalo ricotta + bocconcini, tomato and basil). The pizzas were utterly amazing! And we all agreed with Mum’s friend that it was the best pizza we have ever had. It wasn’t ‘heavy’ on the stomach (even though there was heaps!), the ingredients were fresh and really tasty and all the ingredients were in perfect balance! We also had the best coffee so far in Italy and enjoyed these slices of awesome chocolate cake afterward (that was a small portion – which was perfect!) with crunchy biscuit as a base and then various layers of different chocolates.

  After our lovely lunch, we walked back to our apartment. We walked through some, what I would say, were fairly dingy backstreets, but they were really just full of bustling life! It seemed every second shop was a food or pastry shop and they all had these little window cabinets on the footpath displaying the tasty treats that one could discover inside (they were all variations of the same pizza and pastries though!). There were narrow, cobbled lanes where above your head was someone’s washing and at one point, we had to pass a van that was unloading laundry or something, but to pass, we had to close one of the back doors – the van was filling the entire street!!! There were countless vesper bikes that whizzed past us and most passengers didn’t bother with helmets. As Aussies used to space, we have all reached an appreciation for small cars (our prado would have gotten stuck between buildings on nearly all of these streets) and the little smart cars, which we look at and comment how ridiculous cars of such size are, come into their own natural habitat here! Smart cars are so perfect for these streets (I think they were designed specifically for Naples backstreets) and they just speed along, without any need of concern about parking or scraping building along the way! Along our travels, we made our aimed destination of the starting point of Naples underground tours. We talked with the guides and decided to return at 6pm for an hour and a half tour of whatever happens to be beneath Naples! After that interval, we continued along the road, buying biscuits and shell-shaped pastry to consume once we returned to the apartment. We turned left onto the most boho and indie road ever! The street was lined with orange trees, bustling with people and we admired vintage clothes shops, jewelery made from brass and copper and music shops (that unfortunately sold electric guitars and their accessories more than brass instruments). It is after walking through streets like these that helps you appreciate that Naples has a vibrant street life that is absent in both Sydney and every other city in the world.

  Once back at the apartment, we chilled for an hour or so, consuming tea and the pastry treasures we had bought along the way. At 5:50pm, Mum, Evan and I quickly left the building, retraced our way through the backstreets and arrived at the place where the underground tours began. After waiting around for about 10minutes for the English tour (none of us particularly wanted to do the tour in Italian) we walked down over 100 steps into the aqueduct system beneath the city. The aqueducts were built in the 4th century BC by Greeks, who sourced construction materials (rock) from 35-40m beneath the surface for their buildings. The aqueducts were then used as a water system for the city. However, due to cholera, they were drained and the aqueducts were used as a rubbish tip during the 18th and 19th centuries. During the Second World War, the 3m-deep rubbish was concreted over and the aqueducts were used as bomb shelters. Walking through them was fairly crazy, knowing they had been made during the 4th century and then had many lives and uses since then!! We were guided around, walked through a particualarly narrow section where we all had to use a candle to light our path as there weren’t any lights there and saw experiements where they were growing plants 40m below the surface! As our guide told us, the humidity in the aqueducts was always above 70%, and whilst we were down there, humidity was at 95%. The plants in the experiment were not watered (but given sunlight) and had survived for more than 12months! We learnt how there were public and private wells in the aqueducts, and it was the responsibility of one slave to constantly clean these water reserves. Legend also says this character (whose name we can’t remember ah!) would steal from the rich houses if he thought he wasn’t getting paid enough. Thus, the legend was born that if anything can’t be found, this character stole it (like the ‘Mr Nobody’).

  After exploring the aqueducts, we returned to the surface and then explored a roman theatre that had been discovered a few blocks away. The backstage area was discovered in the basement of a ground level apartment. It was amazing to see how modern cities had just been built straight ontop of Roman ruins! We followed the shape of the building and visited another section in the bottom of another building. Our guide showed us how the shape of that block had a curved back, as that was the shape of the theatre. Even google map showed the location of the Roman theatre! Unfortunately, it will never be excavated due to the expense of purchasing back all the apartment blocks on top and archaeologists believe that the ancient ruins are being held together as they are being used as foundations for the modern buildings (and vice versa!). After the tour finished, we meandered back along the same backstreets to our apartment, where we crashed! 

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Day 34 - Pompeii