How's everyone doing? Last time I wrote we talked about Scotland. Now I'm going to tell you all about Kathleen and I's ten day trip to Italy. I'm going to divide the blog post up into three different posts because we saw a lot in Italy. So, I'll start with Rome. Kathleen and I started our trip the same as we start many of our other trips with the walk to Melton, the train into Ipswich, and then the train into London. When we got to London we took the Tube to London Gatwick Airport. From there we took a bus to our nearby hotel. By the time we got to our hotel it was very late at night and we ended up getting about 3-4 hours of sleep before waking up and heading back to the airport. When we got back to the airport we had breakfast and then caught our plane to Rome.
Flying into Italy was a fairly short flight and had great views of the Swiss Alps. When we landed in Rome we took the train into the city centre and walked to our hostel, The Mamma Mia B&B. After checking in we walked a few blocks to the ancient city centre of Rome. We first went to a nearby cafe and had our lunch. After lunch we went to the Roman Forum. At the forum we saw many ancient buildings and structures such as the Temple of Vesta, the Rostra, and the Temple of Caesar. After touring throughout the forum we went to the Colosseum. The Colosseum was amazing and not in to bad of shape for being 2000 years old. It was by far the most pictures I took of any one single thing while I was in Italy. After taking a tour of the outside and inside of the Colosseum we walked by Trajan's Forum and Trajan's Column. The column was made to commemorate Emperor Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars. After that we headed on to our last tourist stop of the day, The Vittoriano. The Vittoriano, or the Victor Emmanuel Monument, was built as a tribute to the first King of a united Italy. We walked throughout the monument and then headed for our first of many pizza restaurants that we would eat at while in Italy. After supper we headed back to the hostel and got ready for our next day.
The next day we got up and had breakfast at the hostel and then headed out for our first full day in Rome. Our first stop was the Domus Aurea, the remains of Emperor Nero's Golden House, which we soon found out, by the locked gates, was closed due to water damage. We then headed past the Colosseum to the Circus Maximus, the ancient chariot racing stadium. After viewing the Circus Maximus for a bit we continued on to the Palatine Hill. The Palatine Hill had many things to see such as the remains of the House of Augustus. After spending much time on the Palatine Hill in the pouring rain we proceeded to the Mamertine Prison. The Mamertine Prison was a prison for Rome's high profile prisoners such as Vercingetorix, the chieftain of the Gauls, and the first pope, St. Peter. After a very informative tour of the prison we had paninis for lunch and then visited the Capitoline Hill Museums. The museums are home to some of Rome's most ancient artifacts and statues. The most famous however is the statue of the Capitoline Wolf suckling Remus and Romulus. Upon leaving the museums, after seeing many great works of art, we headed to the Pantheon. We walked through the Pantheon, the home of the tomb of the painter Raphael, and then had what would be the first of many gelatos in the square out front. After finishing our gelatos we walked through the neighbourhoods and shops towards the Spanish Steps. We relaxed on the steps for a while and then went to our last stop of the day, the Trevi Fountain. We admired the fountain for a bit and then I made one of the best decisions I've ever made. I reached into my pocket, pulled out an engagement ring, got down on one knee, and then asked Kathleen to marry me. She said yes and it was the best moment of my life. After sitting for a while at the fountain, and taking many pictures of the ring, and taking in the moment we continued on to have supper which ended up being pizza and pasta. When we were done supper we went back to the hostel.
The third day of our trip we continued our adventures by having a full day at the Vatican City. On our way there we passed by the Piazza Navona, the square with the Fountain of Neptune and also the Fountain of the Four Rivers. We also passed the Castel Sant'Angelo but it was closed so we decided to go the next day. When we got to the Vatican City, the world's smallest country, we first visited St. Peter's Basilica. After a while of touring the inside and outside grounds we went for lunch at a pizza place. After a delicious pizza lunch we went to the Vatican Museums including the Sistine Chapel. Just hearing about all these places all your life and then experiencing it in person was absolutely amazing. On concluding our walk of the museums we had gelato and then headed back in the direction of our hostel. On the way back we walked through a few shops, Kathleen looked for shoes in her size while I looked at different souvenirs. We then went for supper and had, you guessed it, pizza and pasta (you know I don't think I could ever get tired of Roman style pizza and pasta). We then went back to hostel and spent the remainder of the day relaxing.
Our last full day in Rome we went and saw everything else we wanted to see that we didn't get to see the first three days. We started off the day at the Castel Sant'Angelo because it was closed the previous day. The Castel Sant'Angelo was first created as Emperor Hadrian's Mausoleum and used later by the popes as a fortress and castle. It was awesome to see the resting place of Emperor Hadrian, his family, and other emperors. After a thorough tour of the castle we walked along the Tiber and past the Mausoleum of Augustus which was not open to tourists, but was amazing to see the tomb of so many emperors and their families from the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Continuing on we had lunch at a pizza restaurant in front of the Pantheon. We then walked past the Trevi Fountain to our next destination, the Crypt of the Capuchin Monks. The crypt is made up of six different rooms and each room has different parts of the skeleton displayed in it. Frommer's once described it as "one of the most horrifying images in all of Christendom." The only words that Kathleen and I could come up with when we left the crypt was "Well that was weird." Anyway, we continued on our way and stopped at Giolitti, and had some more gelato and ate it in front of the Pantheon. Since we were there we revisited the Pantheon and took some more pictures. Afterwards we went for supper where I had some of the best carbonara pasta I think I've ever had. We then went back to the hostel and went to bed early so we could get up early the next morning.
The next morning we caught a 7am bus tour to Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast. Our tour drove through many places on the way including Naples. Our tour guide described every region and town that we went through in great detail. When we reached Pompeii we had a Pompeiian guide and he told us about how Mount Vesuvius had erupted back in 79 AD burying Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum under 4-6 meters of ash and pumice. It was only in 1749 that the town was rediscovered being relatively well preserved. After a very informative tour we drove to a nearby coastal town for lunch where Kathleen and I took a walk in the Mediterranean Sea. We then walked back to the bus and continued our way back up the Amalfi Coast. On our way we stopped at another small town, home of a Bill Gates owned hotel, known for it's lemons and picked up some lemon drop candies. We then proceeded on and were shown different vacation residences of celebrities Sylvester Stallone and also Denzel Washington. We then carried on up the coast and arrived back in Rome where Kathleen and I had a late supper and then went back to the hostel. The next morning we caught our train to Florence, but I'll tell you all about that in my next post. I had one of the best times of my life in Rome and I truly hope I can go back some day.Till my next post,
Rocky
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