Mamma Mia Rome

... sf in the Vatican. The value of the Sistine Chapel? Money has no meaning. The last pope started a modern art gallery in 1973, in order to display a collection that was largely donated by artists over the past 2 centuries just to claim that they had paintings in the Vatican – Van Gogh, DeChirico, Feininger, Kandinsky, Bottero, Severini – 30 rooms of art, an afterthought in Vatican terms, but a world renowned billion ...

... Photography was not allowed, but it was amazing.

Next up was St. Peter’s Basilica. This is the largest and grandest church of all. The amount of work inside the church is too much for the mind to fully comprehend. There is even a section of the Church floor which brags about how big it is by showing where other Catholic churches around the world finish.

After lunch was a quick tour of the Catacombs where thousands ...

... spending 2 Euro per day in tips for each of the tour manager and driver, which amounts to over $100 per person for this trip. If everyone follows this, each of them would receive $2,500 in tips alone for less than 2 weeks of work, on top of their base rate and the commissions for the optionals. Not a bad living at all! Our official end-of-Contiki is in the morning, though a lot of the people will be sticking around Rome for a few days, just like us.

... only 2 blocks away from the train station. Anyway, I was just happy to get out of that psychos car because I was literally afraid of what or where he was going to take us to. Once we get to our lovely Hostel, we took a nap because we were up at 4am for the flight to Rome. Once we woke up, we decided to wonder around for some food and to see what there was to do. I also decided to send home the stupid ...

... view of the remains of Circus Maximus, which is just a large grassy field. People run there. Around in circles. Though nothing is left but the big grassy field, it is still kind of cool to think you can run around on what used to be the biggest stadium in the history of the world. It apparently was able to hold up to 550,000 people. The biggest stadium today, we were told, can only hold up to 190,000 people (or very close to that). That's HUGE! And they did ...

... hooray!) We got into Rome around midday and were in and out of the airport in less than half an hour. They were just waving people through in Passport Control without even looking at their passports, great security! We had organised private transfers (thank god) so walked into Arrivals to see a little man holding a sign up with my name on it. We hopped into his Mercedes minivan and off we went to the hotel. We had heard a lot about how crazy Italian drivers are but they seem to ...

... Coins in the Fountain were thrown by three different individuals, a reported current interpretation is that two coins will ensure a marriage will occur soon, while three coins leads to a divorce. A reported current version of this legend is that it is lucky to throw three coins with one's right hand over one's left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain. Approximately 3,000 Euros are thrown into the fountain each day ...

... Michelangelo's unfinished tome of Pope Julius II (depicting Moses and the unfinished statues of Leah and Rachel on either side). According to the Lonely Planet, "Michelangelo was frustrated for many years by his inability to find time to complete the work on the tomb, in the end, Pope Julius was buried in St. Peter's Basilica without the great tomb he had envisioned". Cam and I then took the subway to Circus Maximus ...

... night spots that both locals and tourists frequent. An enormous fountain with a large crowd at 10pm. Legend has it, that if you turn your back to the fountain and toss a coin in, you will return to Rome. The people watching was excellent. The other sight, the Spanish steps, so named because they are in front of the Spanish Emabassy, are several tiers of large steps surrounded by flowers. At 11 pm this place was ...

... the altar makes you feel as if you are experiencing a piece of heavan right here on earth. It is that power as an artist I hope some day to make someone feel. That out of body experience of pure pleasure created by what your eyes behold. Our next stop is the Mouth of Truth. I have decided to test our love, new as it is, by asking Cory if he loves me. Of course I expect him to have his hand in the mouth while I ask him. There are ...