Residenza Il Bollo Rome

... collection on its own.

No place knows culture like Rome. Beijing, Athens, Cairo, Istanbul have their depth, but no place commands influence in art, architecture, history, politics, military and style like Rome. The City learned to bury its treasures during times of war, having been sacked dozens of times. With lots of treasures and lots of sackings, Rome’s subsoil is still a gold mine of culture. Populations were often ...

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We grabbed a cab from there and headed back here for the night. Oy. What a day. I’m wiped.

Tomorrow we get up at 6am, leave by 7:30am, head to Florence, arrive by 11:30am and move into our apartments. We have the afternoon to rest/explore, then we have a nice dinner and our Florence orientation on top of a building! We don’t know when we’ll have internet again so we wanted to make sure to post and write before we’re ...

... The city is much bigger and better preserved and excavated than I had anticipated. Our guide took us around on a two-hour visit, but given the size I could have stayed much longer. Check flickr for some neat Pompeii shots. Our last day in Rome we spent running around and fitting in all the sights. Colosseum, Roman Forum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, and St. Peter's...check, check, check. Lots of walking that day, but not too overwhelming. We were rewarded at dinner time ...

... the best speakers we've had so far. After learning about the Italian court/educational system, we went on a tour of the building. Very cool. We had a few hours before our next class, so we hurried back to the hotel and changed into more comfortable clothing. We stopped for lunch in the train station right across from our hotel, and then headed for the Coliseum. The last time I only got to see the outside at night, but this time I actually ...

... through to Rome. Down through Immigration and security and up to the Qantas Club. How very civilised (he says with cup of tea in hand and pinky extended). It was nice though. Plenty of seats, nice finger food and an open self-serve bar. Flight was called so off we went, boarded and surprise, surprise, row 28 has no window. Bizarre. How can the staff not know that? Truly though, what did it really matter? We've flown out of Brisvegas ...

... one price it offered immeadiate entrance into the musuem, english speaking guide to tour us through the musuem, the sistine chapel and then St.Peters Basilica. We decided this was our only hope to ever get in so we decided to go for it. This tour group was getting together in a plazza nearby so we went over there to get signed up and it turns out the 3 american girls were there too! There were probably 150 people who had joined the tour and they split us ...

... Papal guard. Here's another guard wearing no orange. I don't know what the difference in color signifies (if anything). This photo makes me laugh because the husband was very frustrated trying to get the picture because people kept walking in front of him. He uttered ...

... s a small square surrounded by towering apartment buildings. The moon shone bright as we watched old men sip wine, high schoolers play soccer, and huddled around a few Vespas speaking in broken English in Italian. I realized this: Saying goodbye to my new friends is difficult. Saying goodbye to the city has proven even tougher. In Rome WE part with "Ci Vediamo"- we will see each other. We. This was the culmination of my transformation. Tomorrow ...

... night they were all lit up different ways and it was really pretty. Rome was a lot smaller than Paris so walking a lot wasn't as big of a deal. When we did take the buses, that was an adventure. They are always super crowded and the drivers drive really jerky so everyone is getting flung around the bus. It was crazy. One time we were on this little bus and this lady practically fell on top of us as the bus jerked to a stop. One thing Rome has a lot of is fountains ...

... Must Be Crazy as he told of how when kids got in fights, they would headbutt each other to knock them out. As I shared my plans to travel around Europe, he told me of the most beautiful place he'd ever been to, a small town called Ancona, Italy. It was on the Adriatic Coast, a few hours south of Venice. Checking my maps later, I discovered Ancona to be right on the way between Rome and Venice. So, I figured a place spoken so passionately by a person so well traveled and wise ...