The Beehive Rome

Monday We caught the train from Venice to Rome. The train was really late and then we had to change in Bologna (we paid extra to get a faster train and to get one that we didn't have to change). We stayed at a hostel/pension right near Termini (the main train station). It was pretty good but not as good as I thought it would be. I found it on tripadvisor and it has heaps of good reviews... -our room was nice -we had a sink but no toilet or shower -there are lots of toilets and showers and the...

As Tanya indicated, the Beehive is by far superior to the Two Ducks. As we didn't get to stay at the Freedom Traveller (where we originally booked but were bumped without a good explanation), we can't compare it to either the Beehive or the Two Ducks. You need to have stayed in a bad place to know when you are in a good place. The Two Ducks was bad and the Beehive is good, in fact very good - I'd stay here again and recommend it to others. We haven't figured out this photo thing yet, but will...

Today we checked into another hostel, the Beehive. You could not imagine how happy we were to change hostels. The Two Ducks is a dump compared to the Beehive. When you first walk in to the gated terrace of the Beehive, you are immediately transported out of the city and into a lovely little garden. The interior is so nice, and actually has more than one bathroom (and the toilet has an attached seat), and the showers and toilets are separated- so no more worrying about long lines for the bathr...

Took the train from Florence to Rome. I had planned on spending the weekend in a small town in the Tuscan countryside, but after not being able to find any reasonably priced accomodation, I just decided to head to Rome 2 days earlier than planned. The first night I stayed in a great hostel called The Beehive, run by an American couple. They had some of the best amenities I've come across...free internet access, a comfortable lounge, very clean bathrooms and showers, and a small "restaurant" d...

I just sat here for more than a half hour and typed a long entry and then the window closed and my blog disappeared. I should be in bed and I just wasted all this time. I'm really upset. My pictures are up though, so you can look at them and then I guess I'll just have to retype everything tomorrow, and I'll tell you about my whole time in Rome. The pictures are of the Colosseum, the Forum, the Campidoglio which is this huge open area designed by Michelangelo, and the Trevi Fountain. My time ...

here i am all done in rome and i never finished telling you about london since my blog was deleted last night, so i want to do that real quick. forgive my typing, but i am on this weird keyboard at this computer place. anyway after i went to the british library and national gallery on sunday i went to st james park, which is close to buckingham palace. that is where i took all those lovely park pictures with the flowers, duck, and pond. i was pretty tired at that point, and that is when my fe...

As you can tell from my title, I had a little of each during my time in Rome. I want to end on a positive note, so I'll start with the ugly. First of all after being in lovely, clean, green London, Rome was so filthy--particularly the area that I saw first which is near the train station. It was so crowded you could hardly move and there were toothless beggars everywhere, and people in your face trying to sell you things. I called my mom and told her I wanted to go back to London! My backpack...

<Brian's brief time-tabled list of "highlights" (and of whinging)> - Left Adelaide on the 12th and flew 7 hrs to Kuala Lumpur... kinda painful. - Met up with Lang's boss from work who was returning from a trip to the UK. Had an interesting conversation about sex shows in Amsterdam and the like... you know, the good stuff. - Flew 13 hrs from KL to Rome... OMG, heaps painful. And a plane full of Italians coming home from tour, ARGH! - Got off the plane at 6:30am in Rome... man, no sleep,...

<Brian's brief time-tabled list of "highlights" (and of whinging)> - Woke up earlyish to catch the bus to St Peters Square. - St Peters square was huge and very overwhelming. We had a prebooked tour of the Vatican for 10:30am and the directions were to follow the left columns to the starting point. Got to the manned security point where we were told to wait till 10:15. - We walked around taking pictures, videos of the square, went to the official Vatican toilets... - Turned up at the se...

<Brian's brief time-tabled list of "highlights" (and of whinging)> - Received a warning to be careful on the metro from our neighbours who had been pick-pocketed the night before... the rumours about Rome are true! - Went on a tour of the Colosseum... It was strange to actually be at this famous site. The ruins were pretty impressive as it was massive and showed how potentially awe-inspiring the site was once upon a time... now it's just a giant ruin which is kind of disappointing real...