Fly to Rome, Italian beaches, and Italians ruins!

My friend and I both were flying out of London the same day, which allowed things to work out brilliantly. He left at 10:00 and I didn't fly out to later so I spend the day at STA travel organizing my flights from Athens to Cairo, purchased a 2 week tour of Egypt, and then bumped my Cairo to Johansasburg ticket to match the end of the tour. I got on the bus to the airport and arrived in Rome pretty trouble free. The trouble started with trying to find the hotel Mike and his friend were staying at. I finally paid a Taxi guy 15 euros to take me there. I met up with the guys at the hotel, a weird experience seeing him walk up in a back alley of Rome after not seeing him for months. We had a great evening walking around Rome and the Campo Di Fierro. Mike, Zach, and I spent the next few days tour all the magnificent sites of Rome. It works out that about every site is a historic site with a long history. The Collusiem was amazing, the town center with all the ruins was as amazing (both during the day and lit up at night). I could go on about all the dinners, drinks, and site we experienced but I'll sum it up by saying my great friend I grew up with and I got to have a wonderful experience in a foreign country. We then got on the train and went up to Florence and saw the academy and all the sites in Florence. We rented mopeds and had a unbelievable time touring the town and back alleys. We stayed the night and walked the city that evening.

Riding our pimped out Mopeds in Florence, Italy

We left for Pisa on the train and was quite surprised by how nice the leaning tower of Pisa really is. It is in this compound style area that has other wonderful bright white churches, buildings, and perfect green grass. It was mind blowing how it just sank into the ground over the years (though permanently supported this way now). We then headed on the train towards Cinque Terra, which are five amazing little villages on the rock cliffs of NW France. We stayed in the last little village for two nights and ventured around the beaches and hillsides during the days. Other than train, the only other way to get to the other villages is by hiking over the mountains or kayaking between them. We went over to the other amazing village next to us and explored the streets for a few hours and headed back. On the way back I decided to shoot over some huge rocks out in the ocean by letting the waves lower and then pick me up, shooting me over these boulders. I made the first one but the second one got the best of me. Long story short, I came away with some cuts and a ruined camera, OOOPPS!! The evenings were also a blast because the had bands play down by the beach and a vendor selling cheap wine and beer. It was an amazing 2 days.

The amazing Rome Coliseum

We head back down to Rome where we spend the next few days touring all the other sights (mainly the Vatican and such) and other ruins around and outside the city. For our last night we do a pub crawl and have a great time. I headed out the next day, as did Mike and Zach (Mike to the States, Zach up to Zurich to fly out). Another great section of my trip spent with great people!

Next log will tell about the 36 hours of traveling it took to get to Athens and then the Greek Islands!!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa.

The tiny villages of Cinque Terra in NW Italy