Rome wasn't built in a day!

Trip Start May 25, 2008
1
27
54
Trip End May 25, 2009


Loading Map
Map your own trip!
Map Options
Show trip route
Hide lines
shadow
Where I stayed
(Rome hotels)

Flag of Italy  ,
Thursday, August 14, 2008

Caught the train to Naples, where we had to buy our onward tickets to Rome.  Arrived and mum and I got in line for the ticket office, whilst dad looked after our baggage.  A gypsy man stood next to us, trying either to pickpocket us, or to overtake us in the line.  Mum, being the feisty Irish lady she is, told him to get to the back of the line and stop trying to push in.  When that didn't work, she grabbed his arm and pushed him behind us.  At this time, I glanced over at dad to find that a girl next to him seemed to be in trouble, so I sent mum over to help!  Turns out a young Australian girl was standing next to dad with hers and her friends bags while they were buying tickets, when another gypsy man came up and said that her bags actually belonged to him, and started dragging them away.  Mum was guarding our bags while Dad and the girl were fighting with the man to get the girl's bags back, the poor young girl exasperated and nearly in tears.  What a crazy place. 
Arrived in Rome and got to our hotel fine, a lovely hotel close to the Vatican. Had a wander around the area to the Tiber River, where we saw the biggest rats possibly in existence!!  We thought they were actually a type of otter or something, and appeared to be 1 metre long including their tails!!!  We went to a local cafe and had a cold wedge of cooked spaghetti and sauce for a light dinner, apparently a popular picnic food with Italian families.  Wandered through the Vatican after dark, there was no one around and the moonlight reflecting on the statues surrounding the courtyard seemed eerie.

Slept in a bit this morning.  The hotel has a fantastic breakfast, definitely the best breakfast I have seen so far on my trip.  We walked across to the Vatican at around 10am, only to find the line PACKED nearly around the whole courtyard!!  Decided we would come back tomorrow and we would just do a walk to get our bearings.  Bought a load of picnic items from the local supermarket and went on a walk to the botanical gardens to enjoy our lunch.  Walked up a hill to get a view over the whole city, it's not as big as it appears on the ground.  Dad was feeling ill so he stayed behind in the room while mum and I went exploring the streets North of the Vatican.  We found some amazing streets with such cheap shopping, and an amazing deli-style cafe which sold olive oils, pasta, coffee, teas, Italian sweets and biscuits, etc.  We decided to stop there to have some pastries, mum had a strawberry tart and I had a lemon-custard filled canoli.  Lovely!  Bought some Calabrese biscuits for my Aunt I will be staying with in England.  Dad didn't feel up to much, so we just went next door to the Chinese restaurant and had dinner there.  Food was horrible, was an Italianised-Chinese, with muted and bland flavours.

Woke up at 6.15am and darted across the road to the Vatican.  We wanted to get to St Peter's Basilica before the crowds did, and it didn't disappoint.  We were the first 10 people in, the only others being nuns, and had the place to ourselves a good 10 minutes before any other tourists came along.  It was magical, St Peter's Basilica is my favourite building in the world.  I'm not particularly religious, but there is just something about it that fills me with wonder and awe, every square metre in the place must have hundreds of hours of work put in.  It is a pleasure to just be in there.  After St Peter's Basilica we headed back to the hotel for breakfast.
Caught a bus down to Piazza Vittoria and then walked down to the Colloseum, stopping to view the Roman Forums along the way.  We went in the direction of the Trevi Fountain, and stopped to an ice-cream at San Crispino.  I had Plum and Ginger & Cinnamon, and mum had Meringue with Caramel, and Raspberry.  They have wonderful ice-cream, too bad the staff are strange, odd people!
After that, we went to the Pantheon, then to Piazza Navona.  We headed back to the hotel and had horrible Chinese again.
Print this entry