Flying into Rome was such a good idea, the flight only took 1.5hrs from Barcelona and although it was on a budget airline it was really comfortable. The thing that freaked me out though was when everyone clapped and cheered once the plane landed as if landing was a rare occurrence. Leyton had told me that they do this in Brazil but I guess it’s one of those situations you really have to see for yourself.
So after the 30min train ride from the airport and a few metro changes I was at Saint Peters Square (Vatican City), but not without first seeing the funniest things ever happened on the Metro. [SinglePic not found]
I had just stepped on the train and the doors started to beep and close, out of no where a man jumps from the platform into the train and the doors caught him BAM! right across the chest. He had his head and one bag inside and the rest of him outside. I stood there trying to pull the door open and he kept trying to get in not out, as I stood there i couldn’t help but notice the below sign on the same doors this man was stuck between and to completely top this off the man was Sudanese.
Eventually a guard pulled open the doors a little and yanked him back out but I wish I had my camera ready as it would have been a wonderfully ironic photo.
So the next day I needed Internet to organise my Athens and Corfu island accommodation so planned to just have a catch up day however as I believe I mentioned before the Internet cafe sucked. So I gave up and headed for the main event…The Colosseum.
The wonders of European countries are their metro systems…as I step out of the Colossus Station I took the photo below.
The Colosseum was unbelievable to see in person, pictures don’t really do it justice. I had to stand in line for over an hour to get in which really pissed me off. There were tour groups offering immediate entry with them but I didn’t think it was worth it…an hour later I wished I had.
With the tickets I got entry to the other sites, ‘Palatine Hill’ and ‘The Roman Forum‘ and got to skip the queue. They were quiet a sight and I spent ages wondering around everywhere.
The following day it was time to see The Vatican, and the queue was 4 streets and 3hrs long…I was only staying 2 streets away (I had to walk away from The Vatican to join the queue). So as you can imagine I took the first tour guide straight up with their “skip the queue” tour.
The tour actually turned out to be pretty good too, the group was massive but most people only used it to skip the queue. All in all the place was packed to the brim, it was like the Ekka on show day inside the Sistine Chapel and in the narrow corridors of the Vatican Museum it felt like the front row at Big Day Out.
I had no idea how much stuff the Pope and the Catholic Church owned! One tour guide said you could spend 5 days in just 1 section of the museum. Our guide was great as she explained everything for people like me that haven’t read the bible and had no idea what they were looking at.
After my Vatican experience I headed over to check off ‘The Pantheon’ and ‘The Trevi Fountain’, a beautiful fountain designed by Bernini (the guy from the Dan Brown book – Demons and Angels).
On my last day in Rome there was a massive event on at St. Peters Square…and I mean massive, it was some kind of Christian Rock/Prayer concert. I grew quickly bored of not knowing what going on and left for ‘The Spanish Steps’, another famous site.
I ended the day with a meal at Hard Rock Cafe again as I couldn’t handle any more pizza or pasta…no more carbs once I get to London. I’ll have to drop in on Amy Winehouse and ask for some diet tips.
_B