Getting to Rome from Greece was a daunting undertaking but we managed to do it in only 36 hours without missing any major transit connections. From Aegina Island in Greece, we took a ferry to Piraeus port. Then we got on the metro to the train station in Athens where we found ourselves just in time to catch the next train leaving for the Greek port city of Patras. As an unexpected surprise, part of the train line was down so we ended up on a bus for the last half of the trip. From Patras, we got on board the Minoan Line's massive ferry and situated ourselves in "airline chairs" on the cheapo deck.
The ferry boat was much nicer than expected. There was a swimming pool but it was roped off and drained-bummer. We wiled away the 17 1/2 hours comfortably drinking wine on deck while watching the antics of a college tour group before going below deck to sleep. The boat docked in Ancona, Italy where we hoofed it a few kilometers to the train station where we were just in time to catch a fast train to Rome. Once we had safely made it to Rome, we only had to take one metro and one bus before we arrived at our hostel, awash with relief at having made it to a bed and a shower.
We spent two full days exploring the absolute wonders of Rome. We started off day one with the Colosseum. It was so gloriously Roman. Then we wandered across the street to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill where we roamed the ancient ruins of a stadium, several churches, other buildings and even some "protohistoric ruins" featuring something similar to early dugout Athapaskan huts.
From there, we hit the more modern sights of the glorious, ornate, white Capitol building adorned by its numerous golden men, women and lionesses with wings. We ate lunch sitting at the base of a fountain in a square while people watching. After that we walked to the Trevi fountain and the Spanish Steps. We must have seen at least 10 or so more sights before making it back to the metro to head home but I can't be bothered to list them all so am sticking to the most famous ones.
Day two was spent queuing at Vatican City waiting for 2 1/2 hours in front of the world's most annoying group of Japanese tourists who kept trying to get ahead of us in line. It was with extreme relief that we finally entered the Vatican complex at noon and were able to distance ourselves from the line cutters once and for all. The Vatican museum took us several hours to walk through. There were exhibits with sculptures, busts, tapestries, paintings, stamps, and marble baths all set against a backdrop of Papal splendor. At the end of the museum, the grand finale was the Sistine Chapel which was, as is internationally recognized, impressive. Everyone stood around straining their necks gawking at the ceiling. Every few minutes, the grumpy security guards would hiss "Shhhhh" and yell at people for taking pictures (it's not allowed). It took a good while to work our way through all the magnificence above and actually take in the glories of the lower works and then the painted curtains at eye level. Just as we had left the chapel and trying to rub the soreness out of our necks, we ended up craning them again to gawk at the opulence of St. Peter's. I had no idea how HUGE it is. My god but it was impressive. St. Peter must have done something right to have had that massive monument dedicated to him.
Florence
The trip from Rome to Florence was short and painless. Our hostel was only a few blocks from the train station which made it a dream because it was also close to the city center. Since we got in so early, sometime around 2pm, we dropped our things, claimed some beds in the dorm and then set off immediately to explore the city. We did most of our sightseeing on that first day, fitting in Il Duomo, the Piazza della Signoria, Palazzo Vecchio, the Ponte Vecchio (bridge), and several churches. I was flabbergasted by Il Duomo. It was so large and so beautiful. I just wasn't expecting anything so green on the outside. Everything was fantastic.
On the next day, I spent the morning at the Uffizi seeing hundreds of renditions of the Madonna with child, the ascension, Jesus in the manger as a baby, and Judith decapitating someone. I also got to see a Caravaggio exhibit all set against deep, blood red walls. It was fantastic. Then I met up with Amir and we set off to conquer the hill en route to Piazzale Michelangelo where we enjoyed a fantastic lunch of Vin Santo (a local sweet white wine), fresh mozzarella, tomatoes, and baguettes while overlooking a spectacular view of the city.
Venice
Definitely the most beautiful city in the entire world in our opinion. Also ridiculously expensive, being an island. We ended up staying at a campground outside the city in a trailer optimistically dubbed a "bungalow" by management. It was cheap and only 40 or so minutes away from Venice so we made a go of it. The one super plus of staying there was that there were bathrooms and showers galore and never a wait for either.
We had one full day in Venice which we used to wander around and get good and lost. The city is so amazingly beautiful that it just didn't make sense to try to follow a map. Every street or canal we walked down was just as pretty as the last. We did make a point of seeing about a hundred churches, all beautiful and ornate, and all the must see major sights. For lunch, we stopped by a take out window and ordered a homemade lasagna bolognese that was dreamy. We ate it sitting on a doorstep on one of the wider roads just on the other side of a bridge and watched all the faux Chanel and Gucci bag sellers irritate all the wealthy tourist passersby.
The whole day was filled with literally one gorgeous sight after another. Our eyes were dazzled by all we saw. A day was enough time to see what we wanted to see and get a good feel for the city but we both agreed we could spend months living there...if someone else was footing the bill.
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