Rome, Italy

Friday, 7 September

In the morning we drove from Portici, Naples to Rome. We arrived aruond 12.30pm and checked into Camping Roma, quite nice and it was cheaper to use one of their pre-erected tents (which you could stand up in and had a bed, a pillow and sheets), rather than using our own, so we used their tents... after dumping our bags we headed into town on the bus and the metro. When we got to town we had lunch (veal with mushrooms & Johny had penne). After this we went walking throughout the city to see the many many sites in Rome. We saw the Piazza Magnanelli then the Trevi Fountain (which is the nicest fountain weve seen... just beautiful)... I (Michelle) did the touristy thing and threw a couple of coins over my shoulder into the Trevi Fountian. After this we walked further and swa the Piazza del Quirinale, the Piazza della Repubblica, the Santa Maria Maggiore, then ended up walking through the ruins that are the Roman Forum which was really amazing. One of the basilicaàs in the Roman Forum was one of the best preserved basilicas in Europe for its age. Around 8pm we finished walking around and headed back to the Spagna metro station where we had a quick bite to eat then caught a taxi back to the campsite.

(this way we avoided the big queue at the Coloseum which would have been at least an hour wait).

Saturday, 8 September

We woke up around 6.30am and headed into the city where we went straight to the Vatican Museum... we lined up outside for 2 hours (but we were prepared for the long wait as we'd heard lots of stories about the long wait). When we eventually got into the Museum we were amazed at the artwork and sculptures on display, we walked through the whole museum and through the Sistene Chapel... after we'd finished we went into St Peter's Basilica where we were astonished at the amount of marble and mosaics and paintings in the Basilica. There was definitely a lot of money put into making this building many many years ago. After we wandered around Rome some more and saw more fountains and churches, then did a spot of shopping up the Piazza della Corso... from here we caught the metro and the bus back home and had pizza and watched Rugby World Cup on the big screen inside the bar at the campsite.

Sunday, 9 September

About 30 degrees today... still quite warm for autumn. We both enjoyed a bit of a sleep in and when we woke up at 10.30am we bought some eggs from the campsite and cooked eggs for breakfast (for a change). Afterwards we headed into town and headed to the Palatine Hill where we bought the ticket for the Palatine Hill and the Coloseum (this way we avoided the big queue at the Coloseum which would have been at least an hour wait). It took us about 1.5 hours to wander through the Palatine Hill and after this we walked straight into Coloseum where we marvelled at the immense amphitheatre... aka 'Flavian Amphitheatre'. We were also quite amazed at how they had managed to restore parts of he Coloseum back in the 1700s so hat it wouldnt deteriorate further. There was also a cross erected by Pope Benedict XIV which has been connected to thousands of Christian martyrs who were believed to be onced killed here ... although we were told that theres no historical evidence that Christians were massacred in the Colosseum. Next to the Colosseum was the Arch of Constantine which was built in AD312 large from pieces from the arches of Trajan and Marcus Aurelius, and from other monuments.

After all this sightseeing we headed for a bit to eat (it was about 3.30pm by now) and I (Michelle) had a beautiful risotto with mushrooms and johny had canelloni filled with ricotta and spinach... both were sumptuous!!!!  We hung out at the restaurant finishing off the bottle of wine until about 6.30pm and headed to the internet cafe, before returning to the campsite for dinner and an early night.