Cramming the sights in

James inside the Colloseum

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We arrived in Rome and immediately walked in the opposite direction of where our booked apartment was.  Eventually found it and met Paulo, the greasy landlord who, we found, was guilty of false advertising.  The apartment wasn't all it was cracked up to be but ok, so we settled in, accepted some bottles of wine from the greasy man, and set off to see the Coloseum and the ruins around it.  It was amazing from the outside, then Cameron and James went inside and Alice, Anna and I walked around the area taking photos of the bad fashion (ie, leopard print everywhere!).  We then head to the supermarket and back to the apartment to cook up a non Italian storm and drink copious amounts of wine.

After passing out in bed we woke to the alarm at 7am and took ages to get ready so we could go to the Vatican.  On arriving we found that it was a free day, however this made the line a few kilometres long.  Lucky it moved fast, we were in there within an hour, set up with audio guides and began the tour through the smallest country in the world.  It was absolutely amazing, the highlights were the Raphael rooms, the Map Hall, the Thinker and of course, the Sistine Chapel.  The chapel was full on, it took us an hour just to look at every part of it, Anna sat on the steps for the view right next to the "Do not sit on the steps" sign.  A lot of tourists braved the yelling of the guards and took photos with flashes on (pet hate).  After a while, we quit the sweaty, seething crowd and went to St Peter's square.  Cameron, James and I went in the Basilica and climbed the stairs to the top of the cupola, no easy feat.  We had a great view of Rome there and also of the unfit people who couldn't breathe after the stint on the stairs.  One claustrophobic girl was crying.  We then went through the Basilica, James and Cameron stopping for confession and then went past Michaelangelo's La Pieta (a big favourite of mine now!).  Met up with the girlies and went back to cook up some ravioli and drink more wine.  Then, as it was Anna's last night with us, we hit the town.  Unfortunately couldn't find any discotechs open, just a few weird bars with even weirder people in them.  Got some whacky photos with random people, walked home seeing a fight on the way, took more whacky photos and then went to bed!

James and I in st Peters Square

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The next day we moved to a cheaper apartment and found ourselves in luxury!  double bedrooms with a huge monitor to use the free internet on and watch dvds, a spa in the bathroom and a gorgeous little kitchenette.  We headed out to see the last of the sights on our list, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and the pantheon.  The Trevi was beautiful, we all threw 2 coins in, one so we would come back to Rome, the second we made a wish with.  Some guy jumped in the water and started picking up everyone's wishes so the people started aiming their coins at him.  The Spanish steps were a cool place to hang out, the cool place in the 1500's where people waited around to be discovered as models, or actors, but no one approached us with a record label so we went on to the pantheon which was great and saw raphaels' tomb.  Then headed out to do a little window shopping and eat pizza while the boys checked out the ruins.  Anna left us then so we said a sad goodbye, and then cooked some pasta and watched Match Point before we went to bed.  Next day... Naples!