ROME, Italy - 2 - 4 July 2011

SATURDAY 2 JULY – ROME, ITALY

We were sad to be leaving Montemerano today, we have had a great time with Francesco and in this beautiful area.  We slept in very late this morning till 11am because we had such a late night and by lunchtime we were ready to head to Rome.  Francesco and Lorenzo were having lunch with Francesco’s brother Gino and his wife at the restaurant Il Nibbio nearby so we stopped via there to say our goodbye’s.  Francesco will be in Sydney from October for several months so we will look forward to catching up with him and Alison again then.

Saying farewell to Francesco and his son Lorenzo

It is only 1.5 hours to Rome and we arrived there mid afternoon.  Our hotel was in a great spot near the main train station, so very central.  The hotel was very nice and once again we had 2 rooms because nowhere seems to be able to fit a family of 6 in one room. 

We settled in and then went to the Hard Rock Café for dinner.  We just couldn’t eat another strand of pasta or slice of pizza.  It was a 1.5 hour wait for our table so we went for a walk and a drink in a café nearby.  We realised we were close to the Spanish Steps so we went for a look.  As usual it was very crowded with many people sitting up and down the stairs.  The kids couldn’t quite understand what was so special about the Spanish steps, ‘they are just steps!’

Soon enough it was time to get back to the Hard Rock for our booking.  We were very happy to go to sleep tonight without mozzie’s waiting for us like vultures.

SUNDAY 3 JULY – ROME, ITALY

Today we decided to see Rome on one of the open top tour buses.  It was extremely hot but we enjoyed the view from the top of the bus and listened to the commentary in our headphones.  We went past all the usual sites; Colesseum, Roman ruins, where the chariots raced and gladiators fought and the city in general.  We got off at the Vatican.  Being Sunday, the Pope had come out this morning to address and bless the crowds so by the time we got there there were a lot of people leaving the area.  We wandered up and had a look around the forecourt in front of the Vatican.  The queue to go into the Vatican snaked for a couple of hundred metres so we decided against that and wandered around the little touristy shops nearby for a while.

We decided to get back on the bus and head to the Trevi Fountain for lunch.  The crowds around the Trevi Fountain were incredible but we managed to get to the edge and throw our coins backwards over our shoulders into the fountain and make a wish.  We were hot and tired so we had some lunch and then caught the bus back to our hotel.  We rested for a little while and then went out for dinner.  We went to the Pantheon and ate in the open square at a lovely restaurant.  The mood was festive and we had a great view of this ancient Roman building whilst we ate our delicious food.

Making a wish at the Trevi Fountain

We ran into Natalie Taylor and her family near the Pantheon (she was in Jack's class last year)

MONDAY 4 JULY – ROME, ITALY

We had tickets booked to see the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican Museum for 11am so we didn’t lie around too long this morning but were up, dressed, packed, breakfast eaten and out the door by 10am to get the open top tour bus again to the Vatican.  We just made it in time for our tour.  The tickets cost a bit extra than queuing up yourself, but this ensured that we skipped the queue to get in and went straight to the front of the line.  The queue snaked right around the building and we estimated at least a 2 hour wait.  The extra cost was worth it.  Once we were inside we were left to explore on our own.  The museum was packed!  We had to shuffle along with the crowds with not much space to move, they really had a problem here with excessive numbers of people inside at one time, no wonder the queue outside was so long and definitely more people were coming in that going out at this stage.

We were here to see one thing and one thing only and it took us about 30 minutes to get to it; Michelangelos ‘Creation of Man’ – La Creazione di Adamo.  Being a holly place the Sistine Chapel, no-one was meant to talk or take photos of the incredible painting on the ceiling but of course everyone did (discretely).  The whole Chapel was packed and you had to shimy around people to get directly under the painting for a good look.  We stood eyes to the skies and admired the painting for as long as we could before we felt the need to escape the crowd.  Once again we shimied and skimmed past the crowds to get out of the Museum where we jumped in a taxi back to our hotel to head off to our next destination: Sorrento on the Amalfi Coast.  But first we needed to go to the Outlet Village outside Rome.

We loved Rome and the kids were extremely interested and intrigued by the history of Rome especially since we could physically see where the Romans lived and remains of their lifestyles.  They couldn’t believe the barbaric behaviour of the gladiators who fed Christians to the lions and also at one stage burnt 250 alive and then cooked St Peter’s meal over the flames.  Only 2% of gladiators survived their battles at the Coliseum.  The history of the Romans is a fascinating yet bloody one.

Time to leave the blood-shedding and start the money-shedding.  The outlet village was only about 45 minutes south of Rome and we were there in no time.  We had a wander around for a couple of hours, Corky enjoying the most success in shopping and then back in the car for a few hours south again to the Amalfi Coast.

We arrived at 10pm in the darkness into Sorrento so we missed the dramatic coastline as we wound around the coast but we got an idea from the lights around the Bay.  The roads were very windy and we were tired once we got to our Hotel Bristol but we got our rooms and then wandered down the road to have dinner at the local restaurant.  The guy who owned the restaurant seemed like the typical 'Italian Stallion' (well maybe in his day once upon a time).  He had his white linen suit with the black shirt buttoned down one too many and the gold chain with small coin on it.  Hair slicked back.  Maybe he was one of the Mafioso!  Didn’t matter, we had a nice dinner and then back to collapse into bed.

Till next installment ... x