Italia

Cara and I just got in from our last day in Rome (and the last day of our holiday before we start the long process of flying home). Man, our feet are tired.

This morning we got up at 8 and headed to the train station to organise our train to the airport tomorrow. We had discussed at length what time we would need to leave, and were thusly slightly disappointed when he told us our ticket would allow us to go on whenever we wanted. We then walked back to the hostel to dump off the ticket.

Then it was time to head across to the Vatican City - a tiny country inside of Rome filled with Nuns and art. We had already seen Saint Peters Basilica, the tombs (including those of the Stewarts from Scotland), and the view from the dome. Now it was time for the Vatican Cathedral, and the world-famous Sistine Chapel. They had it set-up so that we had to walk through a bit of modern religious art to get there, and a lot of that was very interesting (although not super modern in my view; a lot of it was from the 50's).

Then we entered a series of rooms which were painted and designed by Raphael. They were quite incredible, and very inspiring in their own right. One room, loosely translated as the Signature Room I think, contained my favourite piece. It covered an entire wall, depicting the School of Athens. Every major philosopher, mathematician and astronomer of Ancient Greece was pictured. Geniuses all. And cheeky Raphael slipped a little self portrait of himself in there too.

Then we saw the Sistine Chapel. It was really impressive, although it gave me a bit of a crick in my neck. There were curtains painted at ground level, with big frames of bible stories further up. That was followed by painted architecture and Rams Heads which separated images of God, The Heavenly Host and Adam & Eve. On one wall was a giant painting of Jesus and all the saints. Really cool place.

Then we explored some more and found other exhibits including the Carriage Pavillion which included a history of the evolution of the Pope-Mobile.

We left the Vatican after that and considered our options. Our feet and knees were sore, and we had packing to do, so heading back to the hostel seemed like a good idea. However we had not yet seen the River Tiber, Tempio Adriano, the Pantheon, the cool castle, or Piazza Navona. We decided we can rest on the plane and headed off. The river was green and gross, but we had a seat by its bank and watched birds and rowers float by in the afternoon sun. The sun has been a welcome surprise. While the weather earlier on our trip was occasionally inclement, Europe has been fantastically warm and Sunny. It will be strange to return to wintery Australia. The Pantheon was closing, but we managed to get into it to look at the tombs of Vittorio Emmanuel II (the first king of Italy), Umberto (The second king of Italy), and Margherita (the 2nd kings wife, who loved Pizza so much that a pizza is still named after her to this day.) Then we were thrown out, and we explored. We had more gelati near the fountains in Piazza Navona, and then headed home.

Later we headed out for dinner, and now we rest in the common room of our hostel, dreading packing everything upstairs. I think I may have lost my LA Clippers hat.

And now some random highlights:

As part of our bus tour we went to Pisa. It was really interesting, and our tour guide (Riccardo) was fantastic. The Cathedral is immense, and the Baptistry is incredible. It resonates and amplifies sound. I didn't like the leaning tower so much, so I decided to push it over:


But Cara liked it, so she put it back up:


We also went to Venice. It was one of the highlights of the trip. We went on a Gondola ride with Musicians and Lambrusco, and a lovely couple from South Australia called Karen and Alan. It was so great. Here we are on a Gondola:

And here we are on a bridge just before we left:

Also, the world famous Giro D'Italia (just the second most prestigious race in cycling behind the Tour De France) was starting in Venice one day after we left. However they did have the team introductions when we were there. It was supposed to start at 3PM, but didn't start until around 4, and with them introducing 9 riders per team for something like 15 teams it took a big chunk out of our free time. I was starting to feel bad about keeping Cara rom exploring the city when I asked a pom standing next to me if he knew if Lance Armstrong was riding this race. He said that he was a journalist who had just met Lance backstage, and that he was. Then the Astana team came out and Lance said a few words. He was basically excited about getting back on the bike, and tried to raise some more awareness about cancer. He's the leftmost lycra clad one.


We also went to Florence, and it was a pretty cool city. The highlight however was seeing Michaelangelo's David, or as Cara and I were calling him "Naked Dave". We saw a lot of art on this trip; in museums, churches, and galleries. Naked Dave was the most incredible piece of art I have ever seen. It was impressively large, impressively perfect, impressively detailed and carved out of one of the highest quality marble stones ever quarried from the face of Planet Earth. The picture doesn't do him justice, but here he is:


Part of the reason this trip was so good was the company. Cara has been great. Many thanks to Hourann, Kristian and Adriana for putting up with us and putting us up. It was great spending time with new people like our San Franciscan friends who we met in Barcelona - Omar and Zac - and the South Australians we met in Italy - Karen and Alan. And thankyou to everyone (except for the french) for being so understanding when we mangled your language.

So, tonight we pack. Tomorrow we fly. And when we get back I may post a few more pictures and stories, but suffice to say I am tired - and happy - and this has been two of the best months of my life.

Ciao, Arrivederci, Au Revoir, Adios, Hasta Luego, Seeya and Cheers.

Cameron Out.