Rome. Quite possibly my favourite part of our Italian adventure. So much history... and we only had 3.5 days. Well, 2.5 days as we did a side trip to Naples and Pompeii from Rome. I think you could revisit Rome over and over and still have plenty to see and learn. Here's what we did on our first visit!

Day 1:

We arrived at the airport and waited about a half hour for Neil's flight to get in from Geneva. Once he had arrived, it was a half hour train ride from the airport to Rome's main train station, Termini. Our hotel was supposed to be a 10 minute walk from the station... however, I was in charge of the map.... naturally, I set us off in the wrong direction!! Neil got us back on track and as a result, won control of all maps for the rest of our trip!

By the time we get checked in at our hotel, it was 3PM. Still, we managed to cover a lot of ground on day 1. We grabbed some supper (pizza), walked by the Coliseum/Forum, toured the Pantheon, enjoyed our first bottle of wine, and strolled past a flood-lit Trevi fountain before retiring for the night. Whew! You have to cram a lot in when your time is limited!!

Day 2: The Vatican

We booked a tour with Angel Tours (**review below). We toured the Vatican Museum (including the Sistine Chapel) and St. Peter's Basilica. I don't think I can adequately describe the riches of the Vatican. Let's just say that the corrupt past of the Church is evident in it's wealth. The Vatican, being its own country, has its own army, post office, etc. We sent a few postcards and they even beat us home! Everything about the Vatican was grand in scope and scale. I'll admit to being a bit awestruck. While there, I touched the St. Peter's foot -- apparently this is the thing to do (it's supposed to help convince him to open those pearly gates when you arrive). We'd have passed through the Holy Door had it been opened, alas it was not. Passing through it apparently absolves you of all sin -- the modern day equivalent to purchasing indulgences.

After touring the Vatican, we had a yummy lunch (I had Gnocchi) and then we ventured out to the Castel Sant'Angelo. Now anyone that has read Dan Brown's, Angels and Demons, will have heard of this building that was built to be the resting place of the Emperor Hadrian. In the 14th, the Pope converted the structure into a castle, and connected the castle to St. Peter's Basilica by a covered fortified corridor called the Passetto di Borgo.

The building is now a museum and is nothing overly special except for the fantastic views from the roof which I think were worth the price of admission alone!! Here are the panorama shots I took from the roof:

The Roman Skyline.

Day 3: Naples and Pompeii

This was a long day! It was a 2 hour train ride to Naples from Rome and a half hour trip via commuter train to Pompeii from Naples. Despite all the time wasted on the train, the ruins of Pompeii were totally worth making the trip for. I never realized how big Pompeii was. There were 20,000 people living in Pompeii when Mt. Vesuvius blew its top. Most of the city was covered by volcanic ash. The buildings were primarily made of stone thus the city was buried not burned. They are still digging on this site today so not all of the city has been uncovered. We ended up joining a tour and it was probably a good thing we did -- the excavated site is huge. Our tour guide was difficult to understand at times but he was able to convey to us just how complex this society was when it was destroyed in 79AD. N wanted me to add that Pompeii (for him) was a major highlight of our trip.

Naples was just plain chaotic. While at times pretty (especially the walk along the coast/Mediterranean) we just didn't have time to explore properly and as a result, it wasn't anything special. I bought Limoncello here.

Day 4: The Coliseum, Forum and Palatine Hill

On our final day in Rome, we toured the Coliseum, wandered up atop Palatine Hill and sashayed through the Roman Forum. We took guided tours of the Coliseum and Palatine Hill. It was a day of history overload, but as I love history, I found it fascinating. It was a touch surreal to see the ruins of this ancient civilization.

Wandering around afterward, we stumbled upon a major demonstration / parade for Woman's Day (March 8th). We wandered the streets until evening and then bid Rome farewell. It was time to head north into Tuscany -- Florence to be exact!

**Angel Tours was pretty good. I mean it would have been nice to maybe have more time in the Vatican Museum but their commentary was good, and was easy to understand (as our guide was from the UK -- understanding her English wasn't a problem) and we saw the highlights. The museum is vast so I imagine you could spend days in there! Apparently there is some controversy with Angel Tours... there are laws in Italy that state you must be a licensed guide to give tours. You must speak fluent Italian and you must pass an examination. Angel Tours is not licensed and they get around this law by calling themselves a "Cultural Association." Fees collected are "Cultural Association Fees." The bottom line, however, is that they give a good, clear, easy to understand English speaking tour and when you are paying $ for commentary you want to understand them. I was skeptical about them prior, as I'd read some poor reviews (they claim it is mudslinging by licensed Italian guides mad that they take business away from them) and I have no regrets now. We took 2 tours by licensed Italian guides -- one at the Coliseum and one in Pompeii. They both paled in comparison to this one. That said, Angel Tours was not the best tour we had... that would be our tour of Palatine Hill. Our guide's name was Kim and he was a grad student from the States living in Rome and he works for Through Eternity Tours... also a "Cultural Association" so go figure.