Chow from Rome!

Well, it has been a great 4 days here. Tomorrow I am off to Ontario to spend some time with great friends - Kimmy D and Martin. I am going from the booming metropolis of Rome to the peacefulness of fishing... Ahhhhhh it is going to be fab!

Here are a few pics to end this part of my journey!

A gorgeous Italian princess waiting patiently at 9:30pm to get a table for dinner!

The pizza looked so good I started eating before I remembered to take a pic! I have eaten pizza and pasta everyday since I have been here! I rotate between which one is for lunch and dinner and I always order a different variety :) One day I had pizza for both lunch and dinner.

I hope they weren't counting on their bikes to get them home! On my way back to the hostel is a scooter parking lot and it seems as though these four had a little fire action!

Lastly, I ate gelato at least once everyday and sometimes twice! This is Rome's oldest gelato place.

Chow,

Tracy

Vatican City

So today was my most anticipated day of the trip. I was really looking forward to going to Vatican City. I had done my homework and decided rather than wait for approx. 2 hours to get in I would book a tour. There are several tour companies but what I discovered was a tour company who meets you in a designated area outside of the Vatican and then we all go in as a tour group at which point our 'guide' sets us free! Perfect. I am always leery about guided tours, in my experience you either get a guide who is so annoying you want to shoot yourself or the others in the tour make you want to shoot yourself. This was the perfect alternative. Go in as a group, skip the line and then be set free to 'tour' as I pleased!

I (and thousands of others) started at the Vatican Museum and wound my way through the various exhibits. It is a great lead up to Michelangelo's Sistine Chapel; the Pope's personal chapel..... Which is absolutely breathtaking. I was awestruck to think he painted the entire ceiling while standing. My neck was killing me after listening to my 27 minute podcast describing all that was going on. Beautiful.

Now this is where I digress; I have been in Italy for just over 6 days and in the rammed packed space of the Sistine Chapel I almost barfed with the smell of body odor. I noticed it pretty soon after getting to Italy but today it was the worst I have ever smelled it. You know, I have done loads of travelling and you would think that in India I would have almost drop from the smell but oh no, Italy has been by far the smellist. How did I deal with it? I got a fresh piece of gum and slightly chewed it then rubbed it under my nose - peppermint much better than sweat... Off we go to St. Peter's Basilica!

St. Peter's is HUGH. Wow wow wow! My 'tour' aka Rick Steves' podcast was 50 minutes long. It was very crowded and I was thankful there was a prayer room to go and be in peace. Otherwise it would have felt like a museum rather than a spiritual place. Michelangelo out did himself again in the dome of the church. For some reason I am really enjoying domes and ceiling on this trip and I have not been disappointed!

After emerging I was able to see what the Basilica looks like from the outside.

Caesar Shuffle-Part III

The final leg of the Caesar Shuffle for me was the Pantheon. Before I checked it out in all it's glory I bought some cheese and crackers from a market and ate lunch in a piazza with wild cats, homeless men and loads of tourists. To kick my ass back into gear I had a coffee at the institution of Eustachio il Cafe. It was simply amazing to watch the locals pay for their order, give their receipt to the barista, wait for the expresso to be made and then literally drink it in two gulps. I digress... it was a great experience and a much needed jolt.

The Pantheon is beautiful, a little magical actually.

Wrong picture - and sideways! These columns are one piece of granite shipped from Egypt!

The dome is 142 feet high and wide and has been recently cleaned. It is beautiful and this picture does not do it justice...

This ends the Caesar Shuffle!

Caesar Shuffle-Part II

After the Colosseum I checked out Palatine Hill. This used to be 'the huts of Romulus and Remus' but now all that is left are scant remains.

Palatine Hill leads to the Roman Forum which is ancient Rome's birthplace and civic center. I thought it was rather dichotomous that a modern art exhibition is also taking place throughout the Forum!

Just about anything important that happened in ancient Rome happened here.

Caesar Shuffle-Part I

It was a crazy full day and I was awe struck for most of it! I started the day by taking the metro to the Colosseum. What a structure. Architecturally beautiful. I cannot say so much for what happened within the walls of the building...

The actual floor of the Colosseum is no longer there so what you are seeing below is the network of tunnels etc. that were necessary for the gladiator contests and public spectacles.

No, I am not listening to music in the Colosseum! I am listening to my Rick Steves' audio tour podcast about the site - I am becoming more of a techy geek than I ever thought!!!

This is the Arch of Constantine taken from the Colosseum. Emperor Constantine defeated Maxentius here in A.D. 312 and Christianity became mainstream.

Roma

I arrived yesterday afternoon into the frenzied Roma Termini. My hostel is one block away from the station so it was pretty convenient. I am staying at The Beehive and this time I am in a room with four sets of bunks. After I checked in I dropped my bags and headed out to the Spanish Steps. I knew I was going in the right direction when I spotted the obelisk:

Basically, these steps are between two Baroque church towers and they make for one of Rome's most iconic sights. Shoppers hang out here after they have drained their wallets and contemplate whether they could actually afford what they just purchased and others (like myself) hang out and watch the people that have dropped too much money!

After a serious people watching session and some window shopping in the Spanish Steps area I had a delicious pizza at La Gallina Bianca.

Four cheese pizza - oh so good and those mounds you can see are hunks of blue cheese. I am enjoying the foods of Italy!!!

The Five Village Hike

Monterosso is village number 5. It took me just over an hour to get to Vernazza village.

Vernazza is village number 4:

It took me another hour to get to village number 3; Corniglia:

Manarola is village number two and from Corniglia to here it took 45 minutes and 382 steps switch backing up hill!:

The first village is Riamaggiore and to get here it took 20 minutes.

My calves are screaming at me but it was a beautiful hike! There were not many people on the trail and the plants along the way were beautiful.... I ended the day with another great swim and dinner at the hostel as my legs would not take me back down the hill for dinner!