Whasblog

But what’s this?! Aye, Soph and John have been off exploring the world. This time to one of the world’s most Catholic historical and beautiful cities. If you can’t tell where that is by now then you don’t deserve to know. Despite having only two and a half days there, we did manage to see most of the place! As such I couldn’t possibly tell you all everything that we saw and did. Oh, go on then, here goes.

Early flight. Up at an early time that was hitherto thought to be the stuff of myth and legend. Either way we eventually ended up in Rome and were chauffeured by a grumpy non-talkative fellow to our luxury hotel (no sarcasm intended, and yes you are all supposed to be jealous already). We swiftly ventured forth towards Piazza San Pietro and the Basilica. What we didn’t realise is that as it was Palm Sunday the Pope had just finished giving some sort of public address and blessing just a few minutes beforehand. So we missed seeing the Pope alas, but the crowds were wild!

Sort of added to the atmosphere though, and the views back up the road towards the Basilica were lovely, even with the street sellers harassing everyone along the way.

So since it was the afternoon and we’d had loads of travelling we decided to just go on a short walk around the city. Thus we embarked upon a mighty voyage encompassing most of the southern half of Rome. We saw a great many things and managed to get up high for some sweeping views of the city. Sillyness and photography ensued. See the sweeping vista below!

Back.

Meal.

Wander around pretty night-time Rome and take silly photos (see facebook gallery linked to later on).

So our second day plan was: The Vatican City place and the Basilica. Both of which were soundly achieved. I’ve just done a quick measure and discovered that the queue for the former was around 0.36 miles long. So it took a while to get in, but once we were the museums were (extensive) extremely interesting! We saw that really famous fresco among many others. Statues, paintings, frescos everywhere! It was like being nuked in the f4ce by culture. This lead through into the Sistine Chapel, where the beautiful ceiling and walls continued to astound.

We then saw a man in a silly costume, presumably guarding Vatican City. I had my doubts until I noticed his big pointy stick. That could really do someone a mischief.

Another short(ish) queue and we were inside the Basilica. The biggest church in the world! And golly. It was big. Not just big, but, really really big. And pretty, and painted all over. Magnificent indeed. You don’t need to be religiously inclined to appreciated the WOW factor this building inspires. WOW! Yeh this calls for a big picture too. See those tiny little people at the bottom? That might give it some sense of scale. But you really don’t get it properly unless you’re there.

I feel like a fool for ever thinking that St. Paul’s was big. Anyway it’s time to move the blog on, just as it was time to move on ourselves. Back hotel. Rest. Out again! A night-time venture for fuds and the Spanish Steps. Which were duly found! Here one can see the Tiber in twilight.

Sleeping time! Then, the third and final day dawned. And it was by far the most epic day, involving walking on a truly Tolkien scale. Well, almost. First stop was the Pantheon! And big, old (two thousand years or so) and remarkable it was too (photos in FB galleries linked to later). Then straight off towards the Colosseum! I slap myself silly for not going in here before with the Photography trip two years ago. It is another wow place. Two thousand years old and still standing!

By this time our limbs were suffering from all the walking. But we wern’t done yet. Oh no! After a few navigational blunders by myself we then took a stroll through the Forum, all the ancient ruins which surround the Colosseum.

In a final sweep we traversed Rome northwards in search of the Trevi Fountain, in which we deposited our moneys to ensure a return visit to Rome. Then dinner by the Pantheon and home. But not before some more photography! We just so happened to wander past a filming set. Obviously some sort of new bus themed adventure film. But not very high budget. That man in the red was sat bouncing on that plank of wood to wobble the bus, making it look like it was moving. Skillz.

Well really that concludes our trip to Rome! I’d better not reveal any more information as the Carabinieri were following us closely throughout our Roman adventure. This fellow was handing over information about us to them. Don’t worry, we dealt with the informant.

So there are many more images and and things available for the looking at. Thanks for reading this somewhat monumental post (if you got this far). Hope we can all meet up some time soon this Easter!

See also:

My FB gallery, Soph’s first and second galleries.