Florence - Video

April 7/08 - Florence, Firenze. We took a Eurostar train, first class from Florence to Rome and arrived about 1.5 hours at the Santa Maria Novella station. Bought 24 hr travel pass for Euro 5 at the train station and took a bus to our 5-star hotel, oops we mean 5-star hostel (that's the hostel's name). It is located in an old renaissance tower near the Ponte Vecchio. If you book accommodation here in Florence, make sure you ask if there is an elevator and on which floor. Too late, we found out that our hostel (more like a bed & breakfast) is located on the 3rd or 4th floor. One floor height is not the same as back home, here 3 floors looked like 5 floors height back home.
Mr. Sadek, the caretaker was great. Thinner and smaller than Wee or Eddie, he took two big luggage bags, one in each hand and ran up the stairs. The rest of us were dragging ourselves up the stairs and panting...

Florence was dusty, windy and crowded with tourists. We hated the dust. We went to the Mercato Centrale, winding through the bazaar-like (pasar malam style) area filled with leather & T-shirt stalls. In the market, we found some erotic looking pasta - great souvenir!!

Not to be missed, Piazza della Signoria, Uffizi (closed on Monday), Ponte Vecchio and the Duomo. Yes, David (a copy, not the real one) is there in his manliness, so is Neptune and and many others in their naked self. Nope, there is no leaf to cover the .........
The Dumo is magnificent, the Italians have great passions for religion and marble. The Duomo is a great marriage of these two passions. We decided to climb the tower instead of the Dome so that we can view the beautiful Dome from the tower. It is more than 400 steps to the top, well worth the climb - Florence rooftop view is superb. Of course, this is renaissance age at its best.
Back on the ground, we went searching for..., what else, gelato.....Gelato Grom was heavenly. Indeed the best, so goooood! If you are there, try the strawberry and the chocolate.
At night, we had dinner at a trattoria - Taverna de Neri, food was awesome, especially the steak and house wine.
The next day, we woke up early. Sorry Mr. Sadek - not able to stay for breakfast. We made our way to the train station, left our luggage there and headed for Pisa (checkout the log for Pisa). After Pisa, we had to return to Florence for the evening train to Venice. While having a couple of hours to kill, we walked to Grom again for some gelati.

Eating Gelato in Florence

Rome 2 Video

April 6/08 - Visit to the Colosseum (Amphitheatrum Flavium). It was fortunate that we had the Roma Pass, short queue compared to those buying tickets on the spot. Yes, the Colosseum is big and old... almost everything in Rome is old (except the people). We wandered around and went upstairs to visit the exhibits of statues and things Roman. The steps are big, wondered if people back then really had to "climb" up the stairs rather than walking... We did not know why but Eddie suddenly asked us to lean against the wall and took pictures of our faces using the Videocam. Then he showed us on the LCD screen - he had earlier taken pictures of all the heads of past Roman emperors (yes, most of the exhibited statues had no body). When the pictures were played back - it looked like Michael Jackson's "Black and White" video. We all had a great laugh!!

Outside the Colosseum, lots of hunky Italian men posing as gladiators. The tourists, especially elderly ladies loved them. If you want your picture taken with them, make sure you give tips. It was Sunday when we were there, the street infront of the Colosseum (Via dei Fori Imperiali) was closed to traffic. It had a festive air when people were walking on the street, buskers playing music by the side and posing as statues ... we saw the same Egyptian sarcophagus from Castel San Angelo two days earlier. It was just a short walk past the Roman Forum to the Vittorio Emmanuelle monument. This big "wedding cake" was covered with scaffolding - being cleaned and restored. We wanted to sit on the marble staircase but was prohibited by the policeman - no seating or eating here. After some photographs, we went round the corner up the Capitoline Hill to the Roman Museum. It was not because we love museums but it was drizzling and this looked a good place to wait out the rain, and also the entrance was covered by our Roma Pass.

A word of caution - beware of pickpockets especially in crowded buses and metro. Some teenagers were on the same train as we were. Two of them stood at the door, whilst the third tried to pick Wee's cargo pants pocket. This girl was holding a baby and had a big shawl draped over her. The shawl hid what she was doing with her hands - luckily Wee felt her trying to open the pocket and brushed her hands away. All of them quickly got off at the next station. The pocket had button closure and contained a camera. The camera may not worth a lot but the photos were irreplaceable. Fortunately, we still have our photos to share. So if you are traveling - do not be an easy target, don't kept valuables in pockets that are easily picked. Use hidden money pouches. If you have to use pockets - use those with zip/button which are not easy to open. Use a small backpack to carry camera and other essentials - and carry it infront - frontpack??

Vatican City - Video

April 5/08 - we went to the Vatican, check out our Vatican video. Yes, St Peter's Basilica is huge, very....HUGE. We headed to the Vatican museum first. It was early but there was already a long line of people, almost half a kilometer long....all because of security check. We wandered through endless exhibits of mummies, statues, tapestries, paintings and finally arrived at the famous Raphael's room and Sistine chapel. The chapel was crowded back to back with people all staring up at the Michealango's ceiling. It is indeed magnificent, so alive and 3D.
Then we took a short cut through the exit for "travel group" only straight into the Basilica without having to go back to the museum entrance which is almost a kilometer distance to the Basilica entrance.
After walking through the Basilica and adored Michaelangelo's Pieta, we took a rest before going up the Michealangelo's dome. We did not want to walk up the stairs, so we took the elevator to the roof. From the roof, it is still about 400 steps up the dome. Not for the faint-hearted. The view was superb. Outside the basilica, we headed for the Post Office and bought first day covers.

Rome 1 Video

April 4/08 - Rome, the eternal city. We checked into our apartment located right across the Santa Maria Maggiore (see the picture of Lily and pigeons in front of the apartment building). Great location, just a short walk to Termini station and a supermarket. We made our way to the Supermercato, and bought food for breakfast and dinner. Anybody who loves roast/fried chicken may never try the chicken here - lots of feather still stuck on the cooked chicken, yucks!!
Then we went to Roma Termini to validate our Eurail Pass and made reservations for the next few trips, right up to Switzerland and for the night train from Munich to Amsterdam. The reservation counter accepted cash only, no credit cards. With the train secured, we purchased Roma Pass and then we could enjoy Rome....
After refreshing ourselves, we explored Rome on buses, metro and most of all, walking. We went from Castel San Angelo to Piazza Navona, Trevi Fountain and the Pantheon. Tried the famous tartufo (chocolate coated gelato) at Tre Scalini at Piazza Navona and the tasty gelato at Giolitti and San Crispino. We did not like San Crispino but we loved Giolitti so much that we went there twice during our stay in Rome.


April 6/08 - we went to the Colosseum. See the post on Rome 2. We then wandered to the Pantheon. Horrors, it was closed! This could not be true, lots of tourists were waiting outside. We found out that it was closed for some ceremony and would be opened again after a couple of hours. Phew!! This was the last day in Rome and to think that we nearly missed the Pantheon. So what could we do? We wandered to a little church nearby and stopped twice for gelato - at Gelateria della Palma and Cremeria Monteforte.
The Pantheon was great. .. the hole in the Dome allowed light (and rain) through, it is a great architectural wonder, considering that it was built so long ago. A real gem not to be missed. Outside the Pantheon, Mr. Berlusconi was holding a presidential campaign. Free T-shirts were given out, it said "Spedire Veltroni in Africa" (meaning send his rival Veltroni to Africa) - who could resist something free, we got one each.