Rome: 19th to 23rd June 06
Mon 19th June:
We got up really early (round 2.30am UK time) to head to East Midlands Airport. We got there round 4am-ish. Went through the usual airport checks (my first time). We got our EasyJet plane to Rome at 7am. On the way I saw that the plane flew above the clouds, but I missed the English Channel on that journey. Later saw the Alps (I assume they were the Alps), an Italian coast line, then Rome looking amazing from the air (plus a football? stadium). Got off the plane at about 10.35 Italian time - boy it was boiling hot! The buildings in Rome are massive (no small houses like here in the UK) - they all appear to be massive appartment buildings - is this where the Rome locals live? When we got to Rome the taxi driver couldn't find our hotel and drove around the centre again and again and again until he found it. Checked in round 2ish CEST. We booked a 24 hour bus tour ticket so that we could get on and off it. First day we went all around the route.
Bread: They only seem to have Italian rolls / crosonts etc rather than our flat sliced bread.
We went to loads of restaurants in Rome. Various times I varied between different pasta and pizza dishes (pizza was always yummy Margarita Pizza). They mostly have in fizzy drinks: Coca Cola, Fanta and Sprite (no Lilt, no Pepsi - although I saw one place with Pepsi cans later in the week).
Tue 20th June:
The Vatican.
We got that tour bus thingy to the Vatican. Had a look around the amazing square. Saw that the seats are always there (like the same ones uses at John Paul II's funeral). One queue was too long (to St Peter's), so we joined the queue for the Vatican museum. Meanwhile me and my dad went to a Geletaria (Ice Cream stand). Due to the heat, the Ice Cream started to melt and fast. We had to get back to the queue to join my mom and brother. Had to use hand wipes to clean my hands. The museum was nice, esp the Sistine Chapel. The walk around was long. Had pizza at a local Pizzeria, then we hung around St Peter's Square until the time our tour bus back to point A would arrive (3.35 / 3.40pm).
Wed 21st June:
The Colloseum and Roman Forum.
This day we walked from the hotel to the Colloseum. There are two floors you can go on level 0 and 1 (accessed via a lift or stairs - we used the lift). The ruins looked amazing. Inside are lots of museum artifacts such as busts on display. Like other tourists, we next walked out and past the Arch of Titus, then up through the remains of the Roman Forum.
Thurs 22nd June: The Pantheon, Spanish Steps, a large park, and a museum.
More walking :-( We walked to the above. Pantheon looks Roman on the outside, Catholic on the inside (the inside was transformed from a Pagan to a Christian religous place). It is very big. Next a long walk to the Spanish Steps. This was impressive too. I climbed it like three times (once up twice down - last time after going to the nice park). Building at the top is under scaffolding - must be being restored as is the Collumn / Obolisk. Later we made it to a museum / mansion undegoing restoration so only three rooms were open. I was suprised to find a portrait of Henry VIII there! Later after going to our final restaurant we looked and found a Geletaria - we had ice cream in tubs. Even with those it still melted and Thursday was cooler than Mon to Wed. During the Italy - Czech World Cup game we hurd cheers when ever Italy scored (we were resting in our hotel). Later on our way to and from the restaurant - we saw celebrating Italians in cars flying the tricolour and beeping the car horns screeming "Italia!".
Fri 23rd June:
Had breakfast at 7.30am, got out of hotel at 8.05am, taxi took us back to Ciampino airport for the return journey home to the UK. This time I saw Elba Island (where Napoleon was exiled), the sea surrounding it, a lot of France, the French coastline, bits of the English Channel (before we went through some mist), the English Coastline (yay!), more English land, before we went up above the clouds one last time to prepare for landing. EasyJet is cool (both trips were on a Airbus A319).
It is cool eating pizza and pasta in the home nation of their inventions. The pizza bases were pretty flat (pizzas seem home made but did use mozarella and tomato puree I think). Had pasta "potato" balls in tomato sause twice. Also had spagetti in tomato sauce one day, and penne in tomato sauce and basil on another.
Oh and we drank lots of water. Kept re-filling our bottles. Rome has taps / all over for filling up your bottles.
Italian TV: It sucked - its all in Italian (can't understand it - they talk to fast etc). I saw bits of shows dubbed such as Star Trek: Voyager, Charmed, Everybody Loves Raymond, Joey, The Simpsons, X-Men 1 etc (including a Power Rangers / Mutant Turtles crossover, Pokemon etc etc etc). Also saw Italian versions of Countdown (they played at least 3 number games! And have there own Carol counterpart, the main presenter looked young) and Art Attack (Art Attack apparently made in France by the Disney Channel!). The Italian World Cup coverage was strange. The presenter on Rai Sport has a bald head and wears glasses. I saw the England game on it on Tuesday. They call us Inghalaterra. They called Holland - Olanda. Germany is Germania. I even got used to the various channels jingles.
Another thing: Italians seem to love motorbikes / motorised scooters. There were loads of them in Rome.
For some reason Rome has shit loads of Egyptian Obolisks. I dunno why, but they must of installed them and added a cross on top of each one.
Exhausted now. Feet hurt due to wearing my new sandles without socks every day (I took five pairs of socks, didn't wear a pair). Glad to be home.