Okay, main road, follow the people. Aha! Lunch. Cafes in Italy are a bit hit and miss and to the dismay of foodies everywhere we have found that buffet is safe and cheap. Yes I know. I am a culinary criminal.Venice seems to support most of its citizens through the sale of "Murano" glass (genuine or otherwise). Every second shop sells Murano glass. Or Venetian masks. Or both. After a lecture from a well meaning and sale intentioned shop keeper we were confident that we could tell the real murano from the fake. Unfortunately we did not like what was in her shop, or much else. Eventually I did find a necklace that I liked and two beautiful, tiny glass cats. I am happy that Italy is a cat nation. We also saw this rather cool lamp-post hanging on the wall.
Venice looks as if it will probably not survive our lifetime. It is a sad, grimy town that feeds and chokes on tourism. I am glad that we did not spend more of our trip here. One day was enough to walk around the canals, be harrassed by gondelier boatmen and look at glass jewellery.Our accommodation had been extremely kind in suggesting local eateries, and so the last few nights we have tried each one. At the last one, Tom decided to try Florentine style steak. They managed to give him a small serve. It was 650gm. This, thing, could have been half the cow. How he ate it I'll never know. Even the waitress was nervous. I think it is a group dish normally at around the 1kg mark. While Tom did survive enough to try my panncotta, he has sworn off menu items that are priced per kg.Our last morning in Florence was spent walking through the town squares looking at shops and sights. I had hoped to buy a jacket and some shoes, but nothing seems quite right. We did manage to find some really interesting sweets, like tiny boiled lollies filled with liquid. (It may be alcohol, we haven't worked it out.) The trip to Rome was fairly uneventful (other than our train being late).
The main station in Rome, Termini, is a pretty frightening place. Immediately you are jumped on by hotel sales staff for an "information service" who seem to disappear when you mention that you already have accommodation. Then the station itself looks like you could get mugged any minute. Failing to completely work out the metro system (we've managed everywhere else, so I don't know if this says something about us or Rome) we decided that walking was a viable option. It was bright and sunny so it didn't seem like a bad idea. It wasn't too bad, although the dingey-ness of the train station goes on for a bit. Our hotel is in a nice residential area on a street commonly used for drag racing by the sounds of the early morning traffic-I-am-trying-to-sleep-you-inconsiderate-motoring-bastards.We arrived at lunch time, so a quick trip to the local archaelogical sites was in order.
The colosseum is about a 30 minute walk away and from there we walked all the way around the forum and the hippodrome etc. Lots of rubble anyway. Some of it is spectacular, and the very idea that in these spots the icons of ancient history ate slept and stabbed each other to death here is amazing to consider. We arrived too late to really head in anywhere, so we made note of what we wanted to see the next day. The walk home was agony. I think I have completely destroyed my feet.Dinner was at a local restaurant which I think has one set of rules for locals and another for tourists. We seemed to be the only ones given menus, although I didn't want seafood buffet anyway. I recall at some point learning that in Italy pasta is a small entree served before the larger meat courses. They lied. We've tried this tack a few times assuming that the last restaurant is giving us a western serve of pasta. I think that our goal of losing some weight and gaining some fitness has well and truly failed, despite the plethora of towers, steps and hills we have climbed this last month.
We were eventyually roused by the sweet sounds of Rome
The colosseum is much what it looks like in every photo you've seen. It is impressive, but not remarkable. Maybe I am sightseen out? We did however spot a descendant of one of the mighty gladiator panthers that once roamed and fought in the colosseum:
He was definitely up for the tummy scratch.Given the feet situation we then caught the train to the Vatican in search of the sistine chapel. We got lost, and wound up in the Basilica di St Pietro, which was also rather good, and it did allow us to spot some of the pyjama and silly hat wearing Swiss guard (thank you Eddie Izzard). Sorry it's on the side, we can't rotate it in the software available.
The Sistine Chapel is at the end of the Vatican museum precinct. You have to walk through the whole museum before you can see the Sistine Chapel. I'm disliking the pope already.
The Sistine chapel is enormous, and while the artwork is spectacular is also miles above you on the ceiling. There is no sitting on the ground to look up. You can stand (and kill your neck) or snaffle some of the prized real estate that is the seating on the sides of the chapel (and kill your neck). Photography is strictly forbidden and shhhing is prevalent. I personally think God is doing all the work stretching out to Adam on his little cloud, while pouty Adam makes a half hearted attempt to poke back. Aww dad, don't poke me, someone'll see. That or Adam has the floppiest wrists ever. Oh you...
We then caught the bus back over the river to Isola Tiberina, which we thought was a suitable place to go considering our cat Tiberius. He therefore has his own island. Lucky puss.
Tomorrow we aim to see the other half of Rome (Ha!) well okay the Trevi fountain and its surrounds...
After that it is an early morning flight for a late night arrival in... Melbourne.
Ciao!
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