Our last day:

Got to the Vatican Museum early, beat the lines. Awestruck by the collection. I'd expected the renaissance and religious collections but was surprised by the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman pieces! There was so much, and it was extremely well presented. Made our way through, Raphael Rooms were particularly awesome. There was a decent modern collection too, including works by Dali, Matisse and Diego Rivera.

Then the Sistine Chapel. Wow. We sat and wandered for about 30 mins, listening to Rick Steve's audio guide which was once again fantastic. The roof and last judgement are so impressive, certainly making it clear Michelangelo was much more than just a sculptor….

Sistine Chapel was starting to fill up as we left, and the line for St Peters Basilica was about 15 mins long by the time we got there. Still, not bad. Winter traveling is well worth it.

St Peters was another jaw-drop moment. Massive. Again, Rick Steve providing lots of context and description. Mass was on so we couldn't visit everything, but we must have spent an hour in the church. Michelangelo's pieta another highlight. I'm officially a Michelangelo fan now. Go Mickey, its your birfday.

I'm conflicted by this counter-reformation spectacle. On one hand, impressed by the sheer scope and artistry. On the other, I'm aware of the historical context and church indulgences that fed its construction. Guess I've felt the same about so many things in Italy, including the ancient relics – lots of incredible artistic and architectural statements that fill you with awe, but were the products of tyranny, the exploitation of slaves and citizens, gargantuan egos or the abuse of faith. OK I'm rambling.

After a feed, Marthese and I decided on different adventures – she would get coffee and relax in the afternoon watching the TV show Rome, i would go to Cinecitta, home of italian cinema where you can see the actual set of Rome. This was a spur of the moment decision, the like of which I'm sure Marthese is sick of by now.

I hopped onto the crowded metro (thanks for the help, Tez) and looked up to see a TV that was advertising Cinecitta. As the ad showed more, I got more and more excited. Until the last slide which contained the words, in English, "closed Tuesday". Checked my watch. Tuesday. Double checked phone. Tuesday. Dang. Glad i saw the ad, but doubt I'll make it to Cinecitta this trip.

Hopped off at the next metro stop which thankfully wasn't too far from a renaissance exhibit i was keen to check out anyway. Exhibit was in Palazzo Sciarra and featured some awesome Rafael works, some Michelangelo sculpture work and a lot of other cool Renaissance works. A temporary exhibit, it actually complemented the Vatican visit quite well, even featuring a video with close ups of the Sistine chapel roof which was great – got to see the work up close. Sadly it was in 3D which wasn't well done, and I had to watch parts with one eye closed.

Anyhow. Awesome day. One more left in Rome. Sigh.

Marthese wants me to add something about the Jewish quarter last night. It was rad! We had a great dinner at Nonna Betta's including an amazing Jewish-style artichoke dish. Mmmmm,

Domus Romane in Palazzo Valentini was today's stop. Walking inside the palace on top of excavations with impressive lighting and projections assisting an audio guided tour above a 4th century house. Excellent use of multimedia to flesh out the history and help visualise how it used to be. A real insight, a site we haven't seen in many guidebooks. Well worth the visit, thanks to the Bezzina elders for the recommendation! This sort of thing would be SO perfect for a place like Herculaneum, giving a street the multimedia treatment would be brilliant. Pompeii is popular enough, Herculaneum could do with a little high profile multimedia action. This kicked arse on the Karnak "light show". *shudders*

After strolling through Rome last night and accidentally passing wonderful icons and piazzas as we wandered, we decided not to leave the city for the Appian Way and the catacombs, but to stay in town and discover more.

So thats what we did today. Started out in the ???Jewish Ghetto???, totally enhanced by the Rick Steve's audio guide. We learnt about the history of Rome's Jewish population, how they were prominent in the early days of the Empire, how they were persecuted and forced to live in a ghetto by medieval popes, how they finally gained rights and freedoms after Italy's unification, only to later face Mussolini's Fascism and Nazi occupation. We strolled through the area hearing these stories and gaining a huge appreciation for the history of Italian Jews. We popped into a coffee place here and had AWESOME coffee. I am now an espresso man. This scares me.

Next up, we popped over to the other side of the Tiber River, the Trastevere. This is where the Jewish population lived before medieval Popes forced them into the Ghetto on the other side of the river. Here we did another Rick Steve's audio tour, learning about the history of the area, imagining it throughout the centuries, and visiting some key sites such as the churches of St Cecilia and Saint Maria de Trastevere. We actually went inside St Cecilia's church and popped downstairs to where old Cecilia used to live and hold illegal masses in her house. When Christianity was legalised, they built a church on top of it. This was common practice, apparently. Overall it was a lovely stroll through an area with loads of character, history and vivacious nonnas.

While we were there, we ate at Dar Poeta again. Pizza win!

We took a long stroll back past some major sites, saw the Circo Massimo which used to be used for chariot races but now is just a huge bare park. Made our way to the Basilica de San Clemente. Amazing place. Top level is a 12^th century church, then take some stairs down to see a fascinating 4^th century church, and then another level down is an ancient Temple of Mithrais, an old Roman road, a house and a freshwater spring! Incredible place.

We arrived back home but I decided I still had energy and wanted to do more. So of course I ventured off to another museum ??? this one the Capitaline Museum. Days ago I decided I wouldn't bother with this one, and now I'm so glad I changed my mind! A huge museum spanning two palaces connected by an underground tunnel ??? the museum featured some amazing ancient Roman statues and busts, some renaissance paintings and tapestries, and even a very cool special exhibition of some of the notes and drawings of Michelangelo and Da Vinci. Some of Da Vinici's were particularly impressive, his anatomical and mechanical drawings are incredibly precise. There were some massive statues and some iconic ones, including the huge Constantine, giant Marcus Aurelius on his horse, and the excellent statues of Venus, boy with the thorn, dying Gaul…. Ah it was great. I wish I could say at this point I'm sick of going to museums and looking at ancient artworks, but I'm not.

This museum also featured a fantastic view of the forum, a rooftop view of the city, and a million toilets. Marthese should have come!

Just another day in Roma.

Headed out to Ostia Antica, another well preserved ruin, used to be an ancient Roman port. Not as impressive as Pompeii or Herculaneum, but still a fun visit. Saw some things we hadn't seen in other ruins, including a Necropolis, an awesome pub with a nice courtyard, and a public lavatory. Also impressive was the large square near the theatre and temple where merchants and businessmen plied their trade in neat offices featuring pictorial mosaics of their businesses. Once again used Rick Steve's audio tour to great effect.

We were considering eating at the ruins cafeteria, but we asked the woman at the bookshop about a restaurant I'd researched the night before. Turns out it's part of a tiny hamlet down the road, located within an old castle battlement! So we found the castle, had 30 minutes to kill before the restaurant opened, so headed into the castle itself. Then things got strange. A woman in black with dark glasses closed and locked the castle entry behind us, then ushered us in and up some stairs. Once we were near the top, she suddenly arrived behind us, out of breath, and instructed us (in Italian) to follow her downstairs. Confused, we did so, and found ourselves not only locked in a strange castle with a strange Italian woman, but also in the dungeon!

Finally we realised we were joining an already running tour, but it was all in Italian so we were pretty confused. The woman in black tried to explain a few things to us in her limited English, and we did walk around the little castle for a while. We eventually had to ask to be excused from the tour, and the woman in black was lovely and took us back outside.

Lunch in the quaint little castle village was excellent, then we headed back to Pyramide station, where an ancient magistrate had built himself a Pyramid to be buried in. Apparently it was all the vogue back in the days of Antony and Cleopatra. Quite insane. The pyramid backs onto a protestant cemetery, where we visited the graves of John Keats and Percy Shelley.

To add to the randomness of the day, we were befriended by an enthusiastic older Malaysian lady. One of the more memorable characters of the trip, she gave us some travel advice. Even though she was a seasoned??traveler??with a great passion and knowledge of history, she seemed to be constantly lost. A wonderful woman, hope we bump into her again.

Tonight I'm having a kebab. Take that, Italian cuisine!

Worth mentioning last night's pizza ??? Dar Poeta in Trastavere. AWESOME! Happy birthday, Tez.

So today was our trip into ancient Rome, starting with the Colosseum. We were there early so went straight in and fired up Rick Steve's audio tour. Fantastic, hearing the history of the place as we walked around it ??? so much fun! Still sort of can't believe it.

Then things got tricky ??? finding an entrance to the forum. Some false leads provided by maps, Lonely Planet and Rick Steve (all maps being different), we finally made our way into the Forum in a spot we didn't expect to be. We walked up to Palatine Hill, unsure of whether it was separate to the rest of the forum or not, walking blindly with barely any signage and no guidance at all. Stumbled into the terrible Palatine Museum, looked at dreadfully labelled ruined homes. The only saving grace up there was discovering the Circus Maximus ??? the grounds where chariot races took place. Up there near where all the Emperors lived ??? pretty awesome.

When we finally found the Arch of Titus and once again fired up the Rick Steve Audio Tour, things got good again. We were transported to the Ancient Roman forum, the temples, the halls of justice and the senate floor. Marthese and I were so excited, having both recently read Rubicon (thanks, Jake!) which detailed the fall of the Roman Republic. It was amazing to be walking the same roads the ancient Romans walked on, entering the senate hall and viewing the ruins all around. It must've been remarkable in its heyday. In particular we were struck by how much Ancient Roman religion and architecture influenced Christianity ??? most Christian churches are modelled on Roman Basilicas, and monasteries and nunneries being modelled on the abodes of the Vestal Virgins. Incredible to see Constantine's arch, marking the moment when Christianity ceased to be a small Jewish movement and became an Empirical power.

After dropping Marthese off at the hotel for some rest, I powered on to the National Museum of Rome. Once again, dodgy maps and bad explanations had me wandering around the wrong sides of Termini Station, but I finally found it. Or at least I thought I did. Headed into the museum, saw some cool tombs and part of an old Roman bath. Followed some excellently detailed descriptions of old Roman texts, getting excited that it was all building to something. Nope. I ended up in a room with Chinese photography and then a courtyard with random ruins around it. Confused and having expected something much more impressive, I checked the guide on my phone to discover that there were in fact 4 museums called ???National Museum of Rome??? and at least two of them were near Termini Station. I was at the wrong museum!

Frustrated with myself and the general quality of Roman maps and signs, I stormed out of the museum and almost immediately spotted the correct one, Palazzo Massimo, down the road. Thankfully my ticket for the previous museum covered all the Museums of Rome.

Palazzo Massimo was awesome. Easily the best laid out and descriptive museum I've been to in Italy. Not as jaw-dropping as the Naples Museum, lacking the massive sculptures and artefacts, but it certainly had some incredible pieces, excellent lighting, and significantly, great descriptions of each exhibit providing context and detail. Hallelujah!

Stared at the busts of Roman Emperors, incredible ancient sculptures (often copies of even older Greek ones) and beautiful mosaics and wall paintings. A wonderful museum.

Overall, a day to marvel at the glories of Ancient Rome and reflect on the impact it had on today's world. Yep, that cheesy. But it was awesome.

Last note; there was another political display today, this one involving mostly African men. I don't know whats going on in Italy at the moment, but the people are taking it to the streets!!

Marthese turned 25 today! And she did announce at one point this was her ???best birthday ever.??? Yes!

We basically did a walking tour of our local area in Rome, taking in an insane number of sights, drinking lots of coffee, and getting acquainted with the city. Walking around Rome so far is so easy, and we feel a lot ???safer??? than we did in Naples.

A short stroll from our hotel to the Spanish Steps. Saw the ???Keats and Shelley House??? but didn’t go in (it wasn’t open yet), checked out the cool church up there. Waved at Lord Byron’s old apartment.

Then over to Piazza del Popolo, the old entrance to Rome. Hugely spacious, with fabulous fountains, 3 churches, and an enormous Egyptian obelisk (there are Egyptian obelisks over Rome! The plunder of the conquerors.)

Some more wanderings led us to Sant Eustacio il Caffe, according to some the best Coffee in Italy. Might have to concur, we went there twice today 🙂

My highlight was next, the Pantheon. 2000 years old and still going strong. Such an impressive piece of architecture. We went inside where Raphael’s tomb was on display!

Piazza Navona was fantastic and gorgeous. We enjoyed the sun, the church, the fountain, and bought the CD of the great live band that were playing (the aptly named Piazza Navona Band).

A short walk away was the Campo de Fiori with a bustling market and a statue of a heretic who had been burned by the Vatican! And by ???burned??? I mean burned to death, not harshly insulted. Well…

We then checked out a few other sites around parliament and bumped into a huge rally to ???Save Italian Races???, which we have to assume refers to Italian horse racing.

Another highlight of the day was meeting up with Beth, Marthese’s sister, who was in Rome for the day on her Contiki tour. We had a lovely lunch, then returned to Sant Eustacio for another coffee!

After saying bye to Beth (off to the Coliseum & Forum) and acknowledging that we’d had too much coffee and needed to keep walking, we headed up to the Capuchin Chapel and visited the crypt there. Incredible. Several rooms of art constructed with the bones of deceased Capuchin monks. Pretty amazing , read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capuchin_Crypt

Right now we’ve retired to the hotel for some rest, potentially an Irish comedy (it IS Marthese’s birthday after all) and then out for dinner which promises to involve Nutella Pizza (yep, Marthese’s birthday).

Phew.

Roma!??We're right near the Trevi fountain and a delicious Gelato place. WHOOP!

When I was 17, I managed to track down a copy of “Pink Floyd in Pompeii” on VHS, a video I’d only read about on the Internet (which I got access to about 2 years prior) and had been aching to see. When I finally sat down to watch it, I was mesmerised. A combination of two of my passions; Pink Floyd and Ancient History! This was made before Dark Side of the Moon (around 1971/72), with Floyd playing their more instrumental and dark material in the Pompeii Amphitheatre to no audience, intercut with footage from around Pompeii and Vesuvius. This odd idea was Italian director Adrian Maben’s, and it worked wonderfully.*

I was hooked. I knew one day I had to visit Pompeii. And today I did!

Pompeii, frozen in time by ash from 79AD’s Mount Vesuvius explosion, is a huge ancient town that you can explore for hours. And we did. And it met every expectation I had. With the assistance of Rick Steve’s free audio guide (highly recommend for travelers with Androids or iPhones) we got an incredible glimpse into the lives of people 2000 years ago by strolling their streets, walking through their homes, bakeries, baths, theatres, gladiatorial training arenas and brothels. Incredible.

Sadly, the town around Pompeii is a real tourist trap. We had a pretty average lunch, but we were starving and the place we’d looked up was closed.

Next stop was Ercolano, another poorer town that we walked through to see an Italy quite different to the larger cities. High density apartment buildings, derelict streets, but a real liveliness. It was good to see this contrast to the very major cities and tourist destinations we’d been.

Of course our destination was certainly of the tourist variety – the ruins at Herculaneum. Preserved by the same 79AD Vesuvius eruption, Herculaneum is much smaller than Pompeii but much better preserved. Walking around, you get an even better sense of the streets and the homes, with many roofs remaining intact and wall mosaics and paintings being incredibly well preserved. Definitely a must-visit if you’re in the area.

Extra notes:

*You can see the Pink Floyd Live in Pompeii film on Youtube by CLICKING HERE. This is the original theatrical version without any of the interviews or Dark Side of the Moon behind the scenes stuff that was on the VHS. There is also a DVD Director’s Cut, but its the worst version. I personally like this version with just the music these days.

Another Pompeii related song which I’ve had stuck in my head all day is the Flaming Lips’ PompeiiAm Götterdämmerung. Its basically a fusion of Floyd’s One of the Days and the German national anthem, with lyrics about a couple running holding hands while a volcano explodes, preserving them forever. I didn’t tell Marthese I’d been thinking about this all day though, she’ll have to read it here.

Metro/train travel notes for the day:

Piazza Cavour Station → Napoli Centrale → Circumvesuviana to Pompeii Scavi → Ercolano Scavi → Napoli Centrale → Piazza Cavour.

THIS HAS BEEN THE BEST DAY EVER! Goodnight, folks.

Sad arrividerci to Florence today, as we boarded a train to Naples.

Naples is ALIVE! Bustling streets, screaming locals, cars chasing down pedestrians, motorbikes swerving, aged buildings with modern adaptations, graffiti, baby stroller impaled on an old church gate. Awesome! Totally vibrant and passionate town.

Our train got stuck for a while, so by the time we checked into our hotel (the rather spacious Hotel Bellini) we were starving. Went to a place the Lonely Planet recommended called La Cantina Della Sapienza. Full of locals, loud and friendly, with a dude playing a drum and singing in the corner. We had Eggplant Parmigana which was delicious, and we fell in love with Naples rather quickly!

Maybe it was just what we ordered, but I really noticed that the food around here feels like Lebanese food. Lots of similar ingredients and flavours. Even the drummer/singer was drumming a beat that was familiar. I’m curious to see how common this is…

Marthese was exhausted so retired to the Hotel while I ventured forth to the Naples Archaeological Museum. We only have 2 nights here so I needed to check it out! And it was phenomenal, so far an absolute trip highlight. Full of ancient Greek and Roman sculptures, mosaics, pottery, paintings and coins, much of it taken from nearby Pompeii and Herculaneum. Some parts had lots of info, others were extremely poorly signed and I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. Rick Steve’s Self-Guided Tour helped a little, but I still craved more info! Not nearly as bad as the Cairo Museum.

The whole thing was completely overwhelming, staring at 2000 year old sculptures and busts depicting Roman rulers and Greek Gods. A lot of them had been reconstructed, but considering the mammoth size of so many of the pieces I’m amazed so much survived!

Surprisingly the Museum was pretty much empty! Usually I was completely alone as I wandered the huge rooms (I think the museum was formerly a palace). Loved it, felt like everything was there just for me.

Am exhausted now, hoping I can muster the energy to hit the street again and try some Napoli Pizza!