And so the journey begins....

I have arrived in Italy after an interesting time getting here. I flew from Frankfurt Hahn to Rome. Well Frankfurt Hahn airport is nowhere near Frankfurt, it is an 1 hour 45 minute bus trip, so it is closer to Belgium then it is to Frankfurt. So my plane left at 0600, so a 0200 wake up to get the 0300 bus to the airport. The poor guy at the reception desk was mightly confused onto why I was checking out so early, he even asked if I was aware that it was only 0230 in the morning. A fact that I was oh to well aware of. So I made it to Rome a little blurried eyed but fine all the same. I had organised a transfer from the airport to the camp grounds that I was staying at. After 2 hours of waiting and many phone calls, my pick up arrived. Then we proceeded to wait around for another 40mins or so for other people he was meant to pick up, but they never showed. The camp grounds are pretty good. I stayed in a bungalow dorm thing, basically 3 beds sqweezed into a room the size of a small garden shed. I thought I had scored big time when evening came and I still had the place to myself, but that was short lived when an Aussie chick turned up. 2 in the room isn't too bad, and then moments later, the 3rd arrived, so now it is a very full house. The last to arrive hated Rome already, he was pickpocketed twice in 30 minutes. And his story wasn't the only one like that, nearly everyone had a tale like that, happy to report that I didn't and haven't had any troubles thus far and with any luck (touch wood) I won't. That evening met a whole bunch of people who also had only arrived that day, so that plan was made to hit the sites tomorrow...they were happy to be in a group, safety in numbers and all that
First site on the hit list was the Colosseum - pretty cool! From there we wandered through the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill. I love the fact all these old places are in amoungst new buildings. The Pantheon was the stand out for me for the day. I just loved the huge hole in the ceiling. From the outside it looks ordinary but inside is just wonderful. The Trevi fountain was cool, and I add a coin to the thousands already in there. And as the legend goes, one coin thrown in will ensure you turn there, well, I did return there, even if it was for only 40 minutes for a train transfer I think the most disappointing thing was the Spanish Steps, there aren't a grand as I was envisioning, from what I had seen in movies. But we climbed them anyway, even in the soaring heat. The next day we headed to the Vatican Museum, that place is OTT to the max. I loved it, the paintings, the ceilings! the wealth!! I pretty much lost everyone as soon as we got in after 2 hours of waiting in a line that went almost back to Saint Peter's Square. After several hours of looking all the art, I managed to stubble across one of the guys in the Sistine Chapel, that was after I had a good giggle to myself in the modern christian art where there was a sculpture of two hands cupped together, one of the hands is clearly giving the finger (very religous I thought!) The paintings in the Sistine Chapel are just amazing, I just can't put words together to describe them. They have an amazing 3D feeling, like they are coming out from the ceiling at you. After sitting in amazement for ages, we headed to St Peter's Basilica. Now that place oozes money and over indulgence! Had a very interesting dicussion about the wealth of the Catholic Church and the poverty in the world. Went and visited John Paul II. Sat in the sqaure for ages soaking up the atmosphere and energy of the place. Tomorrow the Pope is doing an address to the people. Up early to get in and see the Pope. The line was huge when we got there to get in. So we jumped the railings and proceeded to go and get a position. We ended up at one of the fountains. The Pope came out and did a lap through the crowd, no bullet proof glass for this guy! He was waving and smiling, the first time I have seen him crack a smile. It was pretty cool seeing all the performance. That afternoon I headed North to Arrezo where I was catching up with an ex-workmate, his family and friends. They had rented a villa in Tuscany for a few weeks. I ended up spending 2 weeks there and saw heaps of the area, I had only intended to spend a few days. The best place we visited was Assisi, it is just breath taking on approach. The area is full of cool old towns to explore. After spending 2 weeks of living it up in the lap of luzury it was time to hit the road again. Back to Rome for a flight to Barcelona.

Arrived in Venice, minus my bag... thanks Mum and Dad... with that said an hour later I was back to carrying it.

First impressions of Venice was that I hated this joint. This was caused by misreading the map and getting off at the wrong water taxi stop, instead of only having to walk 300m we ended up walking 1+km. Opps my mistake. Antornin and Antorno are so simular, easy mistake to make.

After finally finding our accommodation, we headed out to wander the streets a bit. After a couple of minutes of not having to lug my bag around I was loving the place. First stop was the San Marco Plaza. Pretty cool. But the best thing was just walking around the endless little streets and just soaking up the atmosphere.

The next day was spent just having a look around. We headed to highly recommended cafe, where the coffee is cheap but is the best in Venice. It is such a secret one of the shopkeeps that I asked for directions from said he couldn´t tell me as it was a secret. But after a bit of battering the old eye lids he pointed me in the right direction. And yes it was worth it, the coffee was the best I have ever had.

After that we headed to the Rialto Bridge and did a bit of window shopping. I have to say the Itailans have it when it comes to fashion! Hands Down!! Picked up a bit of Venician glass. I could so live here. I would need a very well paying job, but it is just terrific, it looks like a complete mess and in chaos but it all just works somehow.

After two fantastic days there, we headed on to Torino, the home of the Winter Olympics. Torino was ok, didn´t get much of a chance look around.

From Torino we are heading into France and we are making good time to be where we need to be by Easter.