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Our Roman Holiday
2Rome really surprised us. It wasn’t as dirty or tacky as we expected, we didn’t have to fight off the gypsies like we thought, and there was a totally unexpected, beautiful central park (Villa Borghese) that we loved spending time in. All in all, Rome was a great destination for another short trip.
We arrived at Rome Termini and had an easy 6 minute walk to our accommodation, Macao Rooms, where we were greeted by the owner. We stayed in a pleasant bed and breakfast that we luckily didn’t have to share with any other guests, so it essentially felt like staying in an apartment. The location of the room was in perfect walking distance to many of the attractions and, for us, in walking distance to all the attractions of Rome. On our first day we just explored the local area, including the Villa Borghese which was not too far up the road.
Day 2 started slowly as we made use of the free internet to try and get ahead in our booking of accommodation for our next few destinations. Unfortunately our sightseeing was further delayed by a trip to the Australian Embassy as we had learned that we had not been taken off the electoral roll, despite filling out forms in January, and needed to try and organise something to not be fined for not voting in the upcoming State election.
After a bit of mucking around we were on our way to the Spanish Steps to meet our friend Chad, an American studying in Italy who we met at a hostel in Vienna. He had kindly agreed to tour us around the city. The tour was a lot of fun and it was nice to have some extra company for the day too. Chad was able to share some of the information he has been learning about Italian history while studying abroad, and this made for a more interesting tour than we could have done ourselves. We saw all the famous Ancient Roman sites including the Colosseum and Roman Forum, and of course many fountains, statues and churches too. My favourite site of the day was, hands down, the Pantheon. It was so beautiful, highly decorated, well designed and well presevered – a very impressive building indeed. After saying our goodbyes to Chad at the Trevi Fountain, another amazing attraction, we made our way back to our room to have dinner and rest our tired feet from the day’s walking.
Another full day meant we were able to take our time walking from our accommodation to the Vatican City. As we headed up the road to Saint Peter’s Square a dozen tour guides flocked to us like seagulls to hot chips, trying to convince us to pay for a tour or express entry into the basilica. Of course we said no to them all, I didn’t really see the point of paying for something that has free entry, and the line moved quite quickly considering to volume of people, the metal detectors and the x-ray bag scans. The fuss outside was definitely worth the effort as the interior of the basillica was just amazing. In my opinion it’s magnificence is only rivalled by Saint Mark’s Basilica in Venice. I coud not believe how detailed every inch of the place was, and it was just enormous! After soaking in the sunshine and having a snack break in the square we made our way back to our accommodation via Castel Sant’Angelo. The afternoon saw us once again enjoy the sunshine at Villa Borghese before we went out for dinner and admired the Trevi Fountain at night.
We have really enjoyed our time in Rome. The relaxed pace, sunshine and constant surprises have made it a great 3 days. To my surprise, Jason has even said that, while different, it is on par with how much he enjoyed Vienna.
It snowed in Venice…
2… And we got rather wet from all the snow soaking through our clothes as we walked the streets trying to head back to the train station. But as they say, everyone gets lost in Venice!
We arrived in Venice via train from Udine, midmorning, and were greeted by snow covered paths and the cool air. It was pleasant, however, and we were eager to begin exploring. Perhaps because I have been so relaxed at “home” with the family, I didn’t put much effort into researching what to see and do in Venice. Thankfully, a sign pointing the way to ‘San Marco’ triggered my memory and we began to follow what became a long maze of narrow alleyways and ambiguous signs.
We eventually arrived in Saint Mark’s Square, after crossing the disappointingly famous Rialto Bridge, and were blown away by the beauty and magnificence of the basilica. The detail and effort that went into the building and decorating of the cathedral was amazing. While exploring we also saw several other impressive churches and wandered round a free exhibit dedicated to Antonio Vivaldi.
Despite the length of our visit and the bad weather that saw us leave Venice, we had a really fun time. Lots of laughs and lots of sandwiches (thanks to my Italian “mum” Ombretta!) meant that even the worst weather couldn’t have put a downer on our day trip.
Our Getaway in Stockholm
1We spent five nights and five days all up in Stockholm and it was a really different experience to our last few stops. We took it easy here, going out a bit each day but not really pushing ourselves to spend whole days walking around the city. I think the weather has contributed somewhat to this. Being from Adelaide in Australia we are just not used to such freezing cold temperatures. While the weather was bearable, it did make it less appealing to spend long periods of time outside as our faces would just get too cold!
We didn’t do as much site seeing in Stockholm either. On our second day here we visited Gamla Stan (Old Town) but that was really about it. Old Town is located on one of Stockholm’s islands and is made up of historic buildings, including the Royal Palace. It was here that we viewed the Changing of the Guard, which was pretty impressive. There was much more to see than the Athens equivalent as it goes for approximately 45 minutes and has a bugle, drum, marching soldiers and flags.
Our other days were spent wandering the shopping district along Drottningsgatan, relaxing at the hostels and, my favourite, snowboarding at Hammarbybacken!
We shared our time between two hostels while in Stockholm. The first was at City Hostel in Kungsholmen and the other was Skanstulls Vandrarhem in a trendy area called Södermalm. We both liked City Hostel a lot more despite Skanstulls Vandrarhem being in a bit better location. City Hostel felt more welcoming, more organised and was just more cosy. The fact that we didn’t have to share a dorm with a sleep apnoea sufferer who sounded like she was drowning in her sleep helped too!
Despite the cold, we really enjoyed our getaway in Stockholm. I know Jase was absolutely blown away by all the beautiful countryside we passed on the bus ride out of the city and I appreciated the different style of travel it brought to our adventure.
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