Maybe the old saying "All roads lead to Rome" still holds true... we began our trip way back in February heading in completely the opposite direction and with no concrete plans to visit the city - and yet here we were. Our train pulled into Roma Termini station, one of the largest stations in Europe, in the early evening of Tuesday 11 December. Our hostel wasn't far so we ended up walking and, after quickly unpacking, we headed into the old part of town (in Rome, 'old' is a bit of a strange concept - if its less than 500 years old it's actually still pretty new...) for a walking tour.

We were fortunate to have a local lady showing us around - she had grown up in Rome and lived there most of her life and so was able to show us many things that we definitely wouldn't have picked up by just reading about them. We met at the Spanish Steps and went on to visit the inconspicuous little church containing 2 of Bernini's angels, learned how to drink out of the multitudes of drinking fountains like a local and the trick to ensure that one day you will come back to Rome. Afterwards we headed back to the hostel for dinner and, even though by now it was quite late, Monique still more than enough energy to drag us out for more gelato! (not that I was kicking & screaming...) In the end, the tirimisu just looked too good to resist, but we promised to return with Jason the following night and get stuck into the ice-cream :-)

Wednesday we woke up still pretty tired and not in the greatest of moods after the one other person in our dorm had snored the ENTIRE night!?! We were about to check out and find somewhere else, but fortunately we were able to move to another room where we met this pretty cool Canadian girl who we ended up hanging out with a bit. There was a real, authentic Italian coffee shop just around the corner from us, so we stopped by for a bit of a morning jolt. The Italians take their coffee VERY seriously and the experience was a bit more intense that what we're used to! It was amazing though and we made a point of returning there every morning before we set out sightseeing.

Now awake, we walked back to the really old part of town and joined another guy for a tour, where we got to see some more beautiful pieces of history, including the Pantheon (who's columns date back to like 2000BC!) and the Column of Marcus Aurelius. We ended the tour overlooking a massive excavation site up on the hill just behind the gigantic Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II. The view overlooking the Colluseum was superb and even though it was just a simple lunch, it was one of our best and most memorable in Europe. Re-energized, we set off for the Colluseum, which is actually quite spectacular from up close - that they could build something this big over 2000 years ago is something that has to be seen to be believed! Our last stop turned out to be the top of the nearby hill, from where we watched the sun set before heading back for dinner. As promised, we hit the gelato (apparently the oldest gelateria in Italy?) shop hard after dinner and, to be honest, actually felt a little sick afterwards :-/ It was just so good though!

Thursday we were again up early to make the long walk accross town to visit the Vatican City, officially the smallest internationally recognised country in the world. We crossed the Tiber river over the St Angelo bridge, marvelling at the stunning sculptures along either side. We decided to first visit the museums, which house a huge collection of art collected over the centuries by the Catholic Church. Fortunately we weren't there in the high season so there wasn't even a queue to get in :-) (apparently it can get rediculously long) Even though none of are real art snobs, it was still quite special to be able to see works by guys like Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelangelo & Raphael in real life. We spent hours walking through the maze of beautiful old rooms packed full of paintings, sculptures and tapestries. It was late afternoon before we were done and we were absolutely starving (no eating inside!) so we sat on the steps around St Peter's Piazza and ate our ham, pesto & cream-cheese baguettes. By now the sun had dissapeared and it was getting quite cloudy, and the first drop of rain sent us running for the entrance to St Peters Basillica, the largest church in the world. Again, the whole place is just covered in amazing art and sculptures and, while we weren't allowed to get too close to the main alter, you don't really need to be to appreciate the enourmous 20m tall, ornate brass columns supporting the brass canopy. We wandered around some more, admiring some of the smaller enclaves and statues, before finally heading back for dinner, stopping on the way to arrange train tickets for the next day. After dinner we made the now customary trip down to 'our' gelateria for some yummy desert and then went to bed.

Friday was another early start and, after some quick espresso's at our coffee shop round the corner, we made our way to the train station and caught another high-speed train to Florence, where we would spend the day. The trip was pretty quick and we were able to just catch a mid-morning guided tour of the old town, where we learned some of the history and visited some of the important sites. We ate a picnic lunch at a Christmas market in a church square, and then Kevin & Jason headed off for a second tour while Monique took the oppotunity to browse around some some shops and explore the old town. That evening we met back at the main train station for the trip back to Rome, and later, joined up with our Canadian friend and we all went for a delicious pizza dinner. Afterwards we got some more ice cream, which we ate sitting around the beautiful Trevi Fountain. After tossing the customary coins over the left shoulder, we walked back slowly through the old cobbled streets to our room to pack and get some much needed sleep.

Saturday we were again up early to catch our ride out of Rome. After picking up some supplies on the way to the station, we boarded a train for our next stop, Lucern - a journey that would take most of the day. At least the trains were comfortable :-)