Warm weather, amazing gelato, great cappuccino, thousands of tourists, rip off merchants and mad drivers characterised our day. Today we split up, Greg and Ben toured the Vatican city, whilst mum and the 3 boys visited cafes, shops and fleeting visits of tourist sights. The Vatican city is the smallest country in the world, but it has the biggest church in the world. We booked a tour for the museum and the sistine chapel. The pope's collection of statues is a...

Woke up to beautiful weather and decided to go to the colosseum. Got lost trying to get there,but as we turned the corner the colosseum came into full view. The colosseum is incredible, I couldn't believe how tall it was. We joined a tour and skipped the queue. From inside you get a sense of how big it really is. It can fit 60 000 people when full. I think it may be the favourite thing I see in Europe. But it's only the first day so there's still tons to see. Ben

Arrived rome 1944hrs. Waiting in line for passports in a sea of people. It was hot and oppressive. When we finally arrived the Italian passport official didn't even check our passports. Hey where is my stamp. Customs no problems. Taxi ride to apartment straight forward and the apartment is lovely. The owner had baked us a zucchini quiche and a very creamy dessert. Wifi excellent, location great. A good start.

Too hot!!! 38 degrees at Dubai airport. Off the plane into the sweltering heat and onto a bus. The bus was sweltering and it was far too crowded for my taste. At the worlds busiest airport it felt primitive being bussed many Kms to our planes and the terminal.

After a few hours sleep the 1.30am wake up was rude. In the Kia hire car and on the f3 bound for Sydney international airport. Oops, Greg forgot iPad and i forgot the ereader. On the bright side, we had all the kids, luggage, passports and tickets. At the checking in counter of emirates we discovered that the airline had decided to put the two children in aisle seats by themselves. Our seating configuration would of been harry, aisle seat next to 2 adults unk...