Italy - part 1

I am going to try to try a post about each city in Rome - Dont know if that will work but here is the first one.

We flew from Vancouver to London and London to Rome.

In typical Air Canada fashion, our flight from Vancouver to London was delayed "due to technical reasons". We were told this after checking in, boarding and putting on our seat belts. Something sounded fishy - in true form we left about two hours late with very little time to catch the connection. We did make the connection and arrived in Rome airport and took the train (an express train from airport to the city centre). Which was not bad at all.

Anyways, we step out of the train station and are trying to figure out where we should be going and ended taking a 10 euro taxi ride for a 5 minute walk. Oh well.

Rome was the worst part of the trip. The city centre of Rome is so touristy that literally everywhere we went - we heard nothing but English and saw nothing but English pubs. It was awful. I mean I didnt go to Italy to get the authentic experience but it would have been nice to eat some pasta without the same damned tomato sauce. Anyhoo, if you are planning to go to Rome - you wont need more than 3 days in the city. We saw pretty much all there was to see. The highlights were the of course the Sistine Chapel and the Pantheon. Both of these took my breath away.

We had to wait for 3 hours in the hot sun to see the Sistine Chapel but it was so worth it. A word of advice, do the Sistine Chapel and the whole of Vatican on a weekday. We made the mistake of going on a Saturday and it was a nut house. The weekdays you would get a little shorter lineup. Oh, yes, and do be there at 8 in the morning. We found that by the time we were done the Sistine Chapel and Vatican Museum in general we didnt really care about standing in another lineup to see the Basilica. We didnt even try. At that point we had had enough. The Chapel itself is wonderful. It really is. There is nothing that can describe it. I am obviously not a catholic in any way - but you have to see it.

The Pantheon was also truly amazing. We didnt have to stand in any lineups at all to see it. It was just amazing. It is one to things you dont want to miss.

Some of the other things worth seeing are, of course the Colosseum, the Capitoline Museums, The Roman Forum. We didnt end up seeing the Roman baths but I think it would have been awesome.

Rome, inspite of its touristy-ness will always have a special place in my heart for this one Enoteca we ate at. If you want the name - email me and I will send you details.

Okay, next up is Naples.