Rome -

We are at the end of our time in Rome now, and what an amazing city it is. It exceeded all our expectations, and was truly amazing. On our first day we headed to the Vatican City bright and early, to be in the queue before it even opened. Once inside, we made our way to the Sistine Chapel, which was absolutely incredible, with the paintings covering every inch of the ceiling and walls. We stood staring at this for as long as our necks would allow, and then went to explore the Vatican Museum. With the help of a very informative guide-book (thanks to Julia's mum) we were able to make some sense of the maze-like museum, which has a huge collection of art and treasures, including Greek and Roman items, huge map and tapestry galleries and lots of beautiful religious paintings. We peered out the windows into the lovely gardens of the Vatican City but no sighting of the pope....After over four hours, we emerged from the Vatican City, and raced around the corner to join the queue to get into St Peter's Basilica.

We were wowed again by the size and elaborate decoration of St Peter's. All the paintings, mosaics, immense statues, the dome...it was hard to absorb it all. It is truly beautiful. We wandered around inside, once again getting sore necks as we stared at the dome and the ceiling. After this, we took a well-deserved rest in the St Peter's square, which is also huge, and surrounded by four rows of massive pillars, which are topped by statues. We left St Peter's and walked along the river, past amazing bridges decorated with more statues, past castles and palaces, to the Trevi Fountain. This is also huge, and attracts a huge number of tourists. We had to fight our way through the crowds to get a seat beside the fountain, but it was worth it.

Next to the Pantheon, originally a temple, and later a Catholic church. The Pantheon's amazing feature is the dome, which is an "architectural marvel" (and also huge) with a hole at the top, allowing light in. We then explored some of the squares of Rome - Piazza Navona and Campo de Fiori, lively squares surrounded by restaurants. After wandering the streets some more, and discovering various amazing churches (including the church of St Ignatius of Loyola - a very impressive church!) and buildings, we retired to the hostel, to collapse and recover after an amazing day.

The next day we headed first to the Roman Forum and Palatine Hill - lots of ruins, of temples churches, triumphal arches and some of unknown origins (we did try to eavesdrop on tour groups, which are EVERYWHERE). After admiring the obvious wealth of history, we headed over to the Colosseum. This was massive, and we really appreciated this when we climbed to the second level and looked down on the arena, and imagined the atmosphere inside when it was full of people. It is interesting to see the extensive network of tunnels that would once have been under the floor.

Once outside again, we started walking around the city again. This was becoming increasingly hard, as the sun was beating down, and it was 34 degrees! But we battled on, to see the Circus Maximus, a long field where they once raced chariots, the Piazza del Campiodoglia, a square with a museum bordering it, and then to the monument to Vittorio Emmanuelle, which again is absolutely HUGE, and towers above Rome, with two sets of horse-drawn chariots that can be seen from all over the city. Up close, everything was a lot larger and very impressive, with numerous statues representing the different regions and cities of Italy. We were even whistled and gestured angrily at for sitting down on a ledge. After all this walking, we had to head back to the hostel to escape the overwhelming heat.

After a rest, we headed out for our first experience of Italian food (travelling frugally means buying most meals from the supermarket) and went to a restaurant on Campo de Fiori, which attracts tourist and Italians alike, to sit around the square and watch all the action in the square, including buskers, performers and many interesting and humourous dogs. We feasted on fried olives stuffed with meat, pizza, ravioli and even tiramisu for dessert. We made our way home via the Trevi Fountain (still as crowded at night) and threw the obligatory coins over our shoulders.

Our last day in Rome was spent tying up loose ends - climbed the dome of St Peter's ( all 500 and something steps) for an amazing view over Rome, and an up-close look at the mosaics on the inside of the dome. We then headed to the Piazza del Popolo (huge square, big fountain etc), the Spanish steps (big set of steps), a few other impressive buildings, and then most importantly, to taste the best coffee in Italy, if not the world! From Caffe Sant'Eustachio, near the Pantheon, we drank it in true Italian style, at the bar, as quickly as possible. It has been producing practically perfect coffee for over 60 years, and getting rave reviews from the New York Times (saying it was the best coffee in Italy) . We were very impressed, and once we had achieved this feat, felt we could leave Rome satisfied. Off to the next Italian city - Florence!