So much has happened since the last time I posted! I've honestly been having too much fun to be posting blogs! Here's the rundown, I'll try not to forget anything...
After Milan I took the train up to Rome with the intention of seeing that city and then working my way back up to Florence.
Rome was surprisingly nice! I don't know if it was just because of the contrast with Naples, but it seemed so clean, simple and organized. The first day I got in to town I went to the Coliseum and took a guided tour of it. The thing that really surprised me was how small it was. After watching Gladiator it seemed so massive, so I was pretty disappointed by that. I had heard that they had staged naval battles there because it was so big, but in reality it was too small to be very good for that, so they only did 2 battles there before moving the event to the Circus Maximus. In reality, it felt closer to a high school gymnasium than the Rose Garden.
I also went to the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel -- another thing that was disappointingly small! Don't get me wrong, the artwork and the colors were spectacular, but the keyword there is "Chapel." I was expecting something like a massive cathedral/basilica, but it was actually just one room within the Vatican Museum.
The hostel I stayed at was also very small but extremely friendly. They supplied breakfast and dinner every night, and everyone was forced into a small commons area with standing room only, so it was a very social environment. Everyone went on pub-crawls every night, so that was a lot of fun exploring the city with a bunch of other drunken tourists.
During a dinner/pub crawl I met this Canadian guy named Pacey, a couple of Aussie girls (Sarah and Pele), and this Irish guy named Andy. I should say that the Irish are 100% cool so far, I don’t know what it is but I have never met an Irishman that I haven’t liked. This guy was totally Irish too, talking about how his great grandma drank 2 pints of Guinness a day for her entire life, and lived to be 105 years old.
But I digress. It turns out that Sarah and Pele were heading to Greece, but they didn’t know where. Pacey had been to this island named Corfu that he really liked and recommended going there. The Irish guy didn’t know where to go after Rome, and I was planning on just killing some time in Florence before school started.
I’m not sure how it happened but we all ended up going to Greece together. I’ll write about that in the next post so that this doesn’t get too long…
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
Hello and thanks for the opportunity to read and post on your blog.
I’ve just posted an article related to travel tips for seniors on my blog and I thought maybe you’d be interested in reading it. Here is short preview of some of the areas I covered:
- Prefer a backpack on wheels instead of a suitcase, you could pull it behind you when your back hurts or you are exhausted.
- Consider checking your bag in with the airlines, because it would become an unnecessary burden to be dragged all over the airport or the city if you are going to have a short visit.
- You could stay outside the city, in a hostel maybe, because it is cheaper, less crowded and the air is much fresher, but you have to walk or use the transport more, to get in the city or to the station.
- Most museums, some concert halls, railways, airlines, bus lines, ferry and shipping lines have a discount policy for seniors.
- Electronic devices are useful but sometimes they can give you a lot of headaches. You could help yourself with a micro-tape recorder to record your notes. It would be easier than to write and you would put them down on paper later, to share your notes with your family.
- If you bring a camera with you to keep the beautiful images alive along the time then make sure you know how to handle it or you might fail to record them not only on that camera but also in your eyes.
For more resources on travelling to Europe you are welcome to visit my blog, where you can also get acces to some excellent maps of Stockholm and maps of London, together with information on hotels and restaurants.
Best regards,
Michael R.
Post a Comment