Rome Part 2

Its Monday, andf Rome is definetly much busier today.

We were up and at it at 8am this morning, about 1 hour later then we wanted to. Had a quick breakfast and straight into touring.

We did one of those tours where you buy some bus tickets and you jump on and off when and where ever that you want. It was fun getting the ticket, we were told to get the ticket from this red box at the bus terminal, then they told us to get a ticket in the train station, then they told us to get a ticket in the red box outside the bus terminal. We finally did get the ticket from the original place that we were told to go.

While we were waiting in line in the train station, some poor backpacker fainted, and knocked down half the que railing around the place. I guess those backpackers must wear themselves out, meals being few and far between, etc.

Italy certianly has it's share of con-artists, with beggars everywhere, they put on huge acts about being poor, etc, but you can tell its fake, and just to take advantage of tourists. While we were in line for tickets, this guy came up trying to sell us tickets for a competing bus company, or so he lead us to believe. We ignored him, but its definatley a lesson that you shouldnt trust people off the street trying to give you a "good deal".

We drive around in the bus past a few attractions and ended up getting off at the Vatican. OMG that place is huge and immaculate. Everything is made of marble, and there is so much art and history to the place. We got plenty of pictures, and video.

We also visited the tomb of Pope John Paul II and the other popes, I was supprised that you can take photos and video cameras down there, but you can, so we god heaps of pictures of that too.

Just as we left the Vatican it started raining, so we jumped on the bus and went to the next destination. The busses are the 2 story ones, with the top story being open air, just like in London. Unfortunatley it means that it collects rain, and as the bus turned, water would gush down the steps into the cabin below. It didn't really bother anyone though, except for an Australian couple who had a bag on the floor of the bus, the bottom of it got wet.

We stopped at some big fountain (sorry, I dotn have my map with me again, can't check place names), had lunch, and took a walk to the Spanish Steps. The spanish steps were ok, but not great, I think that the giant foot locker advertisement billboard plastered onto a church at the top of the steps kinda ruined it's atmosphere. It was still nice.

We then walked back to the hotel room, which was quite a long walk. Half of one of my filling came out while I was chewing some chewing gum, there isnt any pain, so im gonna wait and see what happens before I do anything about it.

We were all buggered, so we took a nap for a while, I only slept 30 mins, so I took a half hour walk. I went into this book store, which i thought was small, but after I walked in, the small bookstore turned into this massive 3 level store. I was kinda amazed about that. After that, they were still asleep, so I went to the hotel, jumped online and started writing thus update.

They've just woken up, so we're going to ride the buses till 7pm when our ticket becomes invalid, and then get some tea.

Might update with the rest of the day's activites later.