Travel Day: Rome to Venice

Today went really well. We were ready to leave in plenty of time and made our way to the train station without incident. There we bought some lunch and waited for our train. Traveling by high speed train is really nice, especially if you enjoy looking out the windows.

Walking out of the train station in Venice was a momentous experience. Rome was nice, but felt a bit constricting (not sure how else to describe it), but Venice was reinvigorating... and relaxing all at the same time. Our host had previously contacted me to explain how to get near to the apartment (we took the water bus line 1 to San Silvestro) and then she met us and took us the rest of the way there. Here is our Venice Apartment. It's location was amazing - we had a grocery store just down the street, were just a 2-3 minute walk from the Grand Canal, and just a 7-10 minute walk from the Rialto Bridge.

We ate out that night, but bought groceries for our other meals.

Here is a link to our Rome Apartment. I've also added it to my first Rome post.

And here is our video Travel day to Venice

Rome Shopping

Today was our shopping day in Rome. We slept in a bit (were still out by 10am) and went to a shopping area we saw on our bus tour. And, I got my purse!!! The style I've been looking for for about a year :)

Michelle had gotten a Fossil Explorer Tote in Espresso and I liked it, but it was just a bit too boxy for me. And the short handles wouldn't fit on my shoulder, which I knew would annoy me. So, I've been shopping around and have found a few in this style, but nothing quite like what I wanted. Till Rome. And, I found one in a dark navy blue (almost black). And I love it :) In case you haven't figure it out yet - It's perfect!

Anywho, we did some shopping, ate lunch and walked around. We had planned to try to go to the Colosseum, but we didn't get around to it. We had driven past it with the bus tour so we felt okay about not getting to it. I think if we had had one more day, we would have but - next time :)

Here's the link to Rome: Shopping Day

Vatican Tour

Today we had our Vatican Museums, Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica Skip the Line tour. It was only 3 hours but it wiped us out. The Vatican Museums are plural because they are actually collections of different Pope's and influential persons rather than art preserved and displayed for historical documentation. So, we saw several of these collections (but not all - again, it was just a 3 hour tour). Our tour guide explained that back in the time that many of the statues were created, they were dressed in clothing of that time period, were painted to look life-like, including make-up, and some even wore jewelry (pierced ears and everything).

After we saw the Sistine Chapel. It was magnificent. I can't imagine spending three years straight working on painting a ceiling and then spending another 4 years painting one wall, but the time taken is evident in the quality of the work. Our guide explained the different depictions beforehand as silence is required within the chapel. The purpose really was to help the Cardinals choosing the next Pope remember what their purpose is and the history of Christianity. With that being said, Michelangelo was not interested in being constrained by a conservative mind-set and this is evident in some of the faces of his subjects (different personages bear likenesses of people he both admired and did not admire - to put it nicely). I wasn't quite sure what to expect with the Sistine Chapel, but I was expecting something a bit bigger - probably because I have see so many grand cathedrals - but it's a chapel, not a cathedral. Still, it is very well worth seeing.

Lastly, we saw St. Peter's Basilica. It is an enormous Basilica. The dome is huge. There is writing painted around the inside edge - each letter is 6 feet tall - and it didn't look like they were that tall. Everything was created out of marble, including the pictures. They look like paintings, but they are actually created by minuscule pieces of marble, glass, and gold pieced together in a mosaic. Again, they looked like paintings unless you looked very closely at them.

Afterwards Michelle and I went back to our apartment for lunch and didn't leave. We needed some time to recuperate.

Again, here is the link to our video. I am thinking I won't get pictures posted till much later, possibly even once I return to the States - but don't worry. You'll get to see some pictures too :)

Vatican Tour

Rome City Bus Tour

Success!!! We had a wonderful first full day in Rome. e had planned to get up at 8 and head out by 9:30 but I set the wrong day for our alarm and we didn't get up till 9. But it all worked out and probably  gave us that little bit more of rest we needed to get the most out of our day. We were still out by 10/10:30 and walked over to the Vatican to find the bus stop for our Hop-on Hop-off city bus tour. It took us a few minutes to find the right place, but it worked and we were able to hop on the next bus (perfect timing).
We decided to ride the full tour once and then choose where we wanted to get off, so that's what we did. Michelle took pictures while I took film (link to our second video below), though we switched a few times. It was a bright, hot day - a bit unexpected from the weather forecast, but we had remembered to put our sunscreen on before leaving that morning and were fine. We could have benefited from cooler clothing, but… oh well. After riding the tour for one circuit, we decided to get lunch and ate near the Vatican. Then we walked back to the apartment for a quick recharge (reapply sunscreen, change, etc), gelato (extra dark chocolate and coffee) and headed back to the bus. We had decided to get off at the Fontana di Trevi and Pantheon and that's exactly what we did. Between the two places are lots of little streets full of shops and restaurants and we decided we wanted to come back sometime when we could meander a bit more (the last bus left at 7, so if we wanted to ride it back we had to be at the bus stop in time). Originally we thought we would get off at the Colosseum, but we ran out of time for that and the Colosseum was closed as well.
Riding on the top of a double decker bus is a marvelous way to see a city - unobstructed views, nice breeze, fresh air, and your feet get a break ;)
After we returned to the Vatican stop, we headed back to the apartment (our location really is great - as long as we can find our way back to the Vatican we can find our way to our apartment and it's only about a 7 minute walk - if you speed walk like us) and got gelato again (mango, coconut and mint). Our evening was really nice and relaxing. We prepared dinner, ate, and planned out next day.

Again, here is the link to our second video (on Michelle's vlog) - I'll post pictures at a later time - when I get a chance to sort through them a bit…

Link to Follow me around: Rome, Italy pt. 2

Michelle's Arrival and our first day in Rome

A bit more about Michelle's arrival - I was late!! :( Not by much, but I wanted to be there when she got out and I wasn't. And it was entirely my fault. I didn't leave Blanc quite as early as I had wanted (was scrambling around trying to get things in order the way I wanted - and I got it all done) and then I had to wait 10 minutes for the RER to Charles de Gaulle. Once I got there I had to get on a shuttle to terminal 1 and then figure out which floor the arrivals were on. It wasn't too difficult, but because I already knew I was running late, I felt a bit flustered. Once I found her we got back to the shuttle and the RER and made our way back to the apartment. After dropping off her bags we got some groceries and visited the boulangerie and I sent off some letters and a job application (really is coming to an end here).
We packed, and got everything ready for our departure for Rome the next morning and then went to bed (well, I posted several times first…).

Getting to Orly airport was pretty easy. I had never gone there by RER before so wasn't sure how smoothly it would go, but it was really easy. And finding our check in point wasn't too difficult. Then we sat down and waited to board out plane. Once on the plane, I passed out and woke up about 40 minutes before landing (it was only an hour and forty minute flight). Waiting for our checked bag took awhile and then we had to figure out how to get to our apartment. It was fairly direct, but as we are unfamiliar with the train system in Italy  and the owner was waiting for us at the apartment if felt like it took awhile, but we got there and had a grand old time settling in.

Link to our Rome Apartment.

I'll post pictures as some point, but right now there is a link below to Michelle's vlog with a video of our  first day in Rome.

Follow me around: France, Italy, UK and Switzerland pt. 1