The Vatican Museum

Our first full day in Rome we went to the Vatican on the metro, Vatican City is walled so it was a bit of a trek. 

But then we were there before we knew it, the queue was absolutely obscene, I have never seen anything like it, easily a good two hours long with ticket scalpers all along it trying to make people buy guided tours. 

Luckily I'm a holiday nazi so I had pre-ordered tickets and had them ready printed so off to the front of the queue we skipped.

I expected a lot more religious history but it was a real assortment of things (some stolen from other places as you can see below)

Lots of stone and lots of art.

This was a long corridor of all sorts of statues and busts of people and gods.

The building itself was really ornate, lots of lovely décor. 

Very intricate ceilings in each room.

There was a hall called the marble zoo where there was a ton of marble animals.

I liked the arch ways.

Part way through I got a bit bored of all the marble... 

But then we moved into pottery.

And I really liked the map room.

Where there were ye olde maps of the world

There was a bit of religious history but not tons

Some tapestries, and then... 

The Sistine Chapel

Where I took some very sneaky photos

But it was so crowded and loud I didn't find it awe inspiring or anything. 

I tried to find Norwich on all the maps and finally was successful! 

Next, off to the rest of the Vatican.

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the "Rome" tag below.

Out And About In Rome

Walking round Rome all day on the cobbles and marble can be hard on the feet and so we got a metro ticket for the week for the bargain price of 24 euros and it stops off close to all the major attractions in the city and is shaped in an X. 

Graffiti is all over Rome and some how... all over the trains too? Unfortunately most of it is just scribbles and not very good, they could use a little Banksy if you ask me. 

But the trains come very regularly, we never waited more than five minutes - beware though, they can get crowded!

We saw a lot of police and guards about Rome and in the airport, unfortunately none of them were really up to much and seemed much more concerned with playing on their phones and smoking; however I did very much enjoy this little police car I found - how sweet!

Round the city you'll find water fountains everywhere but specifically drinking fountains that pump safe clean water out for free. This is so handy because the days are really hot. 

Also around Rome the SPQR is found everywhere, on people's tattoos (think gladiator), signs, tourist souvenirs, even drain covers. It means Senātus Populusque Rōmānus or in English - The Senate and People of Rome.

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the "Rome" tag below. 

Hotel

Well after the flight in we arrived at the Termini station in Rome where our hotel was very conveniently located and then we crammed ourselves into this with our luggage...

It was a VERY tight squeeze but as I was not heaving my case up 5 flights of stairs; sardines it was. Our room was small but very nice and had glorious air conditioning so that every day when we came back from being out in the hot dusty weather it was a bit like stepping into a fridge. 

The best part of all though was our little private roof top terrace, it was so nice to sit out in. I even decided I would water the plants until the house pipe sort of fell off and water went everywhere.... I abandoned the plan then. 

The bathroom was all in order and very tidy

We weren't brave enough to try the bidet though. Once we ditched our cases we decided to pop to the local supermarket to pick up some drinks and snacks. 

There were more Asian tourists about Rome than there were Romans! But I enjoy mundane things like this on holiday, doing normal things you'd do at home and seeing the differences. Like the more Italian Coke names I thought were funny. 

My prize purchase was this mystery gum that I thought was kind of funny. 

Simple things... we went to dinner the first night and I was excited about this too, instead of sachets of ketchup, sachets of parmesan.

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the "Rome" tag below. 

Off To Italia

Well chums I'm back from Italia and I'm afraid I have rather a lot to show and tell so expect lots of holiday blog posts. After a little petting session with Mr Pussycat we set off to Heathrow.

The journey was rather rubbish, traffic everywhere, road works, lane hoggers but we eventually got to Heathrow. I do like Heathrow compared to the other London airports, it looks nice and modern and clean(er?).

We checked our bags relatively easily and quickly, we used the BA app to store our boarding passes etc on our smartphones. Next stop was duty free and we had a browse, I didn't buy anything; I never do! I never think things are that much cheaper than the shops back home really.

Then we sat around at our gate and waited... and waited

Then it was time to board, hurrah! We had quite a nice plane on the way out where it was just two seats each side on the aisles and three in the middle and we got to pick our seats free so we had nice window seats without having to sit next to any randoms.

I like taking off and landing best, I really enjoy flying. Once you're up in the cloud kingdom though there's not so much to see. 

We got amused on the flight by obnoxious Italian teens on a school trip drawing on their classmates faces. As you can see this lucky chap got a mono brow, side burns, a spectacular moustache and goatee.

We got some food on the flight too, but as it was only a 2 and a bit hour flight it was a full meal but my wrap was very nice.

As was the wine. I like all the little miniatures.

The boyfriend scored with 4 shots... he didn't have them all on the flight though. I wonder if they give people free alcohol to make the flight a bit more enjoyable for the staff, lots of merry passengers. 

Over the alps

And then to Rome

Phew!

And then, a scary transfer ride on Italian roads with the kamikaze mini bus driver... ahhhh!

To read more about my holiday click the August tab on the right hand side and see my posts or click the "Rome" tag below. 

Roman Holiday

Well chums, I'm off to Rome tomorrow and leaving early... I say early, 7am. So not really so bad as far as flights go. I've got my case all packed and got a plastic wallet full of holiday documents (holiday nazi). I've tidied the house (ish) and other than the boyfriend asking if his passport is still in date (me - WHAT?!?!?), things are relatively calm. 

The lovely helpful British Airways has a nice app that I can monitor my flights on and have uploaded my boarding pass to my iPhone and chosen my seat (slightly in love with British Airways), how organised. 

The pussy cat's babysitters are due to visit tonight for pizza take out and that my friends, I think is all...breathe... 

End Of Year One

Well chums it's the end of my first year at uni, it's gone so fast. All my paperwork is handed in, my placement is now over and I was really pleased with my mark. I got my first card from a patient which was really nice.

Especially now I can tuck it into my over large portfolio! Just one more lesson and then it's the summer holidays, Rome and Ibiza, yay!