Michael and I opted for a giant pizza which was filled with ham and bacon, and Rach went for the scampi pasta. When it arrived she was pretty grossed out as "it still had eyes". The pizza was great and the Italian waiters just loved making a fuss over Jake!
Our first day in Rome we decided to visit the Vatican City and after figuring out the Rome metro we got there in no time. As we were walking down the road to the Vatican we were confronted with a street full of men trying to sell us a private tour of the Vatican to "avoid the two-hour queue at the door", not to mention the men every couple of metres trying to sell umbrellas and ponchos as it had started to rain. We decided against the private tour due to the expense and when we arrived at the Vatican there was no queue whatsoever!
I'm not really sure what I expected of the Vatican, I didn't really have any expectations but just that it was one of those 'must-sees' in Rome but I'm glad we did it. The rooms upon rooms upon rooms of gorgeous artwork were really breathtaking and I could imagine those with a keen interest in art and Catholicism could spend days there dissecting each painting but not being particularly artistic or religious I was happy to just admire them at face value.
Of course, the highlight was the Sistine Chapel which was just beautiful. After spending an hour or two inside, we went around to St Peters's square which was absolutely packed. Initially keen to go inside the basilica, we were put off by the huge queue which snaked in a zigzag throughout the square and decided to move on and find the famous Trevi Fountain.
After a stroll through a local market we made our way to the fountain which was, of course, brimming with tourists (and street vendors trying to rip off the tourists). After admiring the fountain and making a wish, it was time to find the closest metro and head to our sunset bike tour of the city.
Along the way, one of the many street vendors tried to give Rach and me some roses, which is a big scam because they pretend its a gift and then ask for money. We didn't accept, but the man assured Rach and Michael that it was a gift and so Rach accepted and we kept walking. About 30 seconds later the guy appears next to Michael asking for a couple of Euros which Michael refused. He ended up following us quite a way but disappeared as soon as we descended the metro steps. Rach left the roses behind saying "they weren't given with love".
The sunset bike tour started off as a bit of a traumatic experience for poor Rach, who hadn't ridden a bike for years - she actually thought the tour we were doing was a tuk-tuk tour where you sit in a wagon pulled by a guy riding a bike so it was a bit of a shock for her - and for wee Jake, who hadn't been on a bike before but he loved it!
The tour took us around a lot of places we would never have been able to cover on foot, and as we were the only ones booked it was like having our own tour guide of Rome for two hours. We cycled up a hill which gave us a great view of the city while our guide filled us in on some of the history of the city, the buildings, the Tiber river and so on. He took us down narrow, crowded streets past endless restaurants, along the Tiber as well as to some of the city's most famous spots.
Poor Rach had just gotten the hang of her bike when out of now where, the crank fell off in the middle of the street! The guide managed to race to a nearby gas station to tighten it and then Rach and I swapped bikes as she was terrified it would happen again. Well, about 30 minutes later it did and the only option at that point apparently was for us to cover the remaining two kilometres with the guide cycling next to me pushing me, and that was a strange experience! There aren't really any bike lanes in Rome so we were cycling along the road two abreast - we definitely got some angry blaring horns!
After the tour we found a fantastic cheap trattoria around the corner and I had the best lasagne of my life. Even though we were in a touristy area, the bill for the three of us plus Jake only came to 26 Euros including beers and wine!
No comments:
Post a Comment