Hello, It's time for the younger brother to step back into the spotlight on the blog. As Kevin mentioned earlier I took off last Sunday for Italy. And the plan was for me to fly back into Geneva tomorrow night, but sometimes things don't go as planned. Heres why.
A self-portrait taken inside the Colosseum in Rome.
My planned touched down in Rome on Sunday evening, I took the 45 min train to the central station where I was supposed to meet up with my high school buddies. Luckily I found them in the station fairly fast which was awesome 'cause I may have been there for hours looking for them in that massive place. I was stoked to hear that they were able to get us a sick hotel, not hostel, for only 19 euro a person, with breakfast. That just made my day so much better. So Monday morning we went out and got ourselves open bus, hop-on-hop-off passes. We used these to transport ourselves from site to site and see which ones we were really interested in seeing. Over those two days we saw a few of the big names in Rome tourist attractions: Colosseum, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Roman Forum. The weather required us to wear shorts and t-shirts, but I wasn't going to complain (*note the sarcasm). So those sites filled up our first 2 days. We then set aside a few days for the Vatican, because it's so huge we knew that it would require 2 full days of touring. One day we set aside for mass and St. Peter's Basilica, it was a really good day we were lucky enough to see the Pope, but you have to reserve tickets, for free of course. Also we used our awesome tourist skills to get a free tour of St. Peter's Basilica. We had the best free tour ever, the leader was from American and was studying in the Vatican for 2 years. His knowledge of religious and Vatican history blew us all away it made the experience that much better. It was pretty awesome experience and a highlight of my trip for sure and now I can watch The DaVinci Code and Angels & Demons (both very interesting films by the way) and say I've been there. The next day in the Vatican was spent at the museum and The Sistine Chapel. Not as exciting as the previous day but interesting none-the-less. By this time, the guys wanted see more Italy and put their Euro Rail's to work before they expired, but I had a flight out like a week later. So I was in a dilemma, stay in Rome alone for a week, or ditch my flight and travel Italy, I'll let you guess what I did.
A statue at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, an incredible tomb/monument, located downtown Rome.
Pisa was the first stop on the list, we got there and hit up the leaning tower. I think you could see that town and the sites in an afternoon. So we left the next day and got up to Venice (The Romance City), totally not the place for 6 dudes to hang out and expect to have a good time. So many couples and romantic little things to get for your hubby. The entire city is like a maze, with canals and boats everywhere it's so easy to get lost, which we did, multiple times. But then on Sunday, 3 were itching to go up to Germany to visit our friend and use up their Euro Rail before they expire on Friday. So they had to get on that, and then the other 2 were planning to go over to Spain/Portugal for the remainder of their trip. So there I was again, in another dilemma. Go back to Rome by train, stay for 4 nights and fly back. Or train it to Geneva and stay at the school for cheap. So again, I did the later. So on Monday morning we split up and all went our separate ways, I took the train to Geneva where Kevin picked me up and I came back to the school, were I am currently residing.
Went wondering at night and came across this fountain in this square. This is where they were having the Italian premier of "New Moon" for all you Twilight fanboys (and girls).
I had a great time in Rome, as well as the Vatican. Both are highlights of my trip, but it was unfortunate that it didn't last as long as scheduled. But it's good to be back at school and just getting geared up to go home. I have been keeping slightly busy with some projects for Kevin and helping out a guy in my SDC class. That's why you may have noticed the blog acting strange over the past few days. I made some small changes and people are now able to make donations to Kevin for his missions. It looks like that is all for now; I can't believe this trip is almost over, but I have enjoyed this experience and won't forget it. I fly back to Vancouver on Tuesday and will stay there for a few days before returning home. Ciao for now.
The Ancient Roman Forum, you can see the Colosseum in the background if you squint just right.
PS. I took a ton of photos down there and am using this time at school to edit some, so keep your eye on my Flickr. Thanks
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