Tag Archives: Italy

Rome Part 2: Vatican and Colosseum

We started the day with a quick bus-ride over to the Vatican to get in line early for the St. Peter’s Basilica dome climb.  After a short wait in line, we proceeded to climb 448 ft to the top of the dome.  Along the way, we got some very impressive views of the inside of the Basilica.  Of course, the view from the top was excellent.

Ceiling of St. Peter's Basilica
Ceiling of St. Peter's Basilica

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Rome Part 1: Scavi and Forum

Rome started out rushed.  We took an early train from Florence and arrived at Roma Termini station just before 10am.  From the train station we dropped our luggage off at the hotel and took a cab to the Vatican for our 11:15am Scavi Tour.  This is the same tour that Matt, Lyle, and I participated in last year.  Katie, Julie, and Alan toured the excavations of the Vatican without me, since I had already done it.

Swiss Guard outside Scavi Tour entrance
Swiss Guard outside Scavi Tour entrance

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Cinque-Terre

From canals to seas we continued!  We have arrived in Cinque-Terre.  First things first, we roamed around town until we were able to find our hostel.  Little did we know we would have to hike up a mountain to get there!  Eventually, we made it and got settled in.  Next, we went to the coast to see what the city had to offer.  We found some giant rocks that we wanted to play on that snaked around in the sea.  We felt like little kids again! 🙂

Justin by the rocks
Justin by the rocks

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Venice

From the Swiss Alps to the canals of Venice we ventured!  We did not get a very warm welcome, however.  When we arrived it was raining, and people if you know what Venice is like you would feel very sorry for us.  The city is a labyrinth.   We felt like rats in a maze as Alan put it…dead ends in every direction and streets going every which way.  To make matters worse, Justin’s GPS phone was dying.  By some miracle we arrived unscathed at our hotel.  Unbeknownst to us, our hotel happened to be right by a tourist attraction too, which we had no idea even existed!!

tourist attraction
tourist attraction

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Cinque Terre

I am now by myself in Europe.  Matt and Lyle left last Thursday morning.  I haven’t had regular wifi, so this post is a little overdue.

From Rome, I caught a train to the tiny Italian town called Manarola along the northwestern coast.  Manarola is in a string of five small towns that make up Cinque Terre.  I spent three nights and two days here.

The town of Manarola along the Mediterranean Coast

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