We left Florence on the cheap train (read really, really slow) for Rome. All of the hostels in the city center were pretty expensive so we opted for a camping that was a 20 minute metro ride from the city center. As usual we arrived at the city center having no idea where we were going and hungry from being on a train all day. After running in circles with our packs for an hour and a lively "discussion" as to where we were, we found the right metro to get us to the camping. We stayed in a twin room that consisted of 2 cots and just enough room to walk between them.
The next day we went to check out the Colosseum and the roman forum which was very cool, and luckily not very crowded. The city itself however, was just crawling with tourists and those waiting to rip them off (some were so clueless I was temped to rip them off), so we were glad to be staying outside of the city center. That night we had a picnic on the Spanish Steps which I am still not sure why they are important but they sure seemed to be. There we were hassled like crazy by Indians trying to sell us roses. Thanks to Istanbul we were pros at brushing them off.
The next day we went to the Vatican. On the walk towards it there were tons of Australians trying to sell us tours by saying that there was a problem at the gate and the only way to get in was with them. They were wrong. We got in no problem. We went to the Sistine Chapel which was beautiful. It was about an hour and a half wait to get in but it went really fast because the line snaked through room after room of the palace all decorated extremely elaborately with pictures of Jesus. Lets just say that the church is not hurting for money, and if they are they need a new accountant to tell them gold globes and crosses are not a good investment. I guess the 16 Euros they charge the thousands and thousands of people who go through there every day doesn´t hurt. Once in the Sistine Chapel you are just in a sea of people all looking up (with good reason). There are signs telling you not to lay on the ground to look up and security guards yelling "No Photo" over and over. (It didn´t work!)
After the Vatican we just started walking and found ourselves in a beautiful park overlooking the city with not one tourist; just dogs and kids. It was really what we need to relax after our lemming experience with the Catholic church.
We then took another very slow train to Venice. We fell in love with Venice as soon as we got off of the train. It was such a nice change having no cars! I think it helped that Europe canceled all flights so there was hardly anyone there. It was a really nice change from the busyness of Rome. The nice thing is that even a traffic jam in Venice is scenic.
We really didn´t do anything in Venice except wander around and explore the city. I think that we saw about as much of the island as your possibly can in two days. Our hostel was in the old Jewish Ghetto which was a nice place to stay because it was close to everything but not touristy at all. The closest thing to a dramatic event was when one leg of my tripod fell into one of the canals when I was taking a picture off of a bridge. Having no use for a bi-pod I swung under the bridge and hung from it while I used my foot to scoop the leg out of the water. Lisa was very impressed.
After Venice we took the train back to Milan to catch a flight to Malaga Spain. When we got there, the night before our flight, they cancelled it due to ash! We imeadiatly started looking at other options. Right when we were about to book a 19 hour boat to Barcelona, only half of the way, for four times the cost of our flight; they reinstated our flight. We made it to Malaga without incident. (Just the nervous feeling that you are on one of the first flights they allow after saying it was to dangerous to fly!)
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