Greetings from Rome

Hi everyone,

This is going to be a short posting as we have to be up early tomorrow at 5:15am wake up, as we are catching the ferry to Greece. I've set the timer for 4:45am so I can have my shower, pack everything and make sure I have everything in my over night bag. I am looking forward to visiting Greece and it sure will be a high light of my tour.

These last two days have been historical ones. Yesterday morning we drove from Sorrento to the City of Pompeii. This was a very interesting site, as it showed how the Romans lived in the past. Living was extremely rough. After visiting Pompeii we drove to Rome. Rome is famous for the leader of the Catholic Church-Pope Benedict. Pope Benedict lives in Rome and a lot of his speeches ate filmed in Rome.

Today I visited the Vatican and the Sistine Chapel. We had a guide called Christine and she showed us round. Did you know that Michael Angelo painted ceiling and surroundings of the Sistine Chapel. Michael Angelo's speciality was in creating sculptures but his first ever painting was done at the Sistine Chapel. The ceiling paintings in the Sistine Chapel told stories from the bible and the characters were painted in such a way that they looked like they were in 3D.

We also walked through this Tapestry room, which the tapestries told biblical stories. They were so fine and delicate. After this we went to the Basilica. Inside the Basilica Cathedral the artwork was done in Mosaic. We were allowed to take photos as the camera flash does not affect Mosaic Artwork.

After this we went to the Coloseium. The Colloseium was used for productions. It was a bit like an outdoor theatre. It was very interesting to climb up the top and to look down.

In Italy I have noticed the temperature is a lot higher. Most people have siestas in the afternoon from 1-4pm. A siesta is having an afternoon sleep/rest, as the weather is so hot this time of day. Retailers close shop at this time, go home and sleep. Then after 4pm retailer re-open shop and continue to work until 9pm at night.

Dinner times are interesting here. Most of the Italians have dinner between 8 - 10 pm. It is mainly light. Lunch is to be seen as the big meal of the day.

Tomorrow I am off to Greece. I am not sure whether the ferry will have Wifi. So Internet maybe out for a few days. Looking forward to visiting Greece. On Wednesday I am doing a cruise round the Greek Islands.