Roma

What can I say, Rome was unbelievable in every sense of the word. With ancient history, beautiful architecture and culture at every turn, I felt my 3-day stay was insufficient to say the least.

Walking through the ancient city was something special for me. Having studied Greek and Roman mythology, much of the ruins came to life.

I spent my time in the coliseum rather than waiting in line outside of it. A tip that I found on wiki-travel let me in on the fact that you can buy ticket good for the palace and the coliseum at the palace, which has a line of 5 people maximum.

I'm getting tired of certain types of tourists though. The ones who are in a hurry to just see things, on the surface, so they can rush off to the next point on their map. Mind you, I've felt VERY much like a tourist on this trip. I've still managed to take the quality over quantity approach. But, I guess, to each their own.

The Vatican was the exception. I was really dissapointed in people being unable to show any shred of respect or self restrain. Fifty signs, clearly stating NO PHOTOGRAPHY explained by a camera with both the camera and the flash crossed out. Also, they ask for quiet, not silence, but quiet. The Sistine chapel: Rushed with a gigantic crowd down a small corridor, finally when we get in everyone starts talking, even yelling to their friends across the room AND taking FLASH photography. All around me. Not photography, discreetly, with the flash off, but just blatant disregard. Every minute or so the guards had to say SHHHHHH really loud and clap to quiet down the full-on roar that the noise had become. Then again, yelling "Prego, avanti" we were herded quickly like cattle out so more tourists could be herded through just as quickly.

I'm not making any statements as of yet of how I feel about the whole thing. Right now, I'm only sure that I didn't like the complete lack of respect. People can usually be quiet in other, somewhat less delicate places. Why not in the Vatican's Sistine chapel?

I stayed in Ostia, just outside of Rome, a decision I am grateful for. My room had a view of the beach. I only had to walk out the front gates of the hostel and cross the road to access the free sandy beach. The hostel itself was an old monestary, with wide lots of space.

The people that I met in Rome, the Romans, were incredibly kind and helpful, despite my complete lack of knowledge of Italian (save for words like 'grazie', and other bits). One woman even escorted me to the right metro station and offered her phone for me to call my hostel for a pick up. I wanted to hug her, but restricted myself to saying 'grazie' several times, emphatically.