Roma

Happy Birthday Arkady. We took a lovely celebratory drive from Siena to Rome- about 2.5 hours,which was fine except for the last couple of turns trying to find the camping ground. This was quite frustrating as the signage in Italy is generally confusing. Not only are the directional signs often duplicated and pointing in opposing directions, they are also competing with up to 10 other advertising signs per street direction, in a myriad of colours and sizes. Try finding the one you need in 3 seconds, even with a trusty navigator by your side. Anyway... several roundabout turnabouts, u-turns, scenic stops and lucky guesses later we found the Camping Tiber in the northern suburbs of Rome.

We enjoyed a relaxing dinner and wine that night and discussed how nice Siena had been. Arkady had also spent a leisurely hour opening his presents in the morning, partly in denial that he was having a birthday and partly proud to be 14. The next day at a limoncello tasting in a deli the young and pretty sales girl confused Arkady as someone of legal age and offered him a drink. She was surprised to hear he was 14. She shrugged and laughed when I asked what the legal age was in Italy. Around 18 was probably the answer.

Rome was the busiest city we have visited. The queue at St Peters to have a look at the cuppola and basilica went around the square, and it's no small square. Similar queues at the Colosseum didn't stop us despite the offers of fast-tracking guides with special deals to jump the lines. Every turn of a corner in Rome offers up a surprise- usually in the form of extreme grandeur. Ornate churches are everywhere, as well as monuments and fountains. Fontana de Trevi was hidden by a wall of tourists tossing coins over their shoulder, but it was full of sparkling water and the sheer size of it is impressive. One hundred metres away we snacked on "fonzies" (Italian twisties) sitting on the empty stairs of the University. The contrast away from the main frenzy is amazing.

The Monument to Vittorio Emanuel dominates the centre of Rome where major streets meet leading to the Colosseum, St Peter's Piazza and the Vatican. It is a giant building which houses a museum but what is really impressive are the terraces of stairs and huge statues everywhere. Horses, chariots, Vittorio, horses, angels, horses, Italian flags, two Italian soldiers with guns, Vittorio on a horse, angels playing tennis... and little uniformed men with whistles blowing profusely each time a tourist attempted to sit down on the stairs. It must be a major OH & S issue here.

The Colosseum was novel - gladiators with shields and swords hawking outside the gates to have their photo taken with you. You even get to wear a funny helmet. In between photo shoots the gladiators could be seen having a cigarette or chatting on their mobile phones. The main stadium is excellent and doesn't really require a guide. There are endless arched ports, mazes of tunnels which are now exposed which held the animals and gladiators, the main stage, the green room, columns and exposed stone walls. It is very open and did not feel crowded despite the large numbers of people inside.

A tiny church in the Via Veneto near the Barberino district houses an amazing and unique crypt. It is non-descript on the outside but reveals a small series of rooms along a gallery of decorative rooms. Each room has been carefully embellished with skulls, femurs, clavicles, vertebrae and jaw bones to make beautiful patterns on the ceilings and walls. Some complete skeletons also adorn the walls. The more important monks (ie. their skeltons) of the community have been dressed in robes and recline in stone niches. The decorations could easily be mistaken for iron chandeliers and wallpaper friezes in the low light of the rooms. Thousands of bones have been stacked here to create this unusual burial area.

Unfortunately, the area around Rome ( the true suburbs) are very uninspiring. Endless rubbish, buildings in disrepair, graffitti on everything including complete trains, fountains, signs, houses etc. and some of the worst roads we've seen. Rome's old ruins and history are it's attraction but it's general environment is disappointing and well ruined already.

Still... a gelato a day keeps everybody happy.