When in Rome...eat gelato

Ciao, Rufus writing to you from Rome!!

[caption id="attachment_15" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Ant in front of graffiti'd metro"][/caption]

Today we caught the metro to The Colosseum, please see pictures & videos as they are more interesting than what i have to say!

[caption id="attachment_17" align="alignleft" width="150" caption="Inside"][/caption]

But, it was cool, we had a guided tour through these phones, (please see photo), they were kinda boring so i only half listened...oh and before we went in some gladiators grabbed Hayley and threatened to behead her...so we took some photos....and then we had to pay 10 euros, gipped!

After Colosseum we went for a long walk through palatine hill, which at points stands 40 meters above the roman forum, it was high and pretty cool

By now, it was 130 and we were all starving, esp me :) so we finally decided on a place that lots of Italians were eating at, we all had pasta and it was soooo good, Anthony had carbonara, i had penne arrabiata, Hayley had pasta too and Trav had a really yummy one with bacon bits, oh it was so good i cant explain it, very tasty

After our tummys were happy we went to get gelato from a place recommended by "when in Rome..." and trip advisor, it was the best gelato, it took me back to being a little kid, i had a GRANDE gelato of limona amalfa, very nice but not heavy, then i had another one...because i can! Mint...yuuummmm, Trav had gelato Baci, and said to the man serving, grazie per tutti i baci! which  i thought was funny but i dont think the man was listening ): its fun ordering in italian, gives you a satisfaction when u nail it, yes!

[caption id="attachment_26" align="alignright" width="150" caption="Outside Pantheon"][/caption]

Checked out the Panthon, see photos, then we caught a taxi back to the bee hive, where we are staying, and like Hayley's dad has said, get in, and just close your eyes.....they really are crazy drivers! of course Ant and Trav loved it and Trav would say something silly like, "nice move" everytime our taxi would jump infront of 3 cars, or squeeze through a bus and another car with literally just inches between them....yeah that  was scary, but it was all good in the end because i asked the guy, "Tu sai dove se una belissima pizza?" do u know where we can get a beautiful pizza? and he was more than happy to help us out, he was actualy very nice, shame about his driving, but he gave us a map and said "Tutti gli italiani mangiano qui, non vai ai parti turisty" "All the italians go here, dont go to the touristy places"

So....after 10euros between us and a nice nap, we made our way to MezzaLuna, we almost didnt find it, until we asked some locals, and realized it was just nearby, we arrive, and yes just 10 min after we sit, lots of Italians arrive and the place is loud! :)

We met the waiter, and found out he has 9 Zii & Zie in Perth! He also thinks Australia is better but i told him he was delussional :) Hehe, jj

[caption id="attachment_20" align="alignright" width="150" caption="ohhh yeah"][/caption]

So, i had pizza marghetita e buffala, which is literally just tomato sauce and buffalo-mozzarella cheese, for only 8euros! and it was the most amazing pizza i have ever had! The base was so thin but lovely cooked, the sauce has that real tomato flavour, and the cheese very creamy and stringy :)We all enjoyed it and decided to move to Italy and live on that street.There is a pic of the pizza to make u all jealous :)

Write to u soon....i hope someone is reading this and im not just talking to myself... :)

Ci vediamo!

roma - giorno uno

Dubai

Rewinding a day, our trip started with a quick stop-over stay in Dubai which is apparently located in the United States of Arabia or "USA" (quoted: Carrie-pedia 2009).  It's quite a strange place - imagine picking the hottest and most desolate area in Australia, filling it with Arabs and building a big glamorous city.  Sounds like Perth you say?  Nay, there are a couple more oddities - people dress up in the heat (I think that's more an all year round thing), they have air conditioned bus stands and our taxi driver had two wives (one Arabian and one Pakistani).

We had plenty of daylight when we got there so we decided to have a guided tour by our dual-wived taxi driver who I will name Mohamed for ease (Praise be unto him).  The joy ride took us around most of Dubai, past a couple of palaces which were quite extraordinary in themselves, covering huge areas.  We also checked out the tallest building in the world, the hotel that has that crazy tennis court up high and the new and old gold markets.  We were also encouraged to look for another wife by our taxi driver (we'd probably only be able to get an Arab or New Zealander on our wages), but both Ant and I declined the offer after little thought.  All very interesting, but we were all pleased to get back in the hotel and rest up for the next flight.

Italy

With a little further ado, let me introduce our travelling companions.  Firstly there is me and my wife Ruth (chi e incinta).  The other couple joining us are Anthony (Ant, Curry, Candypants) and Hayley (mastermind of the trip).  I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that Hayley and thousands of helpers spent millions of hours organising the trip down to the nanosecond :)

Now without further ado, day one of Italy.  We took a taxi from the airport to the hotel.  The road we drove was pretty much the first road I had taken that leads to Rome (I don't know where that expression comes from!).  The second half of the trip took us past some pretty grande momuments!  I wasn't particularly intersted in seeing the touristy side Rome per se but I was absolutely taken by the grandness of some of these buildings and junk and am now really excited to explore everything!  The colosseum was so much bigger than I thought it would be.  We're going to take a better look at it tomorrow.

Once we had rested a bit, we took a stroll down to check a couple of the sights out.  Pretty much everywhere you go in Rome, you are confronted with old things - old people asking for money, oh and beautiful old buildlings with awesome artwork or nudey men in front.  We checked out Travy's fountain (there must have been a really cool Travy before me that they named it after, although I really only answer to "Trav" or "Travis" please people!) where we spotted Sylar dressed up as a Polizei (films just aren't making money these days - arrrrr they?).  Then we went and checked out some Spanish (and otherwise) stairs.  Both places were heavily tousisted, but it was still amazing going to see them.  You get a glimpse into how wealthy the Roman empire was.  It would have been amazing to see it in all its glory, but alas, that would require a time machine which is yet to be invented.

Pictures coming tomorrow.