Due to the unfortunate events that happened at Oktoberfest, the blog I had written about the North of Spain and Barcelona has been lost before I was able to upload it. I will eventually back track and write it again but for now I've decided to jump ahead a bit and head to Italy.

On the train to Italy we decided to jot down a bit of a plan and work out where we wanted to go and what we wanted to see in the time we had. Roughly ten days before we had to be in Munich for Oktoberfest. This was all well and good except for the fact that we hadn't factored in the Italian train strike. Which I believe was purely because the Italians don't like working Sundays!

We started in Genova where we spent a stormy night in a hostel at the top of a hill overlooking the town, which was being spectacularly lit up by fork lightening. It was a brief stay as the following morning we headed back to the train station in the hope of heading to Cinque Terra on our way to Florence, a Provence made up of five small villages connected by a national park that is meant to be really pretty. This is when our plans began to alter. We were informed by the ticket lady that there was a train strike on which meant none of the regional trains were running. However, we did happen to notice that the intercity trains were still going, so we boarded the next one bound for La Spezia to get a connecting service to one of the 5 villages. The connecting trains never arrived. We were stuck at the train station, in a tiny town of nothing, on a Sunday waiting for trains that we had no idea whether they were coming or not. After hours had passed and the hope of a train heading to Florence was fading, we decided to jump on the next train wherever it was going. Milan apparently. The situation in Milan was not much better. We arrived at a packed train station of people either, trying to get tickets for trains leaving or refunds for ones that weren't. We joined the long queue, and after a couple of hours of lining up and a couple more of sitting around waiting, we were finally in our sleeper car - we had learnt our lesson after Portugal - on our way to the home of pizza, Napoli (Naples).

Originally, we weren't going to go as far as Naples. I'm so very glad we changed our plans or, more to the point, had them changed for us. Naples was fabulous. After trying the local specialty of Sfogliatella, pastry filled with sweet ricotta, we bypassed the museums and galleries, being very much museumed and galleried out, and instead headed to a church. Now I know what your thinking, surely we have seen enough churches already also, let me tell you we have. We were heading not for the church itself, but for what lay beneath the church. Archaeologists had uncovered the ruins of a Roman city that was built some 2000 years ago and had been lost when the current city was built right on top. Below this church was the entrance to the remains of an ancient Roman Market place. We continued our underground discoveries with a tour led by Alex, our Italian tour guide who spoke English with a Glaswegian accent. This began in the old Roman theatre which had been lost beneath an apartment block and ended in the underground aqueduct which stopped being used for water in 1884 when it became contaminated with cholera and was later used as a bomb shelter during the second world war. This tour is not for the claustrophobic. At one point we were walking through an underground tunnel, approximately 1.7 metres high by 70cm wide, lit only by the candles we were carrying. It was truly spectacular though. We had worked up quite an appetite from all the walking so we headed for one of the traditional pizzerias to test the famed Margharita and Marinara pizzas. Just as Japan has ruined sushi for me at home, Naples has now ruined Australian pizza! Never have I tasted tomatoes so good, it's no wonder they put them in everything. We finished the night off in the main square, where a local pop star Alessandro, was performing to a crowd, thanks to the weather, of umbrellas. This was the third random festival we had come across.

The following morning before continuing on to Rome, we headed to Herculean, a lesser known town near Pompeii, that suffered a similar fate. Unlike Pompeii which was covered in ash from the nearby volcano, Herculean endured a molten mud slide that preserved the town and is now slowly being uncovered by archaeologists. According to the guide book and online forums the ruins here were preserved more intact than those of Pompeii, which has had most of its artefacts relocated to a museum. It is also less frequented by tourists so much more enjoyable to visit. The ruins here were amazingly well preserved with original mosaics and wall paintings still clearly visible in parts.

Italy, as we were expecting, is an expensive place especially after coming from Spain and Portugal. Rome, was particularly expensive. We ended up having to stay in a caravan park an hours commute from the city by train and bus. On the plus side though it was a typical friendly caravan park atmosphere with lovely people in the bar to talk to and the kiddy pool, complete with slide, was a major plus! We headed for the city early the next morning to spend the day checking out as many of Rome's monuments as we could, and believe me there are plenty. Every time you turned a corner there was something impressive to see. Those Romans sure could build things. They were particularly skilled in the fountain building, Trevi Fountain definitely attests to this. Some of the other impressive monuments we saw were the Spanish steps, a favourite meeting place for locals and tourists alike, Piazza Navona, with its three huge fountains, Torre Argentina, an archaeological site that doubles as a cat sanctuary and possibly the most impressive was the Pantheon. The dome ceiling was truly impressive with its open skylight in the centre that gives the dome its strength. Apparently it is really impressive when it rains to see the water falling through the ceiling. Now it wouldn't be a trip to Rome without visiting the Colosseum. Yet another of the Romans great feats. The sheer size of this place, both in height and circumference, is amazing. To think how they built it so long ago just blows your mind. Looking down into the passages that sit below the main arena you can just imagine the fear the gladiators and slaves must have felt before they were thrown into the ring to fight lions or each other. Truly spectacular.

Our second day in Rome I wasn't sure if the city could impress us anymore than it already had. It wasn't long before we were proven wrong. We headed to the Vatican City to check out Benny's crib. We chose to see the Vatican Museum first, thinking it may be less crowded in the morning, we were sorely mistaken. There were so many people you could barely move let a lone see the artworks and sculptures. Luckily the most impressive of these were on the ceiling and I'm not talking about the Sistine Chapel either, which quite frankly I found a little underwhelming in comparison. I think I was expecting it to be higher and for the famous "e.t. like" finger touching scene to be bigger and more significant than it was. But this aside the museum as a whole was still worth seeing. After battling the crowds we headed towards St Peter's square to the Basilica to battle yet more crowds. It's near impossible to escape them in Rome. After choosing to climb the stairs rather than take the elevator - a smart choice when we saw the line for the lift - we headed up the five hundred plus stairs which led to a doorway into the dome. The view from this internal balcony was one of the most stunning things I have ever seen, even more impressive than the external view we got when we climbed further to the outside of the dome. Completely covered in mosaics of blue, gold and every other colour of the rainbow depicting murals of angels and other religious scenes, the dome towers 120m above the chapel. Looking down on the other tourists looking very ant-like was amazing. Even without a single religious bone in our bodies we were impressed by this. After a full-on day the previous day we were happy to pull up stumps early and make the hour long journey back to the caravan park to hit the pool. Quite possibly the highlight of Rome! The kiddy pool, which we had to ourselves, complete with slide and tube. You do the maths!

Our next destination was Florence. Beautiful Florence. We were staying in a caravan park once again to save the pennies, but this one was in a superb location on top of a hill in an olive grove overlooking the city. Spectacular views from the terrace bar, both at sunset and sunrise, gave us a good excuse to start and finish our days there.

Up early the next morning, we were off to the famous Pisa to see if the tower really does lean. It does! It's actually a really bizarre sight and yes we did do the corny photos. But unfortunately they got lost on the camera when it was stolen so you will just have to imagine Jarrod and I holding it up, both with our hands and feet! This was not the only monument here as some people may think. Behind the tower was a large cathedral and a domed monastery. First impressions of the monastery are pretty ordinary. Just a domed building with an internal balcony. It's only if you hang around that little bit longer, as we did, do you truly witness something incredible. The ticket collector from the front door enters and stands in the centre of the monastery and begins to sing notes at random intervals. Due to the shape of the building the sound reverberates around the ceiling producing a choir like symphony. Absolutely magnificent.

Returning to Florence we spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the other attractions including the bridge of gold merchants, the replica of David, the line for the original was ridiculous and you can't take photos anyway, and of course tasted some of the best gelato ever. A perfect end to a fabulous country.