Hey Guys,

I thought that it might be a good idea for lil Jimmy boy to do a blog! So I chose the best city to blog about......ROMA!!!!

So we arrived into a campsite at about 6pm on the Friday. We were both pretty exhausted so we checked into our room and rushed to the pool to catch the last little bit of rays on offer. This campsite was nicer than the last so we decided to have a few drinks with a few of the people we have met along the way. That ended around midnight and we called it a night, too excited for the days to come.

We should have seen the signs as soon as we woke that day. The day had only one word to describe it... RUSHED. We pre-booked a tour of the Vatican City on the bus ride in and we nearly missed it!! Your mate Jessie set the alarm to wake us up at 8.30pm and not 8.30am!! We woke with only 30mins until the bus left...RUSHED! We just made it to the bus and crammed into a 22 seater with about 50 people on it and made our way towards the Vatican!!

With the heat pounding down on our youthful heads we rushed through the swarming crowds around the Vatican to what we thought was the meeting point!!! Only to be told by 2 guys that looked like the Pope that we had to go across town the other Basilica with the same name.... GAY!! We had one of our friends with us and some Polish girl that Jessie loved...haha not really, Jessie said that she asked to many questions.. So we jumped into a Taxi and off we went! Our friend Corey, from Melbourne, spoke a little Italian and he said that he must have told the driver to step on it! Jessie made the rookie decision to get in the front seat and got out of the car with tears running down her face.. Either tears or sweat... one of the two. We got from one side of town to the other in 10mins; people told us that it usually takes 25-30mins!! haha I thought it was great!!

So we gathered outside some huge Church (they all look the same). This is where we were introduced to one of the funniest, biggest w***er and smartest tour guides we have had yet. He was, you guessed it......AMERICAN!! He broke it down into terms that everyone could relate to and he didn't go into all the stuff that people usually tune out to after 5mins....Jessie. We headed off towards the Vatican. We stopped first at the Bridge of Angels. Pretty much was a fair few statues showing the stages of the death of Christ... (i was listening!!) Than we headed towards St Peters Basilica. The biggest in the world!!! That was a great site and we got some nice photos!! We were showed where the big man pope lives and even pointed out to where his bedroom was!! We made our way through the streets and lined up for about 15mins to get into the Vatican! We were then shown inside the Vatican and explained everything about it! We made our way through the endless museums and finally made it to what everyone was waiting for.... The Sistine Chapel. Was such a great thing to see and hard to believe that one man painted the whole ceiling and front wall! I got a sneaky photo in there (which you're not meant to) but i thought oh well... when in Rome!!! The tour after that was pretty much a blur because we were so impressed by the Sistine Chapel.... not really, we were just sick of hearing all of the s*** coming out of this American guys mouth plus it was 500 degrees inside the Vatican. The tour ended and we only had 20mins until the last bus left and we were at least 30mins away from the pick-up point....GREAT!!! So a few of us started the long painful run towards the bus. Across the marbled Piazzas, up the steep streets, down the bottomless stairs, across the bustling traffic and around the corner and we just made it onto the bus. We all piled on, looking like we had just jumped out of a pool and no sooner had we left than we found ourselves slumped over our beds, in the bone tingling air conditioned rooms relieved that the day was finally over!!! The Vatican was done!!!!!!

After Jessie's bungle with the easiest job in the world...setting the alarm, yours truly was given the task... and did I deliver!!! We were up and raring to go.. The tour didn't start until 2pm that day so we decided to catch some rays on the decks by the pool. After a few hours of bronzing ourselves we hopped on the public bus and made our way into easily one of the world's most fascinating places!! Wondering what would be installed for us today we were surprised to see that our tour guide was that same American hero from the day before... Jessie nearly punched herself out!!

So off we went, we started our tour at Pallentine Hill, or The Palace. This was wear Emperors, Kings and Senators called home during their reigns. Next we went to the Mouth of Truth; this was a big face in the wall. If you put your hand in there and told a lie it would close and cut off your hand?.. But what everybody didn't know was this was actually used at the bottom of the Roman sewage pipes and all of the waste came out through that hole a few hundred years ago!! haha.. The 3rd best place of the day was The Pantheon! Such an amazing building. The next place was the Piazza Venezia. Looked just like a huge wedding cake. In the pictures you can see a huge Horse in the middle. Apparently Mussolini invited 23 men inside of that for a dinner one night! 24 people inside of it! Amazing.. We were running out of time towards the end of the tour so we had to skip his talk on the Piazza and The Roman Forum and quickly get our tickets for the Colosseum! This was the number 1 thing that everyone wanted to see and we were lucky enough to see it!! Seriously was AWESOME!!!!! The sheer size of it was unbelievable!!!!! Something i will never forget!! We got in there at about 5.45 and left at about 6.40. Our tour was meant to finish at 6. Just to emphasise how much s*** this guy could talk, as we were walking back we saw the group sitting outside the Roman Forum with him still talking.. 40-45mins after it was meant to finish!!!! haha... So the tour concluded and we still wanted to see Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. Oh the 2nd best thing was the Roman Forum! Was the heart of all the action in Roman times. It also sits atop of the man's burial site in which the inspiration behind where my Tattoo comes from..... Julius Caesar! Veni Vidi Vici... I came, I saw, I Conquered!!!!

We made the dash over to Trevi Fountain. Here you throw coins over your left shoulder with your right arm. 1 coin means you will return to Rome, 2 coins mean a new romance is on the way and 3 means marriage or divorce will come. Sooo ultimately Jessie through 3.. So i decided to throw 6.. Just for extra luck!!!! After this we headed towards our last stop of the day... the Spanish Steps. The steps link the Spanish Embassy to pretty much nothing. Highly over-rated and too many scums selling you anything that they can!! We chilled here for abit but hopped onto the metro and made our way back to the camping ground.. In the last few days.... Rome was CONQUERED....sort of!!

This blog may seem long but it was definitely one of the highlights of our trip!! I wanted to explain all because it will be something we won't forget!! Now we are in Florence and what a city this is. But i will let Jessie explain everything about it. Hope you enjoyed it and if i get the chance i might jump on and give you all another detailed blog!!

Love yas!!!!!!!

James.x