Rome

We found the Victoria monument for the Unknown Solider, a huge beautiful building, before we set off to the colosseum.
As we made our way along the road towards the colosseum, we realised we were looking down at the ruins that are the Roman Forum. It was amazing to see and gave us a slight idea at what had been here so long ago.
It was already late afternoon by the time we queued and got tickets so we decided we would explore the Roman Forum the next day.

The colosseum is absolutely incredible. It looks amazing from the outside, but the sight on the inside is just as spectacular. This place was built between 70 AD and 74 AD, and yet it is so advanced. When it was in action it held between 50 and 80 thousand people, and each one of those would have had a ticket with an individual seat number on it. There was even a roof that could be used in poor weather.
The stadium/arena was used in such a vast number of ways with such a range of people being able to experience all kinds of things there. It’s hard to comprehend just how old the place is. 

Our next morning started with a huge disappointment after we tried to get our Chinese visa’s and were unable to. However, once we sent off emails to as many people who could help as we could, we had to make the most of our last full day in Rome.

So we headed to the Roman Forum.
It took us hours to make our way through the incredible ruins and we loved every second of it. The buildings would have been amazing back in their time, and extremely advanced. Huge arches and walls provide a layout for all the kinds of buildings that were once in this area, ranging from huge homes to churches and temples. The detail in what remains is incredible, and massive chunks of stone and marble that range from toppled columns to simple pieces of rock are everywhere.
It took us hours to make our way through and we still didn’t manage to see it all. The ruins in this one reasonably small area are amazing, and it makes you wonder what lies hidden under the rest of Rome.

Our last morning in Rome isn’t actually spent in Rome. It is spent in the smallest country in the world, Vatican City. Yet another beautiful place, St. Peter’s Square is gorgeous, especially with the Basilica standing in the background.
St. Peter’s Basilica is absolutely amazing. Every aspect of the building, both interior and exterior, is so grand. The artwork inside is beautiful, as is the design of the massive building. Every last space in the place seems to be decorated in some amazing way, it’s hard to know what to look at. It’s kind of eery, with people not really being able to speak and with the statues of past Pope’s looking down at you reminding you that they are buried right underneath the floor you are standing on.

Unfortunately we didn’t have the time to visit the Vatican Museums, which is where the Sistine Chapel is found, we had to get a move on if we wanted to make it down to Sicily!

Victoria Monument

Colosseum

Colosseum

Colosseum

Roman Forum

Roman Forum

Roman Forum

Roman Forum

St. Peter's 

St. Peter's

Rome

Italian drivers really are insane. Driving into Rome was ridiculous, cars are parked in any place where they may possibly fit or if there is no place for them they begin to encroach on the road and what was a two lane road becomes one. Rather than try to find a park people will just stop their cars in the road, switch the hazard lights on and head out to pick up coffee or bread, while everyone else struggles to navigate safely around them. There is also no such thing as give way, everyone just seems to go and hope for the best. We travelled pretty slow on our way into the city and managed to arrive at our accommodation safely.

We arrived in the late afternoon but decided we had to go and get a look at the city. So after figuring out we were only two metro stops away from Vatican city, we made our way in.
After crossing the river we immediately we fell in love with the ancient city, the buildings are beautiful and you can’t help but wonder just how long they have been there. The streets are narrow and lined with pizzeria’s, coffee bars and gelati stores.
Of course we had pizza for dinner before we grabbed some gelati and slowly made our way home.

After a sleep in that we needed after a few early rises, we headed back into the city, this time determined to actually see the sights.
Our first stop was supposed to be the Pantheon, but after we got lost in the tiny streets a few times, we stumbled upon piazza Navona.

Shortly after we found what we were looking for, the Pantheon. And it really was spectacular. The greek style columns lead into the huge round building and at the entrance guards were constantly telling people to keep moving as they stopped to stare at the amazing building. Around the building are tombs of some very prominent Italian’s, including the first and second king and the famous artist/architect Raffaello, as well as an altar. The occulus in the huge dome roof is amazing.
The whole place really is spectacular, after our first real Roman tourist attraction we were pretty impressed and eager to find the rest.

Next we headed for the Trevi fountain. We pushed through the crowds of people to get a seat on the edge and a photo with the beautiful fountain behind us. The crowds and heat were a little much for us and once we felt we had seen enough we moved on. 

Tiber River

Piazza Navona

The Pantheon

Dome and Occulus

Inside the Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain

Monaco/Pisa

Monaco

Monaco

Pisa

Pisa

Nice

The Pyrenees 

Nice

Nice

Nice

Nice

Nice

Monaco/Pisa

Three countries in one day!
Our morning began early in France as we drove along the stunning coastline between Nice and the tiny country of Monaco, and by the end of the day we were in Italy!

Monaco was insane, everywhere you look is money.
Every other car that drives by is a Ferrari or an Aston Martin, and the average car is a BMW, Porsche or Mercedes!
The older buildings are very influenced by the French and are gorgeous, however the big high rise hotels are beginning to look very outdated, but I suppose the people with money prefer to stay on their million dollar yachts anyway!
The yachts here were absolutely ridiculous, one even had a helicopter perched on top! Most of the boats were bigger than my house, came with a full crew and usually two smaller speed boats which were kept on board. It was crazy.
It's hard to believe that the one city of Monte Carlo, takes up the whole country, it is the second smallest country in the world. It was an amazing place to visit, but it was only a quick visit and by 9:30 we were headed for Italy!

From what we have seen so far, Italian drivers aren't as bad as we have heard.. Although we haven't hit Rome yet.
Pisa is a lovely little university city. We spent the afternoon by the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which really is quite a sight. It's amazing that this little city is so famous just because a big mistake. It's kind of strange to look at, a huge building lopsided. However it is quite a nice building, even without the lean.
The weather is really nice, around 30, but I'm sure it will only get hotter and hotter as we head further south.
For our first night here we decided we had to have pizza and pasta, so Sam got a pizza and I got lasagne.

A big 5 hour drive down to Rome tomorrow. But at least we will have a few days there and in a B&B too!

Nice

From Andorra we headed back into France and straight for the coast!
Our first day back in France was spent in the car, and we camped in a small little town called Sainte-Marie, it was a nice little town, but we didn't spend too much time exploring. It was just a quick one night stop, before a early rise for the drive along the Riviera to Cannes.

At Cannes we saw our first glimpse of the stunning coastline of the French Riviera. Again it was more just a place to stay than a real stop, we didn't get to see much of the city, but it allowed us to be just an hours drive from Nice.

Nice was beautiful, we camped not far out of the city, maybe about 30mins, although the drive took us an hour on our first journey into the city! French drivers are insane!
The beach was gorgeous, bright blue water and a stone shore,  it was a little weird to see a beach with no sand at all! Though you were laying on stones, the beach was packed.

We wandered through the city, which is full gorgeous french architecture and bright colourful buildings. The streets are tiny and full of people. After a few hours walking, we decided it was time for our first swim in the Mediterranean.
The water was beautiful, warm but still refreshing, I even managed to get Sam in for a swim! Walking in and out of the was incredibly difficult with the stones and everyone looked a bit funny stumbling up and down the beach.
All in all we loved Nice, and only wish we had more time to spend here.

Pamplona

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A PeTA protest happening the day before the festival began, where the opening ceremony is held.