Brindisi

Our last stop in Italy was the port town of Brindisi, about 5 hours east of Rome by the train. The trip was ok but because Alice and I had been allocated consecutive ticket numbers, we ended up having to sit diagonally across from each other which was weird. Everyone was sleeping around us and one guy was actually snoring. Really loudly haha.

Including the time it took to get to Brindisi, waiting for the ticket counter at the Ferry company to open, getting ourselves checked in, getting from the terminal to the actual ferry and then waiting for the ferry to actually start boarding ... it turned into a very long day. Especially with the ferry departing late, almost 2 hours after we actually boarded.

Still, we'd made it. We'd now reached the end of the first leg of our European adventure and we were REALLY excited about finally being on our way to my dad's birthplace. We were going home :)

Ferry terminal

Waiting to depart

Still waiting

Me excited after the boat finally started moving :)

A few minutes after departure

Rome

After 6,680 kilometres of driving through Europe, it was finally time to drop the car off at the airport. The guy working there was really nice and organised for a taxi for us to our hotel. He also drew a diagram of the suburb we would be staying in to make sure we found all the cool bars alongside the river which was actually really helpful.

We stayed in a suburb called Trastevere which is pretty much Rome's equivalent of Sydney's Newtown. Cool, hip, funky and fun with lots of nice restaurants but also not without its gritty side… lots of homeless people, graffiti etc. It was awesome! As soon as we got there we felt like we were home. I could definitely see myself living there.

We stayed for a total of 5 days and 5 nights and it still wasn't enough. For the most part, we just did all the usual touristy things so I won't waste time writing about everything. Instead, this one's more of a photo blog.

The Capitoline Museum:

Marble Mosiac

Really, really old wooden painting

The Vatican:

Part of the fortified Wall - and the crowd

Because we did a guided tour, we got to push in front of the people lining up down the street on the left :)

Ummmm...

Scale model of the Vatican

Our tour guide making the sculpture spin

A mosaic floor

Another mosaic floor

Yep, another mosaic floor

Bill Clinton?

Each one of the letters in that gold band are about 2 metres tall

So that her shoulders were 'appropriately' covered inside the cathedral, this girl used a pot themed shawl hahaha. Inappropriate much?

Thats what hundreds of years of rubbing will do to a statue!

Swiss Guards

St. Peter's Basilica

The Pope's room

Trevi Fountain:

"I could go for one of those right now!!!"

Spanish Steps:

The Pantheon:

I swear, EVERYTHING we saw on this trip was under construction!

Aww, Alice was so happy after finally seeing it :)

The Roman Forum:

Some very important meetings took place here!!!

Colosseum:

"RAHHHHHHH"

Ancient Aqueduct:

Maxxi Modern Art Museum: