Monte Carlo, Monaco - Sept 27, 2009

We took a day trip to Monte Carlo, Monaco from Nice. The entire country is only 2 squared kilometers! We basically walked back and forth across the entire country several times during the day.

Monaco doesn't answer to the French government so they play by their own rules. This is one of the reasons why there is so much money here; No Taxes. Many companies of financial offices here to keep their money out of their government's hands.

You could smell the money when you got off the train, haha. It was kind of fun walking along the streets of such a wealthy area. On top of everything, the Monaco Yacht Show was on while we there. All the business tycoons were out showing off their toys. We lost count of all the Ferraris and Lamborghinis. It was easy to spot one on almost every block.











Just like Nice, we didn't see as much as we should have. This was just a quick day trip and we got their pretty late. Tomorrow we are taking a 12 hour train ride to Barcelona (3 connections, the fast train was full). We will be there for 4 nights, including Jesse's Birthday!!!

Nice, France - Sept 24 to 26, 2009

We spent 3 nights in Nice, France, right in the heart of the French Riviera. The city itself didn't have a lot of touristy things to offer. There were expensive shops as expected and a smaller old town full of cafes and ice cream shops. Truth-be-told we didn't spend much time exploring. We had booked our room in advance. We picked one that sounded great, but we didn't spend the time reading any of the reviews. This place was hell! L'oiseau Bleu. After backpacking for 2 months now, you can imagine we have seen some sketchy places, but this one takes the cake. It was run by a creepy old French guy who didn't speak a word of English. He is the entire staff. Let's say that cleaning is not his forte. I won't go into too much detail but the room was disgusting. The bathroom floor was thick with pubic hairs and there was crap/urine on the floor and walls. I took pictures but I'm not going to post them.

We spent the rest of the night looking online and phoning other hostels looking for a replacement. We also had to argue with the guy (French Book and Google Translator in hand) explaining that we wanted to cancel our reservation. He got pretty flustered and started making farting sounds at us and tsk tsk tsk'ing us for backing out of our "obligation". I wish I could speak French. I'd have some choice words for him. He didn't understand any of the English I was speaking. We ended up paying for the first night (already paid a deposit online). We have our own sheets for the trip, so we threw them over the beds and slept in jeans, with our running shoes still on, haha. Neither of us showered or anything, it was too much. The next day we found another hostel that was much better, it was old, but the lady running it was very friendly and helpful.

We ended up not seeing a lot of the city. We walked down to the beach, which is made entirely from smooth rocks. We walked through the old town and then back down the main street. We visited some shops and ended up getting some gelato, but it didn't even come close to what we had in Italy.






The main street was full of weird colour changing statues that looked like Dr. Manhattan:



Talk about a dedicated street busker! This guy dragged his piano down to the street corner:


We were pretty disappointed with the amount of time we actually spent in Nice, but decided we didn't want to stay an additional day. The next morning we were off for a day trip to Monte Carlo, Monaco.

Cinque Terre, Italy - Sept 22 to 23, 2009

We spent 2 nights in the Italian Riviera. Cinque Terre is the name given to 5 small villages along the western coast. The impression we got from the guide books was that it was a small, unspoiled region where you can get a taste of what old Italy is like. Maybe it was that way 20 or 30 years ago, but now it's overflowing with tourists. Even though we were there on Wed and Thu night in late September the crowds were still crazy. It was difficult to spot any locals and all you could hear as you walked down the streets was English and German.

Well even though Cinque Terre is now the furthest thing away from a secret Italian retreat, it didn't take away from the beauty and charm. We arrived around 6pm with no room booked. That wasn't a problem at all. Within 20 minutes of arriving we already found a woman that rents out 3 of the rooms in an apartment. We got a good deal and the room was great.

We stayed in the southern-most town, Riomaggiore The village is on a very steep edge of a hill overlooking the Mediterranean. It is the largest of the villages, so we thought it would be the best to find a room in. Here's view that greeted us when we stepped off the train:


The first night we walked around the town (LOTS of stairs!) and stopped to admire the stars. We hadn't seen them since we were in Switzerland.



The second day was very busy. We got up early and hopped on the train to Monterosso. It is the final village. There are some great hiking trails connecting the villages, so we took the 9km "easy" hike along the coast. It was one of the hardest hikes we have done in a long time! Hiking in the alps was easier, but then again it wasn't +35 out!

We got some fantastic shots of each village as we approached on the hiking trail.














The final stretch of the hike, connecting Manorola to Riomaggiore, is called Via Dell' Amore. People place locks along the trail to signify the bond of their love. Luckily we just so happened to have a spare lock in our day bag!


We tried to put it right in the middle of the entrance gate, but the lock was too small!

We ended up finding a good place for it, away from all the other locks.



Next stop Nice, France!!!

Vatican City - Sept 21, 2009

We spent pretty much an entire day here. We began by touring the Vatican Museum. We admired work by Raphael and of course Michelangelo. At the end of the museum is the Sistine Chapel. It was astonishing! We took a guided tour, so we learned quite a bit. We knew that Michelangelo was arguably the greatest sculptor of his time, but we didn't know the pope basically forced him to paint. He hated painting and spent almost 10 years inside the chapel doing just that! In the end, it took him 4 years to paint the ceiling and you can actually see how his painting ability and scale improved throughout that time. Our guide explained that he spent so much time reaching upward painting above his head that he did permanent damage to his neck, back and eyes. It even got to the point that years after completion he had to hold books above his head in order to read and focus.

Michelangelo was just 30 when he painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel and almost 30 years later, when Michelangelo was in his early 60s, he was commissioned again, by a new pope, to repaint the Last Judgment on the front wall. This painting took 6 years to complete and was done completely on a ladder. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the chapel, but here are a couple we found online to show what we are talking about.

The ceiling:



The Last Judgment (Blue Wall):

It was kind of shocking once we realized that Michelangelo spent 10 years inside that dark chapel, forced to paint, when his true art was sculpting. He spent the entire time deteriorating his body by painting above his head, living on the scaffolding and ladders.







After the chapel we made our way to St. Peter's Basilica. This is it; the most important church in the world. The Pope's Bat Cave (or so Jesse calls it...) It is something you need to see to believe. It is massive and very extravagant. Our guide explained that St. Peter, the first Pope, was buried in this place beneath the church when it was originally built. St. Peter was crucified, but he didn't want to die in the same way as Jesus so he asked to be crucified upside down. In order to remove him from the cross the Romans had to chop his feet off.

Later on in history, the church was destroyed and completely rebuilt like we see it now because one of the popes thought it wasn't grand enough. During that time, they somehow forgot that the tomb of St. Peter was below it. Years later a team started searching below the church and actually found a tomb. The body they found inside was missing his feet.






The Eye of Sauron??








Michelangelo's La Pieta:




Carolina making use of the Vatican's world-renowned postal service: