We dont speak Vaticano

Ok so after a whooping 5hrs sleep I was up and getting ready to get to the Vatican.

#notthesistinechapel

The fam jumped on the metro and we headed for Vatican City for our guided tour. We got there and we looked at all the all the side stuff but we all know the 2 things we wanted to see the the most: the Sistine Chapel and Saint Peter's Basilica. (no pictures of the Sistine Chapel because NO PICTURE NO VIDEO SILENCE PLEASE).

The Sistine Chapel, the heart of the christian faith is something to truly behold. The toil that Michelangelo must have gone through to paint the ceiling I couldn't even imagine (then a few years later he painted The Last Judgement on the back wall, also insanely impressive). We then climbed all 512 steps (when I say we I mean me, Amber took the elevator...) to the top of the Dome, I died but fortunately I was in the right place so I was reborn at the top (with the assistance of bottled water).

A view from the top

Saint Peter's Basilica blew my mind, I have seen opulence since arriving in Europe, but nothing like this. I cant words it, I need to pictures it.

Tell me that isn't the holiest thing you have ever seen, go on, lie to my face

We then went and checked out the Colosseum (from the inside) and the Roman Forums with some of our new buddies (just a FYI, you have all been replaced). We then caught a taxi back to the hotel. Now I am sitting at my hotel writing this, just for you guys, dammit I am a nice guy.

God we truly are a vision aren't we?

All roads lead to Rome

The outskirts of Florence look like any other kind heavily tagged European city but the internal city of Florence is absolutely beautiful and its like stepping into the renaissance era of Italy, except with neon-lit gelato stores.

The rape of the Sabine Woman, very interesting piece, it gives you a difference perspective of the story depending on where you're  standing around it. 

We headed into Florence for a walking tour, the guide was very passionate (you could tell because of the frantic hand movements) and knew a lot about the detailed history of Florence. After the tour we had quite a bit of free time, that was spent eating pizza and gelato.

Me trying not to have my pocket picked.

1:30 rolled around and we all got on the coach and headed to Rome. Again, as with Paris my first impressions of Rome were not great. I though it looked like another slum. We got to our hotel (which to be honest sux) and dropped off our stuff. We then headed out for ANOTHER walking tour (its almost like our tour guide thinks we are fat from too much gelato).

The Pantheon, in all its 'people trying to sell you crap' glory

We saw some pretty gosh darn cool sights (like the Pantheon and the Colosseum) and stopped off for some kai mid way through. Once we got back to hotel we crumpled to a heap on our bed for sleepytime.

The Colosseum looks pretty gosh darn spiffy at night time

Catch me upside how bow dah

I am going to catch up on the last 3 days all at once since I have been so busy the last 3 (like no word of a lie, its been crazy, getting back to the hotel at 11pm and up doing stuff at 6am, I AM TOO OLD FOR THIS KIND OF CARRYON).

The often forgotten other building in Pisa

I twas time to say good tidings to Nice and head into Italy, first stop was to get a world famous picture at the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

Nailed it!

After a short stop at Pisa we headed to Firenze (Florence). Once we got there Amber was absolutely shattered and I was feeling a bit restless, plus the tour guide had suggested a yogurt place in town that was apparently delicious so I put my walking cleats on and went for a big ass walk into the middle of Florence (to take in the sights, but mostly yogurt).

On my never ending quest to find the yogurt and rescue it from not being eaten by me

After walking all the way back to the hotel to wake Amber up for dinner, we walked all the way back to where I already was to have dinner, and then walked all the way back to the hotel, oh well at least I am keeping my step count up.

These cars are literally just parked in the middle of the road, amazing

A day behind again god dammit..

Man its hard to keep this up believe it or not, I shouldn't have this much responsibility I am just a child! We got up fairly late this morning and then went for a huge walk around Nice. There was a pretty cool old market we visited which had nick-nacky crap as far as the eye can see! We also walked around the promenade again then headed back to the hotel for some R&R.

Yep, an insect hotel...

At night we went to Monaco (to see all 2km of it!). It is a pretty tiny country (and a pretty pointless one?) Amber was a bit sick coming off the bus so we lost the tour group, but with my expert tracking skills I managed to find them again (a.k.a. I followed the large groups of tourists till I found them).

Why is my face so weird?

We then headed over to the world famous Monte Carlo casino. Again after visiting Las Vegas this felt really over-rated to me? There was like 1 blackjack table and 1 roulette table, and probably 30 pokie machines. We quickly lost our 40 Euros, but some others in the group had quite a bit more luck, we then headed back to the hotel for some sweet z's.

BTW: European WIFI SUUXXXXXXXXXX... its hard to even upload a picture. Its like quantum leap, Im hoping the next hotel will be the one with the decent wifi... but it never is Sal, it never is..

Niceeeeeeeee

We left Switzerland :( in the morning and headed towards Italy. Was actually pretty cool, we had breakfast in Switzerland, lunch in Italy and dinner in France (Oooo look at me, so fancy).

Bye Switzerland :(

Was pretty much just another bus day, we arrived in Nice around 5pm and went for a walk down the promenade (freaking people everywhere).

Pictures of our feet in Nice, which of course was the style at the time

We went out for dinner with the whole group, ended up having a good chat with 2 couples from Australia who are leaving at Rome to travel through Malta, the group as a whole is great and everyone is really friendly.

Nice is nice

After dinner Amber and a few others went back to the hotel and I went out with the rest of the group for a drink (just 1 this time, I learnt my lesson from the other night...).

Get your Titlis out!

I am actually doing a blog post on the same day! Ermagherd!

Proof we were there

Today we went up 10,000 feet to the top of Mt Titlis. Absolutely mindblowingly spectacular. Walked over the suspension bridge (500 meter shear drop below). Amber was not wanting to partake in it. We didn't spend too much time at the very top and we dropped a few thousand feet and went to back to the first base camp. It was really nice there, had a aqua blue lake with row boats and some spectacular vistas.

I have Land Down Under stuck in my head for some reason

After the mountain we went back to the hotel and chilled out (was actually quite nice when you spend so much time doing shit).

After that we went out and had dinner with some of the group, which literally consisted of pizza and cheese fondue, gotta love Europe man :)

The wheels on the bus go round and round

Was time to say our farewells to Paris and get in the coach to head towards Switzerland. Was a long journey and took most of the day.

Let me start by saying SWITZERLAND IS AMAZING. Seriously its like NZ on steroids. We got in quite late, dumped our bags and headed downstairs for dinner. Omg the veal was to die for.

After dinner most of us headed out to a bar, where future Aaron is now paying dearly for all the mistakes past Aaron made (I got a bit trollied, not sure how much I spent or what time I got back to the hotel, but thankfully Amber doesnt read this blog :D ).

Not much to say about this day, so have some pictures.