Italy

So once we had sorted out our accomodation we went to check out all the Romanness. At the Colloseum a guy rounded us up and got us a tourguide and in for cheap (Rich was conviced it was a scam!). Our tour was crazy boring, but i guess it was pretty interesting. After that we got a tour of the roman forum with a really funny guide. And Rich liked him because he walked extra fast. It was all so amazing. The guy told us that he was doing a tour of the vatican the next day so we signed up. That evening we explored the streets of rome and had a 3 euro pizza and a bottle of wine!!
The next day we set out nice and early to meet with our tour guide and grab a coffee. We crowded round with the rest off Italy to watch and wave at the Pope as he circled round in his Pope-mobile. We got into the Vatican museum for cheap and learnt all about Michelangelo's love for naked men before breaking my neck looking at his sistine chapel. We went out for lunch and the best ice cream in Rome!!! We went to look at the castle but i was disapointed to find that we had to pay to get in. So we sat and watched some sneaky little birds steal bread from pigeons. On our way back to the hostel, it started to rain. And when i say that i mean torrential downpour and the street had become a river within minutes. We took cover under a porch with a group of tourists and had to say no thanks to about 50 people who were trying to sell umbrelllas. Half an hour in the rain and we discovered a little cafe so we sat in there and wrote some postcards while waiting for the rain to ease.
When we arrived at the accomodation we'd had to move rooms, but noone had any idea where we were sleeping so that night we ended up in an appartment with a fold out sofa bed, a kitcchen in the wardrobe and an ensuite all on a dorm budget.

The next day was Pisa day. We arrived and followed the crwod for half an hour towards the leaning tower. I was highly disapointed by it's lean (or lack of... Rich's photo exagerates this just a little too much) and it was surrouned by buildings, tourists holding it up and stalls all selling the same thing. After wandering around we got on the train to florence which was beautiful. That evening we strolled the streets and and amazing Italian pasta. We spent the next morning in the sun exploring, saw michelangelo's the copy of David and had some more yummy ice cream. We arrived at the station early so went and lay on the grass outside the station for half an hour. 10 minutes before the train we saw a man get peppersprayed. It wasnt like a quick squirt into the guys eyes, it was a full on pppppppppppssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh kinda spray all over his face til he was sat on the floor. And then another quick psh, just to make sure. He called for backup and within 30 seconds 6 cops had arrived had dragged him away in handcuffs!! I thought they might have gotten their guns out, but I guess I can't have everything!

Venice was another beautiful city. It was so weird to walk out the station and see boats floating past. We got the bus boat down the main canel to our hostel on the island. We had take away pizza and sat on the front watching the sun set and listening to a guy play banjo.
The next daywas another day spent walking round the city. On our way back to the station we headed roughly the right way, but several times the road we were following suddenly stopped because there was a canal and no bridge. But eventually we found our way and boarded our 36 hour ferry ride to Greece!