Arrivederci, Roma!

Sorry, we had to. Too easy.

As we write this, it is Sunday, July 22, and we are on a train somewhere in Italy, en route to Milan—one of the fashion capitals of the world. Seeing as how we’re pretty much fashion icons, we’ll show ‘em a thing or two with our sweat pants, BUM shirts, Blue Bomber hat, SUSK sunglasses, etc. Our modelling careers might take off, so we might not be coming home after all.

Tonight, we left Rome after five days of being pure tourists (a nice change from being pure socialites on the Kyiv party scene). We had a busy five days, but always went at a good pace. One of the pluses of having five days in a city is never having to rush.

Our first day, Wednesday, was one of our favourites. Along with our British friends that we met at the train station, we saw the Colosseum, Forum, and Palatine Hill. Thanks to the podcast tour by Mr. Rick Steves, we learned a lot about the history of all three places. We also learned we would have made terrible gladiators. Wednesday night was party night as well, as we went out had an open bar for 20 Euros. Stumbling home at 3 a.m., we realised how cool Rome actually is. We didn’t use Islington Station or Portage and Main as landmarks to get home; we knew our hostel was north-east of the Coliseum and Forum. Using 2000-year-old structures to find tour way home is pretty wild! We also saw a Burger King on the way home (a post-alcohol mecca for one of us), but it wasn’t open. Shucks.

The following two days, we made sure to hit all the sites covered by our Roma Pass. The Roma Pass, for 30 Euros, gave us three days of unlimited public transportation, our first two sites free, and 30-50% off of other sites after that. It was a solid deal, and definitely paid for itself at the Colosseum, when we skipped the hour-long line. So, on Thursday and Friday we saw the Pantheon (where one of us took a nap), the National Museum of Rome, the Capuchin Crypt (where some monks arranged human bones in an artistically pleasing, albeit very creepy, manner), the Spanish Steps, the world’s biggest McDonald’s, and around thousand paintings, frescoes, mosaics, and sculptures.

You all know we’re not big “art” guys, but this trip is making us appreciate it, especially the sculptures. Most of the sculptures we see were carved from a SINGLE block of marble, with a hammer and chisel. The sculptures are so lifelike, and the details are so precise, down to every last crease in the clothing or wrinkle in the forehead, that it boggles our collective mind how this was done. This is truly a lost art form. Plus, what happened if they made a mistake?

Saturday was a highlight for us a well—the Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Basilica. We were in awe the entire time. In the Sistine Chapel, we spent 45 minutes with our necks craned upwards, examining all the details in Michelangelo’s work.  St. Peter’s was much the same. That church is so grandiose and ornate; it made us feel really small. The lettering is seven feet tall, the dome is as high as a football field is long, the atrium is bigger than most churches, and the list goes on. After all our transgressions in June during EURO 2012, we were a little hesitant to enter the church. However, we did not burst into flames, so we guess we’re okay (for now). We tried to get some personal confession time with the Pope, but it was not to be. Maybe next time, Benny!

We spent Saturday evening and all day Sunday with Mama, Tato, and Olenka Ciz, as their travel itinerary matched up with ours once more. It was nice to have some family around again! We did some more sightseeing, ate lots of food, and had a great time being together in yet another European city. What a worldly family we are!

Now, on the train, we are exhausted. It was an action-packed few days, that’s for sure. We’re off to Milan for the day tomorrow (Monday), then off to Geneva tomorrow evening. Tuesday shall be a glorious reunion, as we’re meeting Alexa in the Alps for some adventure zip-lining. Hopefully this involves some physical activity, because we’ve done very little of that since May 30.

It’s been a while since we uploaded some photos, so we'll upload some within the next day. Off we go into Milan!