20/05/09
We woke up a little later due to our late night the night before and got ready to leave the southern part of France. I really enjoyed it immensely. We got on a train and headed to Monaco. Monaco is its own small country and just FILLED with rich people. We got in and realized that something was going on.....the Grand Prix was the next day! All the roads were set up with barriers and there were seats on all the streets. It was once again swarming with people on an extremely hot day. We once again went to a grocery store to get food and I got chips, swiss cheese, and a sausage that I was fairly sure needed to be cooked before eating. We sat by the water on a street where the Grand Prix would take place the following days. After food, we walked around the city of Monaco and checked out the sites. Basically the sites of Monaco consist of viewing the lifestyles of the rich and the famous. I went to the bathroom in a five star hotel. Don't know how they allowed me to walk in and use their facilities but it was interesting! As we walked down the streets we saw Bentleys and Ferraris on the streets like it was no big deal. Literally 1 in every 10 cars was a 100K car. We rode the bus through the city and got a view of everything we could. There were rolex dealers, ferrari dealers, designer clothes dealers, and just anything that was upper class you could buy. We then headed to the beach. This beach was a gravel beach and sort of hurt my feet, but it was ok. Once again I swam in my underwear and am completely sunburned. Visiting this city made me realize that I have to purchase a yacht and summer in Monaco. The set-up of the Grand Prix in Monaco was so cool. Especially as we rode the bus and took the hairpin turns around the soon to be track. It reminded me of the videogames! We then got on a train and headed to Pisa. Getting into Italy is my new goal for the night. To make it cheap you have to take trains that just cross the border. After just crossing the border you can get on a train that is owned by that certain country and that way it won't cost you too much money. That is what I learned from my Eurrail adventures. So we got on the train and got to a city right over the border and then transferred trains to get into Pisa. We got into Pisa around 2:30 AM in the morning with no idea where we were going to stay. We found a HOTEL, yes a HOTEL. This hotel was pretty ghetto tho with the bathroom outside of the room. We were satisifed with the fact that it costed 25 Euros a piece so we booked it.

21/05/09
So we woke up at 9:00 AM and headed out after 5 hours a sleep. The theme for this trip, like every other theme of all my trips is "you can sleep when you die. I once again was sleep deprived the whole trip but it was worth it. So we headed out and took a quick picture at the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I can not post it because I currently do not have the picture, but I will put it up when I get it. We took the cliche picture where it looks like you are holding up the tower and then we took off for Cinque Terre. It was an hour and a half ride into Cinque Terre. Cinque Terre basically means 5 cities and is exactly that; five cities along the sea and up in the mountains. Known for its beautiful views and hiking trails. We started hiking and ran into time trials for a cycling event called "Giro D'Italia". Apparently Lance Armstrong was there, but we didn't see him exactly. These cyclists were literally going 40 MPH down these winding hilly streets. We continued our hike and Alex took us off the beaten path and we got stuck in an extremely mountainous terrain where they were farming something I had no idea what it was; it looked like wine or something along those lines. We then had a troubled time getting back to the trail but we did it. We then took my advice and headed along this trail up a huge mountain; we had to stop a few times to catch our breath and took a look behind us to see where we came from. We finally got to the top where there was a city and we asked for directions in broken English/French/Spanish. We walked along a trail that had to be about 4 miles that took us through forests into an opening where we were basically on top of the world. We could see forever down the sea and little towns below us. It was quite breathtaking. It took us over 2 hours to conquer this trail and we barely ever saw people. It was a quiet very relaxing walk where you were able to think about life. It was very mind clearing on some trails where one false move would lead to a 100 ft tumble down a sure death fall. I am not even joking about this, there were times where it was extremely scary and you literally needed to hold on to trees to cross parts. I won't lie and say that my heart wasn't racing at times. Finally we made it to the next city tired and ready to swim. There wasn't any beaches in this town so we hopped on the train and went to the next town on the line. Waiting for the train we met some people from Chicago who had children that actually went to the same Highschool as I did! Such a small world. We found the sea and went swimming. We jumped into the chilly water and swam around. Alex got scared because we saw a baby Octopus swimming around by us. I won't lie it scared me as well. We found a cliff and climbed up and did some cliff diving which was cool too. We then grabbed a bottle of white wine that was made in Cinque Terre and grabbed a bite to eat. I had stuffed Mussels which were delicious, but small for the price we paid. So Italy, as well as France, is expensive. We then headed back to our hotel from the night before at 10:00 PM to pick up our bags. Alex was extremely tired and suggested we stay at the hotel and I said NOPE were going to Rome. We found the next train to be at 2:30 AM. So we went to the train station Alex slept a bit and I stayed awake too scared to close my eyes with all of our luggage around. So we get on this train at 2:30 AM which sure beats paying for sleeping arrangements and head for Rome.

22/05/09
We got on to a completely packed train. Like I explained before 6 seats facing each other, but the problem was all these seats were taken so we had to sleep sitting up. I got about 45 minutes of sleep and we got into Rome at about 5:30 AM. I had only slept a bit but I was wide awake. Pulling into the city of Rome was the craziest feeling ever. I couldn't belive I was going to a city that I have heard so much about. Alex went to get ready in the train bathroom while I waited once again. We then headed to the Vatican Museum around 8:00 and got into a HUGE line. Luckily we got into line early because if we were an hour later or so we would have been waiting all day. The Vatican City is a wall enclosed city within Rome. It has its own currency and post office. I am not exactly sure if people live there. The museum had a plethora of statues and art work. We then headed to the Sistine Chapel which is where the popes are elected. You have to be quiet in there and you aren't allowed to take photos, but I did sneak a photo of the Creation of Adam by Michelangelo. Which is once again not with me currently. Thats the famous two hands touching painting. It is on the ceiling and I was in awe when I saw it. Literally my mouth dropped and i went "OOOOOOO." I then split up with Alex to get some alone time and headed to St. Peter's Basilica. It began construction in 1506 and finished in 1626 and this thing is massive and is able to hold about 60,000 people. It is considered one of the holiest sites in the Christian religion. I was going to go to the top but the line was a few hours long and I didn't feel like doing it. So I walked around, prayed a little bit, which is a lot to say to a man who isn't that religious. It gave me chills to stand in that church, the atmosphere was that strong. So I started to wonder aimlessly through the city of Rome. It was once again an extremely hot and sweaty day. I went into another church (the name is on my pictures!!!!) and then asked some Americans (cause Rome is filled with them) where I should go. They pointed me in the direction of the Vittorio Emmanuele II Monument. It was made to honor the first king of a united Italy and I couldn't believe that this was just a monument. The beauty and detail of this monument is comparable to none other. Not to mention it was HUGE; probably one of the coolest things I have ever seen. So I climbed to the top and looked around and spotted the Colliseum also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre because it was built by the Flavian family (or their slaves) in 70 AD. Seeing that site gave me chills once again. So after all this touring, sweating, no eating, and no sleeping I figured it was break time. I hopped on a random bus, and got of in a place that looked cool. I walked around forever looking for the right place to stop. Saw some sights on the way and finally found my place with 3 Euro beers and snacks! Ate a pretty subpar tuna sandwich and had a beer and met some lady from Canada. Her name was Ana and she was a 35 worker of the Canadian government. She had been there a few days and agreed to show me around. She first took me to the Pantheon which was built for all the gods and refurbished in 126 AD. It is unknown how they created such a huge dome so early. There was a opening right in the middle where the sun could come in. Very cool. We then went to the Fontana di Trevi which is the largest baroque fountain in the city and was also stunning. We did the tradition tourist thing and threw money over our shoulder into the fountain as a promise to return to Rome. Rome finds a way to steal money from me in every which way. We then hung out in a plaza and watched people go by. The plazas are decorated nicely with beautiful churches, monuments, and fountains. I then met up with Alex in the train station and we left to find where we were sleeping. It turned out that there was a very big soccer game going on in Rome so it was hard to find cheap rooms. We met some guys who were pushing a barcrawl and they had connections with hostels. They made some calls and found us a sweet hostel for 25 euros a night. We shared a room with 6 other people who did not speak english, french, or italian! After that I took a desperately needed shower and then we headed out to dinner. I had clams with spaghetti and then calamari. After dinner I passed out immediately. That was the most packed day I have ever encountered. They say Rome is an extremely huge city, but I was able to take down the majority of it in one day. I felt confident in my navigational skills.