Well it seems Iike Rome heard us say that yesterday was too hot so it cranked it up another couple of degrees. 33 today so we were almost melting! We both agreed that given our limited trials prior to this trip this was the hottest we had ever experienced.

We headed out to explore the part of the city we hadn’t seen yet an were not disappointed by the endless supply of amazing buildings that Rome seems to have. We started off at the Piazza del Popolo then made our way to the Spanish steps,  Piazza di Spagna.

We just kept wandering until we found the Piazza Navona which was an awesome square full artists with wicked paintings one of which which we ended up purchasing.

Next we found the Pantheon which is another old temple converted to a church. Was pretty cool as there is a hole in the top so the sun shines through on different features at certain times of the day.

On our way to the Campidoglio we found some more ancient buildings that were worth seeing. Too much to see but not enough time. Still amazing though.

Off to Naples tomorrow and will hopefully get to Pompei which will be great to see.

A huge day today. Up nice and early after a terrible sleep in a terrible hostel. Headed to the Vatican first thing to try and beat the crowds.  It kind of worked as we had no line for St Peters Basilica but we should have gone to the Sistine Chapel first. Not to worry we saw it all.

St Peters was another level above all the other churches we have been to. It was magnificent. Very extravagant and so much detail.

We then paid to head up to the dome of the Basilica which was 560 steps in the sweltering heat but gave us a good view of the top of the Basilica.

After we had enough we headed to the Vatican museums and the Sistine Chapel. The museums didn’t hold our attention for long but the Sistine Chapel was pretty spectacular. No photos allowed unfortunately. The guards were very angry about it.

We are going to try and get to the Colosseum tomorrow which has I am really looking forward to.

Looked around Florence today. Went to the Basilica di Santa Maria Novella and the Basilica di San Lorenzo on our way to see David. Had to wait for about an hour to get in to see the statute of David at the Galleria dell’Accedemia but was quite eventful when an undercover sting went down to catch all the locals selling fake paintings. One guy stashed all of his in a bin and another under a stall which Danielle kindly helped the police officer find. The were very grateful (the police that is).

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures of the real David but we got some of the copy which is in Piazza della Signoria.

We then headed to the Cattedral di Santa Maria del Fiore which is famous for its candy stripes of green and pink marble. It was very different to the others we have seen.

Last night in Florence tonight then off to Roma tomorrow morning!

A very hot couple of days in Milan. Arrived yesterday after a 5 hour train ride to 27 degrees but really humid. It was still 25 degrees at 10pm. We cruised round the local streets and had our first authentic Italian Pizza.

Today we hit the Milan shops. It was a bit of an eye opener. We didn’t find anything for under 100 euro. Even the iPhone cases were 300 euro each! We managed to get into 2 shops (they are very strict and have men in suits guarding each door) but felt way out of our league. Everything was over 1000 euro.

We then checked out the Duomo cathedral which is the biggest in Italy and the biggest we have been to.

Last night in Milan then heading to Venice tomorrow morning. Have managed to book a place in actual Venice which should be good.

Another stunning day in Nice. The Mediterranean is really turning it on for us. We started the day by exploring the old city of Nice and wandering through all the local shops. Lots of old narrow, cobbled streets with really tall houses.

When we had enough of that we jumped on the train to Monaco. The second smallest country in the world with the highest GDP. You need at least 1 million euro in a bank account to move there! But you can see why because every second car is a Ferrari, Porsche or Lamborghini. And the super yachts were just ridiculous. It was pretty spectacular.

Last night in Nice then off to Milan tomorrow. Really looking forward to Italy!