Adios Spain, Buongiorno Italy

Hi Everyone, just a quick hello and update on what we are up to over here. We are having a great time, and seeing so much, although we are also walking A LOT too - we think we have walked over 50km in 5 days! Our poor little legs are so tired, and it is very warm over here. By the end of the trip we will have calves of steel and tight bum muscles! :)

We spent our first 2 days in Madrid, which is a really nice city. Very small narrow streets and tiny cars too. Day 1 we went to the Kings Palace and went through 50 of the 2800 rooms. This place was incredible! We also went to an art museum and saw some works by Picasso. The rest of the day we just wandered the streets of the city.

Day 2 we saw the Real Madrid stadium, but didnt go in as it cost 15 Euro each. We saw the Crystal Palace in a park, went to some markets and later that afternoon a bull fight. Kristy didnt realised the bulls were actually killed at a bull fight until Ryan mentioned it just before we went. It was actually quite horrifying as they spear the bulls so many times. We watched 4.5 bulls die and seen enough.

Day 3 we caught the morning train to Valencia on the coast of Spain. Very nice little town. We walked the entire town in a couple of hours (and our legs feel like they are literally going to fall off!). Valencia is home to the Holy Grail, which we saw, as well as some pretty awesome buildings. The best way to see the city is to wander through the tiny alleys and admire the buildings which are just incredible. We spent the afternoon at the beach, which was littered with cigarette butts (everyone over here seems to smoke and they smoke anywhere and everywhere). It was good to see water though cause it is quite warm over here. After an afternoon siesta, we went and saw some really funky buildings down town that are home to an Imax theatre and an art museum.

Day 4 we caught the train to Barcelona, which is totally different to the previous 2 cities - a lot more touristy, busy and larger streets. We walked down Las Ramblas street where there are buskers everywhere and pet stalls selling everything from pigeons to turtles. There were some awesome markets there too and we had some yummy fresh prawns (which we havent eaten for over 6 months!). We walked down to the water, then through the old gothic allyways. After another siesta, we went walking looking at buildings by the famous architect Gaudi. His designs were quite advanced for his time and the buildings quite interesting. One is still in the process of being contructed. Gaudi is now dead and a lot of his designs were burnt and destroyed when he died, so the continuation of the building is based on another architects impressions of Gaudi. The photos we took dont really do the buildings justice. We spent the evening wandering the gothic quarter of Barcelona and down the fishing area for the traditional Spanish dish Paella.
We have had a real hit and miss with the food over here. A lot of places dont convert to English and the people dont speak English either. For example we ordered something called (along the lines of) turned around wheat of prawn, which happened to be a prawn and bean omlette and very delicious. Another thing we ordered looked like a chicken dish, we both tried it, then realised it was tripe! We didnt eat any more! I guess thats half the fun though!

Day 5 we flew from Barcelona to Rome (via Zurich Switzerland which looks absolutely beatiful from the air. We flew over the Swiss Alps and the highest mountain in Europe, and there was still snow!). Rome is quite dirty and littered with cigarette buts and the buildings with grafiti, they dont seem to take as much pride in the appearance of the city like Madrid or Valencia. Still, the buildings here are incredible, some built BC! Its hard to belive that they are so old. We went to the Colloseum, Trevi fountain (the fountain with Neptune and the sea horses), Spanish Stairs and other ruins.

Day 6 we woke up fairly early and headed up to the Vatican, which is located in the worlds smallest country - Vatican City. Kristy got knocked back to enter cause her shoulders werent covered, but a really nice Canadian couple lent her a shawl and we managed to get in (very lucky). Vatican City, the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel were all closed because the day before was a public holiday, so we could only enter St Peters Basilica, which was absolutely incredible. The detail in the place is unimagineable. This is also home to the famous dome created by none other than Michelangelo. We walked around the Cathedral with the Canadian people, then we walked around the entire country (which is 1sq KM) with them too. We said goodbye to them (and returned the shawl) and continued walking the streets past a castle, another place called something Argentina which was where Caeser was stabbed to death, to the Pantheon and through some markets. We had this awesome lunch - it was an egglpant and tomato pizza and probably the best pizza we have ever eaten and a roast pork sandwhich which was also one of the best sangas we had ever eaten - so so good! We spent the rest of the day wandering the streets (and having another siesta!), eating and drinking!