Monday 29th September: Riding around Lucca (and carting)

Today we had a whole lot of fun. First we went for a bike ride on top of the city walls guarding Lucca. The view was incredible. We only had the bikes for an hour so we didn't have enough time to do two laps of the city. Leonardo Da Vinci designed the walls and and it was not surprising the city was never invaded. After that we had a gelati and ran into Joe again. While my Granny stayed to have a cup of tea with Joe's grandparents Joe, Mum and I rented a cart to drive on top of the walls. I drove the cart 3/4 of the way and Joe drove the remaining 1/4 (we were going to go half half but Joe didn't want to drive on our second lap). It was awesome.

 

This is at the bike rental shop where we rented the cart (the steering wheel I was at was the one that worked)

 

This is Joe and I in the cart.

 

And here's us outside the walls of Lucca

Sunday 28th September: Arrival at Lucca

Today we left to go to Lucca. First we had to go to Florence and then catch a regional train to Lucca. All up it lasted 3 and 1/2 hours. At the train stop at Lucca I saw a boy that I knew from basketball and the recorder eisteddfod. His name is Joe. It was the first time for the whole trip that I had seen someone I knew that was my age. He lives around the corner from me.

This is me and Joe at the train station in Lucca. 

Saturday 27th September: Premiership glory & a gondola

Today I watched the grand final between Hawthorn and Sydney. Hawthorn smashed Sydney 137 to

74.  It was AMAZING! After celebrating for a while we had lunch at Piazzo San Marco then went to Lido. It's like Lorne or Manly. It is the only place (island) in Venice where you can drive cars. Also it has a beach. At night we went on a gondola. It was so smooth and beautiful. Our gondoliere was quite interesting. It was so peaceful.

I wrote this on the beach in Lido

 This is where George Clooney was getting married

 

This is in the gondola with our gondoliere.

Friday 26th September: Exploring Venice

Today we traveled on a boat (vaporetto) to the Peggy Guggenheim gallery. She collected lots of famous artwork including some of Pablo Picasso's works. The museum is in her house and we saw her dining room and we learnt there she was the last person to own a private gondola with a private gondoliere. At night a tour guide named Rita took us around Venice. She was nice. We saw Marco Polo's house. He sadly did not invent pizza but he was a famous explorer. After the tour I had spaghetti with shrimp in it.

This is the ugliest thing in Venice (truly)

This is one of Picasso's works

This is the Rialto bridge.

Thursday 25th September: Arrival at Venice

Today we travelled by train to Venice. It was a 4 hour trip and when you looked outside you could see lots of beautiful land masses and villages built into hills. The food was good but there wasn't enough of it. When we arrived we took a boat to the apartment where we were staying. Venice was just like Rome but newer and it was on top of water.

This is my granny and I on the bullet train (which only goes up to 250kph).

This is our apartment building in Venezia (Venice).

After the trip we got a gelato at the one of the most beautiful squares in the world. St Marks Square.

Wednesday 24th September: A relaxation day

Today we went looking for souvenirs. I got a Italian soccer top, a hat and a hair cut.

 Me in my hat and soccer top

This is my hair cut

When we got home I watched an Italian movie called Mediterraneo. It was about a group of Italians who during world war 2 went to find an hunt down Greeks. Then we stared packing for tomorrow's trip to Venice.

Tuesday 23rd September: Tour around Rome

Today we had this amazing Irish tour guide named Hugo who took us around Rome. First we went to the Foro Romano where we saw quite a few columns made by famous Roman emperors when they won a battle. We also saw the place were a famous Roman emperor named Julius Caesar's ashes were burnt. People tossed coins to where Julius's ashes were burnt. After seeing the Foro Romano we went to the Coloseum. It was an outstanding building where the emperor commissioned gladiator battles. Those gladiators died in many gruesome ways. If your opponent didn't kill you there were worse ways to die (I will not mention any in the blog but if you see me you can ask me. And if you do ask me don't say I didn't warn you). Mostly only slaves fight though. 

This is the Coloseum from one angle

This is it from another angle

Monday 22nd September: Vatican

On Monday we went to the Vatican. It was an incredible church that contained spectacular artwork and lots of dead popes. It is the smallest state in the world. A famous Italian artist known as Michelangelo designed the roof which was a huge dome. We had a fantastic guide named Angelo. He showed us many famous parts of the Vatican including a special artwork on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel which is very famous. It shows God giving life to Adam by touching his hand. Apparently an average of 25,000 people go to the Vatican per day! Me and mum climbed to the top of the dome designed by Michelangelo of St Peter's.

There is a layer of rail at the top which is were we climbed to

This is the Vatican from the outside

This is me and mum at the top of the Vatican

Sunday 21st September: Ostia Antica

Today we visited Ostia Antica. It was the original port of Rome. It was half buried in silt. It had the Neptune baths. There was a museum containing statues of famous Roman gods and Demi-gods found in Ostia Antica. If you have read the Percy Jackson series or the Hero's of Olympus series you may like to know we saw Percy holding Medusa's head. After leaving Ostia Antica we took a tour bus around Rome. On the bus we saw the Colosseum, the Vatican, Circus Maximus and many other popular tourist attractions. It was amazing. At night we saw a guy doing street art. He was quite a professional at what he was doing. The works of art were almost Da Vinci quality.

These are the baths of Neptune

This is Percy

This is the amphitheater at Ostia Antica

Saturday 20th of September: Visiting the Pantheon

After a huge sleep we went out to explore Rome. First we saw the Leonardo Da Vinci exhibition. Leonardo really is a incredible man. Then was went to look around Rome. It was beautiful. Every corner you turned there was some amazing historical building that might be 2000 years old. Later we went to the Pantheon. It was an incredible architectural masterpiece. Mum reckons it's the most beautiful building in the world. It really is (arguably) the most beautiful building.

This is one of Leonardo Da Vinci's many flight creations.

This is a photo of the inside of the dome (sorry all the good photos were on a big camera. In fact most of the good photos are all on the other camera. Don't worry later on in the trip we can fix that).

Me and my Granny with Roman gladiators

Friday 19th September: Arrival at Rome

After we got off the plane we caught a taxi to our apartment. The taxi driver was crazy and we nearly crashed 3 times! In Rome everyone drives on the right side of the road and many people skip red lights and don't look out for pedestrians. Also all the motorbikes go in between gaps of cars. When we arrived at the apartment we immediately went to sleep. there were smart cars everywhere.

this is a smart car which fits two people

Thursday 18th September: Plane Trip

The plane trip was very long and exhausting. It lasted 34 hours. We went from Melbourne to Sydney, then Sydney to Dubai, then from Dubai to London and finally from London to Rome. We almost missed the London- Rome plane.

This is the plane leaving Melbourne

This is us arriving in Roma Fiumicino a day and a half later: