Topdeck: Rome

Rome. The Eternal City. This is somewhere I'd wanted to visit for ages and it didn't disappoint.

We headed straight out into the city on a walking tour to see the major sights, including the brilliant Trevi Fountain, which was packed with tourists...

The Pantheon is even more impressive. It's almost 2,000 years old and still has the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. I was in Rome for 3 days and went back on every one of them just to marvel. 

Phil's panorama shot of the interior of the Pantheon.

Our walking tour finished outside the Colosseum, where there was still time for one last group photo before we headed back to the camp-site pool for our last night on tour.

The next morning we visited the world's smallest state - The Vatican City. We paid for a guided tour and it was well worth it. Our guide spoke 4 languages and knew the answer to pretty much anything you asked him. Unfortunately they didn't allow photos in the Sistine Chapel, but we did get one inside the Basilica itself. 

La Pieta inside the Basilica was very impressive. Sculpted by a 23 year old Michelangelo, it makes me feel fairly inadequate having not yet sculpted a masterpiece of my own.

That night after a quick nap in our hotel, me and Phil had to say goodbye to our fellow travellers. It wasn't easy - it'd been an amazing 10 days and we'd made some friends for life. The rest of my time in Rome wouldn't quite be the same...

The next morning I was feeling pretty good though. I'd had my first proper night's sleep in a real bed since July and I was ready to see the parts of Rome I hadn't managed to the night before, starting with the Roman Forum, followed by a look around the inside of the Colosseum.

The weather was so hot that day, I retreated to my hotel pretty early and spent the last of my euros on Fanta and Pringles. While sat watching the news in Italian in my underpants it hit me that another trip was over. Topdeck part two was fantastic - I got on with everyone on the trip, we had an excellent crew and the destinations were all brilliant. This won't be my last trip with the company, I'm sure of that.

Topdeck: Florence

Like Pisa, I'd been to Florence before. It's a beautiful city with some of the best architecture that Europe has to offer.

On our first night in the city we were taken to a local karaoke bar where James and I sang "Man, I feel Like a Woman" and got really drunk. A good night all in all though!

The following morning we went on a walking tour to the magnificent Duomo.

We stopped off on the famous Ponte Vecchio too.

The weather was incredibly hot, so we retreated back to camp until the sun had gone in. We then spent our night overlooking the city from the hills while the locals tutted at us for being loud. Brilliant view though!

Next Stop: Orvieto, Italy

Topdeck: Pisa

Pisa is a bit of a dump. There's no other way to describe it really. The only thing worth seeing is the Leaning Tower and I'd seen that before, so I spent the hour or so we had there going to McDonalds, then playing rugby with the Aussies next to the Baptistry. After a couple of minutes we'd drawn a reasonable crowd of Chinese tourists and I got a round of applause from them after taking a high bomb from over my shoulder. A very surreal moment.

I did find the time to take one stupid photo though. You can't really go to Pisa and not...

Next Stop: Florence, Italy

Italy: Florence

As a big fan of the Assassin’s Creed series, Florence was a dream come true. I’d spent hours running round a virtual 15^th century Florence slaying Templars, so there was little need for a map.

We started our mini-adventure in Florence on Ponte Vecchio. It’s lined with shops and is the only remaining bridge of its kind in the city.

After seeing Michelangelo’s David (again, I wasn’t allowed photos), we went off to see Florence’s amazing cathedral. The attention to detail is fantastic and the different colours and decorations are breathtaking – at the time I was thinking more about scaling the walls a la Assassin’s Creed.

The nearby Lindt shop was another highlight. If I hadn’t been flying with ryanair I’d have probably brought some home. Look at the size of these balls!

Unfortunately after our day in Pisa and Florence Will and I had to part ways with Joe, Katie and Kelly, they were heading on to Venice, but we’d already booked and paid for our accommodation in Milan, so we hopped on the last train and said our goodbyes. I vowed to see Florence again though – next time I’ll hopefully give it the time it deserves (and hopefully manage a trip to Rome too!) 

Italy: Pisa

Our drive from Milan to Pisa was unnerving. Kelly, our American driver, was more used to driving automatics, which only added to the discomfort of squeezing 5 people into a tiny Fiat Panda. The situation was made much worse when the two girls decided that the Glee soundtrack would be appropriate driving music. Let’s just say I was glad of a break in Pisa.

Pisa itself doesn’t really have a tonne to offer (not from what I saw anyway). It was January, so not exactly peak tourist season, which was good – the place was nice and quiet. I can proudly say I refrained from taking one of those stupid photos where you pretend to hold up the leaning tower. We only stayed for an hour, then it was off to Florence!

Italy: Milan

All the language assistants in Bremen were given a five-day weekend at the beginning of January to coincide with a couple of German bank holidays, so me and my American friend Will decided we’d make the most of it by escaping to somewhere that we could survive without wearing two winter jackets – we decided on Milan.

We headed off to the airport and sat waiting for our flight – what followed was one of the biggest (and most fortunate) coincidences I’ve ever experienced. The queue started to form to board when we heard some familiar sounding voices. Our friends and fellow language assistants, Joe and Katie, happened to be on the same flight with their friend and they’d hired a car in Milan. We immediately decided we’d be tagging along on their day trip to Pisa and Florence.

We picked up the car and made our way to Milan (typically the airport that ryanair had advertised as Milan was in fact a two hour drive away). Unfortunately our sat-nav lead us down a dead-end and nobody could work out how to put the car into reverse, which is why Will and I ended up pushing from the front.

Our hostel was, to be honest, a bit of a dive. We had to share a double bed with fetching pink sheets and a choice few stains.

After a quick shower and change we headed out – the Duomo is easily one of the most intricate, beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen.

Of course what visit to Milan would be complete without a hint of Leonarda da Vinci? We were lucky enough to get tickets to see his Last Supper, but they wouldn’t let me take a photo…

Pizza and beer made it a lot better though…

Then it was on to the bar to plan the next day: Pisa and Florence.