When In Rome

Dear Disciples,

We've spent the last 6 nights in Rome, it was pretty incredible. Our first hostel was nearly impossible to find, the Italians mangaed to build a street that did not connect to any other streets so after about 2 hours of wandering within 500 meters of the place we finally walked through the doors. That was enough of Rome for one day.

On Saturday we wandered the streets of Rome, checking out the pantheon, plaza navona and Trevi Fountain. Best of all that was all free.

On Sunday we headed over to the Vatican Museum for the only free day of the month, and after about 90 minutes waiting in line we manged to sneak in before they closed for the day. It was all very cool but the Sistine Chapel to finish the museum was absolutely spectacular. No picture can do it justice. We 45 minutes staring straight up at Michelangelo's incredible creation. Afterwards we upgraded to a better hostel for less money.

Monday went inside the colosseum and wandered through the Roman Forum, another day filled with old rocks.

Tuesday we went to the catacombs of St. Sebastian. That night we ventured out to the Spansish Steps for a Mardi Gras Pub Crawl that included an hour of open bar at the start and a tee-shirt which Tristan desperatly needed after only leaving Vancouver with 3. Obviously we took great advantage of the open bar and were pretty well set for the night.

We took our sweet time getting going Wednesday morning but in the early afternoon were finally heading out the door to see St Peter's Basillica at the Vatican. It was impressive to say the least. The view from the top was spectacular.

Today we made the trip from Rome to Florence where we're staying at another great hostel with breakfast, dinner and wine included.

These are just a few of the pictures we got in Rome, hopefully we'll get some more up tomorrow night.

Nick is not living up to his Compass stature

Rafael's Tomb

The Pantheon

Trajan's Column

Us at Trevi Fountain

In Front of Trevi

Vatican Museum

Us with top of Sistine Chapel

Battle of Milvian Bridge

The Last Judgement

Us in front of Arc Of Constantine

St. Sebastians Tomb

The Pietta

Looking out over Rome from the top of St. Peters Basilica

Nippily Napoli

Dear Viewers

After a grueling 40 hours in transit which included 2 ferries, 3 trains and a bus, we finally managed to arrive in Napoli. Not long into our journey we met another Canadian who was a carbon copy of our childhood friend Geoff Vishloff. Our commute from Athens to Patras in Greece was supposed to be one simple train ride but Geoff seemed to know what was happening and thus we blindly followed him onto 2 different trains and a bus. We should have known, never trust a Vishloff.

When we first arrived in Italy, Mike Cortese had his people well organized against us, as the first Italian we met attempted to scam us with a taxi ride, you're going to have to do better than that Mike.

When we arrived in Naples we had a few hostels ready to check out thinking this would simplify things greatly. Oh were we wrong. On the way to the first hostel, we misinterpreted our position on the map and thus ventured into the slums of the city for way too long before realizing we had to turn around completely. After about 75 minutes we finally reached the address of the hostel only to find there was no hostel on that street at all. Our next option was well across town but it at least existed. We headed there and settled in for the night.

Today we visited Pompeii, and explored the ruins of the ancient city. There were a lot of old rocks.

"Why are there so many Italians?"

Mount Hoopagamous

They're planning on reviving this guy by 2050

These poor kids never had a chance

These were the best preserved people in the whole town

Poopers

The Nut Clamper

Pompeii

Land Ho!

Dear Supporters,

This one goes out to Mike for getting a warm welcome ready for us in Italy.

As far as where we left you off last time, we reloaded on the ouzo and had a blast doing it, unfortunatly we couldnt find a decent place to party all night, there were way too many guys although everytime we went somewhere new we got a free round of shots. Dave and Greg managed to smash a beer bottle all over a pool table as well which called for a hasty retreat from that bar. We were positive that the bouncers were chasing us as well so we decided to run to look less obvious. We are hoping for better luck in Italy.

It took us a while to get going Sunday morning but the Ouzo definatly leaves you in better shape than the Don Simon wine. That afternoon we headed out to the harbour and managed to secure a boat, was a bit of a fixer upper but we got it going alright.

Today we are taking a ferry back to Piraeus and then a train from Athens. The train takes us to another port in Patra. From there we dispearse to Italy. It will take about a day and a halfs travel all together. We are looking forward to stirring up a ruckus in Italy.

We will write back when we are in the land of wine, pasta, and beautiful moms. If anyone has advice in places to go please send away.

Cheers all,

europe boys

We went whaling

Our hostel

We caught a big one

Apparently we weren't supposed to fish there so they locked up the captain.

Crete

Chania

Chania

An Ouzo Afternoon

Dear Readers

This one goes out to Wayno for his helpful advice on the Ouzo. It is a hit.

Sorry about the sideways pictures but we're running short on internet time.

On Thursday we explored the ruins of a 4000 year old Minoan palace at Knossos. Our warlord left a path of destruction, dessimating a very old rock. Our hostel In Heraklia was a dump. There's no other way to say it, we were lucky to survive. Our chef was so rattled by the prospect of bedbugs and cockroaches he was forced to spend both nights huddled inside the warlord's sleeping sheet (with the warlord).

Friday morning we set out for Chania, about a 3 hour bus ride from Heraklia. From there we stumbled across a beauty of a budget hotel with the funniest speaking Greek we've encountered so far. We purchased some Ouzo from the supermarket planning on an eventuful Friday night but once again could not find the will to get out of bed at 11pm to party. We were shamed.

Thus we made a vow to start today off right, with some Ouzo. We started early, finished early and were on our way for refills when we decided to check in with our readers. Anyways we're out of time, out of Ouzo so stay tuned for the aftermath.

Catch ya later.

An Ouzo Afternoon

Hraklion Fish

Dave

Hraklion Harbour

god shat on Tristan

Koura

Lunch

Supper

Dessert

Gatwick Airport, it was a long flight