Flying in Germany

In the past, I may have, on occassion, had a bit of a whinge about Australian airlines and airports. After seeing how flights around Europe work, I just want to say I'm sorry, and I'll try to make sure it doesn't happen again.

We have a few short flights to take inside Europe and the UK on this trip. The first was Munich to Berlin, via Air Berlin. This was only a very quick 1 hour hop, and although the airport was rubbish, the security measures extreme, and Fiona and I got shafted into separate rows despite booking the flight several months ago, it was fairly uneventful.

Today we are flying from Berlin to Edinborough, through a budget carrier called EasyJet, which I'm certain must have been the basis for the TV show "Come fly with me".

After the last experience, we knew it wouldn't be as simple as say flying from Sydney to Brisbane, so we arrived early. The first thing we noticed was there were several unhappy looking Germans waiting right near the baggage drop desk. Apparently you aren't allowed to drop off your bags unless your flight is departing within the next 2 hours. They time this down to the minute. So anyway, we check our bags, and proceed to security.

Security at German airports is ridiculous. Fiona and I stripped down to almost naked, and the metal detector still went off for both of us. This then means a frisking by some enormous German bloke barking orders in half German, half broken English. Oh, and you've got a camera in your bag? Get it out. Show me a picture on it. And I'll just take the lense cap off and stare into it to make sure it is indeed a camera, and not a couple of kilos of C4 explosives shaped exactly like a camera.

Ok so all fine now, get a coffee and stuff, flight will depart in an hour or so, no idea what gate though as its not on the board. Finally it appears on the board, and it immediately says "boarding". Rush to the gate, line up for a passport check to see if we are permitted to leave the country. We hand over our passports, the police officer says "There is no stamp. How did you get to Berlin?" We explain that we caught a flight from Munchen, and nobody stamped our passports. She looks worried. She then starts quizzing us, wanting our life story for the last month, wanting train tickets and boarding passes that we simply don't have, because who the hell keeps their old boarding passes? She even tries calling someone on the phone, there appears to be no answer, meanwhile the line behind us is building up, and we are getting just slightly worried that we will be incarcerated in Germany for not keeping an old boarding pass. Finally, she just shrugs, hands back our passports, and says we can go. Ok then.

Having apparently passed the thorough, somewhat confusing test put to us by the police, we walk around a corner, present our boarding passes and passports for I think the third time now, before being prodded into a tiny waiting room area with a plane load of people in it, to wait for the plane to arrive.

Eventually the plane arrives and my first thoughts are that it looks old. Certainly older than the planes used by Virgin and Jetstar (I found out later it was an airbus A319, launched in 1995). I tell Fiona that it is most likely on its last legs, having flown many tens of thousands of short hops across Europe over the last 20 years or so. She doesn't appreciate this.

Finally, by pure luck and as if it was some special test of patience devised just for me, there was an old scottish woman sitting in my seat. Being as polite and charming as possible, I informed the lady that I believed she was in my seat, and asked if she would mind moving. She responded sharply, and without hesitation, that seat "C" was nearest the window. Fortunately, before I got the chance to cause an international air rage incident, the flight attendant stepped in to confirm that I was in the right, and a very disgruntled old lady got out of the way to let us in, making no eye contact with either of us for the rest of the trip.

Fee's Oktoberfest Experience

Ok so this is Oktoberfest purely from my (Fee's) point of view, because I know Red is going to want to record his own version of events. Just to confirm no one was hurt in the making of Fee and a Red man Abroad Oktoberfest Edition.
As we had perfectly timed our trip to Munich with the opening weekend of Oktoberfest there was a few awesome things going on (and what felt like a million tourists there as well).
To open Oktoberfest they have a huge parade where all the breweries participate with their oompah bands, wagons full of beer kegs and all their staff all wearing their dirndls and lederhosen.
So Saturday morning we decided to head to the parade first - well actually I requested it as I love parades!! When we got there it was packed but one clever Redman found some barriers that were next to a building that were perfect for climbing up and gave a fantastic view of the parade. So we climbed up and watched and watched and watched... the parade was huge and we got there after it started but it fully made you appreciate how much beer must be served! And I was a little jealous that the staff on the floats already had beers in their hand.
When the parade was over we followed the masses to festival grounds. On the way there we got to see the tapping of the first keg by the Mayor of Munchen (best job ever!) through the window of beer hall. The tapping is followed by a 12 gun salute although Red asked if it was fireworks (not sure why he thought this as it was Midday!).
When we got to the festival grounds it was packed! Not only was it packed but their were random wagons with clydesdales still attached from the parade, which of course everyone wanted to stop to take a photo of. Eventually we made our way through the crowd. The day before a tour guide had told us about the "traditional" section of Oktoberfest, which most of the tourists avoid as you have to actually pay to go in. At this point Simon was reluctant to drink a beer, something to do with too much to drink at the Hofbrauhaus the night before. However I convinced him that it really was a good idea to at least find a table to sit at as it was Oktoberfest.
We found some empty seats in a table in a beer garden, where two Bavarian couples were seated.  After ordering a stein each (I had a Radler which is a German shandy and delicious!) we struck up a conversation with the Bavarians and by our second stein we had become friends. Our new friends were great fun and soon we were learning lots. We were told about the Wolpertinger a very dangerous German animal (google it, it is fantastic!). After a miscommunication about cocaine we got to try sniffing tobacco (hilarious!) and were gifted postcards that taught us the basics of anatomy in Bavarian.
Our new friends then nicely showed us the highlights of Oktoberfest (Bavarian style). This included a bar carousel where you can drink steins as the ride goes around. Simon had a go on one of the sideshow games, a shooting game where he got to show what an awesome shot he is. He hit 11 out of 12 targets, and managed to impress the Bavarians. He even won me a duck!
We then went to a white beer bar, just to try something different and yep they made Radlers with the white beer which was lucky for me!
Eventually it was time for our new friends to go home, after a quick stop to buy fish sandwiches. They swore they prevented you from getting drunk, we however couldn't stomach a fish sandwich after a few steins.
We said goodbye to our new friends and went to explore by ourselves. First thing on Simon's list was curry wurst.
After enjoying a huge plate of curry wurst and fries covered in mayo (yummy!) we then thought it was a great idea to go on a rollercoaster.
There was an Olympic themed rollercoaster with the 5 rings which were loop the loops! Awesome fun! Although I am not sure it was a great idea after lots of beer and curry wurst.
It was finally time to call it a day, but fun day was had by all. We also managed to avoid the legendary hill - where they leave you when you have had too much beer. 
Oktoberfest 5 out of 5 stars!

Munich, day 1.

It's now our last of 4 nights in Munich, and the city really has been extraordinarily good to us. I don't know if it's just because everyone is in such good spirits because of the festival, or if we have just been lucky, but we have had an absolutely awesome time without really planning a thing.

Our first full day in Munich was Friday, one day before the start of Oktoberfest. We started off by heading slightly out of town for a tour of the Dachau concentration camp. I won't go on about this too much, as I don't think my words could really do the experience justice, but it was emotional. If you can visit one of these memorials and not at least feel something, then there is something wrong with you. Whilst Dachau was far from the worst camp in terms of the number of people killed, it was the first concentration camp, and provided a model for camps such as Auschwitz. The tour guide we had was very good, and the museum on the site did an excellent job of explaining everything from how Hitler's national socialist party first came to power, all the way through to the specifics of the camp, and the eventual liberation by allied forces.

After returning to town, it was time for something a bit more cheerful.
Now before I get too far into this, here is a small glossary of terms:
Wasser: water.
Bier: Beer. More common, cheaper and easily obtainable in Munich than wasser. Consumed by every Bavarian man, woman and child from birth, in vast quantities.
Radler: A mixture of half bier, half lemonade. Usually consumed by (a). Small children that aren't quite ready for full strength, and (b). Fiona.
Biergarten: Outdoor beer garden. Something which appears
absolutely everywhere in Munich. Our Ibis hotel had one, every pub, restaturant and cafe has one, we went to a museum thinking we could get away from drinking bier for a while, it had a biergarten. I didn't check but I'm sure if you went to the local hospital, there would be a biergarten there.

We met up with a good mate from home who is in town for the festival, started by having a look around the (still empty) Oktoberfest site, and finished by going to the famous Hofbräuhaus for a bier and a meal. This place is amazing. For starters, its massive. Table after table and a huge outdoor biergarten. It just seems to go on forever. There is constantly German oompah music playing, steins being drank, just a great atmosphere. I was instantly hooked and sat down with a stein in one hand and a huge pork knuckle in the other. Fee settled into a radler and half a chook. It was at about this time that we met some Aussies that were looking for a table to share. This made things interesting. They were like younger, stupider models of us, and made sure that the steins, and at some point the jager shots, kept coming. Fortunately, we managed to escape the quickly escalating drunkeness before it got too out of hand, knowing that the main event was starting the next day. Even so, it was a great night, and really gave us a taste of the Oktoberfest experience even before it had officially started. 

Eagle's Nest Tour (i.e. went to Hitler's house, got snowed on)

For our second day in Salzburg we had organised a full day tour including "The Eagle's Nest", a salt mine tour, and the mountain town of Berchtesgaden .

First stop was "The Eagle's Nest", or "Kehlsteinhaus" as it is known in German, or "Eagle Hawk's Nest" as Fee had been constantly incorrectly calling it.

I was really excited to be visiting The Eagle's Nest. The history of the place is amazing. Here goes my wikipedia entry: It was constructed by the National socialist party as a 50th birthday pressent for Hitler, who used it for showing off to important guests. 8 people lost their lives constructing it, but I doubt that bothered old mate too much. Hitler apparently only ever visited it about 15 times, as he was scared of heights. The vast majority of buildings like it that belonged to the Nazis were destroyed by the allies at the end of the war, but the Eagle's Nest survived, with the British RAF claiming that they chose not to bomb it, and other sources saying that they simply couldn't hit it.

Right, so back to the tour: The weather wasn't good, it had been raining all morning and this made the bus ride up the mountain, around crazy corners with no real guard rails to speak of, that bit more interesting. It was of course worth it when we reached the top and laid eyes upon the incredible structure above.

So, after walking through Hitler's tunnel, and riding in Hitler's brass elevator, we had finally reached Hitler's tea house. We started by taking the path outside the bulding, leading up to the mountain summit, which provided excellent views of the building exterior. It would normally provide even better views of the landscape below, to a distance of around 200kms, but visibility was fairly limited due to the weather. However we did get some glimpses of the town below and the surrounding mountains.

It then started snowing, a lot, so we headed inside to have a look around. The most impressive part of the interior, in my opinion, is the Italian red marble fireplace, which was a gift to Hitler from Benito Musselini, and was complete with chip marks from allied soldiers looking for souveniers back in 1945.

It was soon time to head back down Hitler's elevator, through Hitler's tunnel, onto the bus, and back down the mountain. Further down the mountain towards the town of Berktesgarten, were the former residences of many high ranking members of the Nazi party, inlcuding Hermann Göring , Albert Speer, and Adolf himself. You might remember some of these names from the Quentin Tarantino documentary "Inglourious Basterds".

Vienna

After a little bit of confusion we made it to our apartment in Vienna, the person arranged to meet us their didn't show up, the man on the phone spoke terrible English and luckily a nice German girl helped translate so we could get the pin number for the key lock box. Then the person who was meant to show up the next day to collect our money didn't show - wonderful organisational skills!
As we only had a short time in Vienna soon after arriving we headed out promptly and hired some bikes. This was a lot of fun although the bike paths were a bit confusing at times. Bike riding was a great way to see the city and it was pretty successful I managed to only hit one pedestrian (oopps)! So as we rode around Vienna we found some lovely gentleman dressed as Mozart in the park selling tickets to a legitimate Viennese classical music concert - so the romantic Simon decided to take me on a date. 
Prior to our romantic night of classical music we randomly found an aussie bar for a quick drink. They served cider so I was excited. In the bar we made friends with a drunk Brissy girl, her Italian friend and were served Irish cider by a Norwegian and a German. Definitely an Aussie experience!
We then went off to find our concert, and after lining up with hundreds of bus tour groups we were informed we had lined up for the wrong concert. Luckily the Palace our concert was in was just across the road (lots of Palace's in Vienna!).
The concert was a really fun experience with ballet, opera signing and classical music. It was definitely aimed at tourists who were not classical music buffs. The fact that it was a "tourist trap" was a shock to the American's sitting behind us, and the "Mozart" they got their tickets from seemed like such a nice genuine guy!
The next morning we headed into the city center as there was a church tower Simon wanted to climb. And boy did we climb! We had to climb 382 stairs up a spiral stair case that was quite narrow. The view at the top was amazing but phew those stairs were hard.
Later that day we went to the Imperial Palace, where the Spanish Horses are shown (unfortunately didn't get a chance to see them), and the Sisi Museum. The  museum showed you the living quarters King Franz Josef and Queen Sisi (who tragically died and then became super popular).
For dinner we lashed out and went to an Austrian Aldi where we scored fish, vegetables, beer, wine and ice cream for like 10 euro, a bargain.
We finished our time in Vienna with a ride on the Riesenrad, a giant wooden ferris wheel that has been operated for 100 years. We got beautiful views of the whole city and was a lovely way to end our time in Vienna!

Salzburg

Our first experience in Austria was the incredible view of the mountains that can be seen from the train on the couple of hour trip from the border up to Salzburg. Our second was the crazy taxi driver that was about 500m into the trip to our hotel when he spotted some people giving away free milk drinks, slammed on the brakes, apologised, ran over to them (meter still running), grabbed two cartons of the milk things, threw them in the boot and continued the journey. Upon arrival to the Bloberger Hof hotel, he asked us if we drank milk, then thrust four of the drinks in our hands (presumably as compensation) and sent us on our way.

The Bloberger Hof, amusing name and all, deserves a special mention as it was a fantastic place to stay. When we arrived we were informed that we were in the honeymoon suite. The lady then inquired as to whether we were on our honeymoon, and I think the look on my face would have immediately told her that this was not the case. Nevertheless, it was a very comfotable, large room, equipped with all the necessities of an Austrian hotel: Balcony with amazing view of the Alps, ye olde minibar with bier and schnapps, four post bed with large mirror on the ceiling, everything you could want really.

On our first day out in Salzburg the weather was rainy one minute, rainier the next, but it didn't worry these two brave adventurers, equipped with weather proof jackets, and passes that gave us access to every indoor attraction in the city. So, we started by waiting for the Glockenspeil (spelling?) to sound, signifying to all that it was 11.07am (cmon Austria, a bit of German efficiency please), before heading up to the huge fortress that overlooks the city.

The castle was an amazing series of structures. It is one of the largest surviving castles in Europe, and inside was pretty much exactly like "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" on Xbox, except Nazis with Sten machine guns weren't hiding around every corner, and they probably didn't have a giant robot Hitler in the basement. Still, it was very impressive, providing excellent views of the surrounding landscape, and containing a number of museums in its many rooms.

Other highlights of the day included visiting Mozart's birthplace, ducking over the river to Mozart's house, seeing Mozart's statue, listening to some of Mozart's music, learning a bit more about Mozart's life, eating Mozart's (chocolate) balls, and having pork weinerschnitzel for dinner, which was one of Mozart's favourite dishes.

Venice

After a chaotic time at the F1 Venice has been the perfect way to unwind. Venice is amazing and beautiful. We have had a lot of fun exploring Venice, and I have had a lot of fun shopping (its OK I left Simon in the hotel where he was wearing his complimentary dressing gown). Our hotel is incredible (and rather luxurious compared to our tiny unit in Milan), it is in an old palace that has been done up and is gorgeous.
We spent our first afternoon wandering the streets full of shops with Venetian masks (these are beautiful but some are very scary!), Munaro glass and beautiful art work. We hunted down the church which featured in Indiana Jones and the last crusade and found a bar nearby for a refreshing drink. Here Simon tried to order a Birra, a Peroni, much to my delight the bartender had misheard Simon and he ended up with a pink cocktail called a Bellini which he secretly loved. 

Last night we found a lovely restaurant on a canal where we enjoyed seafood pasta and bruschetta, so much that both of us ended with smiles full of basil (all class we are).
Today we enjoyed a Gondola ride which I have always wanted to do, we got to ride down little canals and listening to the Gondolier yelling ooeee as we went around corners. We rode past both Casanova and Marco Polo's houses.
This afternoon we went over to the island of Lido by taking the waterbus. Lido is where the Venetian's  go for summer and home of the Venetian film festival. We worked away to the beach and were amazed at what it was like. The beach was completely fenced off with only access through gates which are locked at night. And on the beach there are thousands and thousands of beach huts. It was incredible and so very different to the beaches at home. We went on a quiet day but could imagine what it would be like in summer. It was a great afternoon of swimming and laying on the beach and nice to be away from the crowds of Venice.

Venice has been a lovely way to end our time in Italy. Simon's only disappointment is that he didn't see any Blind shops (you know Venetian blinds, yep even here he is cracking terrible jokes!). We celebrated our last night in Italy with some more amazing Pizza and a Birra for Simon (no pink cocktail this time). Tomorrow we are off to Austria, first stop Salzburg where I hear the hills are alive with the sound of music (yep Simon is a terrible influence).
Buonanotte.

Monza - Italia F1 GP

We've spent the last 4 nights in Milan, and the best part of the last 4 days attending the Italian Formula 1 GP.

The event was just an incredible spectacle. The Italians are so passionate about F1, and in particular their precious Ferrari team and Fernando Alonso. They turned out in droves. Also in cars, scooters, bikes and I think what one guy was driving was a street sweeper.

The racing was absolutely awesome. Seeing and hearing those cars come down the straight and into a corner at completely stupid speeds fulfilled every boyhood dream I'd had about being a part of such an event.
To summarise the race: Vettel won. He never looked like not winning. He started first and just got further and further away from the pack as the race went on. You'd see Vettel go past and then just be waiting, looking down the straight for everyone else. Alonso got off to a good start and planted himself in 2nd, much to the delight of the Italians, and Webber spent the entire race battling with Massa for 3rd, and then Allonso for 2nd. Webber stayed right with Alonso the entire time, but couldn't manage to get past. Still, it was a very proud moment to see Webber up on the podium at Monza for his last time. All of the 6 aussies at the track were extremely excited.

I think even Fee had fun when the main race was on. If not she was doing a good impression of being excited for me. We were both kitted out in our team redbull shirts, this made it interesting when we got lost trying to find our grandstand and ended up in one of the camping areas, being yelled at by drunk Italian Ferrari fans.

Fee and I have now had our dose of Italian crowds for quite some time, but everything went relatively to plan despite the seemingly complete lack of organisation by the Italians. Basically they couldn't organise d'roota ina di brothelli, if you'll excuse my Italiano. This meant you needed to know where you were going, and how to get there, as it was extemely unlikely that there would be a sign or something to point you in the right direction. If you ever want to see thousands of confused tourists, Monza on race weekend is the perfect place to go.

While we're on the topic of tourists, I feel the poms deserve a special mention. There was probably as many Brits at the F1 as there were Italians, and while most were perfecty fine, my goodness we encountered some whingey bastards. Here are some of my favourite quotes from poms over the last few days:

"These trains are ridiculous, its not like home." Really? Italian trains aren't exactly like those in London? oh I'm so sorry, I'll tell Italy that right away.

"Stop pushing me." (lady in a massive crowd of people trying to get onto a train). See, thing is love, you're in a crowd. A huge crowd. Sometimes, you might get pushed a little bit.

"I hate getting wet." (as a tiny shower starts, and he puts up his enormous golf umbrella, annoying half the crowd)

"You're in my seat." (To an Italian man, during a practice session, when there were literally thousands of other seats free)

Anyway, enough whinging about poms. We are currently hurtling towards Venice on the train. More later. Arrivederci!

First day in Milano

So we finally left Rome and headed to Milan. We arrived with no issues (although it was funny to watch Simon try and talk on the phone to the Italian manager of our unit to explain we had arrived). We are staying in a private unit in suburban Milan close to the main station. It is really lovely, off a little courtyard and everything. Plus we have a washing machine and full kitchen.
We decided we better head for Monza where the F1 track is so we could check out the pit lane walk. Catching the train to Monza was the easy part but once we got there it was pure shambles. Firstly there was no shuttle buses to the track as the racing doesn't start until today. But there was also no signs and a bunch of really confused tourists who were leading each other around like lost sheep. We befriended a British couple and decided to find a taxi. After walking past the taxi stand and being ignored by several taxis we eventually found the taxi stand and then a taxi. When we got to the Autodromo (yep that's what it is called!) it was chaos.
We followed the crowd and made it into the pit lane after walking for ages. And WOW. Now I am obviously not the F1 lover in this relationship but I got a whole appreciation for the passion people have for the F1 and it was addictive (and this was just the pit lane walk). Going down the pit lane was like walking through a massive mosh pit but add in tons of excited Italians, Germans and Poms all yelling in their respective languages. We finally pushed our way through to Webbers garage in the pit which was all the way down the end. Eventually they started moving people down so that the drivers could come out and wave etc. At this point I followed some people right down the end and managed to get on the wrong side of the barrier! Simons face when I waved to him from the wrong side was priceless. Simon then joined me on the wrong side of the barrier but by this stage security realised that hundreds off us were on the wrong side of the barrier and then pushed us out by making a police line.
Then as we moved out of the way Simon nearly got run over by a scooter, being driven by Lewis Hamilton (a British F1 driver who frequently pulls stunts like driving a scooter through the crowd on the pit lane). Simon was so shocked he didn't have time to even take a photo.
We then decided to try and work out how to get back to the train station, as there were no taxi's. We ran into our British friends from the start and thanks to google maps found a bus stop not too far from the Autodromo. However we did manage to get on the bus without buying tickets (oopps) but luckily the buses were so full no one noticed. After finally getting back to Milano (and seeing a train door broken by some people trying not to miss the train- note the train doors here actually stop if you grab them when they are closing!) we found a supermarket on our way home. This was a lot of fun and we were amazed at how cheap things were (Simon was also amazed that they sold beer in 3 packs not 6 packs). So we got ourselves a feast of salami, pesto, cheese and pasta and 2euro bottle of vino to go with it. We then headed back to our cute little unit to enjoy our feast! (and to get a good sleep so I can face the first day of time trials at the Autodromo!)

Roma!!

Tonight is our last night in beautiful Rome and I don't think either of us want to leave. We have already talked about when we come back...
We have managed to squeeze in a lot in our few days here. Starting with our trip from the airport where we drove past the Colosseum  and the Roman Forum all lit up it was magical.
On our first day we visited the Colosseum, the Palatine, Roman Forum, Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. This was incredible, all those history lessons from school were coming to life. Everywhere you looked there was a beautiful building, a story to learn (and as Simon pointed out lots of good looking Italians!). The Colosseum was my highlight, it is just an incredible structure. At Trevi fountain we both threw a coin in as is tradition. This is also where Simon learned what a sucker I can be, with a very pushy Italian trying to sell roses (well he gave them to me for "free" and then hit up Red for money, to sumarise Red was called something not so nice in Italian after he told him where to go).
Today we visited the Vatican, but missed the pope (he was busy with a Papal audience, hot tip this meant no line for the Vatican Museum!) The Vatican museum is incredible and there is so much to see. I particularly loved the Egyptian artifacts (there was a real mummy!) and this amazing hall with these beautiful maps painted on all the walls. We also visited the Spanish Steps where I got to walk into the fountain and fill up our drink bottle, best water I have drunk this trip.
Then there is the food, so far there has been pizza, pasta and gelato. We have learnt
that although they can't do cocktails in Roma (ordered one cocktail and ended up with Rum and coke!) the food is amazing. Last night was in Red's words "best dinner ever".  This was an amazing pizza followed by tiramisu and sorbet. Tonight we had pasta in a cute little courtyard garden. And at breakfast we have Mario who freshly makes our cappucino (no s) and corrects our Italian.
Rome is amazing, however the only highlight of leaving is hopefully Red will stop saying 'When in Rome".
Ciao.

Pompei / Napoli

We left the hotel right after breakfast and headed to the train station for a day trip to the small town of Pompei, which is the site of one of the world's most significant archeological digs.
The story with this place is back in the day it was a fully fledged city of about 25,000 people, with all the mod cons like plumbing, gymnasium, bathing facilities, theatres, markets, brothels and temples for worshiping your favourite cult. So pretty much exactly like the suburb of Rockdale, except without a tennis club, as that sport wouldn't be invented for a few more years. Anyway, one day, the nearby volcano errupted, and they were stuffed. Most of the people fled, but about 3,000 either didn't have time, or were convinced that their Pagan gods would save them, and they were all covered in liquid hot magma, as was the entire city.
It is absolutely amazing how well the city has been preserved by the lava. You walk down the cobblestone streets and you can almost picture what life must have been like for these people over 2000 years ago. There is house afer house after house, all pretty much still intact. (These people only lived until 30 or something, what were they doing building houses that could last thousands of years?) Then you get to the public areas, the baths for example, which are basically set up like a modern day spa: Baths for men, baths for women, a sauna, cut outs in the walls to put your clothes.
I also particularly liked the theatre, and the ampitheatre. The former was used for things like plays and iphone launches, the later for things like gladiator battles (like on channel 7 in the 90s). Both were very well preserved, and really gave me an appreciation of how unbelievably impressive the coliseum must have been when it was complete.
The artwork and attention to detail that could be seen around the city was amazing as well. The houses of dignitaries for example featured columns with very intricate detailing on them, incredible paintings, mosaic tiled floors. Many of these are things we still associate with grand houses, but of course labour costs have gone up a bit since 80BC, and its so hard to find a guy that specialises in columns.

Napoli
After a train ride back to Napoli (Naples), we had a couple of hours to wait for our connecting train back to Rome, so we decided to explore Napoli a bit, with two main goals in mind: 1. To see some water, and 2. To have some pizza.
Now, I'm not sure what you picture when you think of a seaside italian town, but I think of that stuff from the travel shows, with the beautiful coastlines with houses going up into the hills, and all that. So trying to get to the water seemed like a good goal. It wasn't. Turns out that about all Napoli has on its coastline is shipping ports. So thats a massive fail for (1).
We then set off with a our goal of working our way to this mythical pizza place that Fiona had seen a review for online. Before long we found ourselves in some back streets, (or were they main strets? I'm still not sure). It was alright at first. Some markets were going on, there were some tourists, some locals, maybe the odd scooter going by. It was a picture perfect italian street. After about 10 minutes as we got further in, I started to hate every minute of it. It was a complete dogs breakfast. (Literally. I think I almost stepped in what used to be a dogs breakfast.) It stunk, there was garbage everywhere, cars and scooters would nearly run you over, vendors were yelling at you, and a puppy licked my ankle. On top of all that madness, we failed to find the fancy pizza place, and, defeated, went back to the train station to enjoy a nice, predictable mcchicken and Peroni.

20 hours with emirates

We spent the day yesterday flying from Sydney to Rome with emirates. 12.5 hours on an Airbus A380 to Dubai, then another 6 hours on a Boeing 777 to complete the trip.
The experience was about as good as it could have been. The staff were good, everything was on time, food was good, and the inflight entertainment system had an adequate selection of Hall & Oates, spanning their entire career and covering all the greatest hits. Big thumbs up there emirates.
The A380 is without doubt the aircraft you want to be doing trips like this in if you can. It feels much more spacious, especially in terms of seat width. I was on the aisle both times, and the cart brushed past my shoulder on the 777, not so on the A380.
One potential down side for the A380 is that it has stairs in the front galley area. But this is only really a bad thing if you pass out and hit your head on them, as one lady unfortunately did, leading the captain to make an announcement asking if there was a doctor on board, at which point I was extremely disappointed that Leslie Nielson didn’t make an appearance.