day 31: romantic rome

No shorts. No sleeveless tops. No short skirts. No recording devices. And no talking. The glorious Sistine Chapel, demanded respect from its visitors. Regardless of its restrictions, I would comply because it was an awesome experience.

I could not imgine how Michelangelo could have painted the chapel in four years. And today, I was admiring something so spectacular that was done in 1512. It was breathtaking.

Our Italian guide, Andrea, brought us through the Vetican Museum and showed us many excellent tapestries, sculptures, and paintings. My favourite was the ceiling paintings that looked three dimensional.

We were starving after the three-hour tour. We jumped into a taxi and found a pizzeria in the middle of the market square at Campo de Fiori.

A slow stroll to the Colosseum passed several other beautiful key architecture, some half ruined.

We walked nine hours today. My feet hurts.

• Location: Rome, Italy
• Cost: €40 Vatican tour, €13.80 pizza and sprite, €9.50 taxi, €2 isotonic drink, €2 orange juice, €17 dinner, €12.50 muscato.
• Highlight: We ventured around Trastevere, a less touristy area across the river. Cozy restaurants lined the small alleys, with lovely alfresco seating under trees and surrounded by flowers. I had Coda alla Vaccinara, which was a braised tail in tomato and vegetable gravy. It was very delicious.

day 30: gone gondola-ing

Venice is beautiful. I love being on and around water all the time, finding little old bridges at every corner, and staring down long narrow lanes. It was beautiful last night on the water bus but Venice during the day is absolutely romantic.

The gondola ride was spectacular. Sebestiano, whose gondola we picked, was a young twenty-ish year-old guy who showed us several significant historical and interesting buildings, such as Cassanova's house or the canal-side villa which was used in the filming of 'The Italian Job' movie. It was lovely being on a private boat. I especially loved navigating around the smaller and quieter canals, and going under the bridges. Some bridges were so short Sebestiano had to bend down.

After the relaxing gondola ride, we strolled through the main road to Rialto bridge and San Marco square. We realised then that we were a little short on time before our 4.27pm train. We thought we could take the water taxi back until we found out that it was €60! So we took the water bus instead which was a pleasant (but stressful) 40 minutes ride down the canal to the rail station.

Fortunately we made it in the end, by a pretty good margin I must say. We ran 300 metres across a crowded square and bridge, picked up our bags from the hostel and sprinted to the train station.

The four hour train ride flew by. Oyvind taught me some simple phrases in Norwegian in preparation for our stay in Bodo. With Oyvind's iPad, we screened South Park and the House of Flying Daggers.

After checking into Legends Hostel and meeting our New York room mates, we went for authentic Roman food to celebrate. Jerrain got news that she graduated with first class honours!! I am so proud of her!

• Location: Venice and Rome, Italy
• Highlight: The 40-minute water bus ride, enjoying the wind and sights.
• Cost: €2.50 hot chocolate, €7.90 spaghetti carbonara, €40 gondola, €11 reservation fee for train to Rome, €6.50 water bus, €3 orange juice on the train, €31 hostel, €30 dinner, €6 drinks.
• Train: Venezia Santa Lucia to Roma Termini 4 hours.