Europe trip: Part 3

Next on the itinerary was Venice. The snow had left us by now- thank god! Well, what can I say about Venice that hasnt been said already. It is also known as the Queen of the Adriatic and is an archipelago of 120-odd islands connected by c400 bridges. Some islands are so small that they have just about 2-3 houses on them! A lot of houses have stairs outside them that open into open! A gondola ride was a part of the agenda after which we went to the St.Mark's square (backdrop of the 'Khuda jane ke' track from 'Bachna Ae Haseeno'), there was also the Bridge of sighs which was under repair- this was the place where inmates before leaving for a life sentence saw the last of their closed ones-hence the sighs, et al. And yes, we were there on 14th Feb, Valentine's day and much as I'd like to lie and say the tour was planned that way, it wasnt:) There is also a two week carnival in Venice in Feb and 14th was the last day of the festivities and we saw a lot of people wearing masks- some spooky, some gorgeous and many very elaborate!

Roma was next! After Amsterdam I was hoping for Rome to be the next highlight of the tour and man it didnt disappoint! The Colosseum is SO grand, we went in and looked at the place. Scenes from Gladiator where Russell Crowe fights came back to our memory and the wait to get in was totally worth it. There is also 'Spanish Steps' which is the longest and widest staircase in Europe. At the foot of the steps, besides one of the numerous clean fountains in Rome, there is Babington's tea room which was founded by a couple of English ladies around 1890 for English speaking folks in Rome. We were told that a cup of tea there costs £30- we took a picture outside the team room and quitely left for the next highlight. The big one is Fontana Di Trevi which is one of the biggest fountains in Rome (and trust me there are LOTS of them!). There is a very intersting story about the structure of the fountain. Whilst it was being constructed, there was a barber's shop on the right of the fountain who said he was being disturbed by the noise. Legend has it that the guy in charge placed a piece of rock at the fountain's side in such a way that it'd block his view of the fountain. The rock is called 'Ace of Cups' and is a very oddly placed rock for someone who wont know better. We also saw the place where Julius Caesar was killed. There was also the Pantheon and the Italian Gelato!!