We stayed at Michelangelo Campsite , the cheapest stay in our trip, only around €10 per night. per person. There were no light and electricity in the tent, only two single bed. We used our mini torch to shine at our bags to get clothes for bathing. The bathrooms were some distance away from our tent.

As we walked through the campsite to the bathrooms, we passed by a garbage site and saw fireflies! I had never seen fireflies in the wild and seeing such magical insects hovering at the garbage was never a picture formed in my mind when I was reading fairy tales in my childhood!

It was fun at the camp site, though with bare necessities. We picnic in the night at the terrace, overlooking Florence under the dark sky. After picnic, as we were walking back to the tent, all of us suddenly realised that we were only wearing shorts after bathing, and had forgotten that it was night time in the cold! We dashed back to our tents, as fast as we could, all shivering in the cold wind.

In the middle of the night, the cold air crept under my blanket and I woke up trembling. I learnt something - tuck in the blanket under the mattress so that no cold air could invade!

Florence is a great beauty!

In Rome, we stayed in Pensione Ottaviano Hostel, which is only a short walk to St Peter’s Square. We got ourselves a six-bedder dorm in this pleasant hostel occupied by youths from all over the world. An American youth told us she worked in the hostel to make some money to tour in Europe. Perhaps we should try that too, so that we could continue our next league in Europe immediately!

One of our friends had to depart two days earlier. She wanted to visit as many attractions as possible in the day; thus, we had to squeeze our three days’ itineraries into a one-day tour! Our marathon for the day included Vatican City, Vatican Museums, Colosseum, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum, National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps and Pantheon. All in a day! Phew!

The weather had turned very warm. We were perspiring while walking to Vatican City. It happened to be a Wednesday when Pope John Paul II (1920~2005) would give his weekly Wednesday general audience in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican.

It was still early when we were there, so we went into the Vatican Museums first.

Adam and Eve painting.

The Mummy is so well-preserved that the hair is still clearly visible.

It was so crowded in the Sistine Chapel. The chapel is very small and a part of it was closed at when we were there. The guards were very strict and they shouted across the chapel to stop visitors from taking photos. We were being warned a few times too when trying to snap photos of the world famous paintings. My friend escaped the vigilant eyes by putting his arms at the sides and at the same time, holding his camera facing the ceiling of the chapel and snapping the paintings on the ceiling, and one of them was the famous God Creates Adam by Michalangelo.

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