Mumbai, India

Up to Mumbai our two Indian tour guides had been phenomenal. They both made it clear they were from the warrior caste and aren't too fond of Muslims or the Indian version of affirmative action, but hearing their uncensored opinions on life added to the great tours we received. Our Mumbai tour guide was not only the worst tour guide we had, but a complete a-hole as well.

Upon arriving and meeting our guide, Herb made it clear he wanted to see the sights from "Slumdog Millionaire" and wasn't too concerned with anything else. The first stop we made on our tour was the laundry area which was part of the movie. The laundry area was cool and it also kept Herb quiet for a few hours after. The laundry area is a large area in the middle of Mumbai made up of hundreds of 3'x3' concrete cells, some filled with water, some not, used to do laundry. There were hundreds of people working in the laundry area doing everything from beating clothes against cement, hanging clothes, moving clothes, etc. Our next destination was a temple in 'the Beverly Hills' of Mumbai. The temple was another Jain temple, but not nearly as nice as the Ranakpur temple. We toured the temple while Maureen stayed outside. Maybe she didn't go in because the sign outside said, "Women who are menstruating are not allowed in the temple." Our second inclination that our tour guide wasn't very good occurred while we were in the temple. I asked him about a picture in the temple showing a shipwreck and a guy getting eaten by an alligator. He stopped, looked at it, looked at me like I was stupid, said, "It's a shipwreck," then walked away. Our first inclination that our tour guy wasn't very good happened when he first talked to us on the van and never took his eyes off Lara's breasts. Literally never.

We left the temple and proceeded to the hanging gardens of Mumbai. The hanging gardens are a mislabelled park. It's a large park in the middle of the city with nice walking trails, hedged bushes, and trash cans that look like penguins. When you're surrounded by nothing but city it's a really nice tranquil area. Our tour guide gave us 10 minutes to enjoy. Our tour guide made a point that he speaks English, Spanish, Russian, French, and Hindi, but I can't count how many times he said, "Come please." As Maureen is 74 and has a bad back she doesn't move too well. So when we were walking slow our tour guide would yell "Come please" when he felt we were too far back. We left the hanging gardens and the 'Beverly Hills' of Mumbai for the Gateway of India. I mentioned the Beverly Hills of Mumbai twice to give you a flavor of what it was like for us. Our lovely tour guide mentioned that we were in the Beverly Hills of Mumbai and pointed out the Manhattan of India well over a dozen times.

No more than one hour before we got to the Gateway of India I mentioned to Lara that I thought it was nice that we had been solicited by all sorts of sales people and beggars throughout India, but not once had I been offered to buy drugs. I was making my comparison to Cabo San Lucas when I couldn't walk 100 yards without being offered drugs. We arrived at the Gateway of India and 10 minutes into checking out the Gateway out a guy offered to sell me weed. I told the guy to go fuck himself. Lara wasn't too happy with that. Besides the drug dealer, the Gateway was a cool sight.

We both knew that tour guides took a cut of the sales from the shops that they took us to and our previous guide, Kami, was very upfront with it and told us that he takes 5%. Our guide in Mumbai informed us that he works for the government and would never take a cut. We found it very odd then, that whenever he took us to sights he would give a specific time limit, never more than 20 minutes at a sight, but when we were at the shops he took us to there was never a time limit. The first shop he took us to was a government shop that had fixed prices and had goods that were guaranteed. However, we noticed that the stuff in the store was the exact same as all the other stores we had been to but the prices on the goods was 2x - 5x more. But, if we asked about the price and said it was too much, they were willing to negotiate. Even Herb, who appeared to come to India strictly to shop, was annoyed by how much time we were spending shopping. At 2pm we were starving and asked our guide when lunch would be. He seemed surprised that we would want to stop the tour and pointed out a few restaurants that were within eye sight. We had a nice lunch at an Iranian restaurant, just the type of restaurant we were looking for to get our first taste of South Indian food.

The bad press that I have been giving to the tour guide shouldn't take away from our experience in Mumbai. Mumbai is a 'struggling' metropolis. The skyline is filled with skyscrapers and there are even more going up. Unlike all of the other cities that we visited in India, there were very few cows walking the streets, almost no animal pulled carts and some semblance of order. That isn't to say there isn't absolute poverty, there is plenty of that. Mumbai was also incredibly cleaner than the other cities we were in and we felt like we could walk safely in the city.

Our tour concluded at Gandhi's house and the home of a Rabi who was killed by terrorist. Gandhi's 'home' is actually the former home of one of his friends and it has been turned into a museum on Gandhi. The museum is filled with 50 or so dioramas and was kind of interesting. We made the stop at the rabbi's home at Herb's insistence. The home was attacked by terrorists when they attacked the hotels last year. The rabbi and a friend of his were killed. Herb was shocked and appalled that we hadn't heard of the rabbi's death. Whatever Herb.

Lara and I had the evening to ourselves. We had the best dinner of our India trip at the hotel and stuffed ourselves silly. After dinner we tried to walk around, but Mumbai at night isn't the safest looking city. The following morning we got up at 4am and headed for the airport for Aurangabad.

Udaipor, India

Oh how things can change. Because Lara and I signed up for our Indian tour at the last minute the tour company accommodated us by putting us in one tour for the first half of our trip and a different tour for our second half. As mentioned before, the group that we were with in the first half could not have been better. The group in our second half left a lot to be desired. Our first day after Pushkar was a travel day. We drove from Pushkar to Udaipor. The drive was 8 hours on nothing but two lane roads with tractors and farm animals. Adding to our pain was Lara being sick with Delhi Belly. We made one tourist stop, Ranakpur Temple. Ranakpur Temple was the coolest temple I had seen in India. The temple is a Jain Temple and completely made out of marble. Supporting the multiple marble levels is 1,444 carved marble pillars, each one unique. Unlike the temple we toured in Pushkar, this temple was immaculate. Unfortunately, Lara was so sick that she just sat on the bench and didn't go in. However, Lara wasn't alone on the bench as our new tour group was apparently recruited from the AARP Complaints Department. The three other women on the tour with us were all tired of seeing temples and the only other guy in the group just wanted to take some pictures and go. They didn't think we would need more than 5 minutes. I spent 20 minutes inside taking pictures. I didn't feel bad at all, and Lara was glad I made them wait. We arrived in Udaipur in the evening and just crashed.


Starting our full day in Udaipor we toured the City Palace. As I mentioned previously, our new group wasn't the best to travel with. We had an entirely new group made up of Maureen and Herb (aka Maurb or Herbeen) a 74 year old married couple, Fran, a 70 something who's friends call her bitch, Anna, a quiet 60 something, and Naji, our new tour guide. When we arrived at the City Palace Lara and I took the tour with Naji and Herb tagged along (apparently thinking we would only be in there for 10 minutes). Maureen and Anna stayed at the entrance because they didn't feel like walking and Fran went to the gift shop. After one room Herb decided he had seen enough of the palace and walked out, leaving Lara and I with Naji for a private tour. Naji gave us a great one hour private tour of the palace which we really enjoyed. When we came out of the palace after an hour the rest of the group was waiting, except for Fran. As we waited for Fran outside the palace we had to listen to Herb and his complaints; it took 15 minutes just to get out of the palace, he lost his beloved hat while riding an elephant, Fran's a bitch, the camel ride made his ass sore, he overpaid for a marble table, Fran's a bitch...... We spent 45 minutes outside the palace waiting for Naji to find Fran. Fran was eventually discovered in the gift shop buying chachkies of a palace she didn't go in.

Udaipor is on a lake with two man-made palaces in the middle. One of the palaces was the palace used in the James Bond movie, "Octopussy". After the tour we took a boat to one of the island palaces, this was after we dropped Anna at her hotel because she didn't want to go. Before we boarded the boat Naji was bombarded with 'how long is this boat ride going to last?', 'what's on this island?', and 'can I stay here and just wait for you guys?'. The boat ride was just a simple cruise of a little lake on a pontoon boat, which was cool. At the island palace we stopped and had a drink. Following the boat cruise we took a tour of the city, stopping at a couple stores to acquiesce Herb.

Early the following morning we all went to Udaipor Airport. Herbeen, Lara and I were bound for Mumbai while Fran and Anna headed off somewhere else.

Pushkar, India

Again, we all piled into the van and got back on the road, destination: Pushkar. The ride from Jaipur to Pushkar is amazing. It's raw India. Rugged mountains, small towns, ox drawn carriages, everything. Included in everything....STICKERS! You might be wondering why we care about stickers. Lara came up with the cool idea of putting a sticker from each country on our netbook. Up to India we had put six stickers on our computer (Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Vatican City, Greece, and Turkey, we forgot in Austria). We literally spent 4 hours looking for a Turkey sticker in Istanbul and we hadn't come across any place in India that had anything close to what we were looking for. So when we found a sticker of the Indian flag we were super excited.


We arrived at our camp in Pushkar a little after noon. The camp is a complex of really nice tents and huts. All of them have air conditioning, running water, clean bathrooms and nice beds. We weren't roughing it by any means. After we got situated we were taken by camel carts to the Pushkar fairgrounds. On the way to the fairgrounds we passed a gypsy camp. As the cart went by we were surrounded by little kids asking for rupees, shampoo, or chocolate. We could see the 'homes' that these kids came from and it's hard to imagine anyone having anything less than them. Spending five years in San Francisco with its plethora of homeless has definitely made me more immune to seeing homelessnes, but seeing little kids in it is still really hard. What's worse, is that you can't give the kids anything because it rarely makes it to the kids. If the kids receive something the parents or bosses in the beggar mafia take it from them. Besides the children, the ride to the Pushkar fairgrounds was amazing, in a good way. There were camels everywhere, literally. The Pushkar Camel Festival is many things: a holy pilgrimage to the local lake, a camel market, and a county fair. As we were coming in, so were dozens of camel owners with their herds for sale or trade. The landscape was also amazing, just rugged mountains as far as the eye can see.

Our cart dropped us off in the middle of the fair. I honestly believe you could walk a quarter mile in any direction, stepping only on camels. Besides camels, the fairground was filled with camel supply shops, food shops, a make shift movie theatre, arts and crafts, all of which were completely different than anything I've seen before. I know some of you are asking, "What could be in the camel supply store in Pushkar that isn't in my local camel store here in the US?" To ride a camel you need the right blankets, saddle and stirrups or sometimes just a rope. You also need colorful ribbons and ropes to pimp out your camel. And most important, you need nose 'nails' to go into your camel's nose. These nose nails are then connected to a rope and used to rein in the camel. Pretty crazy huh? We walked around the fair for a few hours taking it all in. The sun set as we walked around the fair and I had another one of those 'I'll never forget this' moments.

That night we were treated to some cool Pushkar entertainment at our camp. Dancers, a drum band, a fire breather, and a puppet show all entertained us. Adding to the entertainment was one of the other tourists staying at the camp, Stuart, who propositioned one of the dancers for 500 rupees (~$12). Classy.

We started our first full day in Pushkar with a camel ride to the camel arena in the middle of town. I use the word arena in the loosest sense. The arena was an enclosed arena with bleacher seats on two connecting sides, the other two sides simply had a wall. We rode into the arena on our camels and stayed on the camels as we watched the entertainment. First up on the entertainment ticket was the camel race. The camel race was argueably the most disorganized organized sporting event I've ever witnessed. One of the other tourists in our group had to get off of her camel because the camel was needed in the race. When the race actually started all the camels just started running everywhere. The best comparison I can make is it's like a vibrating football board game. At some point the race ended, everyone cheered and a small group of people ran up to one of the racers to applaud him. After the race was the camel dance performance, although it took 20 minutes for things to actually get organized. A small rink was made in the center of the arena and everyone gathered around. The camel dance performance was like a dance off for camels. The handler has the camel leashed up and he has the camel trot around. The coolest part was one of the camels got on its elbows and crawled on its front elbows. Beyond that, the camel dance was kind of lame. Going with the theme, there was no organization to the dance as well. Each individual dance would end when people started booing, there wasn't a clock or even what appeared to be official judges. When we had seen all of the camels a winner was declared and the horse dancing competition started. We were about to leave the horse dance competition before it started based off of the camel dance competition, but the horse dancing competition was really interesting. Like before, a handler would come out and would lead the horse around the circle. Two drummers would play as the horse was dancing. The horses actually appeared to dance to the beat of the drums. After a few minutes an assistant would bring out a tiered platform about 2 feet high and the horse would climb on top of it and dance as well. The handlers also got the horses to stand and walk on their back legs. We watched four or five of the horses strut their stuff and we were about to leave when the master horse dancer came out. Appearantly this guy is a local legend and has quite the following. This guy was dressed well and even had his own band. I have to admit, this guy was the real deal. His horse did everything I mentioned, but did it with style. The horse would not only get on its back legs, but it would walk circles on its back legs and then hop on just its back legs. The trainer had his drummers play under the horse while it walked on two legs. Everyone loved it. By the end of the performance the circle had shrunk in half because all the viewers were trying to get closer. We left a little bit afterwards once we realized no one would top the fan favorite.

We walked through the fairgrounds and checked out the town. The town has a lake and a temple which are revered by a group of Hindus. We toured the temple which was cool, but also the smelliest, most disguisting temple I've walked in. Think of an outdoor temple with several side rooms, all resembling a recycling center in smell and floor stickiness. Let's not forget that we had to take our shoes off and walk in our socks to go through the temple. As we walked into one of the side rooms I thought we were walking into an opium den. The lake that is thought to be highly spiritual by thousands of people has been completely drained. The lake is a huge dried lake bed with some man made pools for the believers to take dips in. Inside the lake is a tower with blinking christmas lights. The lake certainly wasn't impressive but the sights were.

With all of the Pushkar sights seen we headed back to our camp. That night we said our goodbyes with Mark, Helene and Colleen as they were all leaving the tour the next morning. Lara and I both agree that the Pushkar Camel Festival was one the coolest experiences we had ever seen.

Jaipur, India

Road Trip! As I said in the previous post, after sunrise we hopped in the van and started our drive to Jaipur. The van was a nice 11 person van with comfortable seats and air conditioning. In the van was Lara, Colleen, Helene, Mark, Kami, our helper, the driver and myself. The six of us (all mentioned except the helper and driver) chatted the whole way as we watched the Indian country side go by. I take back what I said in an earlier post about Turks having the craziest drivers. Indians are the craziest drivers by far. Most of the roads in India are two lanes with no shoulder, and that's being generous. Using the road is every possible vehicle with wheels, plus people, and animal herds. Because there are so many objects on the road drivers simply use the other side of the road as the passing lane. When you're driving in the city and you go into the opposite direction at 20 mph it isn't a big deal, but when you dive into the other direction at 45 mph and there is a large truck coming at you going the same speed, it's a little different. For the first half hour on the road it was fairly disturbing. Our guide told us that just a few months ago the tour company used to put a curtain behind the driver so that the passengers in the back of the van couldn't see what was happening. Our guide also informed us that most drivers believe in destiny and if it is their time to go then it is their time to go and there is nothing they can do about it. Not very reassuring.

On the topic of Indian driving and road conditions. Indian roads are completely different than roads we've seen anywhere else. Although there are lots of cars, they are definitely a minority on the road. Most of the traffic on the roads is motorcycles, bikes, and 3-wheeled tuck-tucks. The tuck-tucks are just what you've seen in movies, they are 3 wheeled vehicles with a roof on them. Bikes and motorcycles are the same as anywhere else. The biggest exception is how many people fit in/on a vehicle. Anywhere else in the world a motorcycle is a one person vehicle, occasionally a two person vehicle. In India, if only one person is riding a motorcycle it's being underutilized. Two, three, four people on a motorcycle was the norm. Apparently, in India the motorcycle is the family vehicle. Some of you might be thinking 'how can four people fit on one motorcycle'? It's actually quite simple. The father gets on first and assumes the driving position. Then the oldest child gets in behind the father. The mother gets in next, behind the oldest child at the rear of the motorcycle. The youngest child, typically a baby, gets in last in front of the father, just behind the steering wheel. I can't tell you how many times we saw a toddler behind the handle bars of a moving motorcycle. As for helmets, they are very rare. Our guide informed us that a helmet law has just been implemented in India and people are starting to buy helmets. However, the merits of helmets aren't appreciated, simply the legality. So the only helmets that people buy, or are even available, are $1 helmets that provide as much protection, possibly less, as a turban. On top of that, it is more common for riders to have a helmet on the arm then on their head. On top of that, the helmet law is only applicable to men, women don't have to wear helmets because it might mess up their hair.


Continuing on the road subject, although when the road is wide enough for multiple lanes the lanes are marked, people never obey lane markings. Drivers simply go where ever there is less resistance. When they pass another vehicle they honk their horn. With so many vehicles on the road and all passing frequently, the road is very, very loud. Drivers are actually encouraged to use their horn. It is a law that all trucks have a sign posted on the back saying "Use horn." The trucks in India are very cool. I think most trucks are owned by the drivers. I say this because no two trucks in India are the same. They are all painted different and many with really cool paintings. Although we didn't see any truck nuts, we did see the Indian version of them.

Finishing the side note on India roads. Unlike most other countries, there are almost no overpasses in India. This does create more traffic, but it also means your truck can be as filled as you can make it as there are no height restrictions. We saw trucks that were filled 20 feet high, easily. Some trucks would be filled so much that their cargo would be hanging 5 feet out the bed and dragging on the ground. Crazy.


Back to our road trip. After a few dozen games of playing chicken with other Indian drivers we arrived at Fatehpur Sikri. Fatehpur Sikri is a deserted, red sandstone city built around 1570. The city was your standard Indian fort; a walled city with red brick buildings inside. It was pretty cool.



We got back on the road of death and headed for Jaipur. We arrived in Jaipur in the early evening. In our first morning in Jaipur we went to the Amber Fort and Palace. The fort is on the top of hill and the only way to get to the top of the hill is to take an elephant! Taking an elephant in Amber Fort is like taking a taxi anywhere else, you just hop on and your driver takes you to where you want to go. The elephant ride was very cool. Once we got to the fort we toured around. This fort was slightly different from the other forts in that it had Anderson Cooper in it. Yes, Anderson Cooper, host of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360, was walking around the Amber Fort just like us. Although Lara was the one who spotted Anderson, our friend Colleen snagged the best photo of him completely by accident. She was trying to take a picture of some sexually explicit tiles that are in the Amber Fort when some guy came out the door and got in her picture, she later noticed that that guy was Anderson Cooper. For you celebrity buffs, Anderson was travelling with one other guy, which we have a picture of. We were waiting for them to hold to hands so we could sell that picture to TMZ. Anderson Cooper won't say he's gay, but he's ranked as the second most powerful gay man in America by Out magazine.

Once we got our fill of celebrity sightings we left the Amber Fort to check out the city of Jaipur. Inside the city of Jaipur is the City Palace, Jantar Mantar, and some good shopping. The City Palace is similar to other Indian palaces. This palace had a more English feel and it had an interesting armory museum with lots of crazy weapons. The Jantar Mantar was totally different. The Jantar Mantar is an Indian observatory made up of about two dozen sun dials. The sun dials are used primarily for astrological purposes. There is one sun dial for each zodiac sign, several sun dials to determine the zodiac sign, the world's largest sun dial, and the world's most precise sun dial.

The complex wasn't what we were expecting at all and it was a very cool surprise. We finished off our city tour by doing some shopping. We checked out a couple craft stores, an antique store, a jewelry store, and a textile store. The coolest purchase of the trip occurred at the antique store. Mark purchased a six foot tall wooden statue of Ganesha. The Ganesha will go well with the one ton Buddha statue that Mark bought in Cambodia and currently resides in his backyard. Helene expressed her reservations about where a six foot tall Ganesha statue would fit in their house, but after Mark bought her some nice diamond earrings at the jewelry store, her questioning subsided.

We finished the evening by having dinner with a royal family. One of the former princes of Rajasthan (the state that we were in) had a large home in the center or Jaipur that his family still maintains and lives in. The descendants of this royal family let us into their home and ate dinner with us. The entrance to the house is from the main street of Jaipur, which is loud, busy, and filled with beggars and homeless. The house is large, with several courtyards and an outdoor sitting area. The food was nothing special but it was fun interacting with a traditional Indian family. We also ate with other tourists who were travelling separately from us, but with the same company. All of them were over the age of 70 and would have absolutely nothing to do with the dinner and left after dinner was served. We knew we would be spending more time with them in a few days and were really excited.

The next morning we packed up and started on another road trip to Pushkar, for the Pushkar Camel Festival.

Agra, India

At the ass-crack of dawn we got on the tourist special, Delhi to Agra train. Agra has several cool palaces and tombs, including the Taj Mahal. The train was a special tourist train and it was fairly nice, like a low-end European train. The train certainly wasn't the stereotypical Indian train with people packed like cattle and other people riding on the top, but we did pass by some of those trains. When we got off our train we headed for our van where a band was playing traditional Indian music and dancing. Kind of cool. The van took the eight of us to Itmad-Ud-Daulah's Tomb first. The tomb was a sprawling palace with great views of the Taj Mahal and we learned a lot about the place from Kami.

After the Itmad-Ud-Daulah Tomb we hit up Agra Fort. From the Itmad-Ud-Daulah Tomb to Agra Fort we had a virtual safari. We saw water buffalo being herded in the river wash, monkeys playing in the trees, goats walking the streets, horses pulling carriages, and of course, cows walking everywhere on the streets. Like other Indian forts, Agra Fort isn't a fort as much as it is a palace. It was a sprawling complex with rich history and some great sights.

A nice lunch followed the Agra Fort, which Mark and Helene (our adopted parents) graciously paid for. After lunch we visited the Taj Mahal. To protect the Taj Mahal's marble, vehicles are not permitted within two kilometers. So we were carried by a horse drawn cart to the entrance of the Taj Mahal. Very cool. The Taj Mahal isn't a single building. I would describe it as two complexes, with the well photographed white building having two smaller buildings on either sides and a separate, fort-like complex at the opposite side of the reflecting pool. All visitors enter the fort on one side and the path to the Taj Mahal is on the right side, about 50 yards away. From the fort, the path to the Taj Mahal has an entrance gate and it is only when you approach the entrance gate that you see the Taj Mahal. When you first see the Taj Mahal from the fort it is truly awesome. The walk from the entrance gate to the Taj Mahal is almost a quarter-mile of well kept gardens and the large reflecting pool. We slowly made the walk and got to the Taj Mahal. The line to get in the Taj Mahal was about 1000 people long and we waited for about an hour. I have to admit, waiting in line at the base of the Taj Mahal watching the sunset isn't the worst thing in the world.

Our wait in line was an hour, but it would have been a lot less if Indian tourists weren't as bad as first graders in terms of cutting. We quickly realized the strategy they all had. Send a little old lady who doesn't understand English, or at least acts like she doesn't understand English, right in front of a bunch of American tourists. Since most Americans aren't going to get upset about an old lady cutting in front of them they don't make any comments. After a few moments all the old lady's family members join her and in a matter of a few minutes 20 people have cut. This worked once on us. After the first time we weren't too kind to old Indian women. Helping our cause were the half-dozen Central Indian Security Forces personel with machine guns and whistles that would whistle and yell at people caught cutting.

Inside of the Taj Mahal is tomb of Emperor Shah Jahan's wife. It is a simple white marbled box about 2' x 2' x 5'. According to Islam, graves should be very simple, as they believe all people are created equal and a king's tomb should be the same as a pauper's tomb. Thus, the body of the Emperor's wife is actually in the dirt below the Taj Mahal and the box inside is just a symbol. Surrounding the tomb is a fine white marble lattice that prevents people from touching the tomb, but allows people to see it. What was amazing was that almost all the Indian tourists would push and pull their way to see the tomb and then walk out just as fast. Because the tomb is in the middle of the chamber you can easily walk around it. Lara and I walked to the other side of the tomb and we were practically the only people there. It was very odd but we enjoyed it. We explored some of the other rooms in the Taj Mahal and since all the Indian tourists were only interested in seeing the tomb and then leaving we were left alone to spend some quality time in the Taj Mahal. We left the Taj Mahal with dozens of great pictures and smiles on our faces.

The following morning we got up eary again to watch sun rise over the Taj Mahal. Our guide took us to the opposite side of the river from the Taj Mahal to watch the sun rist. Watching the sun rise against the Taj Mahal was another incredible moment. It was extra cool because that morning was a special festival for the local Hindus and there were lots of people on the river bank shooting off fireworks and playing music. When the sunrise colors were gone we left the Taj Mahal and headed for Jaipur.

Good Delhi

At 9am sharp we had a guide waiting for us in the lobby of our hotel. He escorted us to the car and driver that were waiting for us and we were Chauffeured to the India Gate of Delhi where we met the rest of our tour group. The group that we joined could not have been any better. There were five tourists (including ourselves), an expert guide, a driver, and a helper. The other three tourists were a married couple, Mark and Helene, and a married woman traveling through India before her conference, Colleen. Helene is an emergency room doctor, Mark is the chief of surgery at a large hospital, and Colleen is also an emergency room doctor in her second year of residency. Our expert guide, Kami, has a master's degree in history and has been a guide for several years. Needless to say, we definitely felt we were in good hands.

Kami guided us around New Delhi, showing us India Gate as well as the other sites around New Delhi. After New Delhi, we were taken to the Qutab Minar complex. The Qutab Minar complex is home to several palaces and a 239 foot tower. It was all very interesting and we learned a lot.

We made our way to the Red Fort, which was built by the Moghul emperors in pre-British times and then was occupied by the British. It's a cool fort with great history and is packed with stuff inside of it. We walked out of the Red Fort and then hopped on bicycle rickshaws and we were taken through the bazaar in Chandni Chowk. The bazaar at Chandni Chowk is a packed outdoor market in Old Delhi with a multitude of different shops and incredible sights. The bicycle rickshaw ride was an experience neither one of us were expecting but something we will remember for a long time.

After the rickshaw ride our car was waiting and we were taken back to our hotel. The first day of our tour was fantastic and a complete reversal of what we had been experiencing in India. We decided to go out to dinner to a restaurant that had been recommended to us by some Canadian tourists in our hotel. We told the concierge at the hotel where we wanted to go and he waived down a bicycle rickshaw driver and told him where we wanted to go. We were told by the Canadian tourists that the restaurant was only two blocks away. After being biked around for eight blocks we told our driver to take us back to our hotel. Talking to our driver was about as productive as talking to a shovel. A security guard heard the conversation and attempted to translate for us, the driver said to the security guard he knew where to go and off we went. Four blocks later he stopped at a hotel that wasn't ours and said something. After lots of pointing he was able to figure out that we would just direct him. 5 minutes and one slum later we were back at our hotel. We had another dinner in the hotel's restaurant. At that point we both realized that signing up for the tour was the only way we could see India.

Baaaaad Delhi

When we planned out our trip there were some places/activities that we really wanted to see/do. Oktoberfest in Munich and Pamukklae, Turkey are examples. We decided to spend almost two weeks in India because it is an incredible place that we hear lots about and also because Lara has a really good friend who lives there. Unfortunately, our friend wasn't able to join us due to a visa issue. Since we pretty much winged our European trip we thought we were now experienced travelers who could tackle anything. Wow, were we naive.

Since we received a 48 hour notice from our friend that he wouldn't be joining us, we were able to make hotel arrangements for two nights in Delhi. The hotel said they would pick us up at the airport (at 4am) and take us to the hotel. We arrived at Delhi Internation Airport and our hotel driver was no where to be found. We decided to take a cab to the hotel instead. As soon as we stepped out of the airport we knew we were in for an adventure. Entrance to the airport is restricted because there is litterally a mob outside of the airport trying to get in. Everything is different; the sights, sounds, and even the smells. Our driver took us to our hotel, dodging the cows, beggars, and stray dogs to get there. Our hotel was able to let us check in early and we slepped until noon.

When we got up we decided to explore the neighborhood, Karol Bagh. Like we expected, we saw poverty at its extreme. We made our way to the local Metro station to go to the center of New Delhi. Our Indian friend had said that we need to see Connaught Place and its underground bazaar. Our friend also said we should take the Delhi Metro to get there as its super cheap and 10x better than BART. The Metro is cheap..... overcrowded and smelly. I'll gladly pay $3 instead of $1 to ride BART instead of the Delhi Metro.

When we arrived in Connaught Place we explored the area. We literally could not go more than 20 yards without being stopped by someone trying to sell us something or strike up a conversation in hopes of selling something. Then we walked by one guy who walked along me and tried to talk to me. He then pulled out a piece of paper and tried to show me something. At the same time another guy walked towards us, in the opposite direction, on Lara's side. After the guy on Lara's side passed the other guy on my side walked away. When both had cleared us Lara told me that she had been pickpotted. Lara had a sweatshirt tied around her waist and the man walking in the opposite direction had reached into the sweatshirt pocket. Luckily, nothing was in it, before or after the incident.

We decided to tempt our fate again by checking out the underground bazaar. The underground bazaar is unequivacly the worst shopping experience I have ever had. It's an underground area with no natural light, or much unnatural light, with narrow walkways and shops on all sides. Although there are dozens, if not hundreds, of shops they are all the same; fake electronics (I-pad, I-fone, Compac computer, etc.), fake jewelry, fake jeans, etc., etc., etc. We tried to leave twice but we couldn't step over the people sleeping on the stairs.

We finally escaped the shit hole and tried to walk around. A nice guy approached us and struck up a conversation and said that he was headed to his shop and he would show us some sights on his way. Since he was 5' 3", 100lbs, and 50 years old we didn't feel too threatened and we proceeded to walk to a Hindu Temple. It was interesting. Then for some reason we all hopped in an auto-rickshaw and we went to another temple. Again, it was interesting. We went inside, saw some sights, eh. Again, we got into an auto-rickshaw with this guy and he took us to a 'credible tour company'. We went inside and we listened to a tour they had for a little over an hour. We tried to ditch our little friend but we were too nice and we couldn't shake him. We requested to be taken to the Government of India Tour Office. He obliged and we were taken to what we were told was the Government of India Tour Office. We sat down, were told this was the official Government of India Tour Office and we listened. 5 minutes in we realized that these guys were full of shit. When the tour company representative went to get us some tea we snuck out.

We were now lost in New Delhi with no one to contact and the sun was setting. We quickly asked some credible looking people where the Metro station was and we were directed in the right direction. We hoped onto the Metro (packed like sardines) and made it back to our hotel. We arrived at our hotel at 6pm and we never left that night.

We realized that we were fucked. I worked on the hotel's computer trying to make an itinerary in India (avoiding Delhi) while Lara looked for American tour companies that had India tours available. Luckily, Lara was able to find a reputable tour company and at 2am we booked our India tour. Unfortunately, our India trip went from being our least expensive to our most expensive.

You might notice that we don't have any pictures on this post. That's because we only took one picture while in Delhi that day and it wasn't even that good. We've been averaging ~100 pictures a day, but because we were so afraid of taking our camera out we only took one picture from our window while we ate lunch.

The next morning we were picked up by the tour company's car and things changed.

Istanbul - Delhi

Istanbul to Delhi was truly the most memorable air trip I've ever made. After saying our good-byes with the Foresmans we headed to Atuturk International Airport in Turkey. Anything related to transportation in Turkey has incredible security. The hotel we stayed at, a Courtyard by Marriott, has guards at the driveway to the hotel which stop every car has it enters the driveway and check for bombs under the car. Then, once you get inside the hotel you have to go through a metal detector, similar to an airport. At Istanbul airport you have to go through a security line before you even enter the airport, metal detectors and x-rays. Once you receive your boarding pass and check your bags you go through a second round of metal detectors and x-rays. We had to go through the same security precautions in the Izmir airport. It really makes you appreciate how safe America is, even though we think it isn't.

We boarded the plane, Qatar Airways, and went off to Doha, our transfer airport. Qatar Airways hypes itself up in its commercials as 'the world's only five star airline' so we were both excited to try it out. The flight attendants were no Agean Air flight attendants and there was nothing special about the cabin, but the food was awesome. I sampled the lamb and Lara had the default chicken. The lamb was exquisite and the pairing with the Hunter Valley syrah was like Sunny and Cher.

Our flight path from Istanbul to Doha was also extraordinary. We flew the complete length of Iraq, flying over Mosul, Kirkuk and Baghdad. Unfortunately, the skies were overcast and we couldn't see much. As the plane left Iraq we got to see a great sunset over the Tigris River delta. Amazing. We approached Qatar at night. As we flew in we could see oil rigs and refineries as far as the eye could see. The refineries of Richmond, California can't shake a stick at Qatar. The flames from the refineries and oil rigs literally illuminated the ground over what looked like the entire country.

We eventually made it to Doha Airport. We were both stoked about going through Doha Airport because you always hear about the incredible wealth and amount of money spent on infrastructure in the gulf and we figured Doha Airport would show it. Wrong. The airport is a glorified bus terminal. Planes land 1/4 mile away and a bus takes you to and from the terminal. We decided to sample the Doha Airport food court at what appeared to be an A&W. With some leftover GBPs (British pounds) we purchased two root beer floats and some onion rings, which came out to about $20. Without a doubt, they were the worst onion rings and root beer float I've ever had. Helping its case to being one of the worst airports the Doha International makes public announcements in English and Arabic for everything, loudly, everywhere. For the entire 2.5 hours we spent in the airport we never had silence from the PA. Then we went to the gate....... and got a free upgrade to business class. SCORE!!!!!

Business class isn't that great..... HAH! I couldn't kick the seat in front of me if I wanted to. My first decisions on the plane were what kind of beverage to have first (Laurent-Perrier Champagne) and what vibration setting to make for my seat massager. We tried to act cool and make it look like we fly business class all the time but utterly failed due to all the laughing and picture taking. A little after we left Doha we flew over Dubai and could see the palm tree-shaped peninsula that Dubai has created in the Persian Gulf. Another amazing site.

The flight lasted only 2.5 hours and we knew we were in for a complete change once we got off the plane.

Istanbul, Turkey

Turkey is a big country with mediocre roads, so we decided to fly from Izmir (near Pamukkale) to Istanbul. Nothing special about the flight or arrival at our hotel. Upon getting settled in our hotel we set about for a dinning experience which is exactly what we got. At the concierge's suggestion we went to a restaurant nearby which features belly dancers. We were seated near the dance floor with your blogger nearest the dance floor. I'm sure you already know where this is headed. The first belly dancer wasn't the most aesthetically pleasing (she was a butterface), but what she lacked in looks she made up for with stage presence. Towards the end of her routine she decided to get the audience participating so she pulls me up on stage. She told me to just follow her moves. Now I'll admit, I'm no Kevin Federline, but anyone that has been at a wedding with me knows that I have some killer moves; the shopping cart, sprinkler, modified worm and lawnmower to name a few. Unfortunately, these moves aren't traditional belly dance material so I was completely at her mercy. I was wiggling my belly pretty well and keeping up with her. Then she dropped to the floor over her knees, like in a limbo. I painfully followed suit. We got up and then she pinched my cheek, I followed her and pinched her cheek. Then she grabbed my butt, I grabbed her butt. Then she pinched my nipple, I pinched her nipple. Yes, I pinched a belly dancer's nipple in front of my wife and in-laws. The belly dancer acted surprised and then started more belly dancing, which I followed. The belly dancer then ended the performance by asking for a kiss on the cheek, which I obliged. Then the belly dancer asked for a kiss in between her breast. At that point I threw in the towel and said no. She thanked me and I walked off the stage to an applause. Lara and her parents all said I did well and they weren't upset that I pinched the belly dancer's nipple. But come on, what kind of in-laws would get upset seeing their son-in-law pinch a dancer's nipple in front of them?

The next morning we tackled Istanbul. We started by visiting Topkapi Palace. Topkapi Palace is a sprawling palace with great museums and views of the city. We explored the palace for a few hours and had a good time. We hit up the Grand Bazaar after Topkapi Palace. The Grand Bazaar is a massive, enclosed bazaar with hundreds of stores. Like most bazaars, there were hundreds of shops, but only a few different stores. Even with the repetition it was definitely an incredible experience.

In our second full day in Istanbul we hit up the big sites. First thing in the morning (11am) we headed for the Hagia Sophia. At the Hagia Sophia we hired a guide who gave us a great tour of the Hagie Sophia. It's definitely a place with deep history and we really enjoyed the tour. After the Hagia Sophia we walked across the courtyard to the Sultanahmet Mosque, aka the Blue Mosque. The Blus Mosque is Istabul's most notable landmark. It's a huge, blue covered mosque with tall Minarets. It's truly a sight.

With another check mark on the '1000 places to see before you die' list we headed back to the hotel. On the way back we walked along Istanbul's contemporary shopping street which was pretty cool. We used Istanbul's light-rail to get around as well as a funicular. Even though I've now been on two of Istanbul's funiculars I still don't know what they are.

Early the next morning the Foresmans left and we said our goodbyes. A few hours later we bid Turkey adieu and headed out for India.

Turkey, Bodrom - Pamukkale

To go from Santorini to Turkey we decided to take a ferry. Our previous ferry experiences (insert derogatory gay joke here) was the Blue & Gold fleet in San Francisco Bay and some other small domestic ferries. What we got was a cruise ship like experience. The ride from Santorini to Kos, a Greek island close to Turkey, was only 3 hours but we (Lara and I) had our own cabin with bathroom and shower. In the common area of the ferry was a movie theatre and several bars including a nice outdoor sitting area. Since we had a long day ahead of us we decided to catch some sleep.

We arrived at Kos at 6am and we had made arrangements to take a ferry from Kos (Greece) to Bodrom (Turkey) at 4pm. Upon arriving in Bodrom we would rent a car and drive 3+ hours to Pamukkale. When we actually arrived in Kos we walked around the waterfront and realized there were 2 dozen boats that all advertised that they do Turkey excursions to Bodrom at 9am. We signed up for one of these guys and headed out at 9am.

The ride from Kos to Bodrom was definitely not the cruise ship like experience we had just had from Santorini to Kos. The boat was the ferry like experience we were expecting including high winds and rough waters. When we crossed the maritime border halfway in our trip the boat lowers the Greek flag and raises the Turkish flag. We're not sure why they do this, but we took a picture of us showing 7, the number of countries we had now visited on our journey.

The border crossing in Turkey went smoothly, but since we had made plans to arrive in Turkey at 5pm and we had arrived at 10am, we had to wait a bit until our rental car arrived. We waited for the car to arrive at the Bodrom marina. At 12pm sharp the call to prayer went out. Hearing the mosques all around us make the call to prayer was a quick reminder that we're in a Muslim country. It was also the first time any of us had witnessed a call to prayer. Of course it wasn't so much a call to prayer has just a guy chanting over a loud speaker. Nothing changed or occurred in this bustling town during or after the call.

The drive from Bodrom to Pamukkale was 4 hours of the craziest driving I had ever experienced. Lara's dad, Mike, was our driver and did a great job. The German Autobahn has nothing on Turkey's roads. The quality of the roads isn't that great and the drivers fly on them. 80km speed limit on a winding two lane mountain road, people were flying by us at 120km in a no passing lane. The drive was a little crazy, but totally amazing. This was the first time that we got away from cities and towns because we had been travelling via train exclusively. We were able to see small villages and stop at road side stores. Even going to the bathroom was an experience. Of course the worst experience was filling up the gas tank.... $135 to fill up a small SUV gas tank. Ouch.

The next morning we went to Pamukkale. Pamukkale is a small town in the southwest/south central area of Turkey. It has natural warm springs with a very high mineral content. Because of this, the hillsides of Pamukkale are white from the calcium deposits that have been built up over the millenia. Pamukkale was once a large Roman colony, built for the warm springs. The real reason we came here though is because Lara wrote a report on Turkey in grade school and ever since she has wanted to visit Pamukkale. Pamukkale is very cool. We zipped through the 'junkyard' of the old Roman colony and then went to the hot pools. There is a large pool that has been built around some Roman ruins so that you can swim in the Roman ruins. I passed it up, but Lara and her mom could no resist. I have to admit it looked very cool.

One thing we noticed upon arriving in Turkey was the near complete disappearance of American tourists. Taking the place of American tourists in Pamukkale were Russian tourists who absolutely loved the hot springs and took more glamor shots than Japanese tourists, amazing.

After the hot springs we ventured out and explored the white hillsides. From a short distance the hillsides appear to be covered in snow and ice. In reality they are just white from the calcium and are very smooth. The water that flows over the area is also very warm. It was a completely unique place.

Santorini, Greece

This entire trip we've been extremely fortunate with weather. It hasn't rained a drop on us and with the exception of some partly cloudy weather here and there it's been almost completely sunny. Our weather in Oktoberfest was even described by some locals as the best in a century. Appearantly, the weather gods were taking a break when we arrived in Santorini. When we arrived in Santorini's airport it was cloudy and a little breazy. By the time we got to our hotel in the middle of town it felt like a full blown hurricane. As you can see in the picture, Lara isn't falling, she's just trying to fight the wind to get to our room. Since the weather wasn't being conducive for going to the beach the four of us explored the small town. We found the best gyro place ever, McDaniels. I think the owner was trying to play off of Jack Daniels as much as possible because Jack Daniel's face and logo were plastered everywhere but no the name 'Jack Daniels'. The secret to these awesome gyros, french fries. It adds about 500 calories and 20g of fat, but it tastes so good. It took us a few hours to explore the town and then the four of us went back to our hotel to ride out the storm. The reason we could see the town with the storm going on was because the town doesn't have any streets wider than 12 feet so we're protected from the wind almost the entire time.

Our hotel was awesome. Almost the entire hotel complex was in caves. Although our room didn't really have windows, the entry overlooked the cove of the island and our room totally felt like a cave. It was a cool cave though, Fred Flinstone would definitely be jealous.

The next day the sun started to come out and we decided to rent ATVs and explore the island. Checking out the island on ATVs was awesome. The island isn't very big so we were able to get from the center to the farthest part in less than 1/2 an hour. The four of us went to two beaches, stopping at a winery on the way. When the sun started to go down we set out for the opposite side of the island to watch the sunset. We caught the sunset from a rooftop restaurant as we ate a great dinner.

The weather was even better for our third day in Santorini. Since it was sunny and hot we decided to walk down to the old port of the island. The old port of Santorini is just that, it's the old port that is now used exclusively for small boats ferrying tourists to and from cruise ships and the nearby islands. The old port is also 588 steps down from the town and is serviced by a small gondola and pack mules. For the hike back up to town Lara and here mom, Maureen, decided to mule it. Your's truely acted as their personal photographer and was instructed to 'run up Tim and get a good picture' and 'you need to go faster to get a good picture'. Lara and Maureen had a great time riding the mules, I was a little winded.

To cool off we decided to ATV to the beach. The beach we found was great. The beach itself was good, but the food they served was one of the best lunches I've ever had. We thought we were ordering a mixed plate, instead we got a mixed seafood plate filled with local specialties and attractively displayed. We also had some cocktails. As you can see, we were definitely enjoying ourselves.

As the sun went away we headed back to town for our last few hours on Santorini. We had yet another great dinner in a rooftop restaurant. This one though, was on the crest of the island and allowed you to view both sides of this C-shaped island, very cool.

After dinner we gathered our stuff and headed to the ferry port of Santorini to catch our ferry to Bodrom, Turkey.....

Athens, Greece

Lots of people told us that Rome was an incredibly beautiful city that you can't not love and it didn't live up to all of its hype. So when lots of people told us that Athens was just a dirty, busy city with not much to it we didn't know what to expect. After spending a few days in Athens I argue it's a beautiful city with a busy city life, deep history, and pocketed with quiet neighborhoods.

We left Rome in the evening on an Aegean Airlines flight (most attractive flight attendants I've ever seen) and got into Athens Airport at 11:30pm. After negotiating the great Athens public transportation system we arrived at our subway stop at 1:00am. What really surprised Lara and I was how many people were just leaving to go out at 1:00am. I'm not talking about club going 18 year olds, I'm talking about 50 somethings going out for a nice dinner. I think my parents have been up past 1am once in the past ten years and that was because I set their clocks 6 hours fast as a prank. When we got to the hotel we met up with the Foresmans (Lara's parents), who were joining us from Athens to Istanbul (12 days). They had arrived a few hours earlier and had discovered the roof pool/restaurant of our hotel. The four of us went upstairs for a glass of wine and to admire the incredible view.

No, not the view of Nielsen's Athens office which just happened to be across the street from the hotel.

This view. That's the Parthenon lit up just a mile away from our hotel.

In our first day in Athens we checked out the Parthenon and Acropolis. The Parthenon is the large columned building that everyone knows. The Acropolis is Greek for 'high city', which is where the Parthenon and several other temples are located. (The more you know). Between us and the Acropolis is a nice stretch of shops and restaurants with the brand new Acropolis Museum in the middle of the neighborhood. We grabbed a quick bite to eat, which turned into the best meal Lara and I had had in over a week, then set out for the Acropolis and other cool areas around it. We toured the Greek equivalent of the Roman Forum, a large area of ancient ruins, or as Lara put it, a junkyard. Without a guide the Greek Forum is pretty uninteresting and we ascented the Acropolis. From atop the Acropolis you have this incredible view of the city and then when you realize that you are in the shadow of these 2000 year old temples and walking in the footsteps of Plato and Socrates, you realize this is a special place. After the Acropolis we checked out the Acropolis Museum which was not only a great museum, but at 1Euro entrance and a nice lunch for only 6Euro, it's quite the price performer. With our legs and brains tired, the four of us had dinner on a rooftop terrace that was spectacular and then called it a night.

For our second day in Athens we decided to see ....... more ancient ruins! We started the day by walking through an ancient Greek archaeological area, which was ok. After the archaeological area we walked through the Greek National Garden to the parliament building (again, ok) and then we made it over to the Greek tomb of the unknown soldier. Guarding the tomb are two Greek soldiers dressed in traditional Hellenic attire. On the half hour they perform a patrol of the tomb which is crazy. The best way to describe it is it's like an ostrich mating dance. I think the crazy outfits say a little of what I'm talking about.

We finished our day just like the day before, having a great dinner overlooking the Acropolis. We left Athens early the next morning for Santorini. After visiting Athens for the first time, the four of us were all very impressed and think it's definitely a place to visit.

Still Alive, part II (Athens)

Just like Rome, Lucca, and Cinque Terre, Athens has a lack of free wireless or even wired connections to hook up a laptop to the internet. That means we can't upload the hundreds of pictures we've taken the past week or the blog posts we've drafted. We'll post messages about Cinque Terre, Pisa, Lucca, and Rome as soon as possible.

Rome,Italy Days 2 & 3

Like receiving a chemistry set from Santa one Christmas, our visit to Rome was kind of disappointing. My thought of Rome before our visit was one of a city with incredible beauty, history and food. After visiting Rome, I can say it has some cool history. As for the food and attractiveness.....

Our first day in Rome, as you can tell from the earlier post, went well. Our second day in Rome was OK. By our third day in Rome (and twelfth day in Italy) we were checking on getting an earlier flight to Athens.

What I haven't mentioned in my earlier posts on Italy is the complete lack of any non-Italian food in Italy. THERE IS NO OTHER FOOD IN ITALY BESIDES PIZZERIAS, GELATERIAS, CAFES, AND OSTERIAS. NONE. And Italian food isn't that good. We've eaten at a few nice restaurants, a few mid-priced restaurants, and lots of street vendors and mom-and-pop fast food joints. Lara and I both had a nice pasta dish at two separate nice restaurants. My dish was a spaghetti carbonara (very similar to a great dish my mom makes) and Lara's memorable dish was a pesto pasta dish in Riomagiore. Besides these two meals, not a single Italian meal has been memorable for a good reason. What we've found is that nice Italian restaurants will actually make your food. Mid to lower tier Italian restaurants reheat your food. This applies to pizza, pasta and focacia, the only meals you can find in Italy.

If you would like to try an authentic Italian pizza at home follow my recipe:

1) Call Dominoes Pizza and order a thin crust plain cheese pizza

2) When the pizza is delivered proceed to put it in the refrigerator

3) Let rest for 24 hours

4) Thaw pizza for 3 hours at room temperature

5) Place pizza in toaster oven for 5 minutes at 200'

6) Serve (but charge any guests $3 for a glass of water)

If you would like to make the pizza focacia style follow steps 1-4, fold pizza in half, then place in a George Foreman Grill on medium for 2 minutes.

I digress.

We decided to see the Roman Coliseum and Forum our second day in Rome as well as some other sights. When we arrived at the Coliseum we were approached by a man selling tours of the Coliseum and Roman Forum. Since we weren't too impressed by the audio guide in St. Peter's Basilica we decided to give the guide a try. We paid our $50 and waited for the tour to start. 40 minutes later we actually started. The guide of the Coliseum was a little lady who spoke into a megaphone and showed us pictures in a book. Her 'tour' was basically just reading the Lonely Planet - Italy's description on the Coliseum word-for-word. Very lame. The Colosseum is cool though. By the time our tour group organized again we were about to leave and go off on our own. Just as we were about to leave we got a new tour guide who gave us a bang-up tour of the Forum that lasted 2 hours. Overall, the tour guide was worth it, but it definitely started on a bad note.

After our Roman history lesson we walked to the Italy's tomb of the unknown soldier and huge monument to the Republic. At the monument we watched an Asian lady let her toddler sit and pee right in front of the tomb, awkward, but very entertaining.

We walked around Rome for the rest of the evening, struggling to find a good looking place to eat.

I also got in a height measuring contest with a Roman truck, I won.

We did find a pastry place that makes cannolies. Lara was in search of good cannolies and after 10 days in Italy we finally found a place. The lady at the shop made it right in front of us. We were later told that cannolies are actually Sicilian and Italians don't make them.

In our last day in Rome we took the subway straight to the Vatican so we could hike the dome of St. Peter's Basilica. On a side note, Rome's subway is efficient and timely, but dark, gross and everything is covered in graffiti. The dome was awesome. We hiked all 551 steps to the top where were treated to incredible views of the city. On the way to the top of the dome we walked around the catwalk inside the dome where we got to be up close to the frescoes in the ceiling. From the floor of the Basilica the pictures look like paintings but the dome is actually covered with small-tiled frescoes, amazing.

We walked back to our hostel from the Vatican stopping at a few sights. We stopped at Trevi Fountain and tossed our coins into the fountain (we both forgot to make wishes though). We spent some time at the Spanish Steps. One of the most annoying things in Italy which we haven't mentioned are the rose peddlers. These men, almost all Pakistani, Sri Lankan, or Bangledashi, walk around with roses and try to sell them to people. We were first approached in Venice when we were having a nice dinner (the scenery, not food). The rose seller approached us, asked us if we wanted a rose, and we said no. The rose seller then gave us the rose by putting it on the table, smiling, and walking away. We thought, 'what a nice gesture'. Wrong. The rose seller then stood 20 feet away and stared at me for 5 minutes until I gave him a euro to leave me alone. Since then, we've discovered that these rose sellers have a standard protocol which we watched on the Spanish Steps. They see a couple and offer to sell a rose to the couple. If the couple rejects it they will give the couple a rose and smile. They then follow the couple and make it well known that they want payment. If the couple doesn't pay the rose seller will walk over and grab the rose away. The worst trick they have is when a couple is taking a picture at a nice spot the rose seller will smile and offer to take a picture, using the couple's camera, of the couple. The rose seller will even give them a rose to hold for the picture. When the couple then asks for the camera back, the seller refuses to give it to them until he receives 5 euros for the rose they didn't ask for. It's truly disgusting when they do this, but from a distance it is entertaining watching their schemes.

We eventually got back to our hostel and made it over to the train station to get to the airport for our flight to Athens.

Parting thoughts on Rome. Tradition states that when you are at Trevi Fountain you are supposed to toss two coins over your left shoulder, like we did. One coin will grant a wish and the other coin means you will come back to the city. I wouldn't be disappointed if the tradition doesn't work out.