Rome, Italy

On my days off from Anna Villa, I went to Rome. On the first of these visits I went to the Colosseum, the Forum and the Palatine Hill. While waiting in the very long line for the Colosseum an man came up and offered a tour of the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill for 20 Euro including the entrance, which meant to tour only cost 10 euros and I did not have to stand in the line.
It was the best tour I have done so far on my travels. The tour guide was very vocal and got you really involved in the tour. It was great to hear the history of the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill while looking around it. It was especially helpful for the Palatine hill as there is not much left of the ruins. Palatine Hill...what remains.

After the wonderful tour I went down and explored the Forum in the heat of the day. It is so amazing to be standing in the old centre of Rome. This was centre of the world in the past. I’m amazed at how much the Roman Empire achieved and then how the super power came to an end. It makes me wonder if I will see the end of a super power this lifetime and if so will one of the countries I visited so far become the new super power.

After looking around the form heart of Rome I walked over to the Pantheon. On the way I could not believe how many ruins make up the city. There are all the tour sites but then as you walk around the town you just stumble upon amazing old ruins with no idea what they once were and no sign or big crowd of tourist. The place is just so full of history. After about a 20 min walk I reached the Pantheon. It is amazing, so perfectly round and so big. I could not fit it into a photo. The hole in the ceiling is apparently 9.1 metres (30 ft) in diameter however when you look up at it from inside it looks a lot smaller due to the light.

After the Pantheon and I bit more exploring through the city I reached the Saint Peter's Basilica. It is a very impressive site to see at the end of the road. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I reached St Peter's but decided that I had to climb up the tower because I might not get another chance. So I walked all the way up the 330 plus stair to the top of the tower. It was hard work and very hot but the view made it all worthwhile.


After the amazing view of Rome from St Peter's I walked back to the train station via a gelato shop near the Spanish steps. I was exhausted but was looking forward to my next trip to Rome where I would be visiting the Vatican City.

Anna Villa , Rome

My new work was at a farm and B and B called Villa Anna about 40km outside Rome. It was owned and run by an English couple called Mick & Angela Brown. Mike had been in the air force and after leaving the service they had opened up B and B's around England in area like the Lake District. They had finally got sick of the English weather and had moved to Italy to start up Anna Villa and some farming. They grew all their own vegetables and grapes for wine. It was so lovely.

Mike and Angela are really nice people and a pleasure to work for. When I arrived they made me a cup of tea and we waited for the other worker Sharon to arrive. Sharon was a blast. She was in her thirties and had just packed up and sold her life at home for a one-way ticket to Italy and the world. She did not have any really plans expect she wanted to go to India and China and Tibet. We spent hours swapping ideas on where to travel to. I loved it.

Working at Anna Villa was great. We would work for one day and then have the next day off to explore Rome. The work involved gardening and general farming. Both Sharon and I liked manual labour so it did not take us long to get through most of the days jobs. In the evening we would have dinner with Mike and Angela, which was always amazing, and get to sample some of the farms wine. Yummy! I could have stayed there forever. The weather was really hot around 35 everyday but the we had a pool to swim in so Sharon and I spent our lunchtimes relaxing in the pool. After a week however I had to say goodbye to Mike and Angela and start the train trip up to Sweden!

Rome, Camping

I arrived in Rome in the afternoon and booked into a campsite outside of the city centre. I was exhausted both mentally and physically. I had no idea how much working at La casa sul lago had taken out of me. So I spent the next two-day just sitting by the pool in the sun and reading a book. It was great. I felt I had heaps of time to see Rome as I would be living near by on a farm so sight seeing could wait.


While staying at the campsite I got a new camera for 70 Euro! Yeah! It was great. I think the only photo I took at the campsite was this one of me. Sorry guys but it was a great place to stay.
While in the campsite I got an email from Emma (a friend from Sweden who I met in Singapore in 2006). She said I had to come up and visit her in Malmo, Sweden for her birthday on the 6th September. I really wanted to see her and Pelle (her husband) and her birthday sounded like a great date to aim for. So I told my new work in Rome that I would have to leave on the 1st of September instead of the 4th like I had originally planned. They were fine with it so I started working out ways to Sweden using my trusty Eu-rail guide.

Torricella the final days

While getting off the train in Torricella I saw a woman who looked very lost. Torricella being a small town and as she did not looking like a local I assumed she was coming to stay at the hostel. So I introduced myself and took her to the hostel. She was really nice and I spend the next few days hang out with her and showing her the sites. She had come to Italy to work as an Au pair and had a few spare days before she started work.

After two days she was off and I was sad to see her go and really upset at how much my boss charged her for everything (something like 70 euros a day for a bed and 2 meals). At the hostel they just acted like it was really free and easy but they kept a tab on everything you did and then gave a you a huge bill at the end of your stay. I understand they need to make money but they should tell people the costs of things instead of acting like it all comes with the service. They do not even have an official price list for anything. I was also upset she got charged so much because they did not have enough dorm rooms due to the Beglium kids staying there, so she had to sleep on the floor with the workers and me. It was really crap living conditions with 6 of us sleeping on the floor of a dorm room and a broken toilet in the room that smelt. I would not have paid for it myself.

The next people to leave was Lara and Emma and then Stephie and Eggy would leave a day after that which would leave just me. I did not check with my boss that he had understood my email about me I wanting to stay an extra night but assumed that it would be fine since all their staff was about to leave.

Lara and Emma left and the money situation got revealed. I am use to people talking about weekly wages or hourly rates not monthly especially if you are only going to be working somewhere for 2 weeks.. but it turned out instead of being paid 300 Euro a week it was 300 Euro a month. Ohh well I was not too stressed about it as I was doing it for the experience and not the cash and these things happy with cultural differences. So Lara and Emma left and some how got paid 100Euro each for their 1 week of work. As I said before they were way more into the holiday part of the working holiday so it all seemed good.

The next day my favourite Estonian girls left, Stephie and Eggy. Eggy was in tears and it was so sad to say good bye to them. So then it was just me in the room by myself. It felt really weird but it was only going to be for two nights cos I had organised my next job in Rome. Just when I was getting use to the idea of having the room to myself a lovely girl called Pamela arrived to work. Pamela is from Mexico and one of the nicest people I have met. She arrive at 5pm and had not eaten so I took her down to the kitchen and re heated some of the lunch for her. While we were sitting in the kitchen my Boss came in and stayed yelling continuously at us. He said we had no right to go to the kitchen and that we were stealing from him etc. I tried to explain that I was just trying to help out and that I had never been told that I could not go into the kitchen before. He would not listen so Pamela and I just sat out side and stayed out of his way. Pamela looked so shocked and was ready to leave. I tried to tell her that it was actually an ok place to work at but was being to have my doubts about it too.

While hiding outside we meet two of the Belgium camp leaders called Griet and Thomas. They were both really nice and invited me to come stay with them in Gent,Belgium. Never to be one to tour down an offer I took their details and promised to see them sometime in September.

That evening when I came down for dinner Laura (my bosses girlfriend) came up and asked me why I was still there. I was really confused so went to talk to my Boss. I apologised for upsetting him earlier and he said he did not care. He only said he had hired Pamela to take my place and that I should leave. It was all so confusing and 10.30 at night. It turned out he had never read my email about the fact I wanted to stay an extra night so had expected me to leave a day earlier. But it was so odd that he had not said anything all day about it.

I told him I could not leave that night cos there were no trains at that hour so could I stay and work in the morning to pay it off. He then went on a rant what I too poor to leave and why did I want to stay because no one there liked me, etc. I was so upset but had no choice but to stay there another night. The next day I worked from 6 am until 2pm straight and then packed up my stuff. I did not want to be told I had not worked enough.

As I was leaving I asked for my pay to which my Boss answered that had given it to Lara and Emma and I should have go it off them.. I was so pissed off! So I explained that he had not paid me and I never got any money of Lara and Emma and why would he give them my pay anyway. He was obviously lying cos within seconds he gave me my money and then told me how he really liked working with me and was sad to see me go. I swear he was so nuts, his moods changed so often.
So i put on my pack and walked out into the pouring train to wait for my train. I felt the rain was fitting for the situation and I felt free again. Next stop Rome!

Venice, Italy

Venice was wonderful! I loved the city and spent my two days off roaming around and taking in the sites. Unfortunately my camera broke and I was unable to take any photos! Which is a really shame as it is such a wonderful city.

I spent my first day walking around the Canal Grande from the train station end to the Piazza San Marco.

I stayed in a camping site just outside of Venice for one night. It was like a holiday resort with a swimming pool, games rooms and bars. The night I arrived was toga party night and it all felt a bit like a first year uni party. I have to admit I was not really up for running around in a sheet.
The next day I explored the city further and then took a night train back to Torricella and work. While in Venice I worked out the dates I would start at my new help exchange job (that was on a farm in Rome) and emailed my boss at torricella to ask to finish a day later then I had originally said so I could avoid paying for accommodation. It did not work out like that.

La Casa sul Lago

The front gate of the hostel.

So after arriving at la Casa sul lago I learnt that the hostel was actually more like a summer camp for 80+ Belgium teenagers (aged between 15-17).So work was going to be very very busy. The next morning I started work and meet Valentino. She is the boss, giangiocomo..( or gg for shorts) sister. I knew that I really did not want to upset her as the Estonian girls had warned that anything she said regardless of how true was accepted by her brother (the boss). So I worked hard and put up with her bitchy comments without say anything.

The hostel front garden

That afternoon I went for a bike ride around the local area with Alex. Alex is from Romania and worked at the hostel washed dishes. The hostel was located on a lake so we rode the bike around the lake to the ferry terminal. The country side was lovely! It was just like all the movies you have seen on Tuscany with rolling hills covered in olive trees and small old stone villas. I loved it. Alex explained to me that at work we are the once who have to work and the local Italian employees will sit around smoking and drinking coffee and telling you off. He seemed like he had been working there too long and was ready to go home.

The next few days went well. In the morning I worked with Valentino and just ignored her bad mood swings and at lunch I worked with the Estonian girls. They were lovely and made everything so much fun. In the afternoons I had free time to do whatever I wanted. It was a nice deal and I did not mind working 6 hours straight cos I spent the afternoon relaxing.

My boss Giangiocomo ran the business with his 'girlfriend' Laura but was always making moves on everyone. I really disliked it and would not put up with any of his comments which I made clear to him right away. After I made it was clear, he left me alone. Actually he almost stopped talking to me all together. He had weird mood swings like that where he would just stop talking to everyone. I did not care, I was just there to work and get free food, accommodation and a little bit of money in return.

After about 3 days or something 2 new girls started called Emma (from London) and Lara (from Ireland). They were both more up for a holiday than a working holiday but were really fun to hang out with.

I got 2 days off a week so on my first break I went to Venice.

Florence, Italy

I was so excited about going to Italy and could not wait to eat some really Italian food. I felt it would be a good country to work in to as it would give me a chance to really get into the culture and the Italy way of life.

My first stop was at Florence before heading to Torricella to start work. Florence or Firenze, as it is called in Italian, is the home of Renaissance art and Michelangelo's David. I really wanted to see David so when my train arrived at Florence at 7 am I went straight to the Accademia to wait for it to open. At 8.15am they opened and I rushed inside. David is by far the best sculpture I have ever seen and I think will ever see. It is huge and so detailed. I can not explain how prefect it is . Not the real thing but still a great looking peice of art.

After looking at the other art at the Accademia I went to the Galleria degli Uffizi. When I had seen Haley in Paris she had given me her card to the Uffizi which was meant to get me in for free and jump the line. I could not wait to use it. Haley said she was never ID when she used it so I should be fine. Hahaha! As you can imagine this one time I am asked for ID and then told I am a theft and have to run out of the Uffizi. Not how I imagined it working but that is the way it goes sometimes. haha!

So instead of joining the line which was 3 hours long I walked around Florence until 8pm when my train left for Torricella. Florence is so lovely and ever building in it is stunning. I could not believe how many Piazza, or town squares the place had. Florence is not very big and you can walk from one side to the other in about 30 mins.

While on my walks I went to the Cappelle Brancacci. The church is the home of some of the best restored frescoes by Masaccio. Luck for me they had a free information video on before you enter the chapel to explain about all the works of art and how some of the works actually contain three scenes in the one piece inorder to tell a story. It was really interesting and the best piece was the Expulsion of Adam and Eve.

Finally after walking all day I took the train to Torricella. I arrived at this small station which did not even have a full length platform at 10pm. I was so scared and had no idea what I was about to do. Lucky when the train departed from Torricella station it revealed La Casa sul Lago on the opposite side of the tracks and a smiling girl called Sese greeting me. She took me inside and two Estonian girls called Ege and Stefani, who showed me to my room which I was sharing with them. I instantly liked both of them. They were 17 and had been working at the hostel for the past 2 months in their summer holidays. After getting settled in they took me down stairs to join the others for dinner. Wow! Everyone was so nice and I was really excited to start work.

Budapest, Hungary

I had heard so many great things about Budapest and was really excited to see it. When I arrived I had not booked any accommodation and hoped it would be easy to find it. Little did I know that it was actually the biggest music festival of the year on called sziget. Luck for me I got a bed at the local university dorms through the information centre at the train station.

After reaching the dormitories it took me 3 hours to check in. The place was just packed with people. It was insane! After finally checking in I went out to look around the city. Budapest is actually made up of two parts Buda and Pest divided by the Danube river. Buda, which was where I was staying, is home to castle hill and the very impressive Buda Palace. While Pest on the other hand is flat and is where everything happens. It has all the shops, nightclubs and even the Parliament.

The Buda Palace

The Parliament

The next morning I decide to look around the Buda side of the city and then go to the communist statue park, which is a must see according to my travel guide. I started off walking up the hill to the Citadella and the Liberation Monument. The Liberation Monument was one of the few Soviet monuments to have survived the fall of the iron curtain. The Citadella was a low fortress but today contains nothing much but over priced restaurants and was not worth the climb.

Afterward I went to the Buda palace. The palace was just as impressive up close as it was from the river on its hill looking over the city. And the view from the Palace of the city was very great.

After looking around the Palace I went to the Matyas Church. The church is a reconstruction using the structure of an original church from the 13th century that had survived 150 years of Ottoman rule. During which the church was converted into a mosque. I really liked the detail on the roof of the church and the inside was amazing.

After looking around the church I walked along the river to have a closer look at the Parilament. I think it is the most impressive building in the city and at night it looks even better light up in flood lights.

I then took a tram and a bus to the Communist Statue museum. The weather was so hot. It was about 45 degrees in the Communist Statue park. The Statue park was great and I was even worth standing in the heat to see it. It had a collection of the best communist statues from Budapest. The statues were so big. These photos do not do them justice. Here are a few of the best...

After the extreme heat and exhaustion from walking around the park I went to the Gellert Baths on the way home for a relaxing dip in a thermal pool. These are the best publicized baths in the city and were built in 1913. The baths are so grand that I had to take some pictures of them. I could have got a cheaper ticket to just lie in the thermal pools but I wanted to see the whole complex and it was worth it. The Hungarians takes their baths serious and they have a range of pools for different purposes. I spent most of my time in the inside pool partly because I did not wanting to get sun burnt and partly because the indoor pool was so glamours.

The indoor pool

The next day I felt a bit average so just went to the Hungarian National Museum to learn about the history of this once great empire. It was really interesting and I learnt heaps. That afternoon I logged on to the 'help exchange' website to find some work. Help exchange is a website that helps travelers find work at farms or hostels where they work in exchange for free food and a bed. Sometimes if you are luck they might pay you a little bit on top of that. I found a job at a hostel called La Casa sul Lago in Torricella near Mangione and Perugia in Itlay so I made plans that afternoon to travel to Italy.

The next day before my train left for Florence I went to the Szechenyi Baths. This is one of largest spa complex in Europe and a must see in my option! I could have spent all day there. It had so many different pools. At a guess I would say it had 20 pools, 3 steam rooms and 3 saunas. It was amazing. My favourite pool was the outdoor whirl pool. I could have spent all day being moved around by the water in the whirl pool. All you needed to do was float and the movement of the water did the rest. It was so much fun. I was the oldest person in there by 10 years but did not care. I finally left the pool after 3 hours and took the train to Vienna and then the night train to Florence.

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

When people think of Amsterdam the first things that comes to mind is liable drug laws, red light district and the best established gay scene in Europe. I was there for none of this reasons so was not sure what I would get out of the experience. I had always wanted to see Holland and see what a country looks like when around half of it lies below sea level.




Amsterdam is a lovely looking city with all its canals and cute little houses. It is also the home of the best Indonesian food outside of Indonesia. I spent the first day just walking around the city and looking at the canals. And of course eating Indonesian food!! I really miss Asian food. Unlike at home Asian food is seen as being really exotic in most places in Europe and costs a fortune.



By day I really liked the feeling of the city with everyone ride bikes. At night however I found it no where near as fun. Because most people come to Amsterdam to try the 'Coffeeshops' there are heaps of people just sitting around stoned or falling asleep. Unlike drinking, smoking tends to make people less sociable and I found it difficult to meet people that wanted to just hang out.

I made a few friends at my hostel who were really nice but due to smoking too much they were in bed by 9pm that night. After walking around the streets and decided I should leave the next day to see the other cities of Holland I came across a nightclub. The club was really classy and had a door list but they let me in because I was by myself. Everyone inside was local. The locals unlike the tourist are not so excited by the liable drug laws so were much more fun to hang out with. So I danced the night away.


The next morning I got a message from Max who was arriving that afternoon with his mum. I was so excited to see him and to have someone to hang out with in Amsterdam. I meet them at train station. After Max and his mum Janet got settled into their hotel we went to Anne Franks house.


I had read the book in high school and was so interested to see the actually house. We had to line up for around an hour but it was worth it! The rooms that Anne and her family lived in where so small and I could not believe that survived for so long in there. Afterwards Max and I went out for a few drinks at a jazz bar near Leidseplein. The music was good but nowhere near as good as Prague jazz.


The next day we went to the Museum quarter of Amsterdam to see the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum. Janet (Max's mum) is an artist and an art teacher so it was wonderful to visit these museums with her. It was like having your own guided tour of the museums.

The Rijksmuseum was under renovations so the whole collection was not on display but there was enough Rembrandt and his pupils on display to keep me happy. My favourite piece in the museum was Vermeers, The Milkmaid.


Afterwards we went to the Van Gogh Museum. I was really excited to see this museum as I had loved all the Van Gogh work I had seen at the Hermitage in St Petersburg. The museum did not disappoint. It was amazing. It was set out in chronological order so you could see how his art work changed through his life. I had always assumed that his darker looking art work was towards the end of life before he killed himself but in fact his most colourful and best art work was just before his death. It was such a lovely collection and Janet's insight made it even better.

That afternoon I left Max and Janet and took a train to Vienna (Wein) and then Budapest.

Palace of Versailles and final days in Paris

One of the days we made a day trip out to the Palace of Versailles. I was really wanting to see Versailles as I had seen a copy of the palace, called Herrenchiemsee, built by mad king Ludwig in Germany. The copy was meant to be larger than Versailles but the country went broke before Ludwigs dream could be finished. So as you image I had high expectations of this palace.

The art work in the Palace was great and it gave me a chance to learn more about the French royal family history. And I think that perhaps as kid I could have passed as one of the members of the royal family, what do you think?

The palace from the outside is very grand and the gardens are incredible. You could spend hours walking through the gardens. But my favourite room by far was the Hall of Mirrors. The Hall of Mirrors at the copy in Germany was no where near as good as the really one. The mirrors made the hall look double the side and the chandeliers where just amazing!

The next day Haley and Pia left. I was going to leave too but discovered that I could save 45 Euros if I left the next day so stayed the night at a hostel down the street from the other hotel. When I reached the hostel to check in I saw Anna from uni. I know she was also travelling around Europe but did not know she was in France. We went out for lunch and catch up each others travels. She had been travelling for over 5 months and was towards the end of her trip. It was great to see her and it made me feel like I was at home again.

After lunch I went to the Musee Picasso. I was really glad to have an extra day and get to see Picasso as he is one of my favourite artist. The museum was better than I expected, not only did it have all his paintings but it also had some of his sculptures. I loved it and it was great to see some of his earlier work before it became abstract.

That evening I went back to the hostel to see Anna but she was not around so instead I went to the Moulin Rouge. I did not see a show as they started at 100Euro so instead I sat a near by bar and had a glass of red and watched everyone go in for the show. It was great people watching.

The next day I took a train to Amsterdam, Holland with the hope to catch up with a friend from Melbourne called Max!

The Louvre, Paris

I was so excited when we went to the Louvre. I could not wait to see the home of the Mona Lisa and many other fabulous works of art. I also was looking forward to comparing it to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg.

The Louvre is huge and you have no chance at ever seeing everything in one day. So we decide it was important to see the 'must see thing' first before getting too tried and not being able to take in any more art. We went to see Venus De Milo first followed by the Mona Lisa. Both works of arts had huge crowds of people around them as you could expect. The Mona Lisa was behind glass so we could photograph her. I had heard so much about the Mona Lisa but it could not prepare me for how amazing the painting was. It felt like she was watching you from everywhere in the room. As if her eyes followed you. I was very impressed by it.

Me at the Venus de Milo
The Mona Lisa behind glass.Me and the Mona Lisa

After seeing the must see sights we then had a look at the rest of the art we were interested in. I did not really want to see the Eyptian Antiquities so instead we looked more at the sculptures and paintings. My favourite sculpture was the Roman Sleeping Hermaphrodite sculpture. From one side it is a woman

But then from the other side she is actually a he! I loved it. It was so funny.

After several hours of walking around the Louvre we were delirious and could not find our way out. It all became very funny and we were joking that we would become works of arts ourselves walking around the Louvre and never getting out. Finally we worked out where we were on the map and made it out.

That afternoon we just sat in the sun on the grass near the Louvre and looked at the amazing building.