Monday, 23 July 2012
Ciao from the Roman Princess
Well, Rome is completely different, full on organised chaos! People and cars everywhere. How I miss the other places on my trip! It's not bad, just so different to what I have become used to on the rest of my trip. Arrived Saturday at 11.30am. Was allowed to check in before the usual check in time of 12.30 so I was lucky. The trip up from Positano was immensely different to the trip down. Much more relaxing letting a local drive, we got a private car transfer from Positano to Naples, seriously the ONLY way to do it, the roads are twisting and terrifying with sheer cliffs one both sides, only one side is straight down to the sea 500m below! I'm used to winding roads in NZ but these are ridiculous. It cost €120 but was shared between 4 of us, it also cut our treavel time down from 2.5 hours to 1! AND they carried my suitcase from the villa to the train station (my darling Warren carried it down the villa stairs to the street! As well as up when we arrived in Positano, if I needed any testament to his friendship that was it - 30kg worth). I could have cried upon leaving Positano, would have if I'd been alone and not scared of being laughed at! Got the high speed train from Naples (filthy, grotty city! No wonder they have high speed trains out of it!) to Rome, which took an hour and cost €43.
Rome is not a clean city either but that is due to its age and not the rubbish problem like Naples has. So Rome. We dumped our bags at our respective hotels on Saturday and met back up and explored the Pantheon, certainly deserves its reputation as one of the most amazing buildings in Rome, the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps, as well as many many other monuments and obelisks and statues. Bored? Turn a corner and there is another piazza and historic building. We met back up with Wendy and Steve for their last dinner before they headed b ck to Singapore and NZ.
Rome is amazing and my hotel is around the corner from the Colosseum. I see it twice a day! It humbles me, it is in far better condition than I am considering its age! Warren, Deb and I had an 'innocent abroad' experience at ten Colosseum on Sunday. We joined a tour outside the Colosseum, €25 gave us 'group entrance' (no queuing), a guided tour of the Colosseum and Palatine Hill. Our Guides weren't the best and certainly were not employed by the Colosseum itself. I would have to say that their knowledge was limited, our first guide was quite good with stories though. While we were there Warren managed to get us booked onto a tour of the dungeons and third level, you can only per-book for this but they had cancellations! We just had to get us back into the colosseum without paying again as the group tour we had joined didn't give us entry tickets. Once again Warren got us sorted. We had to cut our tour of the Palatine Hill short and misse d the Roman Forum altogether in order to get back in time for our second tour of the colosseum. It all came together and it was the most amazing tour I've been on! Our guide this time was employed by the colosseum and is an Art Historian. She was incredible and her knowledge enabled us to let our imaginations run wild. I saw those elephants and lions etc. Poor things! Don't worry Jackie, I'll never let those hunters get you!!
After this we decided we had had enough history. But somehow we came across this beautiful memorial to the first king which is a war museum. So once again we are enthral led. By history! Out for dinner then back to our respective hotels after saying goodbye to Warren and Deb who flew home today.
Today I rebelled and got up at 9.30, woke at 8 but read, heaven. I walked miles, past the colosseum, to campo de fiori, a lovely piazza where I shopped and had 2 glasses of wine while my feet rested and I could use their toilet. While i sat there, the market stsll holders shut down their stands, a cleaning machine came and took away all the rubbish, the piazza is pristine again! Out of nowhere a man comes and starts playing his guitar, the showers stopped and the sun came out, one of life's magic moments. From there I found the Piazza Navona which is the most beautiful I have found. The fountains are well worth seeing. The Piazza is surrounded by different coloured buildings which used to be mansions, I hope they still are so I can dream about living in one one day. I walked for miles and miles today. I'm now sitting in an Irish Pub as it is just down from my hotel and has WIFI. My hotel is full of Americans and their loudness gets to me which is why I'm sitting in a pub where the music is blaring!! Actually Rome is full of Americans full stop, I think they outnumber the Romans!
I have to share my toilet experiences with you all. They are a puzzle in themselves! Each and every one is different! In the toilet itself, to flush you will have to either, push a pad on the wall, a button ont the cistern, a foot pedal, or pull a button way up on the cistern above (problem for kids or short people). Once I've done what I need to it takes me a good 10 seconds to find out what I need to do next! And then there is the matter of washing my hands. To get water out of the tap, you either need to just place your hands under the spout, or push a foot pedal or push a button the the tap etc etc. Jules and I had a system where whoever went to the toilet first would the tell the other what was required to save time!!
It's now 9.11! Time I went and found a real Italian place for dinner! Oops just ordered a second wine while I finish this!
Tomorrow I am going back to do the Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. I might do the hop on/hop off bus but as I have covered so much of the city on foot I'm not sure it will be worth it, I'll see how I feel in the afternoon. Wednesday I have managed to get on to a guided Tour at the Vatican at 3pm. Obviously they haven't read my records yet. If you see on TV that the Vatican is closed due to a wounding of a tourist you will know who it will be.
Looks like I'm going home with Euros. Well had better save some as I think I will be over my 30kg that Emirates allows me!! I have bought a leather bag in Cortona (and don't forget the house!), a leather jacket in Florence and now leather boots in Rome. I sound like I'm a contender for Mr Grey's shades! Oh what fun I've had shopping here and there in the last 6 weeks. Haven't found a new collar for Jackie so I will keep looking.
Ha ha, you can tell I'm on my own with no one to talk to, this has to be the longest addition yet!
Thanks to those who leave me messages, it's nice to know someone is reading the ramblings!
Ciao! Xx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)