Day 2 - Jaunty Italian Policemen

I have resolved to try and use a little more basic Italian, thus far I have mostly got by with broken english, It's mostly a self-conciousness thing, I think they might laugh at my exceptionally poor Italian, and all the while my brain is shouting 'IT'S POLITE! THEY'LL APPRECIATE YOUR EFFORTS!!' I won't let logic take over. It would be lovely to remain blissfully ignorant and safe in the long-held belief of all English people that everyone should be able to speak english, but I know it's rude.....gah!

Today I shall speak more Italian!

Such resolve as I have was brought about by a painful telephone incident this morning. I woke up and my phone was telling me it was 19:05. Impossible! But in my bleary morning haze I was confused and decided to call reception and find out what the time was. It took so much slow explanation and broken english to explain I just wanted the time, when all I should have said was 'A che ora?' or something along those lines and I'd have got there quicker. She then told me the wrong time anyway and I called 123 lol!

Yeah, you can get 123 in Italy! I was amazed too.

..................................................

It's now 8:35am and I'm at breakfast, Italiano primo colazione, which is basically croissants and coffee. The croissants were ickle and I wasn't sure how many I was allowed, so I stole 2 and moved furtively away before being accused of being a chunky croissant thief.

Now croissants aren't good for the old diet anyway, and as it turned out one was full of what I can only describe as custard, but with a lemony tang to it. I SWEARZ I didn't know when I picked it up. Delicious, but how long will it sustain my trek around the sights today?

They're sneaky, put everything on the room so they hope you lose track and have to pay an extortionate bill when you check out. I'm onto their game.

For my next Italian speaking foray I shall book my shuttlebus for Saturday to Rome Termini at the reception desk.....wooohay.

'Er..........un.......shuttlebus (that doesn't sound italian!), Sabato, alle otto per favore

...............................................

*cut to me outside the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II*

Ahh, I have found a shady spot on a stone bench just next to the monument, I haven't been to look at it yet. I wonder if I'll see the changing of the guard this time? This is what I call it as I'm english and everything is english.

Big fail on the shuttlebus front, after deploying my faultless pigeon-Italian the receptionist replies in faultless english that you can only book the day in advance.......buggery!

My journey in felt like my commute to work, bus to the tube station, tube to town. One of the most surreal experiences the whole holiday was when I emerged from Metro B tube stop 'Colosseo'. As you walk out of the exit there's the colosseum right away, rearing up in front of you, surrounded by morning traffic, there's a ring road running all around it. Beeping cars and tourist buses swarm around it like insects while it sits there, majestic and eternal, chilling out. It was already quite buy even at 10am which is about the time I arrived, and there were plenty of tour guides trying to nobble you as you wandered across the road towards the sleeping giant.

Apparently the colosseum was one of the first places where allocated ticketing was employed. An advanced system showing your row and seat number and allocated entrance number was issued, and this allowed them to seat 50,000 people in 20 minutes through 79 separate entrances.

I took a walk around the colosseum in the morning sun and took lots of pictures as is my joy, and then made my way towards the ruins of the roman forum.

The ruins of the Foro Romano are on your left hand side as you walk up Via dei Fori Imperiali towards the Monumento Vittorio Emaunele. The Roman Forum was the economic, religious and judicial epicentre of Rome, built between the Capitoline hill and the Palatine hill. It began to fall into disrepair even within the 8th century, much as the Empire itself had begun to.

The portico you see to the far right is the remains of the Temple of Saturn, built between 501 and 498BC. It was built as a tribute to the agricultural deity Saturn, but was also used as somewhat of a treasury, holding the gold and silver of the state, and official state documents and insignia.

I can't quite decide if this is the remains of the Temple of Castor and Pollux (the two twins of Gemini, sons of Zeus), or of Vespasian and Titus. More research required!

I was by now mostly relieved at the fact that I'd managed to dodge the 'centurions' wandering around trying to charge you for having photos taken with them on your own camera! How cheeky is that? I bet they make a mint too. I wasn't approached by any this time, I think I had my best I'm walking, don't mess with me, face on. I only saw them at the colosseum last time, this time they were absolutely everywhere, obviously a lucrative rackett.

Just got screwed for a bottle of water, €2, thieving gypsy bastards! Actually, he wasn't a gypsy, and probably not a bastard, teach me not to bring my own water out though.

Rightho! Off to check out King Emanueles Monumento.

.......................................

*cut to me now sat in the portico of the Pantheon*

Ooooooh, I'm sat on the base of one of the pillars of the Pantheon portico. Something I haven't mentioned is that I have a biiig hole in my jeans crotch that I forgot about when I put them on....argh. Every time I sit down I imagine this hole creeping bigger and bigger, right up me bum so everyone can see my sexy knickers.

The Monument was cool, though many locals consider it an eyesore, large, square and glaringly white, it's visible from many places in Rome. As you may have already gathered, it's a monument to King Emanuele II who was the first king of a unified Italy. As well as many sculptures including the controvertial bronze of Victor Emanuele himself, the monument contains the 'Tomb of the unknown soldier' and an eternal flame. After WWI, the remains of a soldier were chosen from 11 unidentified bodies, he was placed in the monument in a funeral ceremony on 4th Nov 1921.

There are policemen guarding the tomb and the flame, and it seems they enjoy striking incredibly camp/jaunty poses.....SO Italian :)

This is considered a sacred place and it's an offence to sit or lay on the steps, smoke, drink or 'pet'. Damn....all my favourite things!

Tip - when looking up to take a picture of a statue from directly underneath, brace yourself against a wall,or you may find yourself falling backwards....ahem.

I found my way to the Pantheon without getting lost! The great thing about Italian cities is that they're so easy to navigate. Sitting here I have pigeons pecking around my feet, bugger off!! I swear it's just like London.

The first thing I did was to ignore the Pantheon completely and head to my favourite Gelaterie. 3 scoops, novella, cioccolato and crema. The novella is like the inside of a Ferrero Roche.....divine! She also gave me a free bottle of water....how nice....maybe I looked like a dehydrated piece of leather. So I went and sat in Piazza della Rotunda which is where the Pantheon lives and ate my gelato.

I was MOST upset to spy a McDonalds......right opposite the Pantheon. This place is an old/ancient temple, built around 125AD dedicated to all the Roman Gods.......and someone has built a MACDONALDS opposite it. Consul Agrippa must be turning in his grave.

Now it is used as a Christian church, but still contains the tombs of various people including old Victor Emanuele and Raffaele, the famous artist/architect. One of the most striking features is the oculus in the centre of the perfectly round ceiling, letting spirits out or God in? I canny remember.

This last one is my view from my perch on the Pantheon pillar. Hang on.....someone....somewhere.. is playing 'My Way' on a concertina. There are many many tour groups around in all the places I've visited so far, each tour guide has a stick, and they each tie something different onto the end of their stick and wave it around in the air so their crowd know where they are. You know, like a teatowel or a pair of knickers.

I think I'll leave it there for now before you all fall alseep....I'll pretend you didn't do that half an hour ago!

Day 1 - The Journey is half the adventure!!......Bo**ocks!

Argh!

I was all set, all set and confident and ready to get the bus from the airport to Piazza Whatsitsname, Metro B to Ponte Mammolo and the 508 to the hotel.

That was, until I got to the airport and couldn't make head nor tail of the place. Where to these mythical buses stop? Does my freshly purchased 2 day travelcard get me on that big Cotral bus that stops outside? Surely this place has a cash machine! After having roused myself at 3am in order to catch my taxi, train and plane on time, and after 45minutes of wandering around a strange airport I gave in. I'll go to the station and get a train. It's more expensive, but hey, it'll get me to Termini, I'll know what to do from there.

Once I've found the station I wander up to Information and ask whether my travelcard will get me on the train to Termini. 3 Italian men look up at me and frown, shake their heads, 'No no no no no no no', in a fashion vaguely reminiscent of the Vicar of Dibley.

*sigh*

'Where you go?'

'Oh, a LONG way, but once I get to Termini I'll know what I'm doing'

'Where you go?'

*furtive roll of eyes* 'You know the Roma Congress?'

'Via Prenenstina?'

'Yes'

'Is far, you sure you want train? It's a long time, get the shuttle, €30'

'I'm on a budget'

*shrug, pout* '€12 to Termini alone, we take you the whole way for €30, door to door'

Who can resist the Italian shrug? I've never come across anything else which put across the 'YOU FOOL' concept better than that. I gave in and the shuttle driver appeared a few minutes later and led myself and an older couple down to his minibus.

Being the sharp thing that I am, I twig the older couples US accents, oh yes, I have ears. All is peaceful initially, then I feel a pat on the shoulder:

'So where you from da'al?'

'Oh, er, I'm from London'

'LONDON? How lovely!'

'Where are you guys from?'

'Oh we're from the US, Indiana'

The rest of the conversation revolved around the difference in cost between me visiting Rome and them visiting. I think my flights with Easyjet came to about £60 all told, theirs cost $1000 a piece! Hence they were travelling Italy for 40 days. Despite their ages (63 and 65) I got the impression that they were a relatively new couple, she had been to Rome before with her ex husband and kids. I also got the impression that the guy was perhaps a less than willing travel partner, a fact that she chose to ignore, 'I've been to 23 countries!!' she proudly proclaimed.

I never caught their names, but they seemed a nice couple.

They got dropped off somewhere close to central Rome and we started the trip to my hotel. It went on, and on, and on, and on, and on........................and on. The further we got from the centre of Rome the more I began to despair, how was I going to do this trip every day without driving? I also became increasingly amazed that I was only being charged €30. At the end of the day, despite my silent cursing of the Italian trio at 'Informazione' (shuttlebus company in disguise), I'm glad I took that shuttlebus. Had I taken a bus to the hotel I would have missed the stop I needed, wandered around helpless for a while and finally collapsed in a ditch somewhere. What kept me going was the thought of the hotel in Florence, a stones throw from the station and the centre.

Once we finally arrived at the hotel and I checked in, I just felt like crawling into bed and staying there for 3 days, but fear not, after a shower and a chnage of clothes (immediately feeling human again) I trotted downstairs to harangue the hotel staff about local public transport. They had a leaflet explaining that they had daily shuttlebuses to Rome Centrale €4 each way, and I was almost resigned to paying this every day. Then I grew some balls and thought 'No!! I have this bloddy travelcard, I'm going to use it!' but not yet, I went for food first :o)

They have a snack bar at the hotel 'Zero Sei', or 'Zero Six', I don't know either. The lovely little chappy serving said his special today was lasagne with chicken salad, my tummy grumbled a yes in reply and I sat down to wait for my meal. Espresso for afterwards. If you just order a 'normal' coffee in Italy you get an espresso. If you want a long coffee you have to order Caffe Americano. I was a bit high after my caffeine hit, but that didn't stop me going back to laze around in my room for a bit. It was late afternoon and I wasn't sure I had the strength or enthusiasm to trek into Rome at this time of the day, so I spent some time planning what I'd do with my whole days to explore. Here is what I came up with:

Thursday: Colosseo, Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II via the ruins of the Foro Romano, Pantheon and then Piazza Novona.

Friday: Piazza St Pietro and the Vatican City, Castel S. Angelo, Fontana di Trevi, Piazza de Spagne and Villa Borghese.

You like my pik-tures? :o) ha ha.

I was ready to faff around all evening, but then a terrifying thought struck me....shite! The good thing about the travelcards here is that you buy them, and then you validate them the first time ou use them, and they're valid for however long after that, mine for 2 days. However, you have to validate them within 24 hours of purchase. I bought mine at 10:30am, which meant that I'd have to be up and out and on the bus before 10:30am in the morning. Chances are that I would be, but I'll be damned if I'm setting my alarm on holidays, and you never know how late I might sleep. Gave me the kick I needed to egt my ass out of the hotel room and go exploring.

On my first go I missed the bus-stop completely, so concerned was I at the lack of pavement, and the prolific spread of broken glass in conjunction with my sandaled feet. Anyone who has crossed a road in Italy must realise how nuts it is to be walking down the side of a busy street with NO pavement! I eventually found it on my walk back up towards the hotel, and jumped on the next 508 to validate my ticket. Seeing as I was on the bus now I thought I'd check out this Ponte Mammolo and the Metro B. Turns out it exists!! Huzzah.

I got back to the hotel quite pleased with my activity and cursing the sun. It was still very warm even at about 7 in the evening, and my sun lotion was very greasy. People had been using my forehead as a mirror all day.

The outward journey was done, looking forward to my first day of adventure tomorrow.

Blog of Travelment

Hello thar :o)

Just a little pre-word to warn you that this won't be a continuously regular bloggage. It'll be visited and updated as and when I travel anywhere and take one million photographs as I tend to do.

My most recent travels have been to Italy, or Rome and Florence specifically. While I was there I kept a travel journal, which I shall now transfer to blog for your viewing pleasure (or boredom, you decide!).

One only hopes you enjoy x