When in Rome....

…became one of the more annoying catch cries on the bus - but what the hell - we WERE in Rome!

Well - almost - because after we left Florence, we dropped into a little city called Orvieto. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orvieto It’s a city which is perched on an volcanic tuft in the middle of a valley. The sight of the city was chosen as an excellent defensive position. We parked at the bottom of the cliffs and caught a funicular ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funicular )to the top. It was a cloudy misty day as we wended our ways through small dank cobbled alleyways and red shingled roofs. We ended up in the main square, where there was a magnificent church - which looked like a zebra from the side, but its front was ornately carved. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duomo_di_Orvieto

There were heaps of artworks and items of religious significance inside - mind you, we were a little bit over historic stuff by now. For those that are interested, here’s some info about the stuff inside: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporal_of_Bolsena

The fact that it was raining and misty made it even more magical to be in this city - you could really imagine what it would have been like in it’s day.

After our very quick stop here, we continued driving south to Rome. The further south we went, the more the country side and climate changed - getting flatter, hotter and more populous. Instead of going direct to our accommodation, we were dropped at an overland train station. The train that picked us up looked like it was straight from the American Bronx - covered in graffiti, dilapidated and in disrepair. The group got on all shooting each other looks about the state of the transport.

After about a 30 minute trip, we got out of the train in the middle of Rome to begin our walking tour. There were people everywhere - the tour guide said it was not even busy! I can see why it’s one of the biggest towns for pickpockets - there were that many “soft” targets everywhere.
The walking tour lasted about 4.5 hours - there is no way I will be able to describe everything we saw or felt on the walk. The amount of history in this city is amazing - I can see now why Italians are so proud of their heritage. Around each corner there was something to see, photograph or to talk about. I did not like the crowds - god forbid being there in peak season - or the dirtiness of the city - everything was grotty and grimy.

For me, the three main highlights would have been the Trevi Fountain -http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trevi_fountain - what the pics do not show here were the masses of people that were surrounding it. There is a superstition that if you throw a coin over one of your shoulders and it lands in the fountain, you will find love. We fought our was down to it, not to throw a coin, but to fill up our water bottle from the aqueduct. While we were down there, we saw some Asians - standing about 10 steps above everyone else. There would have been 20m between them and the fountain, and about 100 people. They turned and threw their coins - which proceeded to brain people in front of the fountain. They turned around angrily to see which twit through the coins at them - but the Asians had moved on. Even funnier when it does not happen to you!!

After almost losing the tour guide on the next stretch of the walk - about four of us ran breathlessly through the crowd to catch her up again - we turned a corner and ended up in the square with the Pantheon. It was simply breathtaking! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantheon%2C_Rome

It’s an amazing building! After a talk about this history of the place - which you can read in Wiki - we went inside. There are large drains built into the floor, not just to drain water that falls through the giant hole in the roof - but to collect water from rain clouds that form IN the building! Amazing…..

Three guesses as to the other building that gets a mention here - that’s right - it’s the Colosseum - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum - the fact that it‘s standing at all after this amount of time is amazing. We walked through it’s arches with a sense of awe - especially when considering some of the Roman movies - eg Gladiator that are based on this point in time. I am reading a book at the moment in fact, by Robert Harris called Imperium - I am appreciating it a lot more now that I have been there and have seen some of the things he talks about (back in the golden age) http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/robert-harris/imperium.htm

That night, we stayed in a caravan park on the outskirts of Rome. We caught a train back from the centre of town and then had to get a bus - one of the craziest bus rides I have been on. There would have been 120 plus people on a bus built to carry 70. I was squeezed against the front windscreen - almost in the drivers lap! We cruised through the campsite - past a bunch of bogans at the pub/club and found our cabins. We thought the bogans were German - but when we went back up and had dinner and a few beers, found out they were a version of Irish Pikers - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfNb9Qrbfz4

I should day they were not as bad as in that vid - but they were close! They Dads were rough as guts and playing cards. Their kids were little shits, swearing and running amok - getting their dad’s trays of beers, while the wives were dressed up to the nines drinking cocktails inside. One of my Irish mates later told me the pikers go to Europe in their flash cars and smuggle cigarettes back into the UK duty free - among other things.

That night, we got fairly pissy at the bar - a couple of the girls had issues with one of the pikeys trying to dance with her on the dance floor. One of the other lads stepped in and helped her out without drawing their wraith. It was into the 6th or 7th pint, when we discovered the Shisha room at the back of pub - about 8 of us went in and had hits from the hooka until we got kicked out at 2am….. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hooka

The next morning, slightly hung over, we traipsed into Rome again on the train (this one was much improved) and went to Vatican City. Although I don’t have a godly bone in my body, it was ok to see - I just filtered the guph that our American tour guide (stars and Jesus in her eyes) gave us as we went through. It was funny to see the jokes that Michelangelo pulled when painting the chapel ceiling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sistine_Chapel - eg painting a cardinal’s face that he did not like on one of the “evil” characters in the bible. There were a few others too - like a cherubic angel giving one of the old popes he did not like the 1500’s version of the finger.
Mark and I set a challenge in each city - and that was to walk to the top of every tower, dome or spire that we could. We climber the roof of the Vatican which was pretty cool - but damn there were a lot of people up there - we shuffled up and shuffled down again. This took a lot of our day up…..but we did not waste it!

We left the main Vatican precinct, headed to a little café and had a huge lunch and a few beers. Then we negotiated the train system and headed back to the Colosseum - it was certainly worth going back for another look. That afternoon, we also took in some ancient ruins that were excavated next to it - whilst most of it was knocked down and rubble, it was still very cool to walk through and check it all out.

There is so much more to say about Rome - but I have run out of steam. The next update will be about Venice…..

Ciao
Matt