Rome

Days 1-3

Got the train from venice at 12.04am and after some chair and limb manovering we all managed to get some kip on the 7 hour journey. We were pretty tired when we arrived but we are all used to that by now and did not give in! With no time to waste we made our way to the colliseum. Had no choice to be honest, as we got in around 7.20am and couldn't check in till 1.30pm anyway. Spent a good few hours checking out the ruins and fending off Maximus Marillious who wanted payment for a " bellisimo" photo. The colliseum was really cool and as I walked around the ruins of the ancient city I did feel quite taken aback by the beauty and size of the roman empire. The colliseum wasn't a big as I'd imagined, but that may have been because I was recalling the scenes from the movie 'Gladiator' and we all how these things can get altered for effect. Having said that the movie did in some way help me fill in the gaps between the ancient stone beneath my feet and my imagination. Rome is packed with history and I'm glad we were able to at least, scratch the service and get a glimpse of probably one of the most significant cities in the world.

After our history lesson, early evening was upon us and unfortunately so was the weather. It turned quite nasty, the Roman skies released a thunderous tourant of rain and lightening. I quite like this kind of weather but not when I'm trying to take photos! Anyway this cascade lasted for about 3 days. However luckily for us we had a halloween party to go to (obviously we couldn't refuse, it wouldn't have been polite). The hostel had organised it. Met some nice peeps (mostly aussies) and got well and truly hammered! So much so that Dave still can't remember a large portion of the evening. (Best keep it that way, I thought) ha ha! So, I enjoyed a 60p bottle of red which I bought in a local shop and was allowed to drink in the bar (very cool) and the boys? Probably too much larger (I lost count after the 5th pitcher)!

For the next 2 days we got wet.

Day 4 - We woke to the lovely blue sky and the bright sunny orb that we had been wishing for.

This day began with a test in patience on my part, as I waited in a never ending, disorganised queue at the post office. As Simon and I are off to Athens and Sri Lanka soon I decided to return some items to the UK. Over an hour later this task was complete. We then set out for the Vatican. I'd been looking forward to this, however when we arrived I judged the queue to be at least an hour maybe more, and as I had already endured the post office I could take no more. We collectively decided to pass on that and content ourselves with rome-ing Rome instead. We went visited the catacombs a room low in the ground decorated with human skeletons and bones of all sizes. I think they were monks bones but couldn't be sure as everything was written in Italian. Bloody inconsiderate aye! No pics, as not allowed and I wouldn't have taken any anyway as the whole thing looked quite pointless and grotesque. The one english sentence we found said 'what you are we used to be' 'what we are you will be'. What, sorry, erh? Yes we know we're all toast one day you don't need to rub it in.

We also finished this evening in the compulsory manner by opening a bottle of red! Dave finished it further by finally cooking the super noodles he'd been carrying since Prague!

Day 5 - our last day together.
A large part of our experience in Rome has centred around the very close and annoyingly well stocked train station. We have discovered as we reach the end of our european journey, that stations tend to offer your average backpacker a wide variety of things ranging from Mcdonalds coffee (arguebly the best and cheapest coffee you could hope for in Italy). There's also stamps, water, post office and not forgetting the unmistakable and interesting smells that linger in the air, on the perimetre. But when you've smelt one tramp, you've smelt them all. We did feel that we'd seen far too much of that station and began to do our best to avoid it. Apart from when we got the train to Napoli for the day. The train was delayed an hour, so when I say a day in Napoli, I mean the afternoon. We then proceeded to meander through the worst and scummiest part of the city. We had the misfortune to stumble across this destitute end of Napoli as we hadn't quite read the map correctly. After 2 hours of walking our hearts were still hopeful of the sights we had been promised in the guide books and from our fellow travellers, who had pointed us in this particular direction. Well, we found the bay in the end and it was really pretty. Dave mentioned it reminded him of Aberystwith and Simon had said before that it was supposed to look like Swansea bay? Or maybe the Gower of Italy? I forget now, still recovering from lack of sleep and stupid amounts of red wine.