Italy - Rome

(READ KRIS' BLOG)

Just had to sprint to catch this train. Turns out '2ES' doesn't mean platform 2 it means the far away platform that forms at the tail end of platform 1. A nice Italian man gave me unspoken permission for me to hop scotch across the railway lines with an encouraging smile and a quick 'hurry!'. Platform 2ES. What is that.

People keep saying that Rome is dirty but it's actually a really beautiful city. 'Full of old shit' as the hostel manager would describe and indeed there is quite a lot of it. You'll be walking down a street and then bam! Ruins. So many ruins. Some more intact than others but all of them pretty... yeah ruinous.

(I mean ... It's certainly not 'new')

The Colosseum is quite a hearty and popular pile of stone of course. I went in to have a visit (how could I not?) but it's really quite shabby inside. I was hoping for an insight of what it would have looked like back in the day but no. There was a walking tour but I don't know what it is about them... For one I don't like the extra cost and often the pace is quite slow. I'm a turbo powered tourist so I just want to read information plaques, look around, have a sit or a lay down somewhere in the sun and throw in a few happy snaps here and there. I don't need no audio guide, booklet or multimedia thing. Pass. Unless it's free.

(It's really old you guys. Super old)

Before getting all Vaticany we decided we wanted to have a bit of a rest so we had a beer by a marble statue depicting various scenes of unpleasantness. St. Peters Basilica is quite a behemoth of a building made all the more prominent by the LINE of PEOPLE waiting to get in. It's free though (surprising) and it's a very pretty basilica. On the other hand, to visit the Sistine Chapel you have to pay to get to the museum (16 euro) then wander around looking at things until you get to the Chapel at the end. Having said that though ... some of the marble statues in the museum were very, very well made. I have come to the conclusion from the multitude of marble statues I have behold that apparently all Romans in the day were completely ripped.

(Not being religious is awesome)

The Sistine chapel was pretty cool. The silence inside is punctuated by loud  officials telling you to be quiet and you can't take any photos. Not that I would really need to - all the artwork is covered on the interwebs anyway. One does get a really sore neck from just looking upwards though.

(This also required a lot of neck craning but at least this time there's proof)

On the second last day I was chatting with a friend at a bar by the Colosseum when a group of Americans next to us leaned over and asked if we would like to see the Priscilla Queen of the Desert musical with them as they had two spare tickets. Of course it was in Italian except when they busted out into song but as a show it was very colourful, engaging and very Australian. I really enjoyed it actually - there I said it. Afterwards I got a lift home through the city by one of the aforementioned Americans on his scooter moped thing which was a really fantastic experience and a new way to see the eternal city.

So now I'm on the way to Florence (Firenze). I'm unsure as to what my travel route should be from this point but I'll work something out. Hostels in Italy are quite expensive and quite poor quality which is annoying. Case in point, rocked up to the hostel in Rome only to discover the room we were in was a 10 minute walk from the reception area. Drag.

(The whole time in Rome I didn't eat anything Italian. Had some Indian, some Chinese, kebabs, baguettes and yeah ... beer. I had to revitalise my desire for the food of this country. The Indian man said he couldn't make my butter chicken spicy though which is absolutely ridiculous. Just cut up some chillies and throw it in? Desperately needed them too. When having Chinese the lady at the restaurant was manically trying to get us drunk for some reason. Not this time lady. Not this time.)