The last week

As you might have gathered by now, I went off back to the UK to see all my friends from my home uni finishing their degrees (and partying), before going off on a short holiday to visit some friends (and the city) in Rome.

Getting to Rome

Well lets start at the beginning. I had to catch a flight from London-Stansted airport at 7.25 in the morning, This meant that I would have to be there by 6.25, and there was no transport from where I lived at that time in the morning. I therefore relied on my good old contacts list, and organised to stay at William Garroods flat in Kentish Town (not far from Liverpool Street tube station, and therefore easy to get to Stansted airport early in the morning). Went out for a drink with Will and his flatmates (who are currently trying to organise a place to stay for the coming year).
Got to bed at about 1.30am but couldn't sleep very well because of all the police cars with sirens blazing going past the window. I did, however, manage to rest for a bit so all was not lost.

I caught the plane without any hitches (actually, the very nice-looking girl sitting next to me fell asleep on my shoulder for the 2-hour flight) to Pescara (directly east of Rome on the other coast), and landed around 10am. I then came across my first problem; to get to the train station. To achieve this one needs to catch a bus from outside the airport. Unfortunately, the airport being smaller than that of Frankfurt Hahn, there was only one cash machine. And it had run out of cash. So, needing to get money to buy a bus ticket, I went into the bank that was there as well. They were offering a 'special' rate of 2400 lira to the pound. Seeing as the actual rate was 3150 for that day, I politely declined. Eventually a member of the customer service personnel came round, and I managed to ask where I could get any money out. I was pointed in the direction of the hypermarché about 300m away from the entrance. After precariously crossing a main roundabout, I went into the Auchan and got my money, only to arrive back at the airport to find the bus had just left.

After waiting about 30 minutes for the following bus, I boarded and awaited to be taken to the main train station (which I was told would be the last stop). My suspicions were first arisen when the signs started showing the town Pescara crossed out, ie leaving the place. I managed to pluck up my courage and uttered my first quasi-italian phrase, asking a local kid where the station was. He looked a bit bemused, but eventually I got it out of him that we had passed it about 30 minutes ago. So I got off the bus, crossed the road, and waited for the next bus back (not bothering to buy another ticket, seeing as it would obviously be too much hassle in this desert-like area I was now in).

Not making the same mistake again, as soon as I saw we were arriving in Pescara I asked a man sitting behind me if he could tell me when I needed to get off for the train station. He said something along the lines of he's getting off there as well, so I sat back and enjoyed the rest of the journey. After arriving he took me towards the entrance, and on the way asked me where I was from and where I was going. He understood the "England" bit ok, but would not get that I was trying to say "Rome". I then tried explaining in spanish that I couldn't roll my 'R's, but he got even more confused. So I asked him if he spoke any english. "No" was the answer. Spanish? "No" again. He suggested french, which I gladly nodded my head to (even though I was desperately trying to bring back the words into my head). I then told him where I wanted to go, asked him why he could speak french, and whether there is anything in Pescara worth seeing. The answer to all of these were a face of bemusement. He didn't even utter a word of french. So much for that then. He did, however, take me to the counter and I managed to write down the word 'Rome' so he ordered my ticket. The only word he uttered after that was the platform number ("uno" is not that difficult to understand from the cashier, but never mind).

I then had a good 2 hours to wait before the train arrived to take me off to Rome. The journey should have lasted 4 hours, going through the mountains and across fields showing off the beautiful countryside that is Italy. However, I forgot the transport system was italian, and having never been in this coutry before, did not expect the 30mins delay we had before Rome. Giulia and Daniella were waiting for me on the platform when I arrived, and so obviously knew that it would be late.

Rome

From the moment I was taken by car back to Giulia's place, I was instantly in love with this city. The monuments that we passed were astounding, and I really felt there was definiteley a future for me here. I met Giulia's parents (the father being able to speak both english and spanish, and the mother just italian), had some lovely home-made spaghetti, before being taken off in the car by Giulia to meet Daniella and Chiarra and other friends of theirs.

We also met up with 4 germans that had driven all the way from Mainz to visit Rome, and we went together into the centre of the city for the night. Traffic is not a word that can be used to describe Rome (like fish don't say water). This is because there is so much of it, and it is so chaotic that you can't help but notice it everywhere you go. It took us about 10 minutes to get within the city limits, but about another hour to find a place to park. It really was busy.

Anyway, we went to a square called "Campo di Flori" where apparently there used to be a flower market. Here we bought some bottles of wine and celebrated one of the germans birthdays that was on this day. Lots of people in the square, all sitting around talking and drinking, and the atmosphere was really alive.

The following days I went off through the city visiting as many monuments as I could in the little time that I had in Rome. For the nights we met up with Daniella, some friends, and also with Chiarra, and visited some of the local night spots like the "Isola Tiverni" (very romantic).

There will always be certain things that summarise a place for you, and Rome is no different. The things that for me were the most typical of this city were the traffic, food, drink, ice-cream, stylish sunglasses, and the women. It really does have a lot of good things within the city walls.

Getting back home

Well, my plane back to the UK was at 11.30 on the sunday morning, and so on the saturday I decided to go into the train station in Rome and ask for the times of the train that I needed to catch to get there on time. The first one on the sunday morning was at 7am obviously arriving too late for me to check in, so it would have to be the night train then. Another problem. The last train on a saturday night going to Pescara was at 6.30pm arriving there at 10.30pm. Oh. It was now 3.30pm and I needed to get back to Giulias place, pack my bags, and get off to the station, buying presents to bring back on the way. Not very relaxing. We did, however manage it, even having a fish soup that Giulia's mum had prepared for me, before leaving, and buying a 1kg sack of italian coffee to take back home with me.

The train ride back was pretty uneventful, except that there was a guy sitting further back in the compartment playing his guitar and singing some traditional italian songs, which made the journey very pleasant indeed. I was able to stay awake throughout the trip by the fact that the coffee that I had bought manages to permeate the bags it was in and gave off a lovely smell for me to take in.

Arriving in Pescara, I was to find out that I was just in time for the last bus of the night going to the airport, and that all the youths were going into town (it being a saturday night). This information was given to me by a guy at the bustop from South Tirol who was now working in Pescara. He also told me that there was a restaurant at the airport, so I would be ok for getting some dinner.

Going straight up the stairs to the dining area, I ordered my fish-pizza (being a coastal town and all) a half bottle of local red wine, and sat down writing my postcards that I hadn't had time to finish in Rome. As I was finishing the meal I noticed that lights were being switched off (hinting to it closing), so I ordered my coffee, and after paying the bill I went back downstairs to organise where to place myself for the night

A security guard managed to catch me as I left the stairs pointing me towards the exit. He said that the airport closes for the night. So I asked if it was possible to stay over as my plane was the next morning, and being the kind man that he was, he pointed me to where two girls also seemed to be waiting for the night.

It turns out that these two girls were from Ireland (lovely accents), and had been working in a youth hostel-type place adjoined to the vatican. Well, we had a great time chatting about all things under the sun until they were feeling tired so got out their sleeping bags and went to sleep on the floor (the seats having annoying armrests making it impossible to lie down on them). Having been put up in beds throughout my stay, I did not have a sleeping bag, and so just sat down and wrote more cards and a read a little of my book. When the wine and coffee had finally worn off, I thought I'd try lying down on the ground and getting a few hours sleep. No sooner had I settled down when the local mosquito patrol had located me. They then proceeded to bite my legs, neck, and any other exposed parts of my body whilst making an annoying buzzing sound. So I got back up again and just read my book for the rest of the night.

The flight went okay, and I got back to london to drop my bags off at Will's place before going out into the city to meet my parents, brother and cousin. After awalk along the river, a chinese meal in chinatown, I went back to Will's (or the pub) and eventually got to bed at midnight. Only to wake up at 3.30 to get to stansted in time again.

Got back to Mainz via Wiesbaden (falling asleep on the train and missing my stop), and met up with a few of the friends that I hadn't seen for a while.


So, now that you have a headache after reading all of this, and you think you know all about Rome, why not have a rest whilst I get the photos up onto this site :)