Rome...the not so fabulous!

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Well hello there!
Todays blog comes from the City of Roma, or to be more precise...Rome - the city of the not so fabulous! Wal and I have been here for four days and we feel perhaps that Rome could be described as the Vegas of Italy, that is everyone should go but you only need 48 hours here (if that) and there is no need to ever return.

Before you all start rolling your eyes and accusing us of being spoilt I feel very sound in my estimations of the city. So we flew out of Chamonix after I had managed to get the flu (no, not the man flu, the real flu - it was terrible. I spent the last day in Chamoix convinced I was dying. When I finally made it out of the hotel room to see some of the day I was convinced I had either contracted meningitis or indeed the Ebola virus had found its way to the Franch Alps. The fever was awful and it felt like I was being punched constantly with the aches and pains, at one point I had to go back to bed and all I could do was wait for the virus to fully take effect wondering if, in fact, the pain I was experiencing was actually the disintegration of my vital organs...clearly this was not the case as I am still alive and it was amazing how good a few cold and flu tablets could make you feel...but nevertheless I dont count those first few days of the flu as the best in trip so far! ) So our entrance to Rome was slightly marred by a very sick Georgie. The first day was a great day whther wise for Rome and despite my near deathness, I was exited. We both had visions of walking hand in hand together taking in the romance and splendour of Rome. As we drove toward it the warmth on my face started to make my illness fade and our arrival at Hotel Julia was exiting, positioned near many of the landmarks we could hardly wait to start out experience.

In our first afternoon we cleared two of the sights. We stumbled accidetnally upon The Trevi fountain which on first glance is an amazing sight but to be honest everything in Rome seems depressing and despite the granduer of the statues and building, un spectacular. Perhaps this is because of the millions of tourists there, the beggars, the hundreds of guys selling annoying whizzing toys at the fountain or bubble makers...added to which all of the sifùghts are squashed in and amongst shops, rubbish and dodgy stands. Take note, it is worse in Rome than it is in Bali now to be heckled to buy cheap imitation handbags, sunglasses and other useless gear. The deal with the Trevi fountain is you throw a coin into the fountain over your head and make a wish...well it didnt work because the dude selling the stoopid loud bubble makers didnt go away and the lady next to me continued to chain smoke...I personally felt very ripped off, I threw in 2 Euro which I thought was ample to get at least one of my wishes granted!

So we then made it to the Spanish steps , the history of which I had no idea about and to this day still dont, but we made it there anyway and again were greeted with guys pushing plastic bubble makers, cheap handbags and the stpes themselves were part of a beautiful site marred by scaffolding and millions of cigarette butts squashed in between shops selling tacking "roma" t shirts and little plastic Colosseum ornaments (that right everyone, guess what you;re all getting for Christmas this year!). One observation weve made is the anti smoking message doesnt quite seem to have made it over to Italy or to France for that matter...everyone here smokes. You know the book "french women dont get fat"...well I truly cant see what the entire book could be about, French women dont get fat and nether do Italian women but it has nothing to do with food, its all about 2 packs of ciggies a day and a few lattes, that enough to get you through the day and into those skinny jeans according to the chickadees over here let me tell you! Wal and I reckon weve been smoking about 2 cigarettes a day by proxy.

Wondering whether or not we were judging Rome harshly, we then ventured out to sample some amazing Italian food to make us feel better, I mean, at least if the sites werent cool wecould relish in fabulous food and wine. Weeeelll...we couldnt find any! All the food we tried for the first two days was terrible ... so much so we wondered if we should just get back on the plane and head back to Little Italy in New York! When, in depseration,we went to a cafe and ordered a hamburger and fried, we at least thought we could get Wal a hearty meal, (by this time I was on the Australian girls on pseudoeffedreine dont get fat diet, cold and flu tablets were working fully and I could stand the site of food!) ...poor Wal was devastated when he got a hamburger paddy and some oil laced limp potatoes!

The Colosseum was at least impressive when we got there and after refusing some more gucci handbags, bubble makers and sunglasses on our way in and out of the site we were very amused to watch buskers wrap themselves up in gold sheets and a Sphinx mask and stand there waiting for people to give them money - almost as good as the guys who wrapped themselves up in white sheets and clasping a white torch pretending to be the statue of liberty. What was even more amusing was that everywhere we went guys were doing the SAME thing... so by the time we made it to the Vatican, passing more statues of liberties, gold sphinxs and handbag stalls we were just about over it all...both of us started counting how many more days we had to go...and the news wasnt good...two more days in Rome..what to do...what to do??!!!

We had been told we could do a day trip to Florence on the train for 25 Euro on the fast train so we made a pact to leg it up there the following day...so off we went to the train station and asked the guy for two tickets...No problems. that would be 153 Euro! Huh!!! nearly $300 for a train trip to another City which probably had just as many statues of liberties and gold sphinxs!!! no thanks! So we decided against it and walking back disheartened we walked into a surf store. The guy was super cool and we were chatting to him about his surfing and some of the coastal breaks around Italy. He grew up here and so were asked him where he would go for a day to go the coast . He recommended Saint Marinella, an hour on the train. He was so cool he even looked up the train timetables for us and wrote down the stop so we could just show the ticket guys rather than try and speak bad Australian Italian Tourist talk! So renewed with our love of Roma and people in general, we went back to the station and hopped on the fast train there (for a total of 16 Euros for both of us!). The scenery outside of Rome is amazing and actually fulfilled my fantasies abut rolling green fields, beautiful colours and the coast was just as fabulous. The town Saint Marinella was quaint and sweet and had a gorgeous coast line and marina which we just walked round loving the fresh air (post flu I had developed quite an impressive barking cough, the kind that make you incredibly popular on buses planes and internet cafes ...so not being in the city air was AMAZING)and the sense of space was also fabulous. Later, Wal and I mused how funny it was that on a wintry day with nothing doing in this sleepy town it was amazing how happy we were just to get back to a bit of nature and just to cruise...maybe the 1.50 Euro beers also helped but you can only speculate!

Once revived and re energised from our coastal trip we did manage to find some nice restuarants to eat in, one in particular serving very rustic Italian food..where the slice the proscuitto in front of you, the pasta is home made and truffles are a speciality...yyuuumm!!! Somehow we also scored a free Tiramisu which was divine. So good was the food we went back there again for some divine home made vegetable soup, a caraf of wine and an enormous T bone steak for Mr Wallace...this thing was so enormous it looked like something off the flintstones. But i will say finding a restaurant like this was pretty rare and we walked everywhere and tried a lot of places! What is clear to us is we spent toomuch time in rome and not enough time in Italy, we do feel we would love to see moe of Italy and experience the coast but will most likely never return to Rome unless its to make a connecting flight!

One more thing you need to be aware of...there are beggars and homeless people everywhere which can be a little confrointing. The native seems to be quite used to it and its notuncommon for Italian leathere boots to absent mindedly step over a sleeping hoemless person in the street without batting an eyelid. I was mortified when we got here and couldnt believe it. so much so we were out of the first day, it was pretty cold and we walked past this poor guy standing on a corner clearly freezing and in need of a shower. we walked past, but not able to shake the image out of my head I ran back and gave hime 4 Euro, hopefully enough to get him a cup of hot choclate and buy him some gloves. Wierdly the guy said oh "cheers, thanks" in a very english cockney accent which was wierd..but what whatever...Wal was less than enthusiastic which made me furious....How cynical a society were we where charity was scoffed at? Weeeelll it wasnt too long before, as usual, Wal was proved right! Having spent the morning cruising we saw the same homeless man again which I was so pleased about, hoping he would be now fed and warm... and then to my horror, I saw he had been shopping for himself, only he had bought himself a massive cask of wine! It gets even worse, later that night when we walked to dinner someone shrieked in front of us "Oh my god, that man is urinating in public"...and that right, the same guy I had literally bought a cask of wine for was now blind drunk and peeing against a wall in full sight of all. Hhhhmmmm lets just say that was my last attempt at any form of charity in Rome!

So today is our last day and we have spent it just cruising again...we managed a good coffee (G) and beer (wal) not so long ago and are waiting to get picked upto leg it to London where the TV is English and hopefully the food is good!

I have decided not to go to Chile to meet Mr Wallace...dont worry peoples, everything is fine and no, there is nothing wrong with Mr Wallace and I!!!...but I have decided to have some chill time before starting work again so will be home March 14th. This means Mr Wallace and I say goodbye to each other for about 6 weeks on the 1st when he flies out to Chile :o( So its just shy of two week or so in the uk and then home...so looking forward to saying hello to eveyone and sharing a few more travel stories before then.

Much love and a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY JEN for the other day!

love G (and Wal)

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