Advertisement
Published: April 15th 2008
Edit Blog Post
The last entry was traumatic and contained absoloutely no photos, this next one is going to be more like light reading with pictures.
We made it to Venice, and planned to stay there for all of about two and a half hours. Mainly because we dont have any friends who live there and the thought of spending a night in a tourist mecca made us shudder. We were booked on a connecting train to Rome in the early aafternoon, which gave us time to have a look at a canal, cross a bridge, eat some pasta, walk down an alley or two and then simply retrace our steps to get back on the train. It was raining, which meant that our clear plastic umbrellas were going to be called on for the first time since Tokyo, our 350 yen was paying off all over again. The only problem was retracing our steps. We somehow ended up at completely the wrong end/side of Venice and so there ensued a frantic dash back in the other direction which gradually slowed as we realised there was no way we were going to make it. Bugger, Oh well, we shelled out an extra 15
euros and got a much faster train, one befitting our status, with a first class section, and settled in for a comfortable trip into Rome. Only we didn´t count on being bracketed by two couples with a young baby. Waaaaaaaaaaaaa! from the left rear, Waaaaaaaaaaaaa from the right front. This is first class in here people, and this is definitely not how we roll! When are they going to make that law that children under 5 must stay at home?
So we stumbled into Rome, where it was raining even more heavily, and walked down the road to where the hostel we´d looked up on the internet was supposed to be. Funny, because it really should have been there, we were definitely on the right street, but there wasn´t any sign of it at all. Oh, that´s because this type of hostel is different to what you would expect a hostel to be in most places around the world. If you want to start one in Rome, all you need is a small apartment, maybe on the top floor of your building, then you cram some bunks in the bedrooms, put the name of your hostel in the little
space next to the apartment blocks intercom systen by the front door and then off you go! Easy! That´s why we couldn´t find it. Fortunately some passing Aussies who´d had the same trouble the day before gave us a tip off. It was a shame that they didn´t have any beds after all that.
We did eventually find a Hostel.
So, Roma. It appears to have some grand old buildings and a lot of people are really keen to see them. The city council must be lacking in funds though, because there are a few large areas which are all falling down, with not much left standing except for a few columns and parts of walls. Seems to me they should come over to New Zealand and have a look at what we´ve done with places like Silvia Park, The Palms and St Lukes. They could certainly use some more car parks too.
It also seems that the People have said to the Government "enough is enough" and the Government has said "yes you´re right, here´s scores of heavily armed police in jackboots and highly peaked caps to keep you happy"
The sensible sentincing trust would be
very happy over here I feel. So would John Banks.
Ok Ok, lighten up Olza!
We had a good time, We even met up with a couple of American travellers, one of whom had just finished his time as a machine gunner in the US Marines stationed in Iraq for 3 years. At one point we were discussing what type of submachine guns the Police were carrying, along with their 14 shot 9mm Pareballum pistols.
I found the chaos quite tiring, along with about 9 hours of walking, but I suppose you´d get used to it, like anything really. But the traffic is the clincher really. Equal parts hilaroius and scary. Lindo reckoned that if he were driving he´d get no more than a few meters down the road, he would hesitate, there would be a crash and he´d be marched off to the cells, gun pointed at head. So many scooters and tiny cars too. I think I saw about 4 SUVs.
The next chapter is going to involve a Mediterranian cruise.
Just you wait...
Advertisement
Tot: 0.074s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 11; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0496s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb