European Getaway - Day 9 - Florence to Rome

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Day 9 - Florence to Rome

Wake up early to pack my bag, I’m starting to get a little fed up of packing every other day. Anyway another day on the coach as we head to the capital of Italy, Rome.

I don’t recall anything of note from the bus journey, the usual combination of music, people falling asleep and the random selection of foodstuffs purchased from the regular service stations (my favourite being the mini Oreos). On the coach we start thinking up ideas for the trip shirts/hoodies. The top ideas include an emu (as Jess pretends her hand is an emu when leading us through crowds), people’s names, the places we are visiting and someone has suggested we have the phrase ‘I fookin love it’, I think it’s quite amusing.

We arrive at our lunchtime stop in Orvieto to catch the train up to the town, which a town built high in a mountain, for defence purposes. Orvieto, apart from being on a mountain, is famous for roast boar and for it's huge cathedral. We walk through the town to the cathedral. It is amazingly beautiful, very much like a lot of the churches we have seen already on the tour. We take a few photos and then try and find somewhere to eat. A group of us decide on a restaurant and sit down. The bloke in the restaurant doesn’t speak much English so we ask for our meals by their Italian names. I decide to play it risky and go for a pizza which has the following toppings: Italian sausage and chips. That’s right a chip pizza. When it arrived it looked like a normal pizza with chips thrown on top. It was indeed a moment I will remember. We finish dinner and have just enough time to get back to the train station to head down the mountain.

We arrive in Rome in the late afternoon and we have some time to spare before our walking tour around the city. This means only one thing, beer. We grab some Peroni’s from the supermarket for 70 cents each and sit outside our cabins and consume them (the cabins are slightly larger than in Florence). We then catch a lift with Phil to the tube station where we catch the metro into the city.

We begin the tour at the Piazza del Popolo, where Jess tells us what the monuments are and their history, many of the obelisks throughout Rome were stolen by the Romans when they conquered their many lands throughout Europe and northern Africa. We then head to the Spanish Steps where I have the biggest panic of my life, my camera appears to be broken, the lens appears to be stuck and the screen doesn’t work. aaaaarrrrgggh. To be sure I buy some new batteries form a stall and my camera begins to function. Thank god. The tour continues to the Trevi fountain. As is customary everyone throws in 3 coins, with the right hand over the left shoulder. Something to do with a safe return to Rome and to find love ;-).

We are lead to the Panthenon which is a shrine to the Roman gods and then we are pointed to a cheap pizza place to grab dinner. As I’ve had pizza for every meal for the last few days, I decide to go to a nearby McDonalds and have a cheeseburger. Everyone then has gelato from the store next door. The ice-cream is really cheap and I get 5 scoops for 4 Euros. It is amazing plus the girl serving is quite pretty, which is always a bonus. I have chocolate, bounty, biscuit and choc, dark chocolate and mint chocolate chip flavours. It is the best ice cream I have ever had.

We continue to the national monument which is a huge building with intricate detailing and sculptures. It truly is amazing. Next we head to the forum, which are ruins of what was the heart of Roman Rome. In the distance I can see Rome’s most famous landmark, the colosseum. It’s amazing. Just the pure size of it and how old it is. I take a few shots and then we end the tour and head back on the tube where Phil is there to pick us up. It’s amazing that it seems as though around every corner there’s another beautiful monument. This ancient history is certainly amazing my Aussie mates who note that most buildings in Europe are older than their country.

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