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Published: October 2nd 2007
Still having a fab time here!
After leaving Lucca, I went to Cinqaterre on the train as planned, but when I got there it was raining! Couldn't believe it, there has been very little rain (virtually none in fact) since I've been here. Apparently it's beautiful in Cinqa Terre when the weather's good. It was heaving with tourists as well - not so good! I got off the train and got back on again 10 minutes later! Decided to head up to Parma instea. CinqaTerre is 'walking country'. They have tons of walking tracks that you can do, but they charge you daily for a walking pass - yep u heard right! They charge you to walk! Unbelievable, but I guess that's where they make their money. It may have been quite nice if the weather had been good, but not in the rain. The people put me off too! I know I'm a tourist, but I'd rather not be surrounded by hundreds of them!
Anyhow, headed to Parma. Big mistake - not going to Parma, but heading there so late! Got there about 10 or 11 at night and I hadn't booked a hostel to stay. The tourist info place was long shut, and the guidebook didn't list hostels. Apparently Parma is notoriously expensive! I walked around for ages in the dark with my backpack looking for a hotel which didn't look like it cost a fortune! (Trying to stick within budget...not very successfully!) I ended up going into a pizza takeaway place and asked the guys in there if there was a hostel or a cheap hotel anywhere close. They didn't know of either! just shook their heads. The guy reckoned 50 euro would be the very cheapest hotel around! Oops, not quite within the 20 euro a night budget! Anyhow, I think they felt sorry for me, because they wouldn't let me pay for my pizza! I then made back off munching my pizza and stumbled across a reasonable place which was in the guidebook. It was 45 euro, so the guys had been pretty close! It was lovely though and I was so releived to find a bed - was starting to have visions of sleeping in the park! Not so good in the rain! The bed was so comfortable - a double! with 2 pillows! yeay! Fab!
The next morning when I went to the tourist info, they told me there was a hostel, but it was literally miles out of town. I thought I may stay another day to see Parma in the daylight, so I walked up there. When I got there it was ok, but it had no atmosphere. The guy left me waiting in reception for ages, long enough to spot Verona in the guidebook, and it sounded really nice, and the hostel was supposed to be lovely. Decided not to wait after all and walked back to the station in the rain! I figured rain was better for travelling than walking around Parma!
On the way to Verona I had to change trains in Modena so I got off to have a quick wander round. Not too much there but the town is quite nice and they have a leaning tower too! not as famous as Pisa. It's on the church in the main square. Anyhow, other than that, not to much to see.
Got to Verona - I love that place! It's a beautiful city.....Romeo and Juliet and all that! very romantic! The scenery is also beautiful, like something out of a fairy tale in places. The hostel was amazing too - a beautiful big old building in gorgeous grounds.....and only 15 euro a night with breakfast! That said, breakfast was nothing to write home about! The tea needed an awful lot to be desired - bit like dish water! Wet n warm though which is always good in the morning! Met some fab people there too. Kim from Melbourne was staying in the same room as me and we ended up spending the next day walking round together. It was pretty much a Romeo n Juliet day! Went to see the famous balcony and Romeo's house aswell, then on to Juliet's tomb! Juliet's balcony is just as you imagined it! We did all the tourist stuff, posing on the balcony for silly photos etc! Didn't do the one with the statue though - everyone seems to like a photo with the statue of Juliet in the courtyard, but holding her breast! All the gold finish has come off of one of the statue's breasts where everyone poses with their hand on it - most wierd! I didn't really get what that was all about?! Still takes all sorts! We also went to the ampitheatre (a really beautiful one made of white n pink marble) and the archeological museum. We spent about half hour looking for the tourist info place, but couldn't find it. We were looking on one of these big maps in the square and we could've sworn it was supposed to be right there but no sign. When we spoke to one of the guys in the hostel later, apparently the map was it! No office, just a map. No wonder it looked like we should've been standing right next to it! :O) Oops!
We walked up the viewpoint later that afternoon to watch the sunset. Got on pretty well with Kim - she was really easy to chat to. That evening we met some crazy people in the hostel! Mary Ann, an older German lady who didn't shut up! She was quite funny though. She had this bottle of wine and some cheese which she insisted we all help her with! So about 6 of us ended up swigging wine out of bowls (couldn't find any glasses in the dining room!) and munching this cheese! Another girl, Crystal from Oz, had her guitar with her and played her own stuff. She was really good to so we had a bit of entertainment in the hostel before heading off to a bar. There was another guy in the hostel who joined us - shall I say from a 'priviliged' background, on a 400 euro a day budget! Not sure why he was staying in a hostel, but I think he said he wanted to do 'normal things'! He insisted on paying for a vodka takeout and a taxi back home, so we ended up having a vodka party on the bathroom balcony - yep the bathroom in this hostel had the biggest balcony I've ever seen! In fact it had 2 balconies, but the other one was just a normal size balcony! Apparently this guy was world champion at kick boxing 3 times! He was pretty good as well. Got him to show me some 'moves' - in my drunken state it was quite funny!
The next day at brekky, I met back up with 3 guys from Oz, Nell and Col, a couple and Ron. I think Ron was related to Nell somehow but can't remember. They were a bit older than me, but I got on with them really well. After stealing some of their vegimite (well not stealing...they did say I could!) (after wks without marmite, vegimite was absolutely fab! brightened up the bread rolls n butter no end!!) they offered to give me a lift onto Venice! Really nice of them. They've given me their addresses in Oz, and said I could come stay when I get there which is fab. They're from Brisbane area.
Got to Venice and bought a 36 bus boat pass to get around. They're fab. In fact, Venice is just how I imagined it... Gondolas and canals and all that. It was nice to have something else to look at other than churches! Having said that, I did go to St Mark's Basilica in St Mark's square. It was pretty amazing. All gold mosaic on the ceilings. Bit glitzy for my taste, but stunning none the less. Apart from that, oh, and the lookout tower, I didn't do too much sightseeing, just pottered up and down the canal in these bus boats and wandered around all the tiny little streets. I was only there for one night as I had to apply for my Indian visa in Rome on the Monday. In the evening when I went out, I got 'latched' onto by this young Italian guy who would not take no for an answer. He couldn't even speak english and I couldn't make out any of what he was saying (maybe they have a different accent or something like the north south accent thing in the UK) apart from 'Per ch'e non' or 'why no'? Oh my god, took ages to get rid of him! Bit of a shame as I spent most of the evening trying to get away from this guy instead of enjoying the atmosphere! Oh well, not to worry! I think I need to learn to be rude, that way you probably get rid of them an awful lot quicker - I'm sure they give the guys lessons in persistence when they're at school! Anyhow, I'll work on it :O)
The next morning I met a guy from Israel in the hostel. I've not met any other Israeli's since I've been here. He was a nice guy. It was interesting talking to someone who comes from there, and to know how they feel about what's going on there. He recommended visiting Israel despite the problems there. He reckoned tourists are fairly safe. Maybe one day, probably not this trip though.
From there, I caught the fast train back to Rome Sunday afternoon so I could . It took 5 hours, but it went really quickly. Was sat opposite 'Gucci girl' for some of it! She can't have been more than 18 or so and had that moody italian look down pat! Quite funny really. Not sure she liked the look of me in my rumpled shorts and t-shirt munching my grapes! he he! :O)
Anyhow, got to Rome and headed for an internet cafe to find a hostel. I hadn't bothered booking one as I knew there were tons of them in Rome. Other places, I'll be booking before I go after the Parma saga! Anyhow, found one called 'The Yellow' quite close to Termini station. I could've gone back to where I stayed before I guess, but I wanted to try something different. Ended up walking for miles the wrong side of Termini station! Not good, because I've got quite a sore foot at the mo! Ended up going into this internet cafe and the guy in there used to work in The Yellow, so he drew me a map! Got to the hostel and it was really nice! And it had a bar which is always good for meeting people.
Anyhow, I stayed in Rome for the Sunday night at the yellow so I was there early to go to the embassy. Met this guy, Glen, from New Zealand in the hostel bar. He was sat with some Ozzy guys who had obviously spent most of the day in the bar! They were quite entertaining tho! Glen and I decided to go clubbing that night - I haven't been since I've been in Italy and after a few bevvies I fancied a bit of a boogy! :O) Oh my god! We made it over there in a taxi, or 2 taxis actually. We got out of one thinking this place 'club zone' was in Travestere, but it turned out we had to get in another taxi to get there. It's an area with about 4 or 5 clubs, but only one was open - guess because it was sunday or something. Anyhow we went in & it was quite empty but it soon started filling up. Had a really good dance - pretty good music in there too! As it filled up though, we noticed 1 or 2 trannies in there - well I noticed 1 definite tranny (very masculine :O) ) but Glen reckoned there were loads! Turns out, it was a gay club! - When I looked at the leaflet the next day when I'd sobered up a bit, it said 1 of the 4 -5 clubs I that road was 'the only gay club in Rome!!' Guess that was the one we were in!! he he, was quite funny. I was ok with it. Glen reckoned he felt safe coz he was with a girly! It did make me smile though! The club was open until about 5am so I didn't actually get to bed that night. Hence, I was completely ‘done in’ the next day! Not such a good idea in hindsite, being that I had to go and apply for my visa, but we had a good time! I haven't stayed up all night in ages! I was falling asleep in the embassy the next day though. - There was a 3 hour queue! It was quite funny there though too. This guy, I think his name was Alexander or something, latched onto me and started chatting. He was American who had been sleeping rough at termini station. He kept saying how much money he was saving. Anyhow, he was swigging this wine out of a water bottle at 11 in the morning, but reckoned he wasn’t a wino - not much! He then noticed a plug socket in the waiting room and decided to plug in his electric razor while he was waiting! Not very subtly either! He was speaking in a really loud whisper about how stupid italians were and that! Quite embarrasing really! He kept me awake though during the wait though!
My visa will take a wk to come through and I didn't want to stay in Rome for a whole wk, so back in Lucca, I'd emailed Mick and Angela at the first helpx place to see if they wanted any more help for a wk or so. They said yes, but in between saying yes and me replying to their email to say ok, they'd had a booking on the internet from a paying guest! Hence instead, I am staying with a friend of theirs, Silvia and her family. They are lovely lovely people. She has her husband, Michele, 2 boys, Lucca who is 16 and Leonardo who is 12, 2 lovely dogs, Lucky and Lilly (a schnouser - not sure how you spell that, and a heinz 57) and 3 cats. I have only met 1 of the cats so far, Oscar. The others must be out and about somewhere. I came here yesterday. Silvia is trying to learn english, well I say trying to learn, she is actually already really good at it. Her partner doesn't speak too much english, but Lucca speaks very well, and even Ronaldo speaks a bit too. It puts me to shame, but I am entertaining them with my pigeon italian! :O) Think I've landed on my feet here. It is in a very small 'hill village' just south of rome, near to Villetri. The view from the garden is absolutely amazing! You can see right to the sea on a clear day apparently. Silvia is lovely and we talk quite a lot. She's trying to help me learn a bit more Italian too (pretty hard - I have to ask the same words over and over before I remember them!). The work has been all housework today, but Silvia likes Coldplay and the Fray and she likes it up loud while we work, just like me back at home! So it's all quite cool.
I think Mick and Angela from the last helpx place are coming over to see Silvia while I'm here sometime this wk, so it'll be nice to see them again too.
Hopefully my visa, if it goes through, will be ready on Tuesday. On Monday next wk, if the UK Indian Embassy has said yes I can have one, then I need to take my passport in and pick it up with the visa on Tuesday. Fingers crossed! I'm really looking forward to India now. I've really enjoyed Italy too, but I'm ready to try somewhere different now.
Will keep you posted on the visa thing. Great to hear from all you guys. I’ll try and get the recent photos on facebook soon. xx
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Jackie
non-member comment
Oooh ello !
Hi Hunny, Wow you are getting around aren't you ! So glad you are having a great time and meeting other people. Italy sounds good for a holiday sometime. You will have to learn a "f... ... please" in Italian to keep those guys away ! its great to hear your adventures and always look forward to reading your blogs. Will e-mail you soon hunny. Miss you loads ! Love Jackie and Geoff xx