Hello!
Haha I'm feeling a lil strange... I have a cold :-( and took a tablet... perhaps Italian tablets are really strong! So if this post seems a little incoherent, maybe I have an excuse!
Rome has been great! I'll get back to it in a sec.
So how much did I tell you abt Sicily? Ohh Thanks for your comment Barbara! Taormina was strange, I slept in too much (no hot water! It's on a timer and I missed it!) . I dumped my bag at tourist info (haha which you're not really supposed to do, but by then one of the tourist ladies kinda knew me.... I'm always chatting away to info ppl! At least they're friendlier here than in Germany!).... and then walked to Castelmola and this other hill. It was basically the whole day walking... Walking is getting a bit much... I probably average 5-10km a day... or maybe more... my feet are starting to feel it! So, anyway Taormina was quite nice, but it was strange to be there with no other ppl... I caught a night train from there to Rome, and arrived at around 6:20
Well... at least I think we did. I woke up when the conductor of the train opened my door to wake me up... I have no idea how long I'd been at the station... most other people had left... it was weird walking down the platform on my own!
I've been here for a few days now... I've seen most of the old sights in the last few days... theres some really kewl stuff here (more than just the coleseum)... I'll have to post some photos and annotate them. A kewl thing I saw today was the ruins (of part of the building) where Caesar was murdered! Theres also some place where his body was burned... haven't found that yet!
Today was interesting. Last night I was partying, and thismorning I dragged myself out of bed to use the (free) internet before other people were lining up. I managed to upload the photos (that I'd selected and resised previously)... and I also had to check up about accomodation!
I actually found my own room for £50/wk in Chiswick, which is really cheap! But the people whos were going back to Oz are now stayinhg in London... I kinda panicked and emailed over 10 ppl about accomodation... now I'll be staying in Southfields, which should be OK. Tis a lttle further out though.
Gee I'm falling asleep at the computer. Will write again soon!
... OK it is Monday! I slept for a while on the couch in the TV room last night, then watched Hannibal... ohhh freaky movie. Some of it is set in Florence... which was kewl! I've never really been to a place then seen all the famous parts in a movie. It's sooo fake some of it - like there's this scene where there is a garden setting on this lawn, with the famous bridge "Ponte Vecchio" behind it... they either computer inserted the bridge, or had some barge covered in lawn... hehe.
Anyway... Yepp today is the last full day of my holiday!! And it's a bit of an icky one at that... At least I'm feeling a little better. Soon I'm going to go out and grab a coffee and see St Peters basilica. It's supposedly the most amazing part of Rome and I haven't seen it yet! But that's kewl... relaxing day.
Hrmm what had I told you that I'd seen before... OHHH I forgot to tell you the most important part...
I SAW THE POPE!
I was like a shameless paparatzi guy... hehe well not really. Every Sunday at noon the Pope speaks at St Peters Basilica... I was told that instead, he would be blessing this fountain near the spanish steps (it was a holiday weekend... feast of the immaculate conception?? something like that). At about 11:30 I found out that the pope would still be speaking at St Peters! I hopped on a metro, rushed there, and missed him by a couple of minutes! Grrr!
So that was annoying.... but I knew he would be near the spanish steps at 4pm. I arrived at 3, and there was already tons of people lining up to see him! I ended up being in a really good spot, except I was behind maybe 6 people. Digi cameras are also good for snapping above heads! I took quite a few photos and a short movie... the pope is quite small, and some of them are blurry, but I think I got one or two that are OK. I understood nothing of what was said... and he sounded *really* shakey. But wow the people love him! When he was leaving everyone cried out "Papa.... " something... I didn't catch it but it was great... then they all waved to him! My piccy of the pope mobile driving away didn't work, but I did get snaps of him getting on and off of the mobile.
Yeah... drivers in Italy are crazy... And so are pedestrians. In many countries, we've been encouraging the locals to illegally cross roads... in Italy, and especially in Rome, the locals will walk in front of cars.... Once I followed a local to cross the road... and we weren't nearly hit by any stretch of the imagination, but we had to move quite quickly... in the end she looked around guiltily... was quite funny. I've also seen these scenes that could be out of movies... 5 undercover police cars... with lights placed on top (like out of the window and stuck on the top of the car), screaming around a corner, nearly fishtailing it... hehe
I also reckon I could have seen the Pope going back from the service at St Maria (in the Major? church names are weird here cos they all have to be in somewhere... too many dedicated to the same saints!)... there was a few police motorcycles, going really fast with flashing lights, then there was a police car, then a fancy car with blacked out windows, then a big van carrying more people, then another few motorbikes.... they were FLYING... ignoring all lights, signals and other traffic.
Yepp... haven't been hit so far :-)
Ohh gee this isn't very touristy... more stream of consciousness writing for you to decipher!
OK... time for a coffee and to see a kewl church. My plane is at 12:45 tomorrow, so I don't even have to stress too much in the morning. Sanette at the place I'll be living will be there from about 6:30pm, so there's tons of time tomorrow arvo too. At least the end of my holiday is stress free... ask my Dad about the start!
Cya :-)
UPDATE just found a room of my own for only 2 pounds more per week! :-)
It's all good ppl, it's all good!
Posted by Sam at December 09, 2002 01:48 AM