Italy

After going to the pub for some reunion beers, my friends Tom and Fede took me to the heart of Rome, for a very unique (although not 100% legal) tour of the city's ancient ruins. They showed me how the ruins of central Rome seem to have almost no security at night: all they have is fences; and these proved to be ridiculously easy to climb over. Apparently, Italy simply has so many ancient ruins and archaeological parks, that they can't be bothered to provide proper guards or patrols for any of them. This was fine with me: it allowed my friends to show me ancient Rome in a much more cool way than most tourists see it; and seeing the ruins at night has a certain beauty and eerieness to it that you just don't get during the sunlit, tourist-infested daytime.

Back when I went river rafting in Ecuador, about three months ago, I met three Italian guys, who live and who go to university here in Rome. Tonight, I managed to meet up and to have a reunion with two of them: my old mates Tom and Fede! Sadly, I couldn't meet up with Ben, as he's on exchange in Scotland at the moment. Anyway, the three of us managed to free ourselves up for this evening, and to catch up on old times. It was a bit of a struggle finding each other — it took us over an hour to spot each other at the Piazza Venezia in central Rome — but once that ordeal was over, we shared a few good beers, and had a few good laughs. Nice to see some old faces, here in this crazy new country that I'm visiting.

This afternoon, I popped into Rome's Termini train station, to buy myself a train ticket down to Sicily. Since I've just bought my new bike, I'm going to have to take that with me on the train — but I'd heard that trains in Italy were particularly bike-friendly, and that you can take your bike on most inter-city trains; so I wasn't expecting this to be a problem. Turns out that this isn't quite true: you basically can't take a bike on any of the "express" or "long-distance" trains; you can only take them on "local" trains, which stop at every little village along the way, and which only travel within regional boundaries. Eek! It's going to be an interesting trip down to Sicily.

Yesterday, as part of my visit to the Vatican, I was unable to visit the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, as they were closed for All Souls' Day. Today, I attempted to make up for the loss, and to try visiting them again: but to no avail. When I arrived there this afternoon, I encountered what was quite literally the longest queue I have ever seen in my life. Ever. The queue snaked around about a quarter of the entire Vatican complex (i.e. around a quarter of an entire sovereign nation state :P), taking up the sidewalk for at least 10 blocks, and almsot reaching back into St. Peter's Square itself. It took me 15 minutes of solid walking, just to get to the back of the line. I realised that this queue was so long, I actually had no chance of getting in today (assuming I wished to wait and try for 3+ hours, that is). So it's still a no-go. Maybe next time I'm in Rome, I'll be able to see this incredibly popular attraction. For now, its popularity has defeated me.

On Wednesday I went window shopping; and today, I made the big purchase. As of now, I am the proud owner of a €50, second-hand, "Giant" brand mountain bike! As I suspected, I was able to purchase the bicycle, plus all its accessories, from Porto Portese — the dodgy Roman market to handle all your shopping needs. Got the bike from a funny old dude called Alfredo, who runs a little repair shop in the alley that makes up most of the market, and who permanently has a ciggy in the corner of his mouth. It doesn't look too crap: hopefully, it will get me around Sicily.

The Rome metro is a great underground railway system. It's cheap, simple, fast, and frequent. Only problem: there are a mere two lines in the whole city — so there are very few places to which the metro actually goes. So the metro is really handy, but only on the rare occasion that it can actually get you where you want to go. This — combined with the city's haphazard and hard-to-decipher bus system — inevitably means that for the tourist, Rome is inevitably a city where you do a lot of walking. And for the locals, a city where you do a lot of driving. Public transport in Rome could use some expansion.

I decided to cook some pasta napolitana tonight, at Gulliver's House — I'd already made some last night — but tonight, I had no vegies to put in it! So I decided to chop up a banana, and so see what fried banana tastes like, when simmered with some crushed tomatoes. Piece of advice: don't try this at home, kids. It's edible — but I can see why I've never seen it in a cookbook. Rather disgusting — banana napolitana is a recipe to save only for the most dire of emergencies.

Natalie's the young, space-cadet English girl who lives and works at Gulliver's House, here in Rome. She's been here for about 3 months now, and she's not sure exactly how long she's staying for. She's extremely nice, but she's totally spaced out: not sure if she's stoned, or just a very tranquil person. Anyway, she's very welcoming to all the guests at the hostel, and she's always happy to give advice about what to see and do in the city.

You can't go to Rome and not visit the Pope, can you now? Today, with the weather unfortunately still grey, and with nothing more pressing on my itinerary, I went and visited the Vatican. The Vatican is a ridiculously crowded attraction — it's clear that everyone, without fail everyone, who visits Rome pops in to it — but it is nevertheless very moving and very imposing. Didn't see the old man himself, but apparently he came out for a public appearance yesterday — pity I missed that, although apparently the crowds yesterday were even worse.

I wasn't planning to do any sightseeing today — as the weather was lousy here in Rome, and as I had other things that needed doing — but on my way back from Porto Portese this afternoon, I ended up wandering by the Roman forum and senate. this is the north-western part of the "Palatino", the archaeological site in central Rome, that's actually the preserved remains of what was the main street of the ancient city. I never before realised that the absolute key, central area of ancient Rome is actually still here (albeit in crumbling form), and not all built-over, 2,000 years on. Quite a cool introduction to this most historic of all cities in the world.