(My) Roman Holiday [a.k.a The Italian Blog a.k.a The Blogfather]

I spent 3 nights in Rome, from Sunday 11Th to Wednesday 14Th. Unfortunately the weather didn't feel like like giving me a change from the rain I'm used to, and I ended up getting quite soaked. But alas, that meant new shoes so I won out in the end!
I arrived early on Sunday afternoon with my Dad. The hotel we were staying in was about 300 metres from the main train station, so it was very convenient. The hotel was a bit of a surprise however. The entire hotel was just one floor of a 6 story building. The floor below it was apartments and above it was another hotel, named Fawlty Towers! Our hotel room was tiny, with about 10 inches between both beds.


After we checked in, we checked out (see what I did there?) the Colosseum. Decided to get a group tour, which unfortunately contained some rather annoying Australian chaps. The tour was good, and the tour guide was full of witty banter and virgin jokes at the expense of a pair of American girls. It was cool (if you're into Romans) to see the underground layout of rooms and tunnels that held the lions and other animals that were fought. The only animals there these days are the many stray cats living among the ruins.


From the Colosseum, we went to the Spanish Steps. They were just like I remembered from 'Sabrina Goes To Rome'. In fact quite a lot of my knowledge of the Eternal City came from this movie...eh, I mean Gladiator. Yeah, Gladiator, with all it's fighting and manliness and complete lack of magical romance...eh. After walking up and inevitably down the steps we continued to the Trevi Fountain, which is as it sounds, a fountain. Quite a large, ornate one at that. It should be noted that on this day, it was sunny and dry. Oh, how things changed!

Went to the Vatican City the next day, and witnessed one of the greater abuses within the Catholic Church. And that my friends, is nuns cutting queues! Any queue at all, nuns felt they could just walk to the front; the queue to St. Peter's Basilica, to the Vatican Museum, to the cupola of St. Peter's, even the gents toilets to show that they could! The Vatican was, as you can imagine, quite time consuming, yet nonetheless was interesting. Even got to see old JP2's (John Paul II) grave! After the Vatican I got a coffee. Nowt special about that I know, but remember that scene in 'Sabrina Goes To Rome' where she has a really strong cup of coffee, well it was like that except with out Melissa Joan Hart. For the record, best coffee in the world is in Italy.

One thing that amazed me were, what i named, the Umbreller Sellers. These were guys who, at the first drop of rain, would appear on every street and sell umbrellas to people. These chaps were everywhere, up like 6 to a street. It was if they spent all day, everyday watching the weather on tv, and at the first hint of rain, would arm themselves with umbrellas and take to the streets. And, my God, would they not take no for an answer. Almost like they were reformed rapists who were trying to put they're penchant of ignoring 'no' to a slightly more socially accepted hobby.


The last thing that struck me about the trip, were the eclectic bunch of vagrants that hung around the Termini train station at night. There were the type that shouted, who smelled, there was even one chap who attempted to sing opera. But the most memorable was the woman, covered in make up, who sat in the same seat every night with a box of chocolates. Almost like she had once waited there for her lover, who upon meeting her, presented her with a box of chocolates and then shot her in the face with Homer Simpson's makeup shotgun! And since that day she has wandered the train station in search of someone to love her. By searching, I mean flirting with whoever is behind here in the queue in the station grocery store to buy her the chocolates she brings to the till.

Now, on that note I shall sign off on this post; just one more little thing to provide a giggle to the reader. When we checked in at the hotel, the receptionist asked if we wanted a twin or double room...