bella roma

So we arrived in Bari after an endless journey, to find that, unlike in Patras, the port was in the middle of nowhere. So, accompanied by various other backpackers, we wandered around looking for buses, and found a shuttle, that apparently went from Bari to the port, but not the other way round. Obviously, this made a lot of sense. Eventually a taxi driver offered to take us into town for €2 each. There were seven of us, and although it was an eight seater, getting everyone in including our bags was quite the mission. Let's just say that by the end of that short journey we were all fast friends. We spent the rest of the morning together waiting for our train, camped out on a patch of grass near the station, and by the time we hopped on the train that afternoon, we had adopted Silvia, an 18 year old from San Fran travelling alone. For those who don't know, travelling at that age for Americans is a massive deal, as none of them travel between school and college. So we were quite impressed. She followed us to our hostel in Rome, and we didn't manage to shake her til we left Florence this morning. Actually she was a great third wheel to have around, not freaked out by our sense of humour and a lot of fun.

We took a walk around Rome that evening, taking in the Trevi Fountain, Pantheon and Colosseum. It was gorgeous at night. We saw a massive drunken crew parading along outside the Colosseum which we took to be the pub crawl, and all agreed that none of us wanted to do that. Too touristy, too anonymous, too loutish. Needless to say, 24 hours later, we were on the pub crawl.

The next morning we checked out the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica, which was quite beautiful, before heading back to the Colosseum.

We joined some guided tour, paying the extra cash to skip the queue and to absorb a bit of extra info. It was actually really good value, as the tour guide was knowledgeable and kept the information coming thick and fast. Also, we got some hilarious pics with a centurion, which are of course priceless. We got a free tour of the Roman Forum thrown in, which we went on later that afternoon. It was equally interesting, and given by a guy who we later found out was an ex-school teacher, which explained why he kept saying 'now who knows what this is?' even though everybody was obviously clueless. He told us that he'd been head-hunted for the job. I didn't know teachers were head-hunted. No offence.

Anyway that night we decided to sacrifice a whole €20 to the god of alcohol. We spent an hour drinking for 'free' and the rest of the night, as they say, is history.

There were two guys dressed as Wally for some reason (as in Where's Wally) and I will say that Silvia's status on fb the next morning was 'Silvia wandered around Rome last night barefoot and with no panties, and I'm SURE the wind was blowing'. She is quite a character.

The next day we were feeling a little less up to charging around the city, but we did head back to the Pantheon to take a look inside, which was lovely, even though the weather left a little to be desired.

We then sat down to lunch at a nearby restaurant, where our table was attended by, I have to say, the worst waiter in the world. For him, setting our places consisted of dumping the cutlery and napkins in a pile in front of us. He couldn't understand what we were saying, my meal arrived 15 minutes later than Silvia and Lucy's, and an umbrella fell down onto the woman at the table next to us, who somewhat mysteriously (and, I have to say, quite humourously), started to cry. At the end of the meal, when we asked for the bill, the waiter spent waaaaaaaay too long constantly hilariously jerking it out of Silvia's reach so she literally put her hand out for it like 20 times. We then realised that he had given us the wrong bill, and unfortunately when we pointed this out, his boss heard, and looked furious. All through this, our waiter smiled and laughed like he was having the time of his life, and I must admit that we laughed with him, admittedly a little hysterically. His name, it turned out, was Silvio. Silvia later asked 'what was that guy's name again? Silvano?'. I know, I know, she can't even remember her own name.

The next day we headed to the Vatican. Apparently Monday is the busiest day, so good choice us. We paid a lot of money for a guided tour, which, although the organisation was atrocious, turned out to be quite informative. We went through all the important pieces in the Museo and the Old Papal Apartments, and ended up in the Sistine Chapel. Then we went to the Basilica and climbed the Cupola, which was well worth the €5 and 500-odd steps, as the view was amazing and the sloping staircases were extremely entertaining.

The next day I unfortunately spent most of the day inside an internet cafe doing a scholarship application, which was less than fun but necessary. Lucy tells me she spent the day wandering, seeing various sites without really meaning to.