Rome

Sunday the 4^th of June saw us packing our bags again and saying arrevederci to Brent and Claire. They had enjoyed their time so much in the Cinque Terre that they had changed their plans and decided to spend the last few days of their holiday in Vernazza, while we were due for a train trip to Roma.

Early morning Sunday (yes, Dwayne is still waiting for his lie-in!) and we were on the local train from Riomaggiore to La Spezia. We had a 1^st Class open train ticket for La Spezia to Florence and then a 1^st Class, booked, ticket on the 1.20pm train from Florence to Rome. (The open ticket doesn’t save you a seat and you’re basically free to take any train you wish to get to your destination. The booked ticket gives you allocated seats on a particular train). Toni had already printed out the timetables for the trains that day and for the first leg (La Spezia to Florence) it looked like we were going to have to change trains at Pisa. Great – 3 trains in total to get to Roma – 3 chances of getting lost and missing one!!!

...everyone would stop and watch us whiz past on the footpath...

However we get to La Spezia and check the timetable and find that there is a direct train from La Spezia to Roma that we could take – except we can’t……! After much discussion and to-ing and –fro-ing between information booths and ticket offices, Toni establishes that we can take that direct train as far as Pisa and then will have to get off it and catch another one from Pisa to Florence to meet our pre-booked train in Florence. Ah well, why take one train when you can take three?! It goes without saying our travel agent will be getting quizzed on that on our return!!

The train journey itself went almost without a hitch – well we successfully made it to each stop on time and met the required connections. It was only slightly irritating, however, when we jump on the second train in Pisa to find that, despite having a 1^st and 2^nd Class indicator on the departure board, it didn’t actually have a first class section (remember, we paid for first class tickets). To add insult to injury, the train was virtually full and we had to stand for the hour-long, stiflingly hot, journey.

Anyway, we pulled into Roma just before 3.00pm and mentally prepared ourselves for the pick pocketers and other rogues that would apparently be hanging around the train station. Couldn’t find any so made our way out onto the street and towards our hotel unharrassed (is that a word?) and very easily found the street that we needed.

We had booked this hotel, the Hotel Domus Praetoria, due to its close proximity to the train station and on the recommendation of visitors to the Trip Advisor website. Everything people had said was true: the hotel was no more than 5 minutes walk from the train station; you almost miss it as it is inside an anonymous looking building with only a small nameplate by the door; you have to ring a buzzer to be let inside; it has what must be the world’s smallest lift (maximum capacity 4 people….); and it has the most courtous and helpful hosts we have come across.

We had a great 2 nights there and would certainly recommend it to other travelers, especially those who are using the trains as their method of arriving and/or departing Roma (we also used the train to head out to the airport on Tuesday morning).

After settling into our room we decided to go exploring and, armed with a street map, decided to try and find the Trevi Fountain (the one thing that Toni was keen to see). After about 20 minutes walk, and after heading down what seemed like the tiniest backstreet, we came across the palazzo, literally filled with thousands of people, and the fountain. The people were what you saw first – just incredible. But also incredible was the fountain. It is hailed as the best in the world and we can understand why. Pictures do not do it justice and we could easily have spent a couple of hours there.

After the obligatory photos we navigated our way through the crowds and found our way to a more modern attraction, the Time Elevator. This is basically a 4-D virtual ride through Rome’s history, a bit like the Batman ride at Movie World on the Gold Coast – that sort of thing. The 4^th dimension to the experience is the shower of rain that comes down and the rats that attack your legs during the story of the plague…….OK, so they were just plastic strips spinning against your legs under the seat, but they certainly felt like the real thing!

After that we found a roadside pizzeria for dinner and sat next to a couple from Wellington, and were having such an interesting time talking to them we elected not to move tables when a downpour started and threatened to drench us. Thankfully there was no wind so the canopy above us just managed to save us from the worst of the rain, but the tablecloth was pretty soaked by the time we finished.

Monday morning and we had a full day planned, based around Dwayne’s dream of seeing the Colosseum. It started off with a cappuccino and croissant at the local café across the road (this was the “breakfast” included with the hotel tariff). While not substantial, it was a genuine way of mixing with the locals as they all stood at the bar with their croissant and coffees before heading off to work.

We had booked a tour of the Colosseum, which was the recommended way to avoid the horrendous queues, and it was worth every Euro. We walked to the Colosseum (Toni’s map reading skills coming to the fore yet again) and met up with our Angel Tours guide, Angel Jenny (!) at 9.00am (yep, Dwayne is still waiting for his holiday lie-in) and she took us on a 2 hour journey around the Roman Forum and the Colosseum and then she left us in the Colosseum so we could further explore at our leisure.

The tour was great, even more so given the fact that we were the only two for this tour and had Jenny to ourselves (we saw many tours with 20+). Jenny is Irish but had completed an Art History degree in Rome, and so she was able to bring to life the ruins and give us a real understanding of life in this area. The Forum and the Colosseum were absolutely magnificent and Dwayne really enjoyed the experience. We saw the place where Julius Caesar was burned after his assassination and learnt the reason for the construction of the huge archways over the roads – these were built to celebrate a war victory and the troops would march into the city through the archway, which also depicted on it the story of the battle and therefore served as a public noticeboard of its time.

It was also fascinating seeing the Gladiators plying their trade outside the Colosseum. They would offer to take peoples’ photos and then charge you for a photo with them. Being a gladiator in Roma is actually a profession – you must be licenced. Imagine putting that on your arrivals declaration coming into New Zealand and not being treated with suspicion by officials…!

After that tour we made our way past Circus maximus (the oval where all the big chariot races were held – now it looks like it’s used most frequently as a jogging track) up to Piazza Ugo la Malfa which was to be our meeting place for the Segway tour.

For those who haven’t heard Toni rave about these yet, Segways are two wheeled self-balancing human transporters. They are battery powered and balanced by a gyroscope. You stand on a platform and lean forward slightly, and the Segway moves forward. Lean back and it stops and moves backward. There is a twist grip on one handle which you use to turn left or right, it is so simple. Check out the photos (and www.segway.com) – they are the future of human transportation, and a heap of fun.

Anyway, the Segways duly arrived in the back of a van and we were pretty happy to find (again) we were the only two people booked for the day. Excellent! After a bit of a training session we set out with our guide for a circuit of the historical centre of Roma. We were out for around 2 hours and I can’t quite decide which was more fun, just the experience of riding around on these things or the sights we saw. They were both a must-do!

We also attracted a heap of attention everywhere we went. Segway tours have only been operating in Roma for about a month so everyone would stop and watch us whiz past on the footpath and everytime we stopped to look at something people would gather around to have a closer look.

So, that was Roma – we really only scratched the surface of the city, but in some ways that was enough. That was also the end of our time in Italy and, again, a small sample of what this country has to offer. There is no question that we will return to Italy, and while we undoubtedly want to return in order to explore the rest of the country, the Cinque Terre would sit on the top of our list for a repeat visit.