We went to Rome, but we didn't see the Pope

Rome got of to a fantastic start simply because we'd gotten into the main station (after visiting Florence) and met up with our Uni friend, Oliver. After a somewhat stressful journey for all of us, we headed straight for the closest bar showing England's opening game against France and nursed home the €5 pint throughout the whole match. We then ventured rather sporadically on the metro and buses towards the outskirts of the city, struggling with broken Italian to find where the hell we where staying. After a long day travelling, an early night was certainly required, especially in preparation for the Eternal city the following day.

As Rome was the only place either one of us had been too, it was a case of retracing the majority of my steps but with friends rather than family. Through map and memory, we managed to navigate Rome's winding intricate network of millennia old roads and pathways with relative ease - taking in all the major sites at a leisurely pace.
But this is as far as I write for one blog only. Oli has kindly taken over my blogging duty for Rome and the differences between a Science and Arts students writing is glaring...  If I had it my way he'd be writing the rest too!

For me, arriving in Rome was more a 'Trial by sweaty Italian' rather than one of fire, but pulling into the Termini stop and seeing two familiar faces made this experience much more soothing. It was, however, a hectic experience. One quickly learns that the etiquette of the Roman roads is more of a dog-eat-dog inclination, or perhaps more aptly 'Bus-eat-car-eat-moped-eat-pedestrian'. Crossing a semi-busy road was somewhat of an achievement, one that was regularly rewarded with a coffee, some form of pastry or delicious gelato, whilst the thrill of dodging an on-coming bus added greatly to this sense of accomplishment.

Pantheon; Rome's oldest church

The sights of Rome almost speak for themselves: the grandiose, and aptly named, Colosseum, the surprisingly vast yet intricate Vatican, and the superstitious beauty of the Trevi Fountain. The most astounding aspect of Rome was the somewhat contradictory nature of having vast amount of hidden gems. Around every corner and up each set of marble stairs there would be a decadent church, monastery, cafe, building, sculpture, obelisk, fountain and the like. 

Italy's most modern 'old' monument

Discovering these treasures gave Rome a greater element of surprise and etched these 'new' (yet vastly old) places into our collective memory, providing us with some of the most memorable moments of our trip; such as the almost gory sounding church-on-a-church-on-a-church that was the Basilica di San Clemente. Seeing such well known pieces of art and paintings also made this Roman adventure even more memorable. Seeing first hand the work of Raphael and his School of Athens or a genuine Da Vinci enabled each of us three to tick some goals off of our life lists.

Besides the actual experience of attending these galleries and churches, the main pastime we undertook was the necessary mode of transport that any aspiring young Ranulph Fiennes must do, walking. Rome is quite noticeably small compared to other cities which gave us the gusto to say that we could conquer her length and breadth. And to a degree we did, as we would walk some 7 hours per day until our feet had literally bled. It was only then that we would be defeated by the narrow, winding roads of this ancient religious city.

But take this with a pinch of salt, we took our fair share of rest stops; sitting on the steps of a newly discovered basilica, iced teas at hand, drinking in the beauty that Rome offered so readily. It was here where I have some of my fondest memories of the trip as they gave us time to talk, reflect upon what we'd seen, share even more stories and plan the remainder of the day (often trying to find a course of action that saved our feet from even more agony). Of course we could also do our fair share of people watching, trying to decipher the accents of many other site see'ers (many of which turned out to be Australian) and observing the near misses that many a moped would encounter in front of our eyes. 

Fozzy bear is hiding somewhere in there

Perhaps my favourite comedy moment of the entire trip was the stalking of a man and his family around the ancient Colosseum who sounded remarkably like Fozzy Bear from the Muppets; a short reprieve from the osmotic effect of soaking up some of the worlds greatest culture. (If you're unfamiliar with Fozzy, imagine a man talking like this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P6ds11QzWA) 


The coffee was incredible, the wine was cheap and our accommodation was a community of like-minded, sweaty people. Apart from Key gaining 20 stone in the space of 30 seconds and managing to break his steel framed bead, the Rastafarian's talking in their booming voices at 1 o'clock or eating some local salami that smelled like warm prawns, the accommodation was amazing. Our tent was quaint, the facilities were clean and the football was on a flatscreen television outside, what more could three students ask for?

When in Rome... they form a 90's boy band

We met some friends in the last few days but they became fleeting acquaintances where names were rarely exchanged and contact information was never mentioned. But there were always a few laughs to be had and stories to be swapped of home, Rome and the world.
The goodbye between myself and Key/Tom was emotional as it brought back our earlier departure from university life. Yet their adventure was nearing it's rotund middle section whilst life back home was grasping at my proverbial cuff. I saw them off on their adventure to Istanbul before waiting for 5 hours for my flight, LOOOOOOONG!

Just a quick update on our progress in 'real time'... We've spent the last couple of days in Istanbul and are heading up to Bucharest tomorrow evening (via a 21 hour train journey!). Keep checking the blog for Istanbul... it should be a good one!