We arrived at our accommodation - Camping Roma - only to find we were camping....well how was I supposed to know that when I booked it! We got a 2 man permanent tent....that's it...no power, no toilet, seemingly no walls....it was very loud! The campsite was quite good though with a restaurant, pizzeria, supermarket, pool, washing machines etc all on site. It was also here that I came to love the Italians for something beside their pizza making abilities....every single one of them said my name right...first time!! We would all queue up & they would call out people's names & they would struggle with the easy ones...Rebecca, Sarah etc. They would get to my name though & instead of the usual Adriana, Arianna, Airiana etc I would get Ariana in that beautiful Italian lilt! I actually told the lady who checked us in that I loved the way she said my name & when Andrew went to check out she remembered cos she said "That's right, I remember Ariana...I said her name right!". Don't underestimate the joy at hearing your name said correctly having spent an entire lifetime having it pronounced wrong.......simple pleasures people!!
Ok...so you guessed it, we started with a walking tour, only difference was...this one wasn't free! Turns out nothing's free in Rome. Luckily for us there was a public bus stop outside the campsight & it was here that we had our first gypsy encounter. The bus was quite full so we were all standing & at one of the stops down the road Andrew was caught off balance for a minute. As he was regaining his balance a middle aged guy made his way between us, as if he was going to get off at the next stop. He had his back to Andrew & in about 3 seconds flat managed to slip his fingers into the cargo pocket on the leg of Andrew's shorts without him noticing....luckily I noticed & before I could give it another thought I shouted at him *insert suitable expletive* & smacked his hand away. He looked at me in slight shock for a second then reached into his own pocket & pulled out his own wallet as if to say "Look lady, that's what I was getting".....he also jumped off at the next stop without looking back & disappeared into the crowd! Quite a sobering experience as we had been warned about gypsy pickpockets...but to face it on day 1, on bus 1 & only about 10 minutes from home was very confronting!! Apparantly their other favourite tactic is to get you in a busy public square or something & throw a fake baby at you. Then while you go diving to save the baby little kids run up & pick your pockets.....well they are nothing if not original! Needless to say we were super aware after that!
Anyway, the walking tour went ahead without incident & we were introduced for the first time to some of Rome's big boys.....The Colloseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Pantheon, Mouth of Truth & of course our first, real, Italian gelati. This was to become a staple of our diet, often with many servings consumed in a single day! I have to admit that even with just this small taste of Rome, the Pantheon was proving to be an early favourite. I couldn't get enough of it. The way the light fell in a perfect sphere on the walls & floor was completely mesmorising. After a pizza dinner (NB still no photos at this point, hence officially still no pizza had been eaten), we retired to our tent.....& spent a lovely evening listening to 18 & 19 year old Contiki passengers drinking copious amounts of grog, screaming at the tops of their lungs & oversharing details of their holiday "romances"...all seemingly from inside the tent with us!! We have come to accept & embrace what old farts we really are!!
The next day was Wednesday. I share this because it is pertinent to the story...you see the Pope does his Popey public address on the balcony at St Peter's EVERY Wednesday....except when he's on holidays. We had been assured when we booked the Vatican City tour that he was back in town this week from Ibiza or wherever it is a Pope goes to kick back & it was with much excitment that we rocked up to the begin the tour on said Wednesday morning. The first thing the guide said was "Now of course you all know that The Pope is on holidays at the moment??"...well, of course we didn't know this & there was a very loud collective groan! Not least of all from Andrew who had been preparing to have his cricket club hat blessed....seems he is destined to remain a cricket tragic!! Anyway, the tour started & it actually ended up being the best walking tour we had done. The guide was amazing....the perfect balance between incredible historical knowledge & salacious stories & he kept us laughing for the full 6 hours that the tour ran for. The tour took us along the path the Pope would take should he need to escape & before we knew it we rounded the cormer & were confronted with our first view of St Peter's Basilica. A giant, shiny, white dome sticking up through the mess of terracotta roofs, the sun shining off the cross on the top. It really was breathtaking. We continued into the Vatican City & into the gardens & Vatican Museum. It is remarkable to think that within these stone walls is a country...complete with it's own university, law enforcement, postal system (more about that later) & currency. When it was time to enter the Museum, we first needed to queue up for the entrance tickets. Now, we had heard horror stories about Roman queues......picture thousands of tourists (many from countries who struggle with standard queueing procedures), standing in 35-plus degree heat...for up to 3 hours. Horrific! We were lucky & breezed straight up to the window & straight into the museum. This museum was not just impressive because of the sheer number of important religious artworks it contains but (for me) the amazing alfrescoes painted on every ceiling.
We walked through endless corridors & I ended up with a kink in my neck from looking up constantly. This was even before getting to the Sistine Chapel. I have to admit I was tickled by one scuplture in one of the courtyards.....yes, I was childish & giggled at all the staues who had had their willies chopped off during the reign of one particularly mental Emporer....but what got me more were the ones who someone had attempted to mend...not very well!! Very obvious scars left behind by a none too reputable plaster surgeon!
And so we made our way to the doors of the Sistine Chapel & it was here that we were warned about the Shoosh Police - yes, I believe that is their official title! When we entered the Chapel, the first thing we saw & heard were half a dozen grown men, in uniform going up to people, putting their fingers to their lips & SHHHHOOOSSSHHH-ing really loudly! It was hard not to laugh but I'm sure if we had we probably would have been arrested. The ceiling of the Sistine Chapel is amazing - that goes without saying - more because of the legend than just the artwork itself. Unfortunately it is in terrible disrepair, however it is still easy to see how beautiful it would have been when it was fresh & Michaelangelo unveiled it to the Emporer...even more amazing to think that he had never painted a frescoe before this one....now the most famous one in the world. It is very sad to think that it is not in great nick since the story goes that many years ago Kodak (the photographics company) donated many millions of dollars to restore the ceiling. I'm not sure if it was a one off deal or not but apparantly that is also why you are forbidden (also by the Shoosh Police) to take any photos at all inside the chapel.....not to preserve the religious significance of the site or any of those other reasons usually given at sights around the world....no instead it is because when Kodak "donated" the money they said that in return they would own the rights to the image & so would not allow anyone else to reproduce it in any form....if that's true it stinks really because the ceiling is faling down around everyone's ears & no-one seems to be being doing anything about it. I will admit that I did click off a few sneaky shots while the Shoosh Police were off shooshing elsewhere....well I nearly got away with it until I got greedy. Just as I went to step through the exit, I clicked one last time & whoops, busted...Shoosh Police about 2 feet from me...."NO PHOTO"....I just smiled sweetly & scurried off before he tried to take my camera or something!! Once outside I excitedly (& somewhat smugly) reviewed my shots....all crap!! Serves me right!
From the Chapel we ended our tour inside St Peter's Basilica. It is a pretty impressive building from the outside but what impressed me more was the inside. The way the light filtered in through the windows in the dome....similar to the way it beamed in at the Pantheon was just beautiful. It is such an enormous space too so we were really able to wander at our own pace without feeling like cattle at the sale yards. We spent about an hour wandering around including going down underground to visit some of the tombs of the Vatican's previous Popes. The newest being John Paul II, who's tomb is still watched over by armed guards who's main job seemed to be to shuffle the crowd along so that a bottleneck didn't form in front of it. Instead, should you wish to pay you're repects, you must step to the left & behind a barricade where you could kneel & pray to you're hearts content.By this stage though, we had been walking for nearly 7 hours & it was definitely time for gelati. It was in the Vatican that we discovered the best gelati....EVER!! Old Bridge Gelateria was a tiny, hole-in-the-wall, scruffy looking shop but it served the most amazing, fresh & cheap gelati we had ever tried.....(NB. it still remains on top of the list to this day...after many, many other shops had been sampled!!). I settled on my favourites here: Nutella, Morello Cherry & Limoncello with whipped cream on top......YUMMO!! Andrew would always have Mint, Stracciatella (white choc with dark choc pieces) & chocolate. Yes, again I had a religious experience with food....at least it was in a place of holy significance this time!!
The rest of our time in Rome was spent doing the usual stuff. We went back & revisited some of the sites we had whipped through on the tour. We also took in the Spanish steps (overrated...too many tourists (yeah, I know, ha ha!!), too many fake handbag salesmen & waaayyy too many gypsies), the Trevi Fountain (Beautiful!!) & the Colosseum lit up at night. I also managed to pick myself up some Roman sandals too......when in Rome!! Plus, we had bought Birkenstocks in Munich so I had to keep the cultural traditions going!!
On our last day in Rome, we went back into the Vatican City so that I could send a postcard from their post office. I walked in & chose a postcard from the stand. Joined another queue for the stamp & went across to a table to write it. Andrew got great delight in putting on the stamp & we went outside where he got photos of me posting it in the Vatican box! Very exciting! It wasn't until we were almost back to the campsite that night that I was horrified to realise I had not paid for the postcard. I was mortified....of all the places to steal something. All Andrew said was "You're definitely going to hell now!!".
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