Days 4 & 5

During the day on Friday Katherine and I went to a park in Palasport (suburb in Rome) to just hang out and walk around. We had a bit of a picnic - playing cards and chatting when  we noticed a huge difference between the parks in Australia to Rome: the enormous amount of PDA (Public displays of Affection). It was truly ridiculous at the amount of couples in the park rolling inappropriately around on picnic rugs. At any one stage there was at least 5 couples in a 200m radius from us ranging in age from 15 year to 80.

Our last night in Rome was a bit of a let down, we were supposed to go out dancing (to the Gay Village) on Friday night but Alfredo and his friends (who are all on their final exams for high school) decided they were too tired after taking us to the pub the night before and so couldn’t take us out. Needless to say, Katherine and I were very disappointed. Instead, as good Australians do (says Katherine) we found a pack of cards and taught Ivano how to play KOB (King of Beers ha) and made fruit cocktails, so the evening ended up being a lot of fun.

The Saturday morning wake up was cruel…. We had to be at the airport at 6:30am. We used some fancy electronic check in and when we went to drop off our baggage, we discovered that our small (underweight) backpacks are in fact, according to the Italians, over sized. So after trekking it around the airport, being man handled by security.. we eventually managed to get on our delayed flight to Athens. Once off the flight we then realised flight, that this was our 4^th country and time zone in less than seven days.

It is not only the Italian airport with non-existent customs; Athens airport had not only no customs but it has no immigration (where you get your passport stamped). We collected our baggage and walked straight out of the airport! We caught a train from the airport to some station in the middle of Athens… (where we thought we were supposed to be) and I decided that it was a lot like the dodge end of China town but they weren’t Chinese. Truth be told, it was rather scary…. We got chatted up by the police men who we asked for directions and whistled and ogled at by creepy local (not greek) men. After being completely lost as a consequence to the directions of hotel that DOES NOT EXIST, we found a nice hotel who’s receptionist/person told us where to go and called us a taxi.

Once we finally arrived at the hotel (President Hotel… if anyone wants to check it out) we discovered that we are terribly impeded in looking up world events.. from when we originally wanted to book Paris during the Tour de France and was wondering why it was all so expensive.. to wonder why Athens was so crowded to then learn that the Special 2011 World Olympics are being held in Athens…… with the opening ceremony TONIGHT. ‘

Minus all the faults during the morning, we ended up lying by the pool with a fabulous view of not only Athens but lovely attractive males, starting up our summer tans. An interesting start to Greece.

Andia

Cait and Katherine

Days 2 & 3

Tuesday 

Right, so Tuesday ended up with Katherine and I chilling in a park and walking around a nice area of Roma for about 3 hours. and then eating dinner at Alfredo's house with his family which was nice. The dad is the only one who doesn't speak english but through loads of hand gestures and other people translating we can understand what each other is saying. I have noticed that since Tuesday my italian is definitely improving (thank goodness!). I can actually understand a lot of what is going on around me and I can now reply which is nice. 

Wednesday

Mine and Katherine's Route around Rome

Wednesday was our biggest day in Rome. Katherine and I basically did all the tourist destinations in one day! We started at the Colosseum and then walked around the Circo Massimo, which used to be a horse racing track. Katherine and I then got really lost and after walking up a huge hill we got a brilliant view of ancient Rome. 

We then walked through through various Piazza's and down the main road of Rome "Via del Corso" before finishing in a HUGE park for lunch. After lunch we went to the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, La bocca di Verita (Mouth of Truth), we stopped for gelato near the Pantheon and went to more Piazzas. Rome is a combination of old buildings with Modern insides. 

The Roman traffic is actually insane. I have never been so nervous in a car ever. They have no regard for road rules - parking where ever they want, over taking on busy roads, speeding at ridiculous speeds and the beeping and swearing is terribly common haha and honestly, every 10 minutes you hear an ambulance weaving thoughout the various cars on the streets. As well, All the cars are tiny. Like our Honda Jazz seems big compared to their mini cars and every second vehicle is a motor bike. 

We eventually got home at about 6pm after walking around for nearly 7 hours in 40 degree heat. As you can imagine I am now very sun burnt haha.

Thursday

Today was more of a chilled day after Wednesday. Katherine and I hung out at Alfredo's house fort he majority of the day. Alfredo and Ivano had maths exams so we just played cards, booked more accommodation and watched a wedding in the church next door. 

Last night we then went out to a pub with Alfredo and his friends. It was terribly amusing watching them show off. It reminded me of when a 5 year old shows off for older girls by making fun of each other - It had Katherine and me in hysterics . When we were chatting between the two of us... we realised that no one could actually understand us because we'd either speak too quickly or speak in a mixture of aussie colloqualisms that no one else bar us could understand. 

There is a huge fashion difference between the italian girls and us. With us in our dresses last night (casual but smart haha) we stood out like two sore thumbs before we even opened our mouths. Was terribly amusing. Everyone else was in short shorts and tight t-shirts and sneakers. 

The weather is amazing. It is between 25 and 40 degrees throughout the day. When we went out at about 9:30 it was still sunny and it was still 28 degrees!!

So I suppose that is all that has been happening... Today is our last day in Rome and tonight Katherine and I are going out with Alfredo and his friends again to "go dancing" as they say, which should be a lot of fun. 

Tomorrow morning we have to be at the airport at 6:40am to fly to Athens tomorrow. I shall update later!

A domani, 

Cait 

 

Flight - Day 1

So, it's 10:34pm and I have been up for approximately 21 hours (probably more), absolutely exhausted but I thought I should let people know that I have landed safely and what I got up to today. 


The first flight was about 8 hours long and it was unbelievably boring. We got stuck behind a Lebanese family who seemed to know half of the entire flight and near an Indian family who knew the other half! The stop over was amazingly tedious. Both Katherine and I were in dire need of a sleep and there was nothing really to do in the airport. So we basically sat there for 3 hours. The second flight from Kuala Lumpur was actually pretty good - we sat in a row with just the two of us and the people around us were lovely. We slept for the majority of the flight (well... Katherine did....) and tried to entertain ourselves.

View out the plane window as we were landing!

Ivano and Alfredo picked us up from the airport (Katherine went to Alfredo's) at about 7am. At about 11 Katherine came over to Ivano's and we started planning what we were going to do in Rome (from going out to visiting the Colosseum). Lunch was hilarious. There was so much food both Katherine and I were exploding.


After lunch I bought a simcard (unsure about number yet) and then we chilled in a CBD kinda area. It was lovely..... I'm exhausted and falling asleep so I shall continue this another day!


xx Cait

Just a test one

Just so I can see how this thing works and so it doesn't shut down :)