All roads lead to Rome, DO THEY?

Rome ended the same as it started, with a 600 meter walk between our accommodation and the St. Peter train station.  Much harder journey on the way out as half of it is up a steep hill, bad enough when walking freely, try it dragging 20kg's of suitcase and a 10kg backpack.  We were both sucking hard at the top of the last stair onto the railway platform, thankfully Jo had the good sense to wait to see which platform we required first, instead of heading off like a bull at a gate, like some people do.
Our visit to Rome was a blast, we had a ball, which I am really happy about as I had heard so many conflicting stories as to what Rome is like, whilst it is a big city, I did not feel like I was in the city at all, maybe due to where we stayed, I am not sure, all I know is we'd have liked a little more time here than we had.  We visited the usual tourist sites, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Spanish Steps, Nouava Piazza, the Colosseum and my favorite the Roman Forum, the ancient city of Rome, we spent the best part of a day here scouring every square inch of the place, until Jo succumbed to tiredness and asked if we could leave, i was ready to keep going on, fascinated by it all.

We had some great food here too, our first night at a little place around the corner from the apartment, "Vongole e Farina", amazing food, wine and such friendly people, it was full of local residents, no tourists here, we left vowing to be back.  We did go back a couple of nights later and as it had been a warm, fine day, they had moved all the tables and chairs out onto the sidewalk, it was beautiful.  The only sad thing being the waiter whom had paid us so much attention and was so nice the first night, totally ignored us, we did not know why and can only assume we did not tip him enough, whatever, it was his problem not ours, we enjoyed our meal and the other staff anyway.

The journey to Rome from Sicily was our only internal flight within Italy, and it was such a pain in the arse, it is so much easier and more pleasant travelling by train, and by the time you travel to the airport, line up to check in, line up to go through security, line up to board, fly, get off the plane, wait for luggage, wait for a train and then get from the airport to your destination, you can actually get there quicker by train, we have to fly again from France to Spain, not looking forwrd to that day, such a waste of time, we love the trains.

As we were getting off the plane in Rome, I found I had been sitting on a USB drive, I put it in my pocket thinking it was mine as I have one the same.  Whilst waiting for our baggage I showed it to Jo and said I did not know how I came to be sitting on it, she asked if it was indeed mine, as the guy next to her had been trying to find something before he got off.  I started scanning the faces as they walked past me and finally I recognised him coming along.  I stopped him and asked if he had sat next to Jo, he could not understand me and looked a bit confused, then I showed him the USB drive and his face lit up like Christmas, he was so excited and relieved he was thanking me over and over, then asked "what is your name",  "where are you from" smiling from ear to ear he said "Jack from Australia" shaking his head, he thanked me again and walked off looking a lot lighter and brighter than when he approached.

A group of about 6 or 7 girls just got on the train, they look to be 16 to 17 and they have 3 or 4 younger kids with them, they are sitting around chatting away a hundred miles an hour, all seeming to talk at once, as the Italians do, laughing and joking, the younger ones pipe up every now and then to have a say, we are heading toward the seaside and they are carrying beach bags, so not hard to work out why their mood is so festive.  As I write I can see the sea now and marinas full of beautiful boats, Civitavecchia, we will be back here in 9 days on a cruise ship, as our last port of call.

Jo is getting annoyed as we travel along toward Genoa, every now and then there is a field full of sun flowers, they are coming to quickly for her to get a photo, they look stunning, all facing the sun and standing straight and tall.  There are also red poppies all along the tracks, we first noticed this in France on our way to Milan and they have been there on every train journey we have taken.

We continued having problems with buses in Rome, more so because of our lack of understanding as to where to get on and off, there was one journey though we are not likely to forget in a hurry.  We had been into the city to see the Trevi Fountain and had just worked out which bus we needed, the 916, when a number 98 bus came along, I told Jo to hop on quickly and we were off, Jo was a bit concerned as to whether we had taken the right bus, but I explained that at the stop near the apartment there is a big board with all the bus route numbers and at that stop the number 98 is right there amongst them.

We were on this number 98 for the next hour, getting further and further away from Rome, so far away in fact, there were fields full of horses and alongside them, row after row of big round hay bails, we had definitely taken the wrong bus and my name was MUD.  Jo would not look at me let alone talk to me, she sat there with tight lips, I was trying so hard not to laugh and mumbled "I think we are lost!".  When the bus finally came to a stop at the terminus, out in the middle of nowhere, I went up to talk to the driver, she just about had a heart attack, as she did not realise we were still on the bus.  We were to learn that the 98 bus on the weekend traveled a different route to the mid week 98 bus, she told us we'd have to get off at a certain point on the way back toward Rome and then said arrivederci, as she had completed her shift, telling us another driver would come soon.

We sat on the empty bus, looking at each other every now and then, it was hot, there was no AC as the bus motor was off, the area we were in reminded me of both Armadale and Bentley in WA, Armadale as we seemed to be so remote and Bentley as there where lots of blocks of flats we past, that looked like Brownleigh Towers, nice neighborhood!   As promised 5 or 10 minutes later a new driver arrived, it was only then I noticed the original driver had actually waited for him to arrive, so she could tell him of our plight, as the new driver did not speak any English, we were so grateful.  Close to an hour later, someone came from the front of the bus as requested by the driver, to tell us to get off at the next stop, we did and found ourselves back where we had started, Jo was NOT HAPPY JAN! Oh look, there is the 916!