David Kellam

I suppose given that I have been home for a week now, I should stop procrastinating and finish this series of entries. Well, here goes!

After the idyllic lakeside environment of Blevio and our pit stop in Como, we trained to Bologna. We had an hour to look around the town before returning briefly to our accommodation to have a shower and get changed, then head back into town for our concert. After half an hour of mumbling how utterly stupid this plan was, and wondering what we could possibly see in Bologna in less than an hour, we headed in a random direction in search of coffee, and coffee we found. Specifically, caffee coretto. John, Kate and Martin ordered three such concoctions, blaming their inability to speak the language on the fact that it came ‘con Grappa’. Well, the complaints instantly stopped and a state of lesser Nirvanadom was reached. We continued on and found a delectable gelati haunt, wherein the raspberry yoghurt sent us into a similar state of bliss. Hmmm…. life turned from being crap to awesome in a matter of 15 minutes. Go Italy

As we returned for our Statzione rendezvous, we encountered Liz who had come up with a ‘good idea’ for a new plan. It was precisely the one Jon had suggested hours ago, which had been shut down. We were to have an early dinner then go straight to the concert in the church and return to our accommodation afterwards. We returned to the restaurant next to the awesome yoghurt gelati, where we were allocated up to 25 Euros to spend each. Considering most dishes were 7-10, this was heaps :-). So we enjoyed a leisurely dinner, wherein many courses were ordered and ‘taxed’ appropriately.

After dinner, we headed to the church via bus, warmed up, and sang our last concert, letting the warm Italian air float around our gowns for the last time; enjoying the ‘freedom’.

We had been told that a feast awaited us afterwards. Thankfully, the congregation was also invited, so they managed to eat all the food we were too stuffed to possibly devour. And no, I don’t have an aversion to occasionally splitting infinitives or using ‘and’ to start a sentence with.

Learning that our accommodation was in Whoop-Whoop, we rushed into the street to find a Bottleshop to purchase the necessary supplies for a final night’s celebration. A dry evening just wouldn’t do! We found a bar that met our basic needs: the ability to speak English and the willingness to sell us bottles. All in all, I walked out with 8 bottles of local red, for about 7 people. Not too shabby.

Returning to the hostel was an experience best not described. The sheer… hatred of such appalling organisation cannot be expressed through words. Instead, I am going to do something uncharacteristic and shut up and not whinge. I can do this with the benefit of knowing what came afterwards: Rome was so utterly fabulous that it blew away this temporary blemish in my future desire to travel. Of course, talking to Rosie for an hour when I got to the hostel, and then sipping a few quiet glasses of red also helped

On two hours sleep, I went from complete sleep to on a bus in 15 minutes flat. Not a bad effort. I didn’t set my alarm properly, but thankfully (for once) a client rang me at the exact time I needed to get up! I’m glad I left my phone on at least! I even got a shower

We waited at the station for the train to Rome, which was 40 minutes late; not bad by Italian standards. It was quite a comfortable journey, with much 500 playing to be had. We arrived at Roma Termini, constantly checking our pockets to make sure our wallets were still there. In my case, I was almost willing someone to try and take it, as it had nothing but Euro coins and a Papua New Guinean 50 Kina note, which looks just like the old $50 Australian ones. I think that’s ‘cos we minted them though We split up to go to separate hotels (yes, read that again: HOTELS - woohoo!) in opposite directions from the station. We seemed to be split roughly according to age. Our group (the ‘oldies’) went with Douglas and headed to the Seiler Hotel half-way between the station and the Colosseum.

We ended up sitting on the steps for about half an hour, as Douglas negotiated with the receptionist, who had basically given up our rooms to higher-paying customers. So we were eventually sent off to a different hotel in taxis, with the promise of reimbursement by the hotel at the other end. Thankfully a staff member was outside as our taxi arrived, so she took care of the paying. Another car paid and presented the receipt to this new hotel for reimbursement. 15 minutes later, a lengthy argument ensued between Kate and the hotel over this event. The receptionist claiming she had paid 3 taxi’s, Kate stating that they had paid 1. You don’t win such arguments against Italians.

The rest of us feasted on divine gelati whilst Kate argued, then headed to a take-away pizza joint. Remove all images from your head, this was divine, and served in about 30 seconds flat. Why can’t they do that here?
We then headed to our third stop in 50 metres, for an espresso. A great start to the (now relatively late) afternoon! A quick stroll later and we were staring across a busy street at the Colosseum. Wow. Now I felt like I was ‘home’. Caecilius est in horto and all that. I can only imagine what Pompeii would feel like…

We skirted the Colosseum, disappointed to find it was closed for the afternoon. However, our primary destination was the forum, where Jon had promised to take us along the road less travelled. We wandered through the forum, attempting to get a sense of its former grandeur. It was quite different to what I expected. I guess the Rome I know is 2,000 years old, so part of me expected to see white cloth and purple sash amidst a crowd of Praetorians. Still, the sense of grandeur is not diminished. Blur your eyes and you can almost see the marble of the Senate and the bussle of everyday commerce come to life.

After immersing ourselves in the forum, we ventured to the Palatine; the location of Augustus’ imperial palace, now in ruins. This was a great move, as there were hardly any people up here. The ruins were extensive; like something out of Narnia or Return to Oz. We walked through the palace gardens and imagined ourselves Caesars. Bring out the egos!

Before returning to the hotel, we had a brief respite from our arduous journey through Imperial Rome at the edge of the palace gardens overlooking the Colosseum whilst receiving cricket updates via sms. Such a fine juxtaposition of worlds

We were all keen to experience true Italian dining that night. Nothing presented itself on the walk home, so we asked at Reception for the ‘non-touristy’ eating district. It became apparent that the helpful instructions we were then given were in fact for the most touristy bit. We decided the best thing to do was to thank her for her advice and send Kate down when she returned, to seek a different answer to the same question. (If the two were on speaking terms by now, that is). When Kate returned, she did so bearing news. She and Cindy had found a promising restaurant in their shopping travels and perhaps more importantly, remembered where it was! So a group of us headed into town and found the desired alley.

Leonie and I walked into the second restaurant in the street and requested a table for 9, which was promptly organised. The only trouble was, there were 7 empty seats. It seems the others had decided the first restaurant - the one I had eyed off on the way down - had captured their noses, so we hurriedly abandoned our table, hoping we could escape before the waiters noticed! I am so glad we did; the night that followed was nothing short of awesome.

We ordered with impunity, creating a culinary feast beyond our wildest dreams. Every single person was ecstatic for hours on end as we drank and ate our way into the night. The restaurant was all but ours. Price was no concern: it was not an expensive restaurant, so we ordered dishes without further thought. The vino di casa flowed, and it was good. Much merriment ensued. Quite simply, I have never enjoyed a better meal with a better group of people. To Kate, Jon, Cindy, Martin, Leonie, Lizzie, Lauren and Jim, I thank you all for being there to provide the most perfect end to any trip imaginable. Warm are my memories and fade they shall not.

It is here I leave this entry, suspended in the celestial state in which I left Rome and somehow drifted back through KL to Melbourne and a life more ordinary. All that remains now are fond memories, average photos, and 2.25L of limoncello. More than enough

Signing out,

David.

This entry was posted on Sunday, July 31st, 2005 at 12:17 am and is filed under Europe 2005. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.