Holiday in Rome, Naples and Bologna

Monday: Had lecture in the morning and left Olivia in a cafe with her own reading. After lecture we found each other and went around Bologna. I took her to the town hall, and we found some random exhibitions on Korean stuff. We both can't remember what else we did. Sorry.

Tuesday: Again lecture in the morning. Different place to normal. It mentioned Gramsci which pleased Olivia alot when I told her afterwards. After that we basically just packed up and left, not leaving alot of time. Tickets were brought just in time and we got the train to Arezzo. Arezzo went to Perugia where we got off. We thought we were at a certain train station and had time to see things (an hour) but it turned out to be off the map and near nothing special. I brought phone credit but it had an error and I still have a dead phone. We sat about and walked back to the train station in enough time but we had still (randomly) managed to miss the train. Cue a chat with a nice man at the info desk and a few route that would mean us getting into Rome later than expected. During the wait I attempted to talk to call centre people in Italian, but it didn't work, very stressful. Train from Foligno to Rome got in easily. We then had a metro ride and found ourselves starving (not had lunch), so we shared a really really tasty kebab from a random joint.
We then got the bus to the campsite, which was easier to find than anticipated, and checked in with no hassle (despite them asking for warmings on the website if you got in after 8pm). Our tent was awesome, but we were tired so we got straight down to sleep. Luckily I had my sleeping bag as they only gave sheets and a blanket and I would have been v cold. The wash block was very clean and really modern.

Wednesday: Vatican day! We'd been up late the night before but managed to get to the vatican museum reasonably early. The queues were huge but they went through tolerably quickly. There was so much to see that we started (and ended up spending the whole morning) in the picture gallery. It started off with late medieval stuff which was about half of it, then moved on to later renaissance stuff. There was a room of tapestries, which very much underwhelmed me but overall I enjoyed it and took lots of pictures. At the end of that there was a room full of religous art, which was mostly medieval stuff again, so I loved it. I have tons and tons of photos from this morning. The pictures gave me loads of ideas for vike stuff hehe. Beautiful fabrics. After that we went to the outside balcony bit and ate lunch. Sausage and bread, and apple. It was enough to keep us going. We carried on all afternoon, keeping the main route through the museum. First was an exhibition of early christian masonary. It looked very much Roman, but with christian iconography and christian stories in it. One of them depicited Christ healing the sick. This lead on to the main courtyard, but it wasn't very impressive.
After that there was the roman gallery, filled with statues. It was pretty cool. Me and Olivia found the prefect male arse on a statue, we were pleased with it. Past that through some rooms painted all beautifully and again full of statues until we got to the octagonal court. We rested a while there, I looked in the fountain and there were coins from all over the world. The statues in the court were cool too. The next part had a bunch of mosaics in, and more statues. I think it was still part of the Roman stuff, but can't be sure (the statues, not the mosaics).
Next up was the egyptian exhibit, which was really cool. They had a mummy with sarcophagus, and all sorts of cool tomb stuff and lots of stone with heirogylphics on and pictures of gods. It was revision in a way! Then there was a random room with mesopotamian stuff in it, with written seals, they're pretty famous.
After that we went through the Etruscan exhibit, which was alot better than the one in the Bologna museum. Lots of interesting stuff and much richer objects. After that there was a random statue exhibit that didn't seem to have a theme, but it had an amusingly fat happy Roman lying on his seat eating. This part also had great views of Rome and some random later Etruscan Greekish stuff. We carried on towards the sistine chapel, going past a long room that had massive painted maps on the walls. They were regions of Italy, but we also found two of the whole of Italy and one of just Venice. Random. After that we went to the Raphael(not sure its him) appartments. Incredible ceiling paintings! Some of the rooms also had lovely tiles on the floor. Annoying amount of tour groups taking up alot of space and trying to get through small doors and hence taking up everyone time.
At the end of that, finally, there was a stairway up, with a decorated ceiling obviously, that lead to the sistine chapel. No pictures from there. Its a really tall room thats covered with paintings by differnt people. Swarming with people the whole time. Theres people who tell you to shut up but its never really quiet. They are good about people not sitting down and telling people not to photograph though. It takes a while to look carefully at every painting, Olivia and me decided that it would have been better to have binoculars. Overall, it was cool but we both thought it wasn't up to the hype lavished on it. Olivia and me seem to have very simialar tastes, though not exact.
By this time it was 7 and chucking out time so we walked over to St Peters square. Here we sat down for a bit of a rest before checking out the actual church. We decided it was hideously OTT, in particular a pink granite sculpture that was meant to be some kind of blanket. Urgh. Loos were used at this point, and then we scarpered off to find a meal. We had horrific tourist food, but it was cheap which is what matters. I still contend that Italians would have been horrified by it. I had spag bol, the bol was very wet and the meat poor quality; not to mention it being with spaggetti! Ultimate no no. After that we went home to bed.

Thursday: Roman day. Started off with the colluseum and spent the morning there. As well as the two levels they also had a decent exhibition. Life time wish completed. Its a great place. The underfloor area was maze-like and in the exhibition they showed an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys. It took so many people to organise. We saw all sorts of things they'd found, like game dice from where people played on the seats, and bones from food they'd eaten. It was great.
Lunch time we walked to the paletine and sat at the enterance to eat lunch. More sasuage and bread. Very dull. We started walking around, its a big place. Very well preserved. We saw some people clearing grass and wondered if they were going to start a dig but we concluded not. We went past some houses, and a museum with statues in.
The whole place was set within gardens, and there was a beautiful court surrounded by orange trees. I took a picture. At this point it started raining (the weather was really being random) but it was still fairly warm so we sat and chatted until it stopped. We took the walk down to the forum. It was huge!
Many different buildings in many differnt periods were there. Most of the ruins were roman, but there were other things that were better preserved. A big tall building was a copy of the senate house. It still had the original floor inside it (beauiful) and some amazing statues. We wandered around and then had more lunch stuff as dinner. After that it was time to go home after we'd taken a good look at the tomb of the unknown soilder and the "wedding cake" builing of which I still don't know the name. Lastly we took a last walk in the dark around the collusem all lit up.

Friday: Morning we started at the Spainish steps, walking up to see the views and going around the church at the top. Walking back down we went past all the designer shops in Rome. Found some amazing things, but also a lot of not very nice stuff. Alot of the leather bags were cool though. Very colourful in general, and some nice dresses. We stopped at some churches and I believe this is the point where we stopped in this French church and looked at the Caravaggio that Olivia got obsessed with. Onwards, past some really pretty streets until we got to the pathenon. Here we stopped to eat at the fountain and hence became two of many many tourists. We went in after eating, but it was quite full and although the dome was very impressive the rest of it wasn't particularly. Another church, very pretty in blue. After that we stopped at this art gallery which the guidebook recommended. Basically it belongs to a family that married into the papal family, and they were all massive art collectors. Their public rooms are hung to an authentic 18th centry plan and the audioguide is narrated by the family themselves. Even being not a massive art fan it was impressive. There was an early Caravaggio in there called rest on the flight to Egypt and it was amazing. Different to the picture in the church before that I hadn't been amaazed by. The angel in it was truely stunning. There was also a Titian there that I really liked. They had a statue of the pope Innocent the 10th there, which was meant to be the star of the gallery, but I didn't like it much other than the eyes, which were very well done. Worth going to see. After that we didn't have alot of time, but went to the Capolitine Museum in the last hour or so before it closed. Rather rushed, but still good. Many interesting statues, including the dying gaul and some interesting Roman/ other language exhibit.
We decided to go back past the colluseum but noticed that there were massive road blocks. Being curious we carried on and found tons of people. We decided to join in. I thought it would be the pope, but Olivia said that he would be at the vatican not here. Turns out she was wrong, so we decided to stay. The pope came out about 45 mins later and there was Good Friday service. Saw lots of nuns from all over the world but not that many monks. Some people had service booklets and one woman let me read it. It was done in Italian but with the lesson titles read in all different langages and the latin parts sung by the pope. We stayed for about half of it until we both got sore feet and decided to leave. The metro station next to the colluseum was shut so we walked down to the next one, it wasn't far. Got home, after a minor complication with buses.

Saturday: We had decided to have a relaxed day so we got up relatively late. We decided to take a walk up the tiber as they days entertainment and then get to Naples before dark. We only got out to central Rome at about 11 and had a quick look at the circus massimus on our way. Its huge! Mostly used for picnicers now but there was an area fenced off for digs at one end. We didn't stay too long as it was really hot in the sun. We arrived at the Tiber and got out lunch. Truely delicious bread and pesto and chocolate with a lovely tree lined pavement and a pretty river. Great times. We chose our route up, zig zaging across over the bridges to see things.
First bridge took us onto the smallest inhabited Island in the world- Isola Tibeia. Great place. The bridge onto it had been used in an Italian film I know so I was happy, and the other bridge was a Roman bridge that was the oldest in Rome. Pretty cool.
Next place we stopped at was a really pretty area with two churches we wanted to see. Both were shut, but we walked past pretty small streets with beautiful houses on (lots of pics). Stopped for a bit more food at the first church then carried on. Next church was on the other side of the big road that was alot more touristy. We carried on towards the church which was shut but still had brilliant mosaics on the outside. Ice cream was also had at this point, something with both really really needed. More walking as it was getting lateish to arrive in Naples in good time but we were having so much fun. We went past Castel St Angelo, which was imposing but cool. Quick metro run to termini and we were on the train to Naples, which didn't take that long (left luggage was very useful on this day).
Needless to say when we arrived in Naples it was dark. The piazza looked dodgy so we didn't spent much time, just found a hotel in the guidebook and started walking. We had gone about 2 mins, not even halfway along the piazza when we came up to this small part that had scaffolding on the road side and a street going off on the building side. At this point a guy was tugging at Olivias big bag and asking for money. I didn't think anything of it, its pretty normal here, so I sped up a bit as I don't like being begged at, but then I realised Olivia wasn't there and I stopped and turned round. She had stopped and she said "shit Phoebe, hes got a knife. I had no idea what to do. He was asking for her money and I told him that she didn't understand but he ignored me and went to her handbag which had her money and everything. I told her what he was asking for but I was really panicing. He found her money, took it and her camera. I was paralysed as I didn't know whether to stay and help her or to run away and get help from the bar that was about 10 metres away. At that point I he had come over to me and pulled at my bag but I was alot nearer the bar so I walked he let go and I ran to the bar calling at them to call the police. Olivia caught up with me (the man had left) and I told the bunch of people at the bar what had happened in very very broken and paniced Italian, messing up my words alot. They were just like "go to the police". Both of us didn't think that they would help, plus it was easter and the station would be very shut. Nothing Italian is open at easter, even police. We ran to the nearest hotel and I explained in very broken Italian. The receptionist also didn't care and told us to go to the police. He had no rooms but told us to try the hotel over the other side of the piazza. We had no choice so we ran over the piazza over roads and past cars to the other hotels. The first one we found was just as unhelpful but they did have a room. I had to pay unfront out of the very little money I had, which is not the way in Italy, they always ask for payment after. We got to the room and then started practical plans. We used alot of international phone calls and stayed up very late. We didn't get to bed until 1. Most of the time Olivia was on the phone and I was curled up on the bed petrified. Olivia was shaken up but was all smiley and fine on the phone (mostly). I just wanted a hug. When we went to bed there was loud car horns all night, which when your nerves are on edge always wake you up, and in general I was just petrified and the dark made it so much worse. We had discussed it and we realised that we couldn't have done anything to prevent it and basically we had done the best we could. I slept badly.

Sunday: Woke up still pretty scared, pretty tired and still just wanting to get back to Bologna. Wasn't going to happen though. We went out in the morning to go to a western union place as her dad had sent a load of money but that made me worry that we had to look after it so I was really twitchy the whole time. Also we went past a market with dodgy looking stalls and people selling stolen phones which just freaked me out more. We got back fine and then sorted out our bags for the day. We took out pretty much anything important and I felt alot better about it. When we went out again i'd pretty much got over the worrying and felt alot calmer. It really did feel like a different place in the day. We went around the streets in the historic quarter and saw tourists with £300+ SLR cameras around their necks and laughed. I had even left my camera in the hotel so I have no pictures of that day. We went past streets and streets full of people. The guidebook described it as "Dickensian" which I think is a brilliant way of putting it, but obviously its very Italian. Doors were open in the street into people's kitchens and we saw a room full of Middle aged men which I decided was a mafia meeting. It had awesome grafitti of the type that you only really get in poor areas where talented people have quashed ambition. All the streets had shrines on them, some in better taste than others, and there were interesting courtyards and alleyways everywhere.
After that we headed down towards a later part of the town that the guidebook said had impressed gentlemen on the Grand Tour in the 19th century. It was grand and interesting enough but it didn't stop the smell of piss that was everywhere in the city. We stopped by the main docks, and I was reminded of the Gomorrah book. We started back pretty early as we were both hungry and we wanted to be back in the hotel before it got dark. We stopped and got 3 pizzas just outside our piazza. One was for lunch the next day, the next two were for that night. While we were there I saw a poster for mayor (it seems its election time, there were many of this type for other people). It said "Gommorah? No thanks! Roberto Saviano for mayor" Saviano is the authour of the book I mentioned before. I was so pleased to see that poster :D We went back to the hotel and ate pizza greedily. We were both full and exhausted so spent the evening reading and lolling about on the bed. My pizza was veggie and Olivia's had been margerita. That night I still didn't sleep well, the dark brought back the scariness and there were still the bloody honks right outside the window.

Monday: Awesome day. Morning we got up and got the circular train thing to Herculaneum. They were having an Easter street parade so I got a picture of that. Herculaneum itself was amazing, truely amazing. So very very like walking in a real Roman town. Only pictures can really do it justice. Its also alot smaller, and hence alot more manageable than Pompeii. We saw everything. It was like viewing a house after the previous occupants had taken everything out. We ate our pizza for lunch before moving on and getting the train to Pompeii. Pompeii was good, just alot lot bigger! It was hard to take it all in, and indeed you can't really. We managed to catch the main sites, including the brothel which was v funny. A random guy took us round and he was in love with Olivia, it was a bit weird. We managed to get rid of him and spent the day going around. It lacked the intimacy of Herculaneum, but had alot more different buildings. We stayed until closing time, but not before we found an amazing view of the bay. I got a picture of it.
We went back to the hotel in the dark, but it was OK. On the way back with our bags we took a porter with us and we felt alot safer. Olivia managed to tip him very very smoothly. I hardly even noticed that she'd done it. We got a train but it was delayed so we waited and I got food. It was delayed again and the time was getting late (we had planned the train to go overnight and arrive in Bologna in the morning). We realised our plans would have to change. It got delyed again, and it got to midnight both of us having been on a cold platform for about 2 hours. Eventually a train came and we got on it, knowing we would have to change. We arrived at Salerno eventually but discovered that all the trains there were 2 and a half hours late as well. We were so pissed off and tried to sleep in the warmer waiting room but I couldn't. Olivia did but I read twilight. At half 2 in the morning a train arrived and we took it. We were just in seats and the headrest was too high for me to be comfortable leaning on it. I lent on the glass and got some sleep but woke up an hour or so later with a cricked neck. Basically I slept badly. Oliva looked uncomfortable but was apparantly OK. We went past Florence. Not much more sleep. We finally arrived at Bologna at about half past 10 in the morning feeling sweaty and disgusting in the clothes we'd had on for ages and went back to my flat. So concludes this entry! wow! Next one