Ciao, Roma

A quick note, because I forgot to mention it in my last post on Pompeii -- discovered yesterday that Sunday, the day we hiked up Vesuvius and toured Pompeii was actually the 1929th anniversary of the day Vesuvius buried Pompeii. Uncanny and completely unintentional but a hella cool story, nonetheless.

Anyway, onto current events:

The Vatican is seriously overwhelming.

I can't think of anything else to describe it.

The night before I went, I was at the hostel and not into getting up to trouble with the party crowd, so I hung out with the quiet stoners and chatted about life. About one or so, 2 girls from Ontario showed up, and one of them started talking to me about her trip to Rome, so far. We were talking about travelling, and she mentioned that she didn't know that she'd ever make it back to Rome with so many other places on her list.

I asked whether she had thrown her coin into the Trevi, and she gave me a blank look.

"Trevi?", she asked.

The newest Canadian guy to reside in the 'Canadian guy bed' (so named because it seems to always be occupied by fellow Canucks, obviously) gave her a look.

"The fountain?", he asked.

"You haven't been to the fountain yet? I've been here for half a day and I've already seen the fountain."

She looked a little embarrassed, and admitted she hadn't even heard of the Trevi Fountain.

And that is how we ended up walking across Rome to the Trevi fountain at 2 in the morning, and ending up lost until about 4.

It was, however, one of the best things I did in Rome. That fountain is awe-inspiring by day surrounded by hundreds of tourists. By night, it is the most romantic place on earth.

Needless to say, after getting lost in the eternal city until the wee hours, waking up at 7 for the Vatican took everything I had, but I made it, wandered around St. Peter's Basilica for a bit and then went into the square to make my way to the museum.

I passed a large group of people and a woman holding a sign that said "Free Tour" so I merged into the group and followed them for a much more informative tour of the Basilica and then into the museums, for a brief (2 hour) tour of the highlights of the museums and then into the Sistine Chapel.

I've been told by so many people that the Sistine underwhelmed them, and I can understand that if only because you spend several hours walking around seeing artifacts and exhibits that are amazing, beautiful and rare, and after the lavish display of the Catholic Church's vast riches, who cares about a ceiling, right?

I did, actually.

Michelangelo took 4 years out of his life, painting and fresco'd that ceiling by hand, and couldn't ever hold his head up correctly for the rest of his life.

I can appreciate that dedication, and I can appreciate how utterly magnificent that ceiling truly is.

Getting my funny tour guide's take on the secrets inside "The Last Judgement" and her information on the restoration work of the ceiling itself was fascinating, as well and really added to my experience.

We ended the tour by visiting the Vatican Grotto, and I was starving so I grabbed some souvenirs, some pizza and then made my way to the nearest Metro station.

I felt really ill and overheated by that point, but attributed it to having my first meal at 3 pm, so I found an internet cafe and by the time 1/2 an hour was up on my computer I was so ill I couldn't even sit up straight.

Went back to my hostel, had a cold shower and a lie down, and when I woke up with a headache, decided it was too ambitious to go celebrate my last night in Rome with Harriet, so prepared myself for a quiet night in.

It didn't really happen since all the people in my hostel were ready for night #5 of drunken debauchery and drinking card games, but Tito, the night guy, kicked them out at 11, and I had a nice chill glass of wine with a couple for Australia and went to bed so I could get up early this morning.

Caught my train just before 9 to Bari, the port where I will be crossing over to Greece. I will miss Rome, but I didn't have the love affair with it that I did Florence. Rome is just a very fun city.

Got off the train at Foggia for a stretch to go grab some food from a vending machine, but since they were all broken, I sucked it up and went to the lone fast food place in the small station -- McDonalds.

Ordered a Big Mac, which seemed to take FOREVER, almost missed the train (had one minute to spare and got on the wrong carriage just so I was on the train) and then on the train, discovered I was missing my pass and ticket.

Hyperventilated while frantically digging through all my luggage, while the nice conductor patiently waited and the 2 sweet Italian guys helped me look all through the carriage for it. One of them finally located it in the book I was reading, so crisis averted. My need for a cigarette was pretty strong though.

Damn stress.

In any case, I made it to Bari in one piece and am currently enroute to the Ferryport to reserve my seat for tonight at 8pm. I should be in Patras, Greece by afternoon tomorrow and if not, I'm at the bottom of the Adriatic.

If that should happen, burn the wooden box in my room without opening it and split my books and DVDs amongst yourselves.

At best, here's to hoping I don't get too seasick.

Cheers!