Day 9

Travelling to Rome we stopped at a small town called San Guimento or something like that. Here Stags, Taz and I got lunch in a small cellar. Stags and I got a ham and cheese sandwich. The neat thing was the we got to see the man make it. He cracked the bun open because it was really hard, and sawed off some ham that was sitting out with out any refrigeration and sliced off some hard cheese which was also out. It was a very tough sandwich, but the atmosphere was great. We also got to use his bathroom which we thought he must also use, because It had a homely touch – not like the sort of public bathrooms that we had been used too – no automatic taps and black tiles on the floor and walls - very nice! After more ice cream from anther place there I paid some money to fill my drink bottle up from the public bathroom as I had forgot to do it in the nice one. And this was the only time that I didn’t drink the water. Not because it tasted bad, but because it tasted…. strongly. I’m not sure what of, it was kind of lemony, but it was meant to be pure water – if I had thought it was meant to be cordial, no probs, but as it was I tipped it out in Rome.
The next day in Rome the temperature was stifling and as a result we used the pool at the caravan park a fair bit despite its two euro fifty entry charge. When we arrived we had a tour of the city and had dinner that night where ever we pleased, I sat in a large square and had a nice pasta dish. The following day we lined up outside the Vatican city and ventured through it – it was really impressive, but very overwhelming. There are only so many works of art that have taken tens or hundreds of years to make that you can be impressed by. Saying that, despite being one of the last things that I saw there, Michelangelo’s al fresco in the Sistine chapel was truly something to behold. After a ride on a very long bendy bus to the centre of town we had our guided tour of the really old ruins. It was soooo hot by then and by the first archway our group had dwindled somewhat. I even found myself dozing off on one of our stop offs under a tree – it was mega hot. After the tour ended at the Coliseum we caught a train to the Spanish steps where we said we would meet Christina and had an ice-cream. That night I went out with the group to the club at the campsite and had a really good time. What really made it for me was that they served free pasta at 12:00. It was quite spicy which I loved. It must work out well for them as it would stop people getting drunk as fast, and it would make them buy drinks to try and stop the burning. I danced like a whirling dervish that night until they started playing wicky wicky wah wah rap music. Then I went to bed and almost made the mistake of giving off the wrong sort of message to Caitlin who I danced with a bit that night. I put my arm around her shoulder briefly as we walked off – which lead to a general ‘walking with our arms around each other’ type thing. Caitlin was very nice and pleasant – but I didn’t feel for her at all in that way – and I think that she might have done so towards me.