Arriverderci Roma!

Pompeii

This morning we arrived at Pompeii early so we could be among the first groups in before the streets are so crowded you can’t see a thing! It was already getting quite hot so we were all pleased with the idea of an early start. Our local guide, with his little flag, took us around and told us about this famous city. It’s thought about two thousand people perished by the toxic fumes in 79 AD. Plaster casts were made from the shapes of some of their bodies left in the volcanic ash (not by lava as many of us thought), where you could see the full horror of their death. The Ampitheatre is one of Italy’s most intact and also it’s oldest (dating from 80 BC and is still used for performances today.

The citizens of Pompei had an advanced system of plumbing and roadwork, with lead pipes and narrow roads for chariot use just about everywhere (they even had stepping stones across the road if it was raining – or 1^st century speed humps).

The homes were only one story because the excavation could not preserve both stories of most homes. We saw a merchant’s villa complete with atrium, wall murals and beautiful mosaic floors.

Pompeii was situated on the coast and so it was quite a rich trading town. They had an arena for gladiator battles and a gymnasium and spa for other games.

It was quite eerie walking around the streets, like you were walking among the ghosts of ancient times.

A 2000 yr old "Take Away" Soup Kitchen!

Rome Again

Then we headed back to Rome feeling tired as we tried to absorb all we had seen over the last two weeks and also that our time together as a tour “family” was coming to an end. We were dropped off in the city to see the Spanish steps which had been rearranged from our first day because of the problems with President Bush’s visit and related protest rallies. We found out that these steps are where all the famous models pose when the new fashions come out each season so we walked down the steps a la famous model! Then our guide told us that only tourists call it the Spanish steps as the place is really called the Spanish Square because of the nearby Spanish Embassy! We decided not to do the next tour and go back to the hotel and put our feet up!

That night we went out to our final dinner to a restaurant called Papa Rex!

We had group and individual photos taken but we were missing two people from our tour family, as they had been pick pocketed in the afternoon and were busy organising new passports and flights home. It made us all feel upset. The owner and his daughter did their very best to make it a good night for us by entertaining us with their operatic singing.

Once again a lovely four course meal with unlimited local wines.

We sang along in the choruses of the songs we knew and put in a few requests for Arriverderci Roma!

Once back at the hotel we said our farewells as everyone was leaving at different times in the morning and some like us were planning a sleep in as we were staying on for an extra day. Our total tour was 3000 km.

Travestere

The next morning it was funny going down to breakfast and not seeing all the familiar faces. Then slowly a few of our group did arrive. Well what were we going to do on our own in Rome for a whole day without our Mumma? We decided to visit an area called Trastevere. This was supposed to be an artisan quarter of Rome so we were thinking maybe we would see some artwork, hear some music and find a lovely restaurant for lunch. We very bravely and cleverly caught the local train and walked and walked until we finally found it. Well the place was covered in graffiti, stank like a dog had visited every corner and it was hot! No artists, no music – nothing like we had imagined.

We found the Piazza of the church of Santa Maria and had a coffee in the café. This church was said to be the first official church of Rome and it was built on the site where a fountain of oil is said to have sprung up on the day of Christ’s birth. We went inside – at least it was cool and very pretty with many marble columns. We had lunch back at the same café and headed back to the hotel to cool off!

We met up with some of our tour group and decided to go out to a local restaurant for tea together. We had fun ordering a variety of dishes to taste and share (we are so experienced now).

The Final Leg Home

The next morning we repacked our suitcases and surprisingly managed to fit everything back in easily. We were driven to the airport by a local driver (140kph in a 100 zone) down the highway! Crazy Italian drivers! Our plane was due to leave at16.15 but was delayed for an hour due to a bad storm over Athens. At Dubai our plane was again delayed for an hour as it was late arriving from a previous destination. We finally landed in Melbourne on the 23rd June at 1.30 am only one hour late. We felt like kissing the ground of our beloved Aussie – there’s no place like home (even if it was freezing)! It was a total of 32 hours travelling time from our hotel in Rome to our wonderful home in Clifton Springs.

We had travelled a total of about 48,000 km and had been away for 71 days!!!

Praise the Lord for his faithfulness and protection on our journey of a lifetime!