Tuesday 4th October 2022
Rome. Sigh. After a very bumpy night I lay looking at my watch wondering if it had changed to local time of 7am. The internet signal stays down in the lobby and there's only 1 plug able to charge our phones so my phone was not next to my bed. The traffic seemed quiet and my watch had indeed reset to local time.
It seemed like my excitement spilled over into my dreams because the song 'I'm so excited..' had played in my head throughout. My heart sank on looking at my tour bus tickets and I thought I'd booked for Sunday past and then my bank started alerting me to the state of my Euros. In all my travels, I have of course had moments of anxiety but this morning it seemed worse knowing that my friend was relying on me and my bank card for the kitty. I sat quietly for a moment and took some deep breaths and managed to get both sorted.
We set off and my excitement came back and the sun was out. There was quite a walk to the bus stop but there's so much to see that I didn't mind. As we turned the one corner we saw the crowds thicken and realised it was a tour bus stop.
My bucket list of visiting Italy started as a young girl on a Monday afternoon.i know it was Monday because that's when I used to go to Cathecism. This particular time I got a lift with an Italian school friend and sat down to lunch. Ravioli touched my 6 year old palate and I was smitten. The noise, over the meal, the endless helping of this delicious parcel of strange stuff made me want to know more about Italy. I don't know why it's taken me 50 years to get here. And today was like I was tasting one pasta parcel all over again.
The bus tour took us down narrow roads, and weaved past buildings that have been there since .... well almost the day dot. Bus after bus filled with thousands of hungry sightseers filled up the streets and we were very grateful that it wasn't mid summer. I knew that there would be lots to see but wow... I'm glad we'd decided not to try do everything but be happy with our 'bites'.
I did ask Samantha if we could stop for the Vatican on the second round as the bus didn't really go anywhere near it. So we joined the crowds and walked across the river Tevere to go and see the building. It was stunning and I was amazed to see the very long queue to walk past the entrance. We didn't join that queue but headed back to the bus.
The day was perfect and my brain is filled with new ideas and thoughts, and I even did two skits. Here and Here.
Sigh. I'm in ravioli world...
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