Rome 2–Without Kelly

The following takes place on Days 216-219, July 1-4, 2011

The morning of Canada Day I joined Kelly on her trek to the train station to catch the express train to the Rome International Airport. It was a bit bittersweet to see her go. I think she did mention that she was ready to head home and back to work. We got to the train station and sprinted over the moving walkways to the far end of the station where her train was waiting. With a quick hug goodbye she bounded up the steps and onto the train.

I was alone once again.

Considering it was Canada Day back home I thought I should at least head out and do something very Canadian. But when I got back to the campground and moved from the cabin to the dorm room, I decided against doing anything too crazy. I threw on my Canadian shirt and stuck my Canadian flag into my shoulder bag and spent the day at the hostel campground just chilling with a few Canadians I ended up running into.

But never fear. Beer was consumed that night!

The next few days alone was an interesting experience after having spent nearly three weeks with someone else. Having seen the main sites of Rome already, I was free to wander. What better way to wander around Rome than by grabbing geocaches? God I’m a geek.

But I don’t care! I got a really long(6 hour) walk out of it and covered about 10 kilometers total as I wandered along a route through the city. I got to see some pretty interesting sites along the way. Rome is filled with a ton of things that tend to get overshadowed by the larger tourist items. Beautiful fountains are everywhere in the city pouring out water straight from a stream in the mountain. The water is super cold and super clean and safe to drink. One should never forget to carry a water bottle with them at all times to keep refilling at the different fountains.

I stopped at one church where a large round statue is held with the face of a Titan on it. Legend has it that if you stick your hand in the titan’s mouth, you’ll lose it if you’re a liar. It’s become a great little tourist draw. The church itself isn’t all that spectacular but the line runs down the street with people braving the titan’s mouth. I still have both my hands so I guess I’m not a liar. Yay!

I also got to wander around the large War Memorial that Kelly and I only managed to see from the bus. It’s a beautiful monument. Huge, white marble. Extremely detailed statues. Definitely a worthwhile visit.

Day 2’s Roman geocaching excursion started at Vatican City and wound its way down the Vatican Wall to the castle used as an escape route for the Pope. From there I crossed the river and meandered through the streets, eventually making my way to a large open park in the south western portion of the city with an amazing view of St.Peter’s Cathedral.

In the end I found I quite enjoyed Rome. Though Italy as a whole completely destroyed my budget. It’s like one of those high priced prostitutes. You give it/her a ton of money for a short amount of time of fun, and then she runs off to entertain the next batch of clients. But no matter how much I was starting to like Italy, I couldn’t wait to leave. So, on Independence Day, I boarded a train to Ancona, Italy where I grabbed an early evening ferry bound for Croatia.

And cheaper travel.