Farewell Roma

Hello again,

I am going to try and blog after every destination but, depending on my access to internet it may not happen. Well, we are now in Catania (Sicily) after having spent 3days in Rome. I must say, I am not much of a big city girl so that may have tainted my opinion of Rome slightly but it was not my favourite destination so far. We loved the sights, especially the ruins, the Colosseum, and Vatican city but, the big city chaos was a bit too crazy.

We arrived in Rome around 9pm on Sunday night and considering we were tired and it was late we went around the corner

On our 1st full day we set off for the Colosseum, Pantheon and the Roman ruins. The weather has been HOT here so it was tough waiting in the long lines but well worth it. April is turning into an old Italian lady wiping her face with a hanky all the time! We especially enjoyed the Roman Forum...very cool! At the end of a long day of sightseeing and walking we came upon a fountain that others were soaking their feet in and decided we would join in. What a much-needed reprieve for our feet!

Our second day was spent the day at Vatican city and were blown away by the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica...too much for words. We had been feeling a bit overwhelmed by the big city and with the pace we had been keeping so we decide to slow it down and watched a movie at the hostel that night. We decided that we are trying to fit too much into each day and we are now just going to see what we want to see as opposed to what we think we should be seeing. So far that is really working out for us as we spent all of today at a beach in Taoromina snorkeling and sunbathing. It was absolutely beautiful but I will save that for my next post.

On our last day in Rome we had a sleep in and then did some shopping and saw the Spanish steps. It was a very nice, relaxing day.

We departed Rome around 9pm on Wednesday night however, as is my new way of being, arrived a couple hours early to the train station where an old homeless lady tried to hit me with her bag. I was paralyzed with fear. April finds the story rather hilarious however, I am pretty sure I saw that woman's face in my dreams last night. April had gone to get some juice from a store in the train station while I sat and watched over our bags. I was just sitting there minding my own business when I (yes, here is my error) looked up and made eye contact with this woman. She maintained the eye contact (meanwhile I was paralyzed with fear) and walked in my direction but sort of as if she wasn't really walking toward me just leaning her body in my direction, if you can picture it. Then she kind of lunged and swung her plastic bag (probably with garbage in it from the smell) and thank goodness, missed my head by inches. April returned momentarily and I recounted the story and she laughed...if it had been her...she'd have been crying!

Anywhoo, the train ride from Rome to Catania was extremely hilarious. We were in an old-school train where there are 6 people crammed into a little compartment 3 seats facing 3 seats. We were with an older (50's) couple (Antonio who liked to be called Nino and his wife whoàs name escapes me at the moment), a lady in her late 30's (Carmen) and a younger fellow (Alfredo who is in his late 20's, maybe 30). None of them spoke any english but Carmen knew a very little bit of french and we had such a good time timing to have conversation. They were so proud of us whenever we could piece together some Italian sentences. It was a riot. I am sure that in my week of being in Italy, I have spoken way more Italian than I ever did German in Berlin. By about 1am we were all pretty tired and somehow we had, all 6 of us, folded down our chairs so they met eachother in the middle and made a large bed and were all cozied up together. It was so funny. April and I kept looking at eachother and breaking out into giggles. We are pretty sure that Carmen and Alfredo were having a rather cozy looking spoon cuddle. haha. Nobody got very much sleep though so by the time we arrived in Catania at 10am on Thursday (2 hours late...'Island time' they say) we were ready for a nap. We found our hostel with the help of some friendly locals who knew zero English but, somehow knew 'Ottawa, Canadese Capitale' said in a very thick Italian accent. The hostel is really great and is right next to the very large local market. Very convenient however, it smells like fish here all the time...

We are off to climb Mt Etna tomorrow (yes, we are climbing an active Volcano!!) and then off to swim in some gorges which we are super excited about. I will try and post some pictures of Venice and Rome and maybe Catania tomorrow night.

Goodnight and I am sending my love.

I miss you and can't wait to see you all soon.

Much love,
Jenn(ifer)