In Transit - London and Rome

I can only be brief because Mum and I are about to catch a train down to the South, Lamezia, from Rome.

We’ve had a chockablock past few days, we arrived in London on Tuesday morning and spent the two days we were there mostly sightseeing and eating. We stayed in university accommodation near Victoria Station, Westminster, so Buckingham Palace and Big Ben were only ten minutes away by foot. We didn’t plan anything before we got there and did mostly everything by the minute. The first day we went to Soho and saw The Jersey Boys at Prince Edward theatre. That was lots of fun, and something Mum has wanted to go for ages (just ask my brothers). It was quite nice and sunny on Tuesday, but I had to keep reminding myself it was summer! The weather was like our Australian autumn. On Wednesday we really felt the London weather its famous for. The rain poured non-stop, but it didn’t dampen our spirits (pun intended). 

We caught the double-decker bus up to Soho again to see the National Portrait Gallery with my friend from film school, Louisa, who lives just out of London. After that we took refuge in a popular organic take-away food place called Pret a Manger (by popular I mean literally one on EVERY corner). We also found a café called “Nero” which Mum was ecstatic about (as it is her last name) and so I took a photo of her in front of it. We then realised there was a Nero Café on every corner as well. A bit overkill. Expecting summer I packed light – one cardigan was all I had so I got a bit sniffly and hence grumpy. The London people are interesting, to tell you the truth I saw more tourists rather than locals flooding the streets (again pun intended). They were also pretty grumpy as well, so I guess I blended in. They never said thank you or smiled much, but I’m not complaining, it’s just the culture of the city, like people from Tamworth might say about us Sydneysiders. Louisa was great to have because she kept us laughing and we didn’t feel so tourist-y. I surprisingly found the city quite easy to get around, and I reckon I could master it in a week or two – totally tooting my own horn, but its how I feel so there. The truth. It hurts.

a Big Black Bin

We landed in Rome yesterday morning and realised we had to leave today for Lamezia earlier to get to Confelnti by the early evening. So we had to change our ticket (which was not refundable or transferable!) and bought a new one. We also had tickets for the Vatican this morning that were also non-refundable or transferable – NOTHING IN ITALY IS REFUNDABLE OR TRANSFERABLE so don’t book anything unless your 200% certain!! Luckily this morning two German girls staying at the same place as us overheard that we had to forfeit our Vatican tickets and offered to buy them off us because they were heading there now!! They gave us 40 Euro for them. What are the chances??

We had a nice day with lunch near the Spanish Steps with Gina Polito, and then I caught up with my good friend Silvia and her Friend Gabriella. I used to go to school with Silvia in 2003 when I lived in Bassano Del Grappa in the Veneto region.

In Rome - Me, Silvia and Gabriella

So here we are in Roma Termini (train station). We missed our train to Lamezia at 10:45am because some idiot in a uniform gave us the wrong information and we ended up at the wrong platform. So luckily we were able to transfer our ticket (so I guess in some cases its possible hey!) and we are departing in about half an hour. So I gotta go!

Off to the South today… the real journey begins!

-Danielle.