Date: Wed, 28 Dec 2005 12:18:12 -0800 (PST)
Subject: ROMA!!!
It feels good to be back in a city that I'm not only somewhat familiar with but
also one of my favorite cities in the world! :-) How I got here:
First I was born. Then one day I fell asleep while walking home from school.
Then ... oh wait, never mind all that. Skip forward a few years....
Last night I woke up only once at 2:12 AM, and went back to sleep to wake up
again at 7am, so I think my jet lag is finally gone now! :D About time too,
since more than half of my trip is already over!
I drove back from Bari to Napoli through some fairly uninteresting scenery. So
to pass the time I decided to take a bunch of pictures of ... road signs. Not
much more to say about that.
When I got to Napoli, I drove straight to the airport to return my rental car,
and I have to say here that the signs for rental car return at this airport are
among the best in Europe -- There was no time when I was under any doubt about
where to go! Can't say the same for Zurich, Frankfurt, and London airports.
Hopped on a bus to Napoli Centrale train station. When I got off, it took me a
while to find the damn station! Seriously.... the bus stop is way out somewhere
in that piazza, and every single building there looks identical, with no
building even remotely resembling the entrance to the station! Well, its not
DIFFICULT to find the station, but I did have to walk all the way round the
piazza to get there. If I had turned the other way from the bus, I would have
been there in 5 minutes.
It was about noon by now and my scheduled departure was 5:30pm. After a quick
bite to eat at an unnamed american fast food chain restaurant, I bought a
reservation for another earlier train to the nation's capital. A quick 2 hour
ride later, and here I am in ROMA!!!
I'm staying within a 3-minute walk of the Termini station, and this time, the
view from my window is... the building next door. Had a NICE dinner at a local
restaurant inside Termini then came back to the room at 7.
Well, first place I could think of going to in Rome is the most dramatic spot I
remembered from my last trip..
(drum roll please)
THE COLOSSEO!
I remember my second view ever of it: walking up the steps from the metro
station, and it suddenly coming into sight as you exit the station. There it
is.... ONE HUGE CHUNK OF STONE WITH HOLES! Ok, it's much more than just that...
but what a view!!! And at night, with all the lights on, I think after the
Eiffel Tower it is the BEST night view of any monument in all of Europe!!! Just
fantastic! I took 7 pictures there, 4 good ones, and I'll be taking many more
over the next 3 nights that I'm in the Eternal City...
Until then, I think I'm going to go roam around Roma...
Bene, arrivederci.
View from my room in Bari:
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Drive from Bari to Napoli:
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Roma:
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