Day 26 May 9th

Rome day 1.

So to the Eternal City! Well maybe.

As we arrived/were at/left /I began to wonder what Burlusconi had done to this once proud city. Leaving aside the main monuments it is awful. The streets are covered in graffiti and little seems to be done to clean it up. Stations, walls, everywhere is covered in the meaningless scribbles of juvenile Italy. Trains are in an awful state. The outsides of some are so graffiti covered it is impossible to see the original colours. Inside the carriages, windows are scarred by scribbling, carriage sides are written on and the general state is very poor.

Of course, the main tourist sites are quite reasonable and the police are to be seen in umbers. The tourist must not be discouraged from paying ore giving as much of our money as possible so that the fat cats can go on getting fatter.

So we left Bracciano on the train for Rome. It's a fantastic deal; €6 for a return ticket, plus all the metro and bus we wanted for one day. The journey to Rome is about 43 km and took about 60 minutes so we cannot complain….much.

First stop was the Coliseum and here the problems began because the queues were long; or at least that is what the tour people said. And they certainly looked long. So we took a tour and this gets you in without queuing. Now I must admit I was feeling a little jaded as I had not slept well, but the guide was, I think, not very good. She rattled away, making the occasional joke, but stood in the same place for 10 minutes, and then moved on to another place for another 10 minute stand still. It was tedious and she failed to take us to view the place from the better locations. I was not impressed. But the building is amazing. And massive.

After that a better guide who was much crisper and to the point and more interesting. He took us around the Forum. Not a lot to say really but it was enjoyable!

However, that had taken three hours so our next stop was the Trevi Fountain. Unable to fathom how or where the buses went, we walked and found the fountain almost lost as in a sea of bodies, almost as if every tourist in Rome had arrived at the same time. The Coliseum had been difficult as there had been so many tourists, not at all what we had expected but this different. All good humoured and noisy but cramped and with little room to sit and admire.

However, we decided we had had enough so and headed for home.

Bracciano town is on top of a hill and the campsite is at the bottom. In the morning we had a minibus lift to the station but in the evening it's a walk but downhill. One has to follow the map and, well, it should be easy. What can go wrong? Well, don't follow the map, get lost, take the wrong turning and end walking 2/3 km further!! Beer tasted good when we eventually made it!

Day 27 was a rest day, sorely needed and Day 28 was for Rome again and the Vatican. Except it wasn't. A bus, metro and train strike meant all plans were cancelled and postponed until Day 29, or Saturday. So our plan to drive to Lake Trasimeno and Multipulciano has been postponed by a day.