Arriving in Rome

    Via Marianna Dionigi 43, Rome

Rome! What can I say that has not been said before.

I'm on the train to Paris today, Saturday 24th June, and so have a few hours to reflect on the last four days in that ancient city.

My first impressions when coming on a bus from the airport to the central station, the Roma Termini, were somewhat mixed. 

Splashes of colour from roadside Oleander bushes promised Mediterranean gardens; weedy public spaces and graffiti promised something else.

The images one sees of Rome, naturally enough, show only its ancient beauty but, like every city, it has its less salubrious side, so my introduction to Rome was not as heart-stopping as I would have liked.

From the station I made my way to the Sightseeing Bus and jumped aboard to travel to Stop 6 beside the River Tiber, near my accommodation.

As the bus proceeded along its well-worn route the Rome of photo, film and reputation started to appear. The graffiti receded and history came to life. The Colosseum appeared, the Circus Maximus site of Roman chariot races and used, so my head set says, during the filming of Ben-Hur. We passed the ruins of the site where Julius Caesar was killed and to the right, the Pantheon came into view. This is the Rome that I've come to see

I left the bus at Stop 6 and crossed the river at the Ponte Umberto following Google maps into a warren of narrow streets and tall buildings until I came to my accommodation address, a truly wonderful wooden door, two doors in fact, with large brass studs and handles, and a key-code pad. What? What key code?

I rang the number on the booking and discover that a What's App message has been sent while I was flying through the air yesterday telling me the key-code. Right, what is it please, as that message hasn't reached my new phone number.

I keyed in the code and the bottom half of one of the enormous doors swung open into a marble-floored hall that led to an ancient and tiny elevator, all polished wood, brass fittings and glass panels. At the third floor I opened the two interior doors of the lift followed by the outer mesh one and squeezed out sideways with my bags. A sign says to be sure to shut the doors or no one else will be able to call it.

Running beside and around the lift is an impressive marble staircase with landings on and between each floor. I wonder who once lived in this elegant old building with its stone walls and window shutters, its little (and now neglected) courtyard on the ground floor and its heavy wooden doors on each floor, one of which I pushed open with great relief and found the housekeeper/cleaner. She spoke enough English to give me my room key and mention that I needed to pay the city tax of twenty-eight Euros for four nights for myself and Jo who was due to arrive on the train from Ravenna later in the afternoon.

What a relief to be here after twenty-four hours of travel. I kicked off my shoes and collapsed onto a bed wondering: am I up for nine weeks of this? Maybe, we'll soon find out, I guess. 

The Next Adventure

In eleven days' time on the 19th June 2023, I'll be once more taking that tiresome, but none-the-less exciting, flight to the other side of the world. This time, instead of being the lone traveller, I'll meet my first-born in Rome, the Eternal City. By the time I arrive, she will have spent three weeks visiting Northern Italy's romantic cities immersed in the fabulous mosaics, architecture and cuisine of the region and will, hopefully, be an expert on all things Italian thus smoothing my introduction to this new (and slightly scary) world where my knowledge of the language extends no further than the first words of the Italian love song 'Arrivederci Roma', sung by everyone from Dean Martin to Mario Lanza. But, with the arrogance of the English-speaking world, I'm assuming that English will be a common currency and one can always resort to the help of Google translate.

Four short days in Rome—in which we will rush from one eye-popping piece of history to the next—will see us boarding a train for the long journey to Paris. Our Eurail Global 1st Class Passes allow us to travel by train for fifteen days over two months in Europe and the UK. We plan to make the most of our passes, taking a train rather than driving wherever possible.

After a day in Paris (yes, I know, who spends only one day in Paris?) we take the Eurostar to London and then to Penzance on the Cornish Riviera. I've booked bikes for exploring this delightful area, after which we collect a car to take us on a road trip through Devon, Somerset, Wiltshire, Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and Oxfordshire.

From the Dreaming Spires of Oxford to London by train, we then head north on the East Coast Line, stopping off for a few days cycling in Suffolk and Cambridge, visiting York and ending our northward journey in Inverness in the Scottish Highlands.

Those of you who followed the blog of my first travels in the UK in 2010—'Around the UK in 80 Days'—and later the book by the same name, may detect a return to areas visited on that adventure. Just so. I have the natural urge to share those fondly remembered places with Jo, the aforementioned first born. Will she love it like I did? Who knows, but watch this space! 

Moving on, our southbound train takes us to Stirling and Edinburgh then, after our few days in Scotland it's back over the border to Carlisle from where we will visit the Yorkshire Dales and the Lake District.

In Liverpool we swap the train for an overnight ferry to Belfast in Northern Ireland, but our interests lie further south so we take a train in Belfast and, leaving the UK behind, enter the Republic of Ireland, destination: Dublin. 

Having extracted all Dublin has to offer over four busy days, we'll take to the road for three weeks— motoring across the southern counties, soaking up all that greenery and reputed Irish hospitality and visiting the haunts of long-dead ancestors. We stay in Wexford, Waterford, County Cork, Galway and County Clare then it's back to County Wicklow and Dublin for the ferry to Holyhead in Wales.

We return to our train travel again for some sightseeing in Wales before crossing the border and travelling to Canterbury in Kent for a few days. From Kent we take the train to finish our big adventure with eight days in the wonderful city of London. 

Stay tuned to follow the ups and downs of our sixty-two-day journey.