Ticket to ride

Getting up at 5 to spend 2 hours in a queue in a cold, dark London street? Worth it if you get the magic ticket that gets you in to meet Paul McCartney on Wed morning to have him sign his new kids' book.

Why don't we do it in the road

Cool, this works! This is a photo of my desk in London as I was testing auto blogging - which let's me blog directly from my mobile phone. Now there will be no stopping me! Note the careful positioning of the London Underground map so that I know how to get around, and the absolutely inspiring view out the window.

Stop Europe, I want to get off

In the past week – London, Paris, Rome, Ipswich… (one of these things does not belong, come on, can you tell which one…) And between now and new year when I come home, I still have another trip to Glasgow (where I will attempt to unearth the iconic deep fried mars bar) and Prague to contend with. And quite frankly I’m already exhausted.

The thing that is different about travel as an adult vs. as a kid with parents is the use of public transport – while it’s the best way to get to know the people of a city and it’s cheap, and it’s also not the most obvious or simple way to get around for a first timer.

Hence the 4 pages of instructions (with colour photos!) from Naomi about how get to the metro from Prague airport. Note that these don’t get me to my hostel – or even out of the subway. She says I will need further instructions on how to select the right escalator back up from the trains. I can see myself, years from now, roaming the tunnels of the Prague subway, desperately trying to find the way out, living on nothing but the water crackers and Krispy Kreme donuts I had brought for Naomi who has long since given up any thought of seeing me again. My precious…those hobbitses won't take the glazed donutty preciouses from usss…

Che cosa fai nel tempo libero?

Window detail
Originally uploaded by nerissa_atkinson.

Well, in my spare time, Io viaggio a Roma. This was my reward for diligently attending all my Italian classes, and I also thought that this would be a great way of practicing what I had learnt. This was put to early use when my flight was delayed almost 2 hours on Friday night, arriving too late to catch the train into town, and I managed to tell the taxi driver where I wanted to go, why I was visiting, and agree that it was a shame Fabiano hadn't been able to come too.

Setting out jauntily the next morning I was all ready to immerse myself in la vita bella - but didn't count on being immersed in water as it proceeded to pour with rain the entire day. Taking refuge for a while in St Peters (how apt), I am sure I am dammed to hell for proceeding to send text messages while inside. Finally, at around 3 I was in tears after 6 hours squelching in the rain and hating Rome very very much.

After returning to the hostel and recharging my batteries, I mustered the energy to venture out for dinner - ending up at a restaurant that was apparently one of Fellini's favourites. And after a fantastic meal of melanzana parmigiana (basically aubergine covered in cheese and then more cheese), pollo alla romana and a tirimasu, I had begun to find the good life again.

This continued the next day - the clear blue sky formed the perfect backdrop to the Colusseum and a wander through the markets of the piazza del fiori, so that I was sad to leave that evening although that may be because I never did find the cafe that sold the perfect slice of pizza I remember from my last trip - guess I'll have to go back. Or maybe I don't hate Rome that much after all.

There's no place like Rome

Or at least there won't be when I finally get around to blogging about it. Still have to upload my photos, and when I do this I will tell you about my weekend.