THE TRIAL RUN TOWARDS PIAZZA DEL POPOLO

Another day in Roma. Pulling myself out of bed at around 9am with lack of sleep the night before due to the coffee's I've been sculling the previous day. The ultimate problem is that I want to sleep but I can’t due to the coffee’s.

We decided to head out for breakfast to the local bar near our apartment. When I say bar I’m referring to a café here. I know I’m an alcoholic but I haven’t got to the point of drinking at 9am in the morning just yet.


We spotted this bar yesterday but for some reason refused to go into it. It looked abit dodgy and run down. Well we figured most of Roma bars are like that so we might as well give it a go plus the fact we couldn’t be bothered walking too far for coffee right now.


We grab a cornetto (Crossiant) each while ordering coffee. Yes for those all asking the picture above is on my face book. It was taken at the local bar in Roma when I was craving for coffee.


The cappacino’s were placed on the bar for us by the guy. The minute we took a sip we knew this was the best coffee we've had since arriving in Roma.


Satisfied with our breakfast our plan was to do a trial run from our apartment to the hotel we were staying with the tour. Our tour was starting tomorrow so we figured after splashing 75 Euros on cab ride here we should try and do this the cheaper way.


We walked out of the bar onto freak street to see this:

Another freak to the list!

We walked to the metro to use the payphone to call the hotel. We were staying at Hotel Ritz in Roma with the tour. I was actually really looking forward to a decent shower and toilet. There was only so much more I can take from this apartment. We called the hotel and spent the next 5 minutes trying to understand the instructions in Italian slash English.


Luckily we managed to capture the important information and took the metro to Flaminio as advised. The plan was to swap trains at Flaminio to Euclide.It was a short train ride to Flaminio where we jump off to walk towards Piazza Del Popolo. We had to cross the square to find the train station. Apparently the train station was a 2 minute walk from the metro. Well 10 minutes later were still circling the square trying to locate the bloody train station.



We decide to ask one of the newspaper kiosks when the stupid bitch ignores us. Finally we get a one word answer from someone and manage to locate the train station in a hidden corner with a massive market place set up in front of it. The perfect market place to get designer jewellery and underpants!



Looking at our mission tomorrow the train station seems to be abit of a walk from the metro. It’s no problem walking but when you have to drag suitcases and hand luggage you have a serious problem.





We wait for the train to arrive inside the station. A few minutes later a train from 1920’s arrives towards the platform., It seriously looks like its on its last legs. This can't be good. Luckily for us its only one stop to Euclide.






We jump onto the train and decide to stand since its only one stop to Euclide when Lucy almost loses her hand when the train doors shut. Luckily for her she has instant reflects else we would
of had to detour to the hospital.


The train trip is quite fast and we arrive at Euclide train station to notice a ton of stairs. Fuck this means we have to drag all our suitcases up tomorrow. We start walking up the stairs to notice a never ending stair case to street level.



Finally when we reach the top we have to stop to catch our breath. Were a disgrace. We cant even walk up a flight of stairs without needing an asthma puffer.



I’m almost in tears of happiness when I realise the hotel is located right next to the train station. Its like a minute walk. Thank god for that. Those that want to see it we filmed the entire trial run on camera for our living in Roma documentary. The footage will show you us walking to the metro from the apartment, catching the metro to Flaminio, walking across the Piazza del Popolo to the train station and catching the train to Euclide to only walk up a never ending stair case.

NV xcited about Hotel Ritz

Now that the trial run was over we decided to go check out Piazza Del Popolo. We catch the train back to Flaminio from Euclide. As we are walking out of Flaminio Lucy spots a tunnel and suggest we take that exit. This is when we realise this is a short cut from the metro to the train station. Previously we did a massive loop to get to the train station but with our new found short cut we don’t have to worry about the walking around the square.





All we need to worry about is the massive stair case.Our next plan was to find a bar with a toilet. Since arriving in Italy I haven’t seen a public toilet. We figured if there was a public toilet we would have to pay for it so we might as well go to a bar and grab a coffee. We spotted one bar near the train station that looked good but then couldn’t see any toilets so we continued searching until we finally located one.



I swear its because of our toilet bars slash coffee sessions that we don’t sleep in Italy. We grabbed a lemon ice tea (Italian version) from the bar and used the toilets. With that out of the way it was time to explore Piazza Del Popolo.

Below are Pictures of Piazza Del Popolo:

NV Riding a Lion!

Yesterday we brought a Rome sightseeing book and Lucy saw this street called Via Veneto in it which is apparently the most elegant street in Rome where the rich and famous live. Hence we were heading to it due to Lucy's demands.



We finally arrived at Via Veneto to look at it and both turn around and say stuff it, it's not worth us walking the entire street. We did the next best thing. We walked over to a bench and planted ourselves down for the next 20 minutes. I think we over did Roma sightseeing yesterday. We both can't be bothered sightseeing anything. Feeling obligated we pull out our cameras and manage to get a few shots of the street. There I feel better now.

Above Pic - A typical building on Via Veneto

We pulled out my Mc Donalds map to pin point our next stop. We agreed to go see some palace as it was on the map. We figured if the bloody palace is located on the map then it must be worth seeing.



So we start our walk towards the palace in 40 degrees heat holding on to our SLR cameras ready to take photos when we hear people screaming at us to move. I didn’t know what the fuck was happening. A whole lot of security guards and policeman were screaming at us to move due to the fact we weren’t allowed to stand there. Freakin Italians and their demands! We moved away to watch in amazement as a black car similar to a limo was driving in. It must be someone really important like a president or some popstar.





We barely manage to take snaps of the palace and by this point we couldn’t even give a fuck. Our next plan was to head towards the Colosseum to Campidoglio as we some how missed this place yesterday.



On our way towards the Campidoglio we saw a bar that we decided to walk into. We were starving and figured this would be the perfect pit stop. We decided on making the biggest mistake of our trip - we decided to sit down. We ordered 2 sandwiches and 2 coffees to have in the front courtyard.



Our lunch arrives and my sandwich bread is rock hard. It’s almost like biting into a rock every time I tried. Lucy complained her sandwich was soggy. The time came for me to go pay the bill. I walked in and handed over the docket to the cashier and was shocked to discover the entire meal came to 25 Euros. OMG that’s $50 AU for 2 sandwiches & coffees. I walked outside with the change in my hand looking really upset when Lucy’s eyes were focused on the change in my hand. Lucy panicked realising how much we just spent on lunch. For fucks sake who pays that much for 2 sandwiches. For the next 10 minutes all I heard was Lucy complaining that we are never sitting down again even if I'm dying.






While we were disgusted with the fact we just spent 25 Euros on the sandwiches we spotted this freak with his pants practically falling down! Who the hell walks around like this?

More freaks!

There was only one way of making us feel better after that experience - an abusive phone call to Christine. If you haven’t figured it out well Christine’s stress relief at a time like this. We quickly rushed to call Christine when we spotted some random guy sun baking on the footpath like Matt.

We found a phone booth to call Christine and scream randomly. Feeling much better it was time to cool down in this heat: