Rome - 2009

Wow.. 2009... has it been that long since we went to Rome?? We have had many trips since and many more to come..


Lets talk about Rome..
We went in the fall, we had been told it gets smoking hot there in the summer and that the fall would be more like our summer. People spoke the truth.. there was Teddi and I in summer clothes.. and the locals in mittens, puffy jackets and looking at us like we had antlers or something.
Our trip started out with a bang.. the flight was delayed 8 hours I believe and the travel agent we booked thru forgot to tell us.. so there we are.. smiling..nervous..luggage in hand after taking the bus from Victoria to Vancouver only to find something to do.. Gah!
We endured the anticipation and finally boarded the jet airplane ...destination Amsterdam.. then Rome !! I was squeeeeeeeeing inside like a wee piglet... Teddi was nervous and anxious but smiling like she won a bazillion dollars..The flight was quick... we flew KLM.. those sexy blue dresses those flight attendants wore.. GIGGITY! ooh sorry.. I digress.
We arrived in Amsterdam and then had to catch a second flight to Rome.. This was a small airplane and we were able to see the Alps as we flew down along the peninsula.

We landed in Rome at the  Leonardo da Vinci airport. This was a big, loud place... the luggage was to be picked up 66km away from where we landed, or so it felt. We waited for the luggage so an eternity.. then when we finally had ours we had to figure out how to get into Rome..the southern side. We started following the signs that pointed to the trains.. we knew that the train would take us to the central terminal and that we could then take the subway to our hotel. We stopped to ask for directions in the airport and the fellow in the direction booth said that there was a shuttle that we could pay 15 euros for to take us into town. Why not we thought! There was 2 young ladies and another couple headed that way so how dangerous could this be??

So this friendly..animated fellow appears and takes our reciepts and says to follow him to his van.. well the panic alarms did not go off until we ventured for about 10 minutes thru the airport, then into the service area.. then outside thru the parkade to a very dark area miles from the airport. Ya..sitting ducks... 6 tourist..luggage, money and we follow some fellow into the darkest most secluded area in all of Rome..  

Teddi and I were cautious and ready to use our karate skills if this went south.. the 2 young ladies were glued to each other and the other couple were whiter than snow...but it all worked out.. he loaded our stuff in the van and off we went.. this little moment tensed me out so bad I could not go potty right for 2 days!! HAHAHA

The driver was very animated and we drove at break neck speeds.. it was amazing how he could throw that huge passenger van down those wee narrow streets with such skill. We finally got to our hotel and bid the fellow a thank you and tipped him for not killing us.

Our hotel was glorious.. http://www.hotelrediroma.com/  I would recommend it in a heart beat! Huge rooms, huge bathrooms, great breakfast and right by a metro line. The people there were fantastic and friendly. Spoke english very well. 


Each day we would journey out to explore a new part of Rome. The first couple of days we discovered that there was a church, basilica or religious icon on every corner. God must be some busy watching over all those places. The art work, the carvings and the buildings were nothing less then awe inspiring! I took over 7500..yes.. seven thousand five hundred, pictures there. Teddi..well she took about a thousand...

Everyday we would come home and unload the cameras note where we were and hit the hay. Repeat for 10 days !


Day 1

Porta S. Giovanni - the great wall of Rome
San Giovanni Laterno - church photos
Massive Egyptian obelisk
Colosseum - Teddi picks up a piece of the wall.. ancient and dirty, she proceeds to shove it in my pants so I can smuggle out a chunk.. I washed it !!



Day 2


We ended up walking about 20 miles this day... lost we got.
We saw and took pictures of:
- Villa Celinontana
- walked past Circus Maximas - massive military manouvers in there.. no pictures taken
- Paletine Hill .. lots in here
- various pics. of the street person who tailed us, the Colosseum again, old homes and buildings on the way to the hotel
Never follow the tree line in Rome.. I got lost because of those "fucking" trees.

We were stopped by a fellow in a car coming from a fashion show, he knew we were tourist and wanted to see where we were from. He then spins a tale of how he is this fashion designer representative and he was going to a local fashion show.. he showed us the catalog and where the show was happening. As a gift he offered us 2 leatherette jackets, they were nice too. But the catch was he needed some euros for fuel.. we gave him 10 or 15 euros.. he was pissed !! HAHAHA  coats were gifts to the girls when we got home.

Day 3


The Vatican
St. Peters Basilica-Climbed to the top of the dome and took lots of pics
Vatican museum
Sistine Chapel
Trevi Fountain
Tritone Fountain
some smaller fountain and \sites in Barberini neighborhood.
Plazza Baberini
San Carlo Quattro Fontane



Okay on day 3 we got into some trouble, we went into St. Peters and spent hours walking about.. we wandered downstairs into the burial chambers below. I, yes you will see a theme.. its always Me!!, say a kewl headstone and had to look at it. Beside this headstone was an opened door and stairs leading up, so I lead the way. This took us back into the main section of the Basilica.. we thought it odd though that the door we exited from was into a small enclosure that was gated off and people were looking at us, taking pictures. Suddenly two very well dressed and heavily armed men ran up to us and were a bit excited, they opened the locked gate and let us out. Little did we know I lead us up to a burial monument for some Saint!!  Oops! So thankfully they did not shoot us!!

Next we wanted to go to the top of the Basilica... the elevator was busy and was several euros so we opted for the stairs.. umm.. 15000 steps later and a climb of over 300 feet.. I was pooped. The view was amazing!!!

Day 4


Spanish Steps - if they give your wife a rose they expect you to give them money. Say no ..haha
Castle of Angels
Piazza di Spagna
Ponte San Angelo
Ponte Vittro Emanuele II
Piazza Chiesa Nuova
Quirinale


Just up from the Spanish Steps is the most over kill McDonalds I have ever seen! Marble floors, bronzed statues, TV screens on the tops of the urinals.. marble toilet seats.. Almost felt bad stinking up the place!



Day 5 


Pantheon
Trevi Fountain
Plazzia Bamberini
Spanish Steps - Bathroom time again.. also no matter what we always ended up here???
Piazza Navona
Piazza Del Rotonda
Monument A Vittorio Emanuele
Hard Rock Cafe Roma - great food!!

Day 6

We walked about went to all the street fairs, bought loads of knock offs and a sword. Went to a laundry matt and got our clothes washed up. Went out for a fantastic meal and they served up the neatest drink.. 2 shots got me gooned!

Day 7

The whole day in the zoo.. the pygmy hippos ruled !!

















Day 8

We travelled to the shady part of Rome to go to the Protestant cemetery. Took a whack o pics there and played with all the cats. Cats everywhere in Rome. 







Day 9

Another day of shopping and walking around

Day 10
Homeward Bound !!

What an amazing time that was.. will be going back soon.









Travel safe and silly friends
~Wombats

Kissinger Lake Camping

This weekend Teddi and I went to Kissinger Lake, this is a small lake off the end of Lake Cowichan here on Vancouver Island. Lake Cowichan is about 120 km from my house so its a nice drive up the island hi way with loads of crazy island drivers.

We went up there with a couple that is very near and dear to us, Tammy and Jacolby. Teddi and I were off work early and out the door and on our way by 2pm. We got there just shy of 5pm due to the traffic. Good thing we had our travel cheezies, Hawkins Brand no less!! and some cold pops.

The road is paved up until you pass the small township of Youbou.

Youbou has about 200 people living there and we were lucky enough to see the one and only bikini clad, tattooed hotty that was tweaking on something.. total shame as she is probably a good kid..just in a boring place. The road is a logging road and a big section of this road resembles a mortar shelling practice site.. some serious holes in the road.. swallow a small Honda no problem. The site is not huge but it is very popular all due to the lake. Small, extremely warm and loads of lizards. There is wee kids, dogs and families gathered everywhere. This is a great place to take the kids and the dog!!

Our first night consisted of hot-dogs, beer and sunflower seeds. Good sleep and so many mosquito bites that I lost count. The next day Teddi and I decide that we would drive to Bamfield as it was about 20 or 30 KM down the road. Thats what the sign in Youbou said so we decided it would be fun. Well after about 1 1/2 hours of driving down the crappiest dirt roads in Canada

we arrived at Bamfield. But I need to mention that about 1/2 way along we stopped for a pee break, as I was slowing down and about to stop a small mouse popped its head out from under the hood and looked in at us.. Like huh???  We stopped and Teddi and I disassembled all the trim and coverings under the hood of the Touareg to see if we could find the mouse. We did not find it so we hope it hopped out and run off. We still wonder where this mouse came from. Victoria, Kissinger lake or ???


Bamfield is completely across the island and is a mecca to those who love to fish. Must have been a good day as there was no parking anywhere. We found a local store... well the local store and I bought a 6 pack of Beer and a 6 pack of Cider, a dozen eggs and a Twix bar for Jacolby. This only cost me 29.00...  super cheap!!

We left Bamfield and started to head home when Teddi said we should buy a new marine battery for the trailer. What a great idea. We turn back and I go into the marine store and buy a battery. While I was in the store I run into a woman I had not seen in 5 plus years, Sarah. She was as smiley and lovely as I remembered her before.. she was up there fishing. Of all the places to run into an old friend..

We headed back to the campsite and all was well. Tammy and Jacolby had gone off to find Bamfield themselves thinking like us that it was only 30 km up the road.. they gave up and went boonie bashing for a while.

When we got back we took the kayaks to the lake and paddled about for an hour or so.. what a lovely lake.
The next day we dove into Youbou for ice cream and beverages, I thought it would be fun to nearly choke to death on some chocolate and apparently my voices was making Tammy laugh something fierce.. I always like to entertain. We got back to the campsite and Jacolby busted out the vodka. Well the 3 of us killed that bottle in now time and decide that we wanted to climb some hills.. well 3 drunk people climbing small mountains while carrying their vodka drinks must have been quite a sight. A few ill placed footings nearly afforded me a tumble down the bank but I am pretty wiggly and stayed on my feet.

lots of lizards down this way

The stars were bright, bats galore... a lovely evening indeed.We had a nice wind storm that evening and the tress were howling and swaying.. I love weather...

the small island off the shore.. no nudist though

We packed up in the morning and headed home.. I had a wonderful weekend.. and look forward to our next adventure.. Teddi has already booked out site at Little Qualicum Falls in Sept.

Happy Travels !!