Saturday, 1 September 2012
Monday, 27 August 2012
Rome train station laziness/craziness
We stopped in some alleyway to get another pizza and more pasta. I think I'm going to turn into a pizza soon. I have to stop getting it but it's so good here. Anyway, we retuned out broken bikes and headed back to the hostel to grab our bags and helped ourselves to a shower. Rome was already blistering hot and 4 hour bike rides do not make me sweat any less. We got dressed and hung around the hostel until about 9ish because we had nowhere to go. Milan was going to be our next stop and we though the trains ran through the night. We were very wrong. The last train to Milan was leaving in 10 minutes. We thought there would be other trains to other cities. Wrong again. Now it's almost midnight and we had nowhere to go and nowhere to sleep.
The first train to Venice left at 6am. We thought we'd be able to rough it and hangout around the station until then but the ever present stares of the homeless scared both of us and we knew we wouldn't be able to sleep. We headed back to where we had beers by the fountain about a block away. By now it was crowded with drug dealers. Needless to say we were not very welcome there either. Our previous hostel was fully booked and were homeless. We stopped into a hotel and talked the receptionist into cash deal. We're safe.. For now.
We woke up past check out and dragged ourselves out of there. We got a 1st class ticket to Venice and we were on out way. It's was about a 5hour train ride on the speed rails. A girl checked our tickets 2 times and everything was cool. We had our shoes off, feet up, and beers going. Life was good in first class until captain Buzzkill came around and took a 3rd look at our ticket. We had bought a 1st class ticket with a 2nd class Global Pass. That was frowned upon and he quickly escorted us out after I made my opinion of him be known to the entire train car.
It's okay, only another 30 minutes until Venice.
The first train to Venice left at 6am. We thought we'd be able to rough it and hangout around the station until then but the ever present stares of the homeless scared both of us and we knew we wouldn't be able to sleep. We headed back to where we had beers by the fountain about a block away. By now it was crowded with drug dealers. Needless to say we were not very welcome there either. Our previous hostel was fully booked and were homeless. We stopped into a hotel and talked the receptionist into cash deal. We're safe.. For now.
We woke up past check out and dragged ourselves out of there. We got a 1st class ticket to Venice and we were on out way. It's was about a 5hour train ride on the speed rails. A girl checked our tickets 2 times and everything was cool. We had our shoes off, feet up, and beers going. Life was good in first class until captain Buzzkill came around and took a 3rd look at our ticket. We had bought a 1st class ticket with a 2nd class Global Pass. That was frowned upon and he quickly escorted us out after I made my opinion of him be known to the entire train car.
It's okay, only another 30 minutes until Venice.
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Rome (cont.)
We had a few adult beverages then proceeded to the pasta party. We met some electrical engineer from brazil. He was on contract on an oil rig translating Portuguese to english when he quit and went backpacking. We never saw him again. Goodbye Daniel. We left the hostel to go check out some stuff around town. We bought a few more beers and sat on the steps of another thousand year old building. After about an hour this dude named Phil sat down with us and had a beer. He was walking by and heard us speaking English. So grabbed another beer and started wandering around Roma. We walked everywhere and saw a lot of old buildings and a lot of fountains. I forget the names of them all but they're in some of my pictures. We ended up at the coliseum at around 2 in the morning. Phil hopped in the metro back to his hotel and we started walking back to ours. Allen and I bought some more beers and stumbled around for about a half hour before we made it back. We woke up all of our roommates, showered, then went to sleep on our bunk beds.
When we checked in they promised A/C. They lied to our faces. We were in a giant room with a weak ass fan that cut out every 15 minutes. The worst part was it was warmer outside so the window was shut. Worst sleep ever.
After we showered (again) we went down the street to rent bicycles. We got a couple and we were on our way. These were the shittiest bike ever. Tires were low, seats were loose. The chain skipped. Brakes were worn down. There was a shorter list of what dis work than what didn't. There were 3 guys there sitting around. Pick up a wrench boys, get to work.
We didn't know what to see first by the Vatican was the furthest point. We rode our bikes up and down alleys in the shade until we eventually got there. We rode by everything (see attached photo). We rolled up to St Peters Square on our ghetto bikes and started cruising around. We were quickly apprehended by the local authorities and were told to lock it up or lose it. Not wanting to lose my 100€ deposit (on a 30€bike) I took his advice and locked it up on some street sign.
St. Peters Square was very pretty (google it) and there was a lot of people there. After a short line and a very Christian pat-down, we were in the Vatican. The Sistene chapel was closed so we didn't get to see Michaelangelo's master piece. But we did get to see the rest of the ninja turtles artwork in the Basilica.
I underestimated the Basilica and was overwhelmed by the size and beauty of it. The ceilings were about 100' tall and I wouldn't be able to hit the far with a football if I tried. And I can chuck a football. It was amaz-aweso-tastic. I don't know. We left there after a few quick pics of the Swiss guard and headed out for diner.
P.s. The pic of the marble statue was carved by Michaelangelo in 1499 when he was 23.
When we checked in they promised A/C. They lied to our faces. We were in a giant room with a weak ass fan that cut out every 15 minutes. The worst part was it was warmer outside so the window was shut. Worst sleep ever.
After we showered (again) we went down the street to rent bicycles. We got a couple and we were on our way. These were the shittiest bike ever. Tires were low, seats were loose. The chain skipped. Brakes were worn down. There was a shorter list of what dis work than what didn't. There were 3 guys there sitting around. Pick up a wrench boys, get to work.
We didn't know what to see first by the Vatican was the furthest point. We rode our bikes up and down alleys in the shade until we eventually got there. We rode by everything (see attached photo). We rolled up to St Peters Square on our ghetto bikes and started cruising around. We were quickly apprehended by the local authorities and were told to lock it up or lose it. Not wanting to lose my 100€ deposit (on a 30€bike) I took his advice and locked it up on some street sign.
St. Peters Square was very pretty (google it) and there was a lot of people there. After a short line and a very Christian pat-down, we were in the Vatican. The Sistene chapel was closed so we didn't get to see Michaelangelo's master piece. But we did get to see the rest of the ninja turtles artwork in the Basilica.
I underestimated the Basilica and was overwhelmed by the size and beauty of it. The ceilings were about 100' tall and I wouldn't be able to hit the far with a football if I tried. And I can chuck a football. It was amaz-aweso-tastic. I don't know. We left there after a few quick pics of the Swiss guard and headed out for diner.
P.s. The pic of the marble statue was carved by Michaelangelo in 1499 when he was 23.
When in Rome
I was fast asleep on the train from Napoli to Roma. Allen on the other hand was so nervous his body was vibrating. I woke up the the ticket guy poking me with a debut machine. "I biglietti?" he said. So I replied with my favorite phrase thus far "no capiche Italianio. Do you speak English?" "si, a little bit." he then explained to me that I had the wrong ticket and I had to pay a fine. A whopping 8€. It was a whole 8€ difference to get to Roma 3 hours earlier and have precious A/C.
After I paid I looked over at Allen and he was already shaking his head. He thinks that their going to pull the train over and kick us out in the middle of nowhere. I hold up my fingers to signal to him that it cost 8€. Completely stunned he shouted 80!?
...now I'm the type of guy who won't let a good prank go to waste. So when Allen thought it was 80 I just nodded my head politely. The sweat starts pouring out of his hat. In his mind a 15€ train just turned into 95€.
Gotcha.
When we arrived at Roma Termini we asked for the nearest hostel and checked into the Alessandro Downtown. The elevator was. Broken so we had to climb 3 floors with all of our gear on. We got to our room, dropped our stuff, showered then got ready to head out. It was around 4-5ish and we had nothing to do until the pasta party at 9. We found some cool fountain courtyard thing a few blocks away so we sat there for a bit and gazed upon the locals. Across the street was a grocery store. We stopped in to grab some water and maybe a sandwich when I noticed a sign. "66cl Birra saldo .75€ or something like that. English translation: 660ml beer is on sale for ~1$.
I like Rome.
After I paid I looked over at Allen and he was already shaking his head. He thinks that their going to pull the train over and kick us out in the middle of nowhere. I hold up my fingers to signal to him that it cost 8€. Completely stunned he shouted 80!?
...now I'm the type of guy who won't let a good prank go to waste. So when Allen thought it was 80 I just nodded my head politely. The sweat starts pouring out of his hat. In his mind a 15€ train just turned into 95€.
Gotcha.
When we arrived at Roma Termini we asked for the nearest hostel and checked into the Alessandro Downtown. The elevator was. Broken so we had to climb 3 floors with all of our gear on. We got to our room, dropped our stuff, showered then got ready to head out. It was around 4-5ish and we had nothing to do until the pasta party at 9. We found some cool fountain courtyard thing a few blocks away so we sat there for a bit and gazed upon the locals. Across the street was a grocery store. We stopped in to grab some water and maybe a sandwich when I noticed a sign. "66cl Birra saldo .75€ or something like that. English translation: 660ml beer is on sale for ~1$.
I like Rome.
Saturday, 25 August 2012
An afternoon in Napoli
We slept in way past our check out time but our host guy didn't seem to mind. We got dressed and hit the town. Napoli is a very beautiful town with a lot of pizza for only 1 euro. We headed down some weird alleys off main street where you could pretty much name your price on anything they had.
Everyone in Italy takes a 2 hours party nap from 2-4. A lot of the alley vendor dudes just set up tables on milk crates and packed up leaving behind all of their garbage. And when i say all of it, I mean EVERYTHING. I was amazingly filthy but nice nonetheless. We grabbed our bags and bought a train ticket for the cheapest one out of Napoli. Our train wasn't supposed to leave for another hour and was a longer 3 hour train, but somehow I managed to persuade Allen into sneaking on the fast train that was leaving in 5 minutes. And we were off to Roma.........
Everyone in Italy takes a 2 hours party nap from 2-4. A lot of the alley vendor dudes just set up tables on milk crates and packed up leaving behind all of their garbage. And when i say all of it, I mean EVERYTHING. I was amazingly filthy but nice nonetheless. We grabbed our bags and bought a train ticket for the cheapest one out of Napoli. Our train wasn't supposed to leave for another hour and was a longer 3 hour train, but somehow I managed to persuade Allen into sneaking on the fast train that was leaving in 5 minutes. And we were off to Roma.........
Sorry guys....
For some reason it's pretty difficult to access wifi over here without paying so the posts will be coming a little further apart. Here's 72 hour recap in a few words:
There are a lot of Italians in Italy.
Beer is extremely cheap.
Nobody speaks English unless they want money from you.
It's also very hot here and I found out that I sweat a lot.
We took off out of Toronto Pearson airport (which was named after the famous rush song YYZ) at around 8:30 ish Wednesday night. With the time change the sun came up around 2 or 3 am. So right away we had no sleep at all. Allen and I were stuck in the middle row of seats. I had the middle seat with Allen on my right, and the incredible hulk on my left. He used my arm as an armrest as I used his shoulder as a pillow. HULK SLEEP!
We landed at aeroporto Lamezia Terme at around 11:30 am local time. It was about 32 Celsius without a cloud in the sky. It was hot out on that runway.
Without Internet or a way to communicate to locals we spent about an hour looking for a ride to the train station and another 30 minutes buying a ticket out of there. 11.50€ to Naples we thought "what a great deal!" right? WRONG. To go 354km's it took us 7 hours in a train car with leather seats. Sound comfortable? Wrong again. No A/C. Only a few windows would open (not ours), and the sun made its way over the car and was beating down on us.
It's okay because we arrived to Naples safe and sound at around 8pm. We were so tired from the train that we just took a cab to the hostel. I swear our cab driver was an extra in the Italian Job. Pulling out into traffic. Crossing 3-4 lanes at a time. It was just insane. We checked in to our giant empty room, showered, and went to bed before 10pm.
There are a lot of Italians in Italy.
Beer is extremely cheap.
Nobody speaks English unless they want money from you.
It's also very hot here and I found out that I sweat a lot.
We took off out of Toronto Pearson airport (which was named after the famous rush song YYZ) at around 8:30 ish Wednesday night. With the time change the sun came up around 2 or 3 am. So right away we had no sleep at all. Allen and I were stuck in the middle row of seats. I had the middle seat with Allen on my right, and the incredible hulk on my left. He used my arm as an armrest as I used his shoulder as a pillow. HULK SLEEP!
We landed at aeroporto Lamezia Terme at around 11:30 am local time. It was about 32 Celsius without a cloud in the sky. It was hot out on that runway.
Without Internet or a way to communicate to locals we spent about an hour looking for a ride to the train station and another 30 minutes buying a ticket out of there. 11.50€ to Naples we thought "what a great deal!" right? WRONG. To go 354km's it took us 7 hours in a train car with leather seats. Sound comfortable? Wrong again. No A/C. Only a few windows would open (not ours), and the sun made its way over the car and was beating down on us.
It's okay because we arrived to Naples safe and sound at around 8pm. We were so tired from the train that we just took a cab to the hostel. I swear our cab driver was an extra in the Italian Job. Pulling out into traffic. Crossing 3-4 lanes at a time. It was just insane. We checked in to our giant empty room, showered, and went to bed before 10pm.
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