When in Rome - Day 3

This is the third day but the second part of this particular piece of the puzzle that is, my life. Part one covered days one and two, hence the slightly confusing preamble. For those of you who are Google Maps Timeline fans please behold our first image:

I did not get up and bang out 7000 steps as I had done the previous day, I'm a massive fan of steps. The band, I know they don't play instruments, and walking. PB is something like 70k steps in a day, it's when we did a marathon distance walk for Alzheimer's Research. On day 2, I'd managed 20 thousand, well above my daily 10k quota, and I didn't want to push my luck. I have various joint issues that can and will flare up with little warning. Sometimes with lots of warning, that I fail to heed.

Breakfast of oats, milk, fruit, nuts, with the idea of keeping the pasta, pastry, and gelato torrent at bay. The vague plan was, let's stay out of the red hot centre, and skirt around the edges, there's a green space near us lets hit that and get some coffee etc. It's a hot steepish walk past lots of academies of various ilks:

Any guesses on Danimarca, Neerlandese, Romania, Belgica, and Egitto? They are of course Denmark, Netherlands, Romania, Belgium, and Egypt. It's a nice green space, lots of tall trees, especially pleasant in the shade. We settle here for a coffee: shaded, hoping for a good coffee, I don't remember them so must've been fine. I opt for a shakerato and a espresso, I think. We briefly discuss what I've ordered, I don't know tbh, I just fancied something iced instead of red hot. Hence getting two drinks, also secretly hoping for one with a bit more liquid, as I'm awful at staying hydrated. There are little birds hopping around the place.

I don't remember this absolutely showstopping monstrosity but that's probably because it's two thirds foam?

We finish up and wonder where the toilets are, and are told public one's are across the path, how convenient. I walk into the gents, past a lady, who I assume is there for security/questions, possibly facilities management. She smiles as I walk past, I use the facilities, wash my hands, and head back out. It was now that I realise everyone else had been asked to pay! We muse as to why I was let off the fee: pity, fear, boredom? Only the lady who nodded me in know for sure. We walk on, water feature, trees

Angela enjoying the shade

Good tree texture

Thicc tree is thicc

It's now that we take a wrong turn and have to double back, the statues along our wrong turn have been decapitated. It's peculiar, we discuss whether vandalism, activism, or they're cleaning and or replacing the heads as they were worn out. It's been several hours since breakfast and we're discussing lunch spots. Trevi Fountain pops up, we're not so far from the Trevi Fountain, admittedly Google tells us it's 20-30 minutes. So off we go. It is blazingly hot, shade from walls, trees etc is much appreciated. I think this is when Sofia told me of the bus her and her food spouse Witty got on. Was it a hop on hop off, possibly, as one drove past.

Angela getting a photo with the city walls in the background, one of my all time fave things is a photo of a photo being taken. This reached the next dimension when my friend Dan took a photo, of Stu taking a photo, of me photographing some rocks.

We're all getting a little tired and it's time to find a suitable place to sit down, alas we are approaching to hustle and bustle machine that is the Trevi Fountain. We find a table, sit down and a flamboyant Italian man comes to take our order. Beer is expensive, he tries to upsell Alistair and Lukyn, they're not having it. We get some drinks and food appears, he explains its free. Flat breads, sandwiches, hot dog's in bread.

 

As the sun transitions across the sky, I can feel my arm possibly being burnt. I am a quite dark skinned brown man, wearing factor 30. Earlier in the trip near the Vatican Angela had explained that she sometimes get's sunburnt through a parasol! We did notice other folks are being given sweet treats, which I'm totes jonesing for, but I think that's part of the trap. "If we keep drinking, will they continue to bring us freebies..." I think we only had the one round of drinks before gathering ourselves for the final push to the total human traffic situation.

It turns out we were minutes away, just round the corner, we hadn't quite appreciated, or I hadn't quite appreciated, how close. Or how busy.

As busy as it was, it was pretty spectacular, but busy.

This doesn't do the crowd justice, apparently lots of proposals here.

We escape the hoard and find ourselves not sure where to go. I spot some lovely purple flowers growing from someone's balcony or roof.

Did we go on a beer run today, to try and find a particular Peroni?

We wander around, walk past Napoleon's former residence? and maybe or maybe not try to find a particular beer Alistair has been hunting/craving. Did I mention I am a frustrated beer enthusiast? I have some kind of kidney issue that means I have high levels if uric acid in my blood, that forms crystals in my joints, aka gout. But my numerous physical afflictions aside I think we split the party. The Lukyn and Alistair are off to get a drink possibly, everyone else is heading to the Airbnb.

Alter of the Fatherland?

Pretty cool right.

Possibly Napoleon's mother's place, I don't know but pretty nonetheless?

We walk past where we'd had lunch, we want to grab a few bits before getting on the bus. In the shop I feel a familiar panic, the panic of my stomach feels funny. Not funny like Kevin Bridges is funny, but funny like where's the nearest accessible bathroom, please and thank you. I think I'll be reet, I can hold it, once we exit the store I realise these are some dice that should not be rolled.

I tell Sofia and off a shoot to the nearest public restroom. I am motoring, making judgement calls about traffic, looking at locals who are also crossing the road willy nilly. Confidence that can only be accessed in the most dire, ear, of circumstances. It's a small glass kiosk, that serves as information for tourists and a toilet, possibly more? I pay a small fee and dash downstairs, the toilets are underground!

Upon entering the gents, I think I was the only one there, I notice all stalls have no toilet seats. I'm puzzled but I can do this. Took less than a minute, but I wait to make sure. Wash up, hand sanitise, and head out.

I would later ask the our lot about why there were no toilet seats, someone mentions the Asians squatting on them breaking them, I'm not so sure as I think you could still squat on a porcelain bowl if you wanted to. GPT gave me these reasons:

I coordinate with Sofia and Angela and we meet at a bust stop, waiting for a particular bus that'll take us a 10 minute walk from the AirBnB. Buses come and go, none are the one we're after. Our Airbnb hostess, Marina, did warn us that the buses in Rome are... unreliable. But she'd failed to book our airport transport, so what does she know... So we head to a slightly different stop and wait to see if we can catch a slightly different bus. After something like 30 minutes we lose the will leading to this scene.

Now that's what I call a high vis bag.

We get on a bus that takes us some of the way but it'll be a longer walk back to the Airbnb. Which is what we do, I keep track on my phone when we should be hopping off. Took about 10 minutes and then a 20 minute walk back, it is about 19:00 by the time we get through the door.

I think we had dinner at the Airbnb, but I'm drawing a blank.

We did however watch some TV, miss drinks with Lukyn and Alistair who headed out for a nightcap at Treebar? Looking at some of their food I think we defo missed out. Did they get free crisps? I did however make sure to document the interesting balance of wires that was required to watch TV with the Fire Stick plugged in.

And that's that, stay tuned for more, soon, possibly, just over 15k steps today.

When in Rome - Day 1 and 2

I've not written something since 2022, well that's not true. I do spreadsheets and emails for a living so I've written lots, but for pay. I've not written here in years, which is a shame. Mostly because I like doing it, but also because it's fun to reminisce, reading what's here.

My regrets aside, this year I was in Rome. A decision that wasn't so much made as opted into. My partner, Sofia, is half Italian. The other half is Derby + Ukrainian. As such she's been to Italy quite a bit, and Rome is one of her mum, Angela's, all time favourite places.

The dates were floated to me, Thursday the 29th of May to Tuesday the 3rd of June. I had to check forecasting and statutory reporting timetables, but it looked like we wouldn't be immersed in any of that. So I said yeah, I'm in. Prior to setting off we created a WhatsApp group, because how else are we going to coordinate?!

That's what it looks like, will come onto the photo in due course

With that now in place, tickets and accommodation were booked. I stayed well out of administration, thank you Lukyn and Sofia! It was a flurry of Air BnB, Booking.com. google, etc.

I also set up a google maps list of places we could hit, that were off the beaten path. I'm not into touristy things, mostly because you can see that stuff on TV, online, etc. The odds and sods, the bits that you won't see on travel shows, that's what I want to know.

66 restaurants, museums, viewpoints, etc, ambitious?

Sofia's mum would later ask me if I'd been to Rome before. I joked I was there all the time, the jovial tone was lost through the interconnected tubes we call the information super highway, she thought I had...

I should mention that it was a 5 person trip

• Sofia - my partner
• Angela - Sofia's mother
• Lukyn - Sofia's brother
• Alistair - Lukyn's partner
• Me - misc

I was tempted to family tree it but those things get out of control rather quickly, and I'm already prone to ramble, digress, or side quest as is.

Once the accommodation was decided on I added it to the list/map. The next question was how were we going to get from the airport to the accommodation? I assumed we'd walk/public transport, but it'd take us ages and our host had offered to arrange a van, at a reasonable price. So that's what we opted for.

I made my list, and the night before packed too much stuff.

I have a google sheet of possible things I need to pack for various trips, as you can see it's quite exhaustive

Once it is October the third as I write this, my memory is hazy, as we've since bought and moved house. Plus I went to my first, and possibly only, hen do. Things that loom large in the memory. The minutiae of what happened the night before are... not present. Also it's Friday, I'm fasting, and I have some kind of hip/back issue that's appeared, meaning I've missed a comedy gig, and probably a trip to Peterborough to see Rick and Swap! None of us live in Peterborough, but it's an equidistant drive.

Back to Rome! Well the morning of our flights changed slightly, from East Midlands Airport, EMA, at 1210 instead of 1155, drastic I know, we'd arrive in Rome at 15:45. Sometime between 08:00 and 09:00 we drove to Sofia folks place in Derby, there her dad was full of cold, so sensibly kept his distance. There was some discussion about a speaker, whether it should come to Rome or not. He very kindly gave us some Euros for the journey.

All aboard.

We drive the 30 minutes or so to EMA, park up, and Sofia marches us to the bus stop, it was arriving imminently so we hop to it quick.

New fleece I only wore to Rome, it's too nice for everyday wear, for now.

We stride into EMA, nostalgic, I think we've all flown from there a lot over the years. I think you have to pay to drop people off there now, madness! Walking around we apparently walk straight past Alastair and Lukyn. Who'd were not hand luggaging, they'd checked their big bag in. Angela and I guarded our bags whilst Sofia went water shopping?

We also possibly took turns bag guarding whilst the rest of the group went to the bathroom. Classic airport manoeuvre.

We ended up at the Castle Rock Tap Room, alas I have the gout and can not drink beer, cider, etc. But the group has now assembled!

I think I had a yogurt bowl, it was underwhelming, some flight crew ordered so much food and had to pack it all up and dash on the table next to us.

We were chatting about what we could do every day, I had no idea. But I was steadfastly against touristy bits, as I didn't want the exact same experience everyone has. Sofia wanted to go to the Pantheon, as it has knocked her off her feet the first time. Me and Lukyn were the only two who hadn't been to Rome before. Also from left to right me, Sofia, Alistair, Lukyn, Angela. Please refer to list under the map up top for how we are related etc!

From here it's a whizz to the gate, flight, seats bags up, announcements. Trying to fall asleep on the plane, neck pillows not really working, turbulence. It was a bit of a choppy landing, I've had a few turbulence before but I'm far from a regular flier. Angela would later tell the group she shared a moment with another passenger which confirmed how bad the turbulence had been. Also that the particular model of plane was apparently notorious for it.

Also there were a few failed group photo attempts at the table before the flight:

I wouldn't count this as a fail, but it was a no for one reason or other.

Then there was the panoramic that Angela and I sabotaged, one on purpose and one by accident.

This became our photo for the WhatsApp group, told you I'd explain it 100,000 words or so ago. We land collect bags, Lukyn changes into shorts, and we head outside. Alistair declares "Burn me daddy", to the Italian sun. We walk about and stand near the bus bit and taxi bit. Our host had told us that she would organise a van for us, we'd have to pay in cash. No van appears, Lukyn messages our Airbnb host, Marina. She says she's on it, we wait some more, then nothing. She tells us to catch two taxis that will cost the same as the van. So we amble over to the taxi rank.

Where we stood, the U shaped turning is where the taxis were.

We're given a ticket, the cost from the airport is fixed into the city. Alas we were heading slightly out so we'd be paying a bit more. Lukyn and Alastair get in one taxi, Sofia, Angela, and I, get in another. Our guy is a bit of a loose unit, in a hurry, somewhat funny, but mostly a belligerent city driver. He asks for 50 euros, Angela hands him 60, he says he'll get a really nice coffee with his tip, we laugh. We soon find out he'd overcharged us, the taxi Lukyn and Alastair had taken had paid less than 50, I think.

We walk into the courtyard and it's pretty AF. If you're curious click the link and enjoy the overt extravagance of Belle Arti Apartment - Piazza del Popolo - Villa Borghese. I notice there are grape vines growing over the entranceway.

Pay attention to the grapes, not my face, or my neck cushion, or exponentially greying beard... if you look at the reflection in my eyes?

Our host is full of bluster and greetings. She takes us in and it smells of jasmine, big ol' jasmine hedges. Impressive. Very Maximus Decimus Meridius. The inside of the building is much cooler, Sofia touches the marble and is thrilled by how cool it is. Marina reaches the door and explains it needs to be unlocked 4 times or something, its a big wooden door. The door doesn't open, she has to go to her flat and access the deadbolt on this one.

We briefly discuss what's happening, I think it's weird that she can access our place from hers somehow. We hear the door opening from the inside. Then another few minutes, she arrives behind us and explains how to open the door. We walk through and she sits down and confesses something. She had tried to book the van, no luck, but she'd forgotten to chase or try any other company. Until we landed and asked. There's a silence, she looks dramatic and distressed. She wants forgiveness before we move on, someone reassures her, we move on.

There's a city requirement to take passport details, Angela is very particular that hers doesn't get damaged, the new ones can be a little fragile. Marina then launches into a tour, and continues to tell us about things we could do throughout the days, places to eat, typical Roman lunches, price points, immigrants can't cook like Italians, etc. This goes on for, I honestly don't know. But when we sit down in the living room diner, Alistair shows me Sofia's message "Shoot me now", or something to that effect. After what feels like too long again, she leaves. We gather ourselves and head out towards Piazza del Popolo, lots of options near there or on the way.

It's a Friday so I'm vegetarian, I'm mostly vegetarian anyway. But I try to observe this tradition, a Hindu one as I'm a Shaivite Hindu, I think, or so I've been told. What if it's an elaborate joke and I'm actually a Vaishnavite?! A little light Hindu humour for you, not that funny right? Exactly.

We opt for Pastasciutta, fresh pasta, chain place, somewhere you can eat out relatively well for not so much. Or so Marina tells us.

With pasta in hand we head off towards the obelisk, yes we are in Rome.

A group one, Angela took, hence why she isn't in it?

Notice anything... suggestive?

Pasta is good, there are two old boys behind us shooting the shizz. We finish up, head to the corner shop before heading back to the Airbnb. I think I had grand ideas about oats for breakfast to try and hold back the torrent of pasta, cured meat, gelato etc.

Once back we chat, and hit the sack, or maybe I hit the sack, this bit is hazy to say the least.

I'm unsure about the volume of walking we'll be doing, I'm on a 10k steps a day streak, that was only broken by my cousins wedding, it was in Paris, pretty spectacular, but that's a story that I may or may not get around to writing up? With steps in mind I'm going to get up earlier than everyone and head out for a bit. The aim being to bank steps, in case we don't do a ridiculous amount of wandering.

The short version of what we did on Friday, I was solo for the bit that goes north.

Personal highlight from the walk, two beer hooded crow

After my solo jaunt north, back at the Airbnb, we reconvene, breakfast, and head out to the Vatican? St. Peter's Basilica, it's a hot day. The party is split slightly by the variation in walking speed. Alistair and Lukyn and blistering quick, Sofia and Angela are more chill. I can do either so am torn between both parties. The queuing is next level, I spot someone wearing an anime shirt. I forget which anime, One Piece? I'm rocking an anime shirt too, alas it's a little obtuse so unless you watch the end credit scenes of anime on the reg you will not get it.

Lost in paradise?

We get in and it's searingly hot, and there's a march towards the inside. It's pretty spectacular, but the volume of people is super distracting! 

Bit lolly buff as Sofia and I are want to say from time to time.

As we walk around it's all super ostentatious, opulent, next level stone work, polished, gilded, busy. It was hard for me to enjoy it as it felt like everyone was in a hurry, and I need to be too. Its felt like a theatrical experience, its over the top beauty distracting from any spiritual quiet. If I were to visit again, I’d try to find the moments of stillness, dawn, midnight, whenever footfall falls.

Walking around an older bald man taps me on the shoulder and points to my head. I had taken my hat off and was wearing a bandana, to keep my hair in check. I realise he's trying to communicate no head coverings. So I take it off, I then notice many people wearing a variety of hats, so I put it back on. I leave you to draw your own conclusions. We walk on, there are some singers in some kind of traditional garb. My personal highlight, they were singing hymns I want to say. Also I think they were dressed in lederhosen etc.

Sofia takes me to see her fave bit from the last time she was here with her food spouse, Witty.

Time and death?

We're out and hungry, hot as can be. Sofia remembers there's a little place not too far. So off we go, past the good gelato place her and food spouse Witty found. Lukyn and Alistair are not keen on the menu so head off to find something more their speed. The place is called and È Passata la Moretta | Osteria Romana di un Tempo it's definitely worth a visit if you're ever in Rome.

We reconvened with Alistair and Lukyn, they'd had some deep fried delights. Delicious. Then we were on the move to The Pantheon, an old, old, building. We did briefly stop off in the shade at Piazza Navona.

The Chanel advert in the background really completes the ancient water feature situation.

Squad recharging in the shade, not Alistair's optimised sun seeking

We get to the Pantheon, it's busy. It's about 17:00ish, not my use of about and ish to hedge the approximateness of the time. We briefly discuss, I'm a little numb to the situation atm, we head in and there's little opportunity to really look at anything, people be moving.

Before we got in

Just after we left, photo bomb mastery, also Alistair lost his sunnies on the way to our accommodation, day 1.

It was at this point we split the party, Alistair, Lukyn, and Angela carried on their Roman adventure that day. Sofia and I went back to the apartment. The grabbed ups a few slices of pizza for dinner from this place, square pizza, solidly ok.

We'd requested the air con remotes from our host, she said she'll bring them over in the evening. She has access to the flat, why couldn't she just leave them on the table? But we get a message she's on her way, so I do the adult thing, run and hide. Leaving Lukyn and Alistair to heroically have a chat. Which she does quite briefly, now we're with air con, the holiday can really begin.

From day one Sofia and I being silly geese:

I would drive 500 mile - Day 4

I'm still in Manchester, however today I have plans to see my baby brother! He messaged me yesterday evening.

Sofia's back at the wheel today and we clock 91 Miles, or there abouts. We went for breakfast at Gro Coffee, their menu is the nuts so please peruse it. I got some fruit and an omelette, delicious, probably a coffee.

There had been plans to see my family in Glasgow, but alas covid struck their house, they're all fine now btw

We have until midday or so to vacate our Travelodge room, we skedaddle early. The plan is to catch a ferry! I don't think I had been on one since I was, maybe never. I was about to mention a boat on the Thames, but I think that was just a regular boat! Anyway driving on we refuel at a Morrisons, of course. Probably grabbing some food, but my memory of getting to the ferry is foggy/non existent. We drive along the west coast a bit, stopping to snap a few picks. It takes us a lot less time to get to Gourock, Casual 40+ miles. We have to bung a u turn as we'd missed the turning.

West Coast, but there's a peninsula, so maybe not?

Upon arrival at the car park it's not clear what we should do, as we're not seasoned ferry folk. So we park where a taxi is waiting and I wander over to a gentleman in a high vis vest.

What would you do?

He tells us to pop into the first lane and queue, tickets are bought on your way onto the boat. Or on the boat, on the boat. So we diligently pull up and wait. The ferry arrives, we roll on when we're told to and turn the engine off. There's a safety announcement. Sofia is struggling to hear it, luckily we're within eyeshot of a sign which has the exact same information on. Probably by design? Before we know it the ferry journey is over and we roll off.

We pause briefly to strategise where to stop. I suggest the botanical gardens, possibly for lunch. Doesn't take us long to get there at all. We park up and pop out, find the bathrooms. Never turn down an opportunity to use the bathroom, as far as regrets go this is one you do not want to have. There are dogs here and there, fantastic. We pop in and get our tickets, they are in sticker form, so the staff know you've paid at a glance. Food is not inspiring so we opt to wait for lunch.

I forget why, but this tree spoke to Sofia

Carrying on the long tradition of taking pics of me with trees for my folks.

We wander around and Sofia takes a close up of some moss, which looks kind of like a coniferous forest. She sends it to her ma, I joke that she should tell her we're in a helicopter looking down. Which is exactly what she does. Now I'm remembering it as a call, but that may or may not have happened. Anyhow the reveal results in her ma exasperatedly saying something like "Of course you're not." It's nice a peaceful in and around the giant trees. Rhododendron etc. There are a group of school children, well school aged anyway, running about. We theorise they're on their long trip at the end of year six that we all do. But it's September, perhaps they just go on trips to outdoorsy things more here.

We take a seat next to a big long greenhouse. And tell tales of how we should buy the house that we can see just off to the side. We could work at the garden, grow our own food in the giant greenhouse etc. It's nice and calming. We wander on to the Japanese bit of the garden, bit more dramatic.

The helicopter forest

We leave just before 15:00 and head down the road a couple of miles to The Coylet Inn, it's on the banks of Loch Eck, which is really, really long. It's picturesque AF, we snap a few before parking up and heading in to see if we can still get some lunch. A couple dining al fresco, give us the real stink eye, I assume I'm judging them too hastily. But Sofia later confirms they were totes cruising for a bruising.

We duck in and look for someone in charge, the sign says to ask at the bar, no one at the bar, but to wait to be seated. So we wait. And a nice lady appears, and tells us food is still available and we're can sit in the window, ideal

We sit down, and get to menuing. I think I had a burger? I forget. But Sofia opted for the pie, as she was on the quest for a great beef pie. I think we had starters... I'm not doing well here am I. When the food arrives, it's great, and Sofia confirmed it's a really good pie! Mission accomplished! After lunch we wander to the bar and find our host, she owns the place. And asks where we've come from, we reply with Nottingham, and she tells us she's originally from down the road in Derby, which is where Sofia also hails from. She jokes that that's why the pie was so good "You can trust a Derby lass to rustle you up a good pie!" or something equally colloquial and charming. Coylet Inn lady, I think her name was Sarah? grew up near where Sofia when to school! After more small world chat, and how we must stay at the Inn whence we're next back this way, we head off.

There's a falls I think we can get to, so we're zigzagging our way there, alas it's a private road so we have to turn back, a bit. But we head for Carrick Castle, and get there just as a dog runs towards us! The dogs lady apologises, but we explain we're more than happy to be greeted, the dog decides against it...

Our shadows being narrowly outdone by the castle.

 

Back on the road we see if we can stop at the "Rest and Be Thankful", but we flub it a little, plus it's raining, there are road works, so we power on to Arrochar, not pronounced like Arrow-char, but like A-Rocker, the Coylet Inn's resident Derby girl had let us know. Parking up outside we have to duck into the bar to see if someone can check us in. The Lochside Guesthouse, it's nice, and cosy. The girl checking us in asks if we'll be down for breakfast, indeed we will, it'll be a Friday morning. The one day of the week I pay some kind of homage to my Hindu heritage, and try to be as strictly vegetarian as possible.

As we turn to leave, I knock a monitor over, onto the desk and not the ground. The member of staff attending to us asks if it's ok then leads on, phew disaster averted. The room is nice, the view is amazing. Sofia heads out to snap some photos. Our food choices are limited, so we go to Cu Mara, I go for chicken, plus some salads, I also grab a Shandy. Once we get it back to our home for the night, I realise my foolishness, I can't drink beer, and this is a shandy, but there's beer in it. Gout you irritating so and so you.

The foods good, but Sofia notices we've had fried chicken for dinner twice in a row. Oh dear indeed, the wheels have come off the diet train, it's day four. We call it a day and hit the sack.

N.b. The day I started writing "Day 4", was the day I saw my brother again for the first time in over two years. I'd last seen him when we'd gone to the cinema to see Avengers Endgame, in April 2019. That was after over a year of not seeing or hearing from him at all. Anyway that's why I was in Manchester. He messaged me and we hit the National Football museum, neither of us really follow football. But it was close and indoors. I'd tested negative for covid the day before, but Sofia has and had it at the time.

So I was masked up, waiting outside the National Football Museum, I noticed I was picking up every brown face as "Brother!?", no that's a woman, sikh man, child etc. So I tuned down my hyperfocus, so much so he walked right up to me.

We fell back into our rhythm of joking, making each other laugh, explaining facts etc. It was nice, and we confirmed we'd do it again, with vague February 2023 being the date that's pencilled in.