Italy

19th June - Rome Day 1

The airport shuttle from Ciampino airport to Rome’s Stazione Termini costs 6 €, and takes approximately 1 hour. We arrived at our hostel, Freedom Traveller, along via Gaeta (5 minutes walk from the Stazione Termini), to find a notice that they were closed due to some “electrical problems”, and that they were doing their best to relocate their customers like us elsewhere, while they deal with the problem. The notice directed us to another entrance, where we were welcomed by one of the staff who explained to us that we could deposit our bags first, but could only check in after 2.30pm when the other hostel was ready to receive us.

We put our bags in some shabby SHED and left the hostel to walk around town and find food to make up for the lack of dinner the night before and breakfast that morning. LC arrived in Rome too from Padova (near Venice) after staying with Fili, and arranged to meet with us. In the time the four of us toured Switzerland, he visited Budapest and Padova and Pisa before taking the train down to meet us in Rome. As if our morale and fatigue level was not low enough, LC warned us further about our fears of Italy, that it was a pickpocket paradise. He shared with us that his regular train ride from Padova to Rome was an awful one, with many black people loitering the corridors and checking each compartment to see what they could loot if people weren’t careful. Yet he explained that they somehow managed a disappearing act whenever the conductors showed up. I wasn’t sure how much of what he narrated was an exaggeration, but I was fully aware of the dangers of backpacking around Italy prior to my arrival. The scare effect was mildly suppressed for me as I knew all my train tickets I booked on Trenitalia were that of the Eurostar, the best trains Italy had to offer. But I had booked the ES through the internet when I was still in Denmark based on fastest traveling time since I was going to rush through Italy, so for additional speed, comfort and slight security, why not pay a bit more for peace of mind?

After Grace, SY, and YH bought their tickets to Pisa and Florence at the ticket office, the 5 of us left to grab a quick lunch at a Pizzeria before walking towards the Colosseum. We joined the queue, thinking of trying our luck to get a discounted ticket of 6.50 € for EU students (usual price 11 €) if we showed our Danish visa. While LC went forward to make that enquiry, there was this guy in front of me who heard me speaking to the other Singaporeans in English, and turned around asking if I was from the States. I declined and proudly clarified that I was from Singapore, to which he was calmly surprised that I spoke perfect English. I told him it was our first language, Mandarin being our second. He told me he was from Arizona, and I asked if he came from Tuscon. He replied with some other town which I never heard, but explained that he was in the military, and was being stationed in S, an island off the west coast of Italy near Rome. In a few minutes, LC returned from the front of the 100m long queue and said we couldn’t get any discount, so I bade Alberto farewell and we left the Colosseum since we knew the insides would be ruins no different from what we might expect outside at the Palatino.

We walked about the Palatino, under the unbearable heat, before LC decided to bid us farewell and return to rest in his hostel. The remaining 4 of us stayed a while longer before leaving the Palatino. On our way back, we met with yet another surprise, when we bumped into 4 of our friends Song Ning, Grace (Yan), Amy and William, who were barely halfway through their grand 40 day Europe tour! Without any prior arrangements, what were the chances of meeting them in Rome?! We arranged to visit the Vatican the following Tuesday at 10am before going our separate ways. We returned to our hostel by 3pm, and the guy showed to the apartment 5 minutes away from the original one. Along the way, I bravely asked him what the problem was (to clarify my presuppositions that the mafia had ordered the closure or something similar), and he clarified that they had just completed renovations but the fire department had not found time to re-issue the license back, so they were thus not allowed to allow people to live there.

Our new location was better than expected, with 2 rooms, each housing 6 beds in a 5th floor apartment with a shared kitchen and bathroom. We rested a bit, before heading downstairs to buy groceries to cook dinner later after a “quick” nap. Unfortunately, we did not expect to wake up 15 hours later at 8.30am! Apparently, we were so tired out from the lack of sleep in Geneva and the unbearable heat that the sleep took that long a time. At least we were more than rejuvenated to visit the Vatican the next morning.

20th June - Rome Day 2

We headed to the Vatican City by metro (1 € for a one way ticket), and queued for over an hour before finally getting into the Vatican Museum to visit the Sistine Chapel in particular (8 € for students, normal price 11 €). When we came out 3 hours later at 3pm, we found the entrance “queue-less”. Word of advice - if you want to avoid the long queues to visit the Vatican Museum, go in the afternoon, but you will have less time to visit the museum before it closes at 4.45pm. We later walked around the walls of the Vatican City to St. Peter’s Square where the Basilica was, and visited the tomb of Pope John Paul II under the church. I paid my respects, left and went up the cupola (4 € to climb, 7 € for the lift, more exciting on foot if you ask me). At the top we got the perfect view of Rome and the entire St. Peter’s square, shaped like a key. We were, however, one day too early in seeing Pope Benedict XVI make his weekly appearance.

On our way back to Termini, we passed by Piazza Nuvona, and the famous Trevi fountain. Back at our hostel, I cooked cabonara for dinner, which we bought the night before but failed to eat. In the kitchen, I met Bernice and Codi, who moved to Toronto from Hong Kong, and were now touring Europe.

Thanks to LC, we arranged to meet Beta who had returned back home to Rome from Denmark, so that night, we met her at Campo de fiori for one round of drinks. She brought us back to her apartment nearby, and we were welcomed with an exclusive interior as posh as a hotel (despite our initial impressions from the run-down building entrance). She took us up to the roof terrace, where we got a clear view of the Piazza Venetia, and then took us on a short ride around the city before driving us back to our hostel.

21st June - Rome – Florence – Pisa – Florence - Pavia

Wednesday morning, I bade SY, YH, and Grace farewell, and made my way to the Termini to take my 8.30am train to Florence. Horrors of horrors, it got cancelled. From then on, everything else in the day got bad to worse, as you will read on. I was told by the staff to board the 8.55am train instead, with no reservations. Luckily, I found myself a seat aboard the crowded train, and arrived late in Florence. After depositing my backpack and laptop in the deposit section, I bought a ticket (5.10 €) for the 11.57am train to Pisa San Rossore, just to visit the Leaning Tower.Other than the tower, there really isn’t anything else in Pisa. Breaking away from convention, I didn’t want to take the “standard” picture of holding my hands to support the tower. Instead, I took pictures of people making those poses. I left after an hour back to Pisa San Rossore, the nearer station as opposed to Pisa Centrale, but found out there was no train from San Rossore back to Florence. I trekked for 45minutes back to Pisa Centrale on foot, before finding out that all trains back to Florence was cancelled due to strikes! I was told by the staff that the next avail train back to Florence was at 6pm, 2 and a half hour from now. I explained that I couldn’t risk missing my 7.14pm train from Florence to Milan, so the staff advised me to take a bus (0.85 €) to the Pisa airport, then transfer to another bus to Florence.

I took the 5pm terravision bus (7.50 €), and arrived back in Florence at 6.30pm thankfully. Unfortunately, I never really got to see the beautiful city of Florence. The 7.14pm train to Milan was punctual, but stopped in Piacenza enroute to Milan at 9.30pm because they claimed the tracks ahead were on fire, so more delays were expected. I was supposed to reach Milan at 10pm, but would now reach at an estimated 12.15am. I thanked my lucky stars the train would stop at Pavia first before Milan. Otherwise, I would have missed the last train from Milan. When I got to Pavia just before midnight, I messaged Chiara and was finally overjoyed to see a dear friend in sight, after one whole day of disappointments. 5 minutes of walk later, we reached her place and retired for the night.

22nd June - Milan - Pavia

23rd June - Padova

24th June - Venice