In which we lose her, and we find her...

Wow, after 56 hours (roughly) in transit from Santorini through to Rome we finally made it. It was pretty rough, but we managed to see this ace sunset:



Anyway, we got to our hostel, M&J place hostel, and I just wanted to cry. The place is such a hole, tiny cubicle showers where everything you own gets wet, no kitchen (only open from 3pm to 10pm!!) holes in the ceilings, cracks all over the walls, beds that are falling apart, rust and dirt everywhere. But I stopped being a whingy moaner and realised that we have a pretty ace location and after all, its just a bed to sleep in. We also have a supermarket nearby which is ace because we can buy breakfast, lunch, and dinner from there at a fraction of the cost of eating out in rome.

The next day we got up bright and early and went to the train station to pick up mum. We waited, and waited, and waited. The train came, and went. We roamed the station looking for mum, and checked if there were any other trains coming from Bologna (where she was due from), and there were none. I was pretty panicked, so we went to an ecafe so I could try to skype call her. Her phone was off, but i got a hold of may lee and dad, but no mum. After another circuit of the Termini station we decided to go out anyway, and we were pretty sure she would show up at the hostel when her train came in. It was a bit crappy though, because we were both worried about her and we packed it in pretty quickly.




We went back to the hostel and lying on my bed was mum!!! her train was running late, and so she had to stay on the local train which arrived 2 hours later. She had been texting my phone, but my greek sim card was causing my phone to glitch.

The next day (today) we went to the Colosseum, and did a lap of the inside. It's a lot smaller than I thought it'd be! We went for a jaunt around the area, including the Arch of Constantine, and the Roman Forum. We then walked up to Trajan's column, and on towards the Trevi Fountain. I couldn't believe the crowd at Trevi Fountain, I mean, I knew it was going to be ridiculously busy, but this was insanity. The square the fountain was in was packed, but so were the streets leading up to the square!!! (If you can avoid it, DONT COME TO ROME IN THE SUMMER!!!)







After the Trevi Fountain we went to the Pantheon, which was a bit stink because they've got massive scaffolding up over half of the front of it! We then walked over to Piazza Navona and watched the street performers, and looked at the paintings for sale. There are great fountains and statues all over town.

We were knackered, so we headed home to our hostel to pack for our adventure tomorrow - we're joining the Busabout 3 day italian adventure tour, which goes to Pompeii and the Isle of Capri.

more later
xx Laura

p.s. sorry no pics of Stacy this time - these are all his photos, because I accidentally locked my camera deep inside my backpack :S

p.p.s. my computer was uploading really slowly, so about halfway through I stopped putting up pics. Next time I'll put more effort in, I promise.