December 8
Tonight Sue and I went to Denfert Rochereau for the shuttle bus heading to Orly Airport. However, because of the accumulated snow on the road, the bus was out of service, and we had no choice but went to Antony RER station for the Orlyval airport shuttle train. To our disappointment, we missed the last shuttle train and had to spend more money on the taxi heading to the airport. The night staying at Orly was awful. Many people just slept on the chair, with the feet crouching on the luggages, or simply lay on the ground with their sleeping bags, literally without any comfort. There is no place for people to really rest. I only slept for four hours lying on the table.
December 9
After the flight of an hour and a half, during which I was in deep slumber, we finally arrived in Rome. The weather in Rome was pretty nice, even though it was cloudy, the temperature was moderate. We took a shuttle bus from the Ciampino airport to the Anagnina metro station, which may be the lowest cost in Europe, only 1€20, and then to the Termini central station.
My travel companion Sue, a 2o-year-old girl from Beijing is a very prudent traveller. She would plan everything and get all the information before hitting on the road. We spent an hour or so getting the information because the guide book was lost when we were sleeping in Orly.
Our first stop was Colosseo, the ancient amphitheatre that held the combats among men or beasts. It is a pity that we did not have the budget to enter it, and also we did not know the history without the guide book. Then we just walked around the Roman forum and took some photos, later on I found my weekly metro ticket lost, which cost me 16€. Feeling really bad, I could not enjoy myself later on even though the sunshine came out.
After we visited the Bocca della Verita, I went cross Circo Massimo and then went to the Colosseo to buy another weekly ticket. I spent some time in the National Library, supposing that I could use a little bit computer and recharge my phones and camera as well, but I could not. There is no internet service, and the students just focus on their study, reports, and the documents. Even though it seem to be a little bit inconvenient, I think it is a good way to avoid from distraction of internet. Even though we Taiwanese student work much longer than Italian students, we do not necessarily have more efficiency. We surf the internet, chat on MSN, update facebook, and so on when we are doing reports and so.
That night we just stayed in Termini until eight, trying to find the way to get to Fabrizio, our couchsurfing host's place, and printed out the ticket for Florence because we lost the documents.
Fabrizio is an middle age Italian guy. He is well-organised and had a very cozy apartment.
December 10
After taking the two hours train from Termini station, we arrived Florence around twelve. Compared with the scale of Rome, Florence is a small city that people can reach all the attractions within one day.
December 11
The train from Florence back to Rome was delayed for more than two hours. The whole morning was wasted. Sue seemed not to care because she felt so excited to go back to China. As for me, having no choice, I could only fill in my journal. We arrived at Termini at three twenty, but had the problem to contact Amber, who did not answer the SMS and phone call for forty minutes, and at last saying that she was lost and not able to join us.
We visited Saint Pietro at Vatican city at the dusk. The architecture was really breath-taking. Also we can see the remarkable sculpture, Pièta, featuring the solemn expression of the Mary holding dead Jesus. The trauma conveyed by visual experience the is beyond language. We spent some time in a restaurant writing our postcards to send.
December 12
Sue took the plane back to Paris, and the journey becomes the trip of only Amber and me. Amber is an eccentric girl that shares many characteristics in common. We are poor and frugal, sometimes encountered with some unexpected bad luck.
Really cloudy and glommy day, as we would like to visit Vatican Museum, which is closed on Sunday, we decided to visit Castel Angelo just near by. We saw the fortress that have been there for many years and also the sculptures on the top of it.
December 13
Literally blue monday, the sky was incredibly blue, no cloud and the sunshine was beautiful. The day was start with the walk along the beach of Tyrhenean sea. We took a lot of picture, including my favorite jumping poses.
We took the train first visited the Vatican city.
December 14
Our first stop today is Vatican city. The crypt, the church. The light shooting from the glass window was marvelous.
We visited Sistine Chapel for the first stop and then ended with it. It was the most beautiful religious fresco I have ever seen in my life. The creation on the ceiling and the last judgment on the wall of the alter.
Squeezed in the train, I thought it was Amber that gripped my backpack, since I have told her before to hold me if there is nowhere to hold on the train. When I got off the bus, a black passenger just told me that there was a pickpocket. Seeing the pocket of my bag open, I realised that I was the victim of the thievery. Frantically searching but no use, all of my memories in Rome are gone like wind. I will never forget the face of that guy. He is a middle-build caucasian, with green eyes and disgusting alcohol smell.
That night I did not feel like buying food in the Carrefour. It was nice that the Spanish couple, Julio and Veronica brought some food to share with us. They are actually working in the film industry and fervently shared to us about their project.
December 15
We visited the Colosseo once again and I tried to venture that "what it would be like if we were together." After several thoughts, the result I received was negative. After all, friendship and love are distinctly two different things, which I did not really undrstand. Anyway, this was my first attempt to candidly express my feeling and a big breakthrough as well.
Not feeling embarrassed nor awkward, we continued our visit to Villa Bognese, the northern part of Rome city. After ascending several passages upward, we arrived at the top, a huge surface of highland, where we can overlook the dazzling view of the whole Rome city. We found a meadow in the park, then we lay on it, and talking under the sunlight. Amber shared to me a lot about her family. Never had I known that she has undergone all that, because she seemed to be so optimistic.
Tiffany is a beautiful and nice girl. She waited for me more than half and hour in front of the Piazza Sainta Maria. We had an Asian buffet for only 12€, the quality really worth much more than the price.
At night we parted, after 7 days in the passionate Italy.
