Rome and Pompeii
These albums are now up.
When in Rome…
Usually the follow-up to this phrase is an upbeat, happily indulgent sentiment. My experience was a little different. I might finish instead with “make sure you’re never in a hurry” or “…constant vigilance!” or “don’t expect it to be a breeze.” So my versions end up being more like cautionary tales. Don’t get me wrong, Rome was great. Rome itself was great. The various logistics are where you need to be careful. Let’s begin with my very long travel day.
Wake up at 7:45am to pack and finish my paper. Leave my room at 9:30am for my 4:15pm flight from Glasgow. (Given the program’s track record with flights out of Glasgow, my worry was not totally unjustified – 2 out of 3 had missed theirs because of transportation – but I was being a little excessive.) 45 minute train to Queen Street Station. Leisurely stroll to Central (a very well-marked route, no need for a map). Stop in a café for an hour. Leave for Prestwick on the 1pm train. Arrive at 1:45. Check in. Wait.
So that was pleasantly surprisingly easy in any case. Then I boarded the plane. The landing is where it all starts, really. On our first approach, the pilot missed the runway because of fog, so we had to circle to pass again and landed 20 minutes late. The bus was easy to find and pretty cheap, so that was good. The ride was supposed to be 25 minutes, however there was a multi-car accident on the freeway and it ended up being an hour and 20 minutes. When I finally arrived at Termini, and met up with Naari, we got a nice dinner nearby (at the same place we ate when we were there 6 years ago, coincidentally) and she proceeded to break the news that Friday was a transportation strike day. No trains = no Pompeii. Okay, not the end of the world, we decided to make it a quick trip on Saturday instead, problem solved.
Check-in at hostel. Go to bed. Wake up at 7:30 and walk around the city.
I saw a couple new things, and then went to St. Peters and the Pantheon – my favourites. We got some real Italian gelato and cappuccino (with lots of sugar), and a suppli, and headed to the shopping district under instructions from my mom to get something leather. After settling on looking for a belt, we walked into a couple stores without any luck, then happened upon a Prada, which for some reason I’m predisposed to like. Don’t ask me, I don’t know. But I did find a belt I liked. It was outrageously expensive, but I bought it anyway and had a long episode of buyer’s remorse.
Still ambivalent about my purchase, we tried to find the Fendi store so Naari could look at handbags. While walking down a side street, I passed too close to a stand and a group of gypsies proceeded to bump into me and essentially surround me. Feeling tugs at my pockets, I spun around to walk backwards and quickened my pace to catch up to Naari. This left them behind. Thankfully with nothing of mine accompanying them. A little shaken by this blatant breach of common human courtesy, we tried to enjoy the rest of our night, which we did end up finishing off with a nice meal of mozzarella di buffala (my new favourite cheese) and tomatoes from a mozzarella bar oddly reminiscent of a sushi joint. Complete with ‘–’ over the vowels: ōbikā. Returning to the hostel after a long day and managing to drift off around 11:30, I was awakened by my roommates’ entrance at 12:30. Granted, they were trying to be quiet, and I wasn’t all that fast asleep anyway, but come on, they turned on the overhead light! So I lay there awkwardly trying to seem like I was still asleep, but I did not manage to drift off until an hour later when they finally turned off the light again.
Wake up at 5:45am. Check out of hostel. Walk to Termini. Receive call from Naari at 6:20 “I’m so sorry! I overslept! I won’t make it!” Take train by myself. Wait for an hour in Napoli for Naari, who is a train behind me. Get some excellent mozzarella di buffala when she gets in. Off to Pompeii.
It was amazing, but because it was so big, you really needed a map, which we somehow neglected to pick up on our way in. Our one stroke of providence was finding a map on the ground just as we were about to give up our quest to satisfy our morbid desire to see the plasters of the preserved people. We finished up in a couple hours, then took the train back rather uneventfully. I caught the bus to Ciampino Airport, and proceeded to try to pay for counter check in.
Wait in line for 40 minutes. While person in line before me is being helped, am told that I needed to check in first, then pay – grr, but technically my fault. Wait in line again, but only 15 minutes this time, and get a receipt. Take it back and wait another 15 minutes to pay a 3 euro service charge, which I have to put on a card due to new ryanair policy. Go back and get my boarding pass. Plane boards 15 minutes late. Leaves 20 minutes late.
We made up some time in flight, but on descent it was extremely windy, with some off-balance teetering which made me extremely nervous and we were unable to land. Our second pass, however, was successful and we got in a little after midnight. Now I had boarded at the back of the plane expecting to be able to unload there as well, like I’d done on the flight down. No go. I had to wait for the front door, then fill out a card at passport control, then run out to the bus stop to catch the last one to Glasgow, only to see it driving away two blocks down the road. Hooray. Night at the Airport. If only there were living museum exhibits there too, it might have made the next 9 hours pass by more quickly. So I plopped down in a restaurant lounge chair to read a bit. A little after 1, I decide to make a couch of a couple of these chairs and try to snooze. I get really cold around 2, so I take out my blanket, which had previously been serving as a pillow, and put it over me to go back to sleep.
Later, I am shaken awake with the comment “time to get up” spoken to me by a waitress from the restaurant. Wow, I thought, that went by quick, it must be 7 or 8 by now, and they need to open. I looked around the rest of the restaurant where my fellow stranded were stretched out in their booths and chairs, but none of these others had been woken. Huh. So I checked my phone. 4:30am? As it dawned on me, I had to stifle a laugh. It had to have been the quilt. It is, after all, 20 years old and does look rather ratty, but still, did I really look like a homeless person rather than a traveller? I put the quilt back in my bag, went over towards the bathroom to chuckle in peace, and found a new seat by the baggage claim.
At 5:00 the other stores opened, which was perfect because I had just finished my one and only book, so I got up in search of a new one. I settled on a co-authored Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, which by those criteria alone promises to be great. Then I grabbed a Starbucks and sat down for some comfort chai tea – well worth the price at this point – and proceeded to write up my weekend. Finally taking the train at 9:20 proved to be an uneventful end to my trip. Though falling asleep on the train and missing my stop would have been more interesting and entertaining, at least after the fact, I’m glad to say that it didn’t happen.
London and St. Andrews
Albums are up now for these two trips.
Ben More
Last weekend Chelsea and I tried to hike Ben More, the 16th highest peak in the UK. Its name literally means “big hill.” It’s only 1174m high, but when got there we discovered that there was no trail. You are supposed to go straight up the hill to the top. Through marsh and mud and cows and sheep. And we had to walk 2 miles from the hostel to the trailhead. So we got high up enough to see over the other side of the mountain and called it a day. Had we been properly equipped (ie had knee-high rain boots) and been in the right state of mind though, it would have been a little easier/more enjoyable and the top would’ve been reached. Plus side, we did get to see some rowdy football fans on our train back from Glasgow to Edinburgh who had some wonderful songs to sing to make the ride go faster…
***There is now an album tab at the top of the post area — between ‘home’ and ‘RSS’– where I’ve posted a new one from the hike. The Iona album is also now on that page. Apparently the plugin is designed so you have a separate page and it’ll automatically add new albums to it. So from now on I’ll post when I have a new one, and you can go there to see the pictures.
Iona Album
Ok, so I created an album, but I’m still not quite sure how to make it in the right order, or have the picture link to a new window. It’s kind of a random jumble right now, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. Also, I wanted to have a larger size picture available. Right now it loads on the page after you press the thumbnail and it’s huge — goes off the page. To see the whole picture in a new window, just click on the image. There’s a little description on some of the photos if you scroll down before viewing the image. Kind of a lot of work just to see some pictures, but I wanted to get them up soon. I’ll be tweaking it over time.
Hot Fuzz anyone?
Bus Tour
Yes it was cheesy, and freezing, but I got some nice pictures out of it. We took one around the main city and one that went down to the coast and back.
(you can click on the thumbnails to see bigger versions of the pictures)
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The Scottish Parliament. Not my favorite building… |
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The Castle. |
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A better view of New College. Then pictures of New Town and the sea. |
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Wandering Around
I’ve spent the majority of the last several days wandering aimlessly (or getting lost while actually trying to get somewhere) around the areas I most need to be familiar with. There’s a really nice park somewhere in the middle that I took some pictures of.
And then there are some from north of where my classes are - around Princes street, which seems to be the sort of ‘downtown’ area…
And in the last one the building up on the hill behind the flag is New College, where my classes are.
Ugh…Walking
I was hoping that my walk to class would be shorter than it looks, but it’s not. It’s 30 minutes only if I’m really moving. A leisurely pace would probably get me there in closer to 45. I’ll only have to do it three times a week though…
My Dorm Room
Here are some pictures of my dorm room and the view from its windows. Nothing special, but overall pretty comfy. Actually I’m pretty happy with the lounge chair.
