young turk

We arrived in Turkey after a short trip on the ferry, and were hit with our first surprise. fifty bloody Euroes for a visa.... A quick negotiation and we let through. (first born son will now be a turkish imagrant)

Not just any bus!

Bus travel in Turkey is special. to actualy catch a bus, you need to catch a minibus to the main tour bus, which do not come into town. There is no smoking on a turkish bus, but the driver can smoke through the window. Each bus has its own steward, or pair of stewards, who will grant your every whim.. err read that as supply water, coke, and an endless suply of cheap cologne. their are strict rules regarding the seating of women, and Dim always gets the window facing the sun.

SELJUK

our first stop over was Jimmy's place in SELJUK. Easily the highlight of the asia minor experience. Not only does it lie next door to Ephisus (a magnificient city of the bizantine empire), the ruins of of the greatest temple of the ancient world, and a steam train museum! (dim wouldn't let me go see the trains.... she is such a spoil sport!)

Jimmys place was excellent. We took the delux room, and partook of their many services. they have an excellent library of lonely planets, and tourism info. they excell at organising your day, weather it be trips, guides, or advice. Jimmy married an Australian girl, and always makes you feel welcome. The food at Jimmy's was also excellent. Our last night there included a bbq and belly dance. i tell you know that the turks can realy shake it. the big girls aren't afraid to shake those golden charms. I can't recomend jimmys place enough. they were outstanding. they are always looking for help and many or the staff are actualy tourists.



Ephesus

The ruins of Ephesus are magnificent. The grandure lavished on the city is quite beyond belief, from pure marble streets an enourmous ampetheta that seats 24,000. Many of the ruins have been put back together, and there is alot to see. We are becomming old hands with roman ruins by now, running excitedly down the length main streets, and climbing steps and coulumns. The city once sat by the sea, but the coast is now kilometers away.

Roman ruıns....

you thought you had heard the last.....

well guess what Turkey rocks. roman/byzantıne madness...


WOW! enormous ammpetheta that sits 24,000, plus a theatre that sıts another 1,500. Plus some enourmous fascades


Pamukkale

not a day to leave your sunglasses behind. the blisteringly White walls and the limestone infused waters. The gorgeous vista is something to behold if you are not squinting your eyes tightly in the bright Mediterranean sunlight

A perfect place to set up a health spa and recuperation spot for the romans. This also means it has an excellent Necropolis.

this post is now 8 years over due, and i have refused to fix the spelling.

EAT EAT, a helenic odyesy

Have spent a week in Thessaloniki and surrounds... very enjoyable

greek food: OH MAN!!!! did i mention the cheap giros, and bougatsa (Thessaloniki speciality)

We have done some exploring of Thessaloniki. It has a syrprısıng number of byzantıne ruıns and churches dotted amongst the tall apartment buıldıngs. Unfortunately everythıng ıs made of solid concrete, not the most thermodynamıc medıum. The horızon of each ıs clustered wıth tv antenas, a spiky forest ontop. Described as being in a wonderful trade location, and having changed hands many times in countless wars, although the locals claim that they are macedonian through and through. (that republic of macedonia has stolen the name and shall not be mentioned in everyday speak). the history is absent of poets and philosophers, aparently this was not there kind of town. It is the second largest city in greece and has a large number of byzantine relics including city walls, and countless orthodox chuches.

Bored with Thessaloniki we visted Dims cousin Popi in Paralia (sounds like pricess Leah) on the coast. It is flooded with tourista's, most from eastern Europe. Aparently the roads from germany and austria are clogged up in croatia and bosnai etc... when the area clears up the locals hope that the cash laden germans turn up again. for now it is rumanians and bulgarainas and russians and even poles.... And what do they buy?! Fur coats of course. countless opertunitys exist to model a fassionable mink or fox in the 36 degree heat... they are all crazy!

the beach has nice sand, and the water is warm, but swims with sea grass and is quite murky. the beach itself suffers from poplation pressure and is covered with cigaret buts bannan lounges and parasols... did I mention the swarms of tourists as far as the eye can see. The europeans like to let it all hang out. Let the world see their huge stomachs and red glazed flesh. have they not heard of sunscreen!

popi and her daughters wre lots of fun, hopefuly they will vist australia one day. I also got to meat yuana, her two monsters and aunt katina. Yuana's husband Nikos was lots of fun for a retired european chamion boxer.. firts one I have met with an unbroken nose!.. Am trying to learn greek to help with comunication, but my chardes are getting better and better. Nikos runs a cantina and has the best food in greece. I still tremble at the thought of his mouth watering souvalaki.


Sıght seeıng

Meteora:
we borrowed a car and set out to see some greece. We visited the Meteora, which is a cluster of pinacles each surmounted by a monestry or the remains of one... Very scenic and well worth the trip. each are sheer sided, and insanely high. Six of the 24 still function and are covered by termite like tourists, who scale each in turn. Two was enough for us, then we took off for the slopes of mount Olympus

Dina:
We visietd the ancient ruins of Dina, where there is a magnificinet examples of a 4000 year old city. the city was abandoned in roman times due to earth quakes and floods (300ad I think). it was here that Alexander the great sacrificed many a cow at the temple of Zeus before setting out to conquor Asia. It was here that 50 of his generals married indian brides, and the temple of isis is also to be found as egyptian influences threaded their way back from Alexanders campaigns. this was the capital of MAecedon, walking down its unearthed streets, stadia and villas was a real eye opener. As impressive as pompei, the ruins have been steadily excavated since 1922, but much has fallen victim to the same springs that teh city was founded on. many of the temples are now reduced back to swamps, and frogs and dragonflys skip between the statues of athena and isis.

Deep down inside I am just a archeolical geek.

A week spent with the relatives, playing tag with the airconditioner (aunt katina loves to turn it off, we love to tyurn it on), sucking in the polution of europe, and it was time to leave.... On to the agean and the island of Lesvos.

LESVOS!!

history leson:
settled in ancient times, populated by dionysyis worshiping wine drinking greeks, conquored by the persians in 500 bc before alexander the great moved in and cleaned their clocks. Romans turned up around the time of christ, and the byzatine empire ruled till 1300 ad... during that time the locals were reduced in number by many pirate raids etc.. then came the genoese (venitian merchants) they beefed up the defenses, provided some security and trade flourished. the island produced the best wine in europe, olive oil and ouzo, which it still does. (the grapes got destroyed in the 50's along with the rest of europe by that root sucking bug.)

any way... the turks moved in about 500 years ago, and turned all the locals into slaves.. well those that they did not masacre... that ended in the 20's when the turks were relocated and the greeks took independence again... known as the asia minor disater by the gereks, and the day of national independence by the turks... since then the locals have made enough from ouzo and the olives to be financialy independant.. they even apear friendly to the toristas that turn up. Did i mention the Lesbians?!

yes the poet saffo made a name for herself praising the femine form form its beauty, and yes she did bat for the other side. her home town was eros on the this verys same island of Lesvos.. and yes that is where the name comes from. We met a couple of delightful lesbians from Australia who were makeing the pilgramage to her home town..... would you believe that one was a warfie!?

we are staying in the the township of molivos (AKA mithyma). the village clusters around a small mountain right next to the port. the sky line is dominated by the castle at its top. We are staying at the Naxos guest house (which i highly recomend). It affords excelent views accross the sea, and we get an excellent sea breeze to boot. It makes the scorchingly hot weather quite bearable. sun sets about 9:00pm, and turns a purple colour as it sinks into the polution haze of Europe. it actualy disapears before it reaches the horizon! the good news is that the water is pristine and pure, though rather salty and cold... i suspect that we are in a current that extends from the black sea through the bosforus and onto the med. At night you can see the winking lights of turkey. it is excelent.

Did I mention the vine covered markets? the narrow cobled streets criss cross the mountain slope, adn the market itself is covered by ancient trees, woven into a latice that shades the sun. the shopping is excellent, and the jewelery is vey beautiful(although it is a bit of a tourist trap, and overopriced.) Dim has put us further into debt, but has a fabulous new neclace!

Sights of lesvos:

petrified forest:

the island volcanic history has flattened several forrests through the ages. remanants of these forests have been preserved in a petrified form.. we ourselves were merely aprehensive! Much of the eastern island has these trees which date back 20 million years beneath the surface. we took a gander at forests that ha been flattened 20 million years ago, and thier offspring which grew up on their ash covered corpses, only to be flatened 15 million years ago.... humans have siince changed the climate, and tres are very few and far between.

winery:

years ago the vinyards of lesvos held the utmost respect in the courts of turkey and much of europe. they had a particular variety unique to trhe island...... that was yuntill they were wiped out by a bug... A winery in the centre of things has revesed this trnd. they have recovered a few vines from ancient stock, and grafted them onto bug resistant root stock. We took time out to investigate the winery and were greatly surprised. the wine is coloured like an anciet grape, aroma of a muskat, and tastes luike the sulphouros volcano that gave birth to the lands... We have a couple of bottles to polish off tonight. Buggar carrying them home!

Beaches:

the water is achingly cold, but crystal clear on most beaches, unfortunately there is very little in the way of sand. Each beach is made4 from pebbles that range in size from large salt crystals to base balls. A few beaches have sand, but it is gray and dusty.... luckily the weather is hot, and the water is a great relief. Chanced on a nudist beach the other day.... "When in rome"

Scenery:

the western side is a little more verdant than the east, but by verdant I mean dry yellow grass, a few trees, and not as many rocks. Some areas are little more than a bouldar garden, and some farmers seem to have divided their share of the rock with rock walls..... to what gain I no not. The terain is varied, but keeps a constant theme of ignious rock, dry grass, and pale dusty green oilive trees. Roads are narrow and windy, our hire car was lucky to be traveling at 60 km/hr. We managed to see alot of the island by car today, we even vistied Eros... a bit of a disapointment, lost of lesbians, but not as senic as where we are staying. We have not visited the capital of mitalyini, but feel that we have a good grasp of the inhabitants and teh island.

A word on greek nature...

Service... if it is paid for, it should be delivered with reluctance, in an ugly manner, otherwise they are wionderfuly friendly. money is not the objective, and a casual chat to a neighbor takes precedence over business.

buggar walking: the locals will drive 50m rather than walk, the sound of two stroke engines fills the night till late, as the locals shuffel around on their bikes between bar, beach, resturaunt and convienience store.

ques are not for us: greeks do not like waiting, and will regualrly form a wall rather than a line. The mılıtary art of the phalanx has not been lost, just replace the spears and sheild wıth coffee and a pack of fags.

greek language: I am begining to understand the elements of language, even the alphabet, but it has many anature that I am not so enamoured with. to speak greak well you must shout!, and even whine.. it all adds great charisma, and translates in a very humerous fashion when they speak english.

EAT EAT!: as each greek reaches 50 their waste line sudenly explodes. I am falling victim to the foods myself, and have put on at least three kilos. have made myself rather popular with the family over hear by eating copiuos quantitys of Giro and Giro and Giro.

off to turkey tommorro.... Staying at a place called Jimmy's.. they issue directions that include what not to beilieve. Aparently we are not to beiliev any one that says that jimmys has burnt down, under renovation, full, hosts on holliday, or does not know wher it is..... Will be an experience amonst the carpet salesman

Afterthoughts, Paris v's London

Paris

Have you ever thought how nice a city can be if evey single inhabitant, regardless of nationality, knows the word "merci" (thankyou). I found that Paris was wonderfull to travel in, with its multicultural mix, and a politeness that I was not expecting.

London...

I know it is a large city, but why is every one in such a hurry. Why do you get bruised walking through a train station. And why does no obne say please, or excuse me, or "sorry I just knocked you down". That and TV Liscences. I thought that Dim was joking. But there do exist TV liscence vans that prowel the neighbor hood scanning for unliscensed TV's. Would you believe you need a liscence for each TV in a home. I felt unclean when I found out.

advice to female travellers.. wash your hair with bottled water, unless you prefer the bottle brush look. the high amounts of disolved chalk/lime etc makes the water verry harsh on hair. I am begging to look like Ice man from top gun.

Arival In Greece

Have landed safely in salonika, and within two hours of arival was up to my arm pits in food. Wonderous, tastey, meat, and salad, and bread, and cheese. This country loves you with food. Had my fortune read in a cup of coffe by the matriach of the clan. Aparently I will learn of an engagement when I make a long distance Phone call... there was also some unclear details about a horse... mabee a horse race.

I Have been enjoying the local cuisine. one of the local delicacys is a kind of jam made from whole grapes. They are tremendously sweet, and drip with suggary treacle. so going to put on weight. We are not sure what to see firts, and are thinking about Island hoping our way to turkey. We were warned that the turks are barbarians (asumedly not just because they wear pants!), but i don't think that all greeks and turks get along so well.

The Temperature is scorchingly hot, and we are both begginging to look like black fellas. I hope that the weather down under is not too cold, or wet, or wet and cold, or frosty and cold, or sunny and cold.... MWHAAHAHAHA

Mud River- the Thames and London

A quick trip on the euro star and we are in London. Four hours later and I am on the Thames with MAtt Earle. The river is at least 5 times wider than the yarra, violent and muddy. The tides are viscous, churning the bottom mud up to the surface, and creating waves and slop. Makes it all quite difficult to enjoy a paddle. Matt rows out of Thames Rowing Club and is located in Putney next to a bunch of others, much like Princess bridge on the Yarra. The good news is that Sharron and Richard also Live in Putney, and have put us up for the duration of our Stay.

Love London. Seems that it is full of intenerant workers. Everyting is built for a continual stream of new faces, ones that will not be back again. Peole say that the service is bad because they don't have to keep happy people who are only going to be here 12 months. I have found all the waitress/waitors to be charming, although I have had a problem speaking english with them. So far we have viseted a horde of glorius sights including the British museum, and the Bunker. The bunker was exceptionaly good, with an excellent museum to Winston Churchill as well. This was the place that the brits fought back against Hitler from. Small and cramped, yet living with history. Many of the rooms lay preserved as they were 60 years agao, whilst others have been tirelessly reconstructed from photo and image.

Have made extensive use of rowing contacts in the city, and Matt is a legend. Caught up with Rob Steel as well. Matt ahs a new job with Bet fare, whilst Rob is stuck in the old accountancy sell your soul to the devil arangement. Had a beer with Dirt, and he is looking discustingly healthy. His wife will be giving birth in a few weeks, and his bowling average is up. Aparently he is now considered an all rounder. He is hopeing for a boy. He introduced us to some fine english pub traditions including the ram rod special(half local ale and half rams larger), and the wife beater(stella). Fortunately he is on probation with the baby so close to term, and we wound up rather early. Have been trying to catch up with Dave Bowyer, but he has been extremely busy with work and the two little ones. Hopefully they grant some holiday time to the work aholic so that he can enjoy the good weather.

the Weather here is outstanding. Over 30 degrees each day, and daylight right up till 10:00 at night. The press are very depressed about it, and gloomly predict yet more hot weather. The tube and bus are warm but bearable, yet the press turn it into a panic. I hate to think what would happen here if it reached 40. I gather I have the wrong impression of England, and have yet to see a cool day. I could easily spend alot of time here, with the excellent pubs, magnificient rowing facilities, and glorius weather.

Tonight we will go for a ride on the London eye. Aparently the locals are a bit touchie about it, and I should not refer to it as a feris wheel. It is a "flight" or just "the eye". We have drunk all the french champagne, and eaten all the swiss cheese. Have not warn out our welcome, but will be leaving on the early morning flight to greece anyway. Have enjoyed London imensely.

Paris

Paris

Unfortunately we were anable to catch the tour de France. So disappointed. But at least the hotel has the live and repeated broad castes. I do wish Kadel Evans would have a go!

We are staying at a wonderful un-airconditioned hotel in the centre of Paris. The Louve is only a 15 minute walk, and trhe subways are available if you get lasy. Again the temperature is scorching, but the fountains are not like Rome. The stink of Chlorine and still look murky with algae and dirt. So we soldier on trekking across another fantastic European city, and Paris is special.

d’Orsay.

First morning and we go straight to the Musée d’Orsay. This is where you will find all the works by Monet!.. although we did not catch up with his water lilys till the tate modern in London. The museum is a converted railway station, with a large barrel arched roof, oodles of space and some of the most famous artworks of all time. The mian hall is scatered with sculpture and tourists of course. We found a new love in Degare, and his balerinas, whilst Dim refreshed her love of Monet.

Pompidou

From the O'rsay to the The Centre Pompidou, the home of Modern art in Paris. It was one of the first building to be turned inside out, with its many ducts and service areas expressed on the outside of the building. It looks like a large mess of tubes and structures and is extremely large. The instalations were a bit overpowering for Dim, but I could not tare myself away. The artists seemed to be having a joke on the audience, requiring their participation to complete their works. They also have an amazing colection of live film, with countless thearterets and screens doting the upper levels. There is fun, shock, snd awe to be had. A complete Alfa lies in ruins in testiment to disaster alongside graphic shows of nudity and colour. Outstanding. Easily my favorite place in all of Paris. Dim was less than enthused, but did perk up when we checked out a few of the regular works including more than a few Picasos.

The Catacombs.

Like Rome there are catacombs in paris, but rather than being origonaly for worship and funery rituals, these carved out for the stone. The vast array of tunnels that lie below Paris are the reults of many centuries of mining for the very stone from which it is built. Over the years, more than a few cave ins have had devestaing effects on the housing above, and regular maintenace must be preformed. Parts are open to the public, including those whihc were used to stack the bones of the dead. During the great plagues, they dug up the cemetarriues, and deposited the bones below, many aranged in macabe paterns. All neatly stacked to the cieling listing the burial plots from which they were exumed. All very fascinating. Pitty about the 2 hour long que we had to wait in... Bloody tourists!

Louve The Louve! WOW! more than just a gallery, it contains some of the best archelogical remains to be found anywhere. From great winded bulls of persia, to the regular atractions of the Mona lisa and the venus de Milo. Yes we did see the big 3, but were more interested in the whole show. I am a geek, and I am sticking to it. Bring me Mummies and ancient mesopotania, Da vincis and Michelangelo. All so very much fun.

The Eilfel Tower.

Eifel was a genius. And his tower rocks as well. but the tourists realy love it as well. scads line the base waiting for the lift. We skirted the multitueds and took the stairs. Yes Dim is going to kill me before the holiday ends. In the shadow of the tower lie public parks which are doted with Parisians like ants on a green blanket. We stayed untill sunset. It was beautiful.

We would not be in france for the climax of Le Tour, but we marched the Champs-Elysees anyway. I must say that the Arc De Triumph Rocks, as does the far flung boulevards. Although they do not have good gelati.

All good things must come to an end, and so we take the euro star to London, hope that Dim's karma with this service does not become and issue.

Chocolate train to Bastille day

We set off from Rome with hopes of finding a mythical train of chocolate in Switzerland. How far could it be? couldn't be much of a drive. We are toughened travelers after all!.. How wrong I was. It seems that every workman in italy was recruited to impeed our journey. The tollway to the swiss border included 500 km of road work.... BUGGAR! setting a cracking average speed of a little under 50km and hour we struggled on into the night. Unfortunately our chocolate train was scheduled for a 9:30 am departure. We had little idea of how long the journey over St benards pass world take, so could not dare finding a hotel so far away.

On into the night we drove, while menacing dark shapes loomed above. Illuminated by a full moon, these iceberg like silhouette passed us in the night. Siliently we slid along the alpine roads, crossing chasm and cliff, alone, not a car to be seen. Then as 4:00 am aproached a glimmer of light. we desceneded into switzerland as the rose glow of dawn crept over the mountains. Each minute bringing more shape and cliff and cresent, and hill top into view. It was an eerie descent, but beautiful to witness, the sights from which I will long remember.

We arrived in Montreux and procceed to snooze away the rest of the morning. (our cheapest acomodation so far). The upside to our early arrival was the all day parking next to the train station. HArd to get one once th etown wakes up. Montreux is situated on the oposite end of lake Leman to Geneva. The lake itself is stunning, complete with a mountainous backdrop, sail boats, and an impressive castle overlooking the water.

The swiss chocolate train travells from Montreux up a switchback track through the mountains to stop at a superb cheese factory, thence a castle and village in Gruyères. The trip started with choclate croisants and hot choclate to go. The cheese was extremely tastey, but had only limited selection available. They soak the cheese in vats of brine, before aging it up to 18 months. I do recomend the vintage. Unfortunately the audio tour is presented by a talking cow, who I wanted to brain to death within a few short minutes. Everything in Switzerland is far to cute to exist in the real world. If I ever see another smilling cow/red cross/ tourist trap again it will be too soon.!

Abig highlight was the local castle. we fixed some chees and ham sandwiches by and old crone that had to be the aunt of the hunch-back of Notre Damne. She was beautifuly attired, but had a disturbing limp, an enourmous hump between her sholdersm, and an eye that seemed to pop in and out of its own accord. Further up the delightfull village/tourist trap we found an outsanding gallery.

THE GIEGER GALLERY!

Can you believe that Gieger (the artist that created the graphic art for "Alien") is swiss!, and his home town is here! and that his montage of hideously alien, and gruesome work is on display alongside cute cow bells and flowers! We ditched the town and headed in imeadiately. not only did the museum have an outsanding display of gieger's own work and sculpture, it also had the works of art that he enjoys himself. A whole floor is devoted to works that he has collected by other artists. Outsanding! Next door to the museum is a Gieger bar. The bar is completely kitted out alien style. Every lightfitting, chair, barstool, couch is moulded and shaped to Gieger's whimsy. Outsanding!

We visted the castle, which also had some varied and interesting art pieces. One thing I can't stand about the swiss is their apalling cleanlyness and atention to detail. the castle was imaculate, with not a gram of dust to be visable. Antique furniture and floor boards polished and gleaming. it was horific! Dim may not have shared my horror.

THE MAIN EVENT!

When you hear chocolate factory tour, you know you are going to be disapointed. You know that somewhere along the line, they are going to say that you can only eat this, or that. ANd that its a limited induclgence..... WRONG! WRONG! WRONG! this tour had unlimeted eating. you could gorge yourdelf on fine treates. And we did! SO MUCH PAIN!!!!!!! just to try one of everything was a challenge in itself. i am not a particular fan of swiss choclate, and especialy its over swet flavour. But I had the principle of the matter to contenbd with. I was not leaving untill i physicaly exploded! SO MUCH PAIN!!! Dim made a brave attempt at shovelling it in, but pulled up pretty quick. Not so for me! More MORE MORE M O R E! I was in frenzy of heightened awareness. I could more like a bumble bee, I was king of the world. I COULD SEE THROUGH TIME!

SO MUCH PAIN!

after being engourged to such a state that a team of oopa loopas had to roll me out, we returned to the thearter to watch a display of chocolate making and history. The down side of this tour is that you did not get to see the real inards of the factory.... well I did say that there is always a disapointment with a choclate tour.

FROM CHOCLATE TO CHAMPAIGN

As our choclate buzz came crashing down into a fevered sweating coma, we descended the mountains in our choclate train, and set out to reach the lands of France, where those dirty dirty no good french men come from.

Another long driving session left us a few kilometers short of the champagne district, and the evening before bastille day. We stayed at a trusty F1 (cheap motel usualy based on freeway interchange) in Troyes. As we arrived the skies lit up with fire works in all directions. Its seemed that all the local comunities were giving it a good bash before the main event the next day.

EPERNAY

The next day we turned up at Epernay. For those cretins out there who do not know (myself included) Epernay is the center of the champagne district, and is the site of the big champagne houses including Moet and Chandon, and Mercier etc etc. We set out for a full day of tasting and festivities. We toured both Moet and Mercier, I do recomend anything of the 98 wintage!.. although I have been recently informed that the 96 vintage is what you should realy be gagging for. the cellars are simply amazing. The ground substance is solid chalk, is cool and wet to touch. The cellars keep themselves at a constant and humid temp of 12 degrees. As you can understand it only takes a plot of land in the region, a pick and shovel, and instantly you are a champagne barron.

We also made use of some local champagne tasting and loaded up our bages with buckets of champagne.. so heavy! thence we sprinted for paris and the sights of Bastille day.

GOODBYE MEGANE

It was a sad when we had to return the Megane. Long had it served us, having travelled a total of just under 9,000 kilometers. All without a scratch or speedingticket... ermm well we hope that there were no speeding tickets!

The renault courtesy bus was very helpfull. the driver gave us a run down on Paris, and explained where to get the best view of the fire works. his advice landed us at a park oposite the eifel tower overlooking the parksland all the way to the war monument, and firework source. One thing about bastille day that impressed me was that every frenchman uses his god given right to explode things. Small fireworks, roman candles, fire crackers, pin wheels were going off all around us, well before, and well after the show started. And that is with all the mean as piss armed forces strutting their stuff.

All roads lead to Rome

TIME FOR THE ROMAN TO STEP FORTH!

This living city of history! Equiped with local knowledge we soon found our pace.

ITALY WINS!

The final strike of the net sealing France's Fate was met with the sudden explosion of Rome. Cracks like gunshots, and car horns, and shouts, and random flashes, and more shots. I thought at first that Rome would burn to the ground. To no avail the city was still standing in the morning, and some Locals even bothered to go to work.

Again the weather was hot, but with the heat came the real discovery of what it is to be Roman. Rome is for the enjoyment, not the working. it is for drinking and eating, and most importantly Bathing. Each fountain in Rome is not just something to look at. The waters run fresh from the mountains, and are not recylced over and over. It is quite acceptable to drink from, splash around in, and even dive into the many fountains of cold, fresh exilerating water. This is a nessescary survival tactic given the heat of the roman summer. It is rare to travel long without comming across even a small fountain splashing away. I don't think the locals have ever heard of water restrictions.

What to describe, what to recite.

We crossed and recrossed the city on foot, travelling each morning and evening by Train. From plazza to ruin, to gallery, to forum, to coluseum, to island, to streetscape. Its all good.

My favorite was the Pathenon. It is a huge brick vaulted Dome, a grand place to worship the pathenon of gods, all of em. The single central orifice at the dome's apex sends a brilliant spotlight like ilumiantion to the walls, which in turn higlight the marble nad remaining bronze (another roman building that has suffered from looting)

Rome has no shortage of amazing buildings, Bromini and Bernini had their hand, as did post war ugly apartments, but beneath all is a continous history of ruble, foundations, and catacombs. There is nowhere in Rome you can dig without finding previous inhabitation. I have no idea how civic services could begin to function. The two main sewer lines built by the romans that run along the tiber, still function. Try getting an architectural drawing of that edifice.

We took time out to see the vatican and itswealth of treasurers. Finaly I have been so see the one thing in Europe I always wanted to visit. Micheloagngelo's Last judgement on the end wall of the Sistine Chapel. You can begin to see how a ope kept the poor artist slaving night and day on this work, all the time in fear of judgement day. the tortured figures, the skin of michelangelos own carcass being presented drooping from a big fleshy fist.

The appian way

A surprising highlight of Rome is the Appian Way. It is the single most important road in Rome. As straight as an arrow it heads South East an on to Bari. This was the path you took to go to the eastern empire. This was the path that the marching armies of Rome traversed. This was where you returned bearing slaves and lions, and plunders of War.

The origonal road is still navigable, and little wider than a bus. In places the megan could do little more than a couple of km's per hour as the coble stones were that worn. After traveling a little distance from the city centre, the countryside becomes visable, as do the many piles of masonary and rock. these are the remains of the many tombs and villas that lined the road. We stopped next to two large mounds built to the southern side of the road. Here were burried the sons of two waring families. To put the feud to rest, four brothers from each family met in a duel. Unfortunately for both familys, all 8 died, as did their line, and all that rtemains are the two burial mounds.

The atmoshphere is plesant along the way. For the first time we can see fields of grass. The sounds of the city are gone and silence envades. In many ways it is a sunny graveyard of what has past. Still i can imagine the prowd warriors on chariot parading past, and the merchants and slaves hounding their donkey carts along the rutted stones. How plesant it would have been to have a villa outside the city, to avoid the stench and crowds.

We have enjoyed our stay in Rome as we have enjoyed good advice and friendships found. But we have booked tickets for a chocolate train in Switzerland and must depart.