Roma !
So… Rome.
Well, it was such a mixed experience. It certainly couldn't be as nice as last year, because I went to London with friends, but I didn't think the trip this year would reveal so much all the differences existing between the four of us. And we walked a lot last year but we also took the time to rest and we used the buses to go through the city.
Last year, I also discovered one of the women with us, we took the time to talk and appreciate each other and it was a really good time. This year proved that what I thought about each of those persons (and probably what they thought about me) was real and true. One I didn't like - I still don't like her at all. She's what we call here a "petit chef", a little chief, she likes to give orders and to be obeyed, even if she's often wrong. Please is not a word she's keen on using. I shared my room with her and it was all we could do to stay polite. She's got no empathy at all and I really wonder why she decided to work with disabled people !
My boss - well, we didn't talk much about our job and that's a good point. But part of what makes her a really good boss, her enthusiasm, her energy… also makes it difficult to live with her when you don't have the same aims as her. What was for me a holiday trip became a forced march because of her - I felt like I was in the army ! She's twelve years older than me but she's a regular hiker, which I am NOT. I'm not physically in a good shape, with a very bad back, not very good knees or blood flow (?), and too many kilos, and I'm certainly not prepared to go from a seated job to a three days hiking expedition without any preparation. I won't even mention the fact that I didn't have the right shoes for this kind of trip, just that by the end of the first day I was already unable to walk anymore, and it was only pride that kept me going till Sunday evening in spite of the constant pain.
So that's how a big part of the three days went, me trailing far behind them most of the time, and further behind as the day went on. Because it was "forbidden" to take a bus, we had to walk everywhere. Until the moment I said I couldn't do it anymore, and began to do what I wanted. They would walk and I would take the bus to get to the same place, or somewhere else. One of the other things I often find very annoying with my boss is that she listens to who and what she wants. So when I said on Saturday that I would like to see the villa Borghese, do you think she listened to me ? Of course not ! But suddenly on Sunday, after she read her guide book, she decided she wanted to see it… too bad because it was too late !
By that time, the other two women (both younger than us) were also becoming tired and we separated. I stayed with the one person I didn't talk about yet, a young Mexican woman who's been working with us for about two years now. I rather liked her but didn't know her very well. She's definitely someone very interesting, and funny. She explained to us during the weekend how she came in France because she wanted to learn a new language, and then stayed because she met the man who is now her husband. So we kept on walking together but at a much more sedate pace, we talked about a lot of things (even about Gael Garcia Bernal, who's Mexican like her ;D) and I finally really enjoyed the trip !
We were waiting for a plane on Sunday afternoon but Alitalia had sold more seats that there were in the first place, so we had to wait for the next one and we arrived back at Paris Charles de Gaulle in the evening. Since then, I've been nursing my feet (because of blisters and swelling) and my calves which only began to walk normally again yesterday. And I'm angry with my little group, and even more with myself for not going my own way before I was feeling too bad. I don't like to travel alone but if I go again next year, I can only hope this experience will help me and that I won't do the same mistakes. I'm sure at least that I won't go again with my boss anywhere !!!
Now that I've thoroughly annoyed you with all this, let's get to the good part of the trip, and the photos. Rome is as beautiful as I remembered, colourful, and most Romans are nice and helpful. A lot of them also speak French, which was very useful, or English. I often found myself using different languages in a single sentence (even German sometimes !), and that led us to laugh a lot with the people. Italian words kept popping into my head back from the two years I studied the language so long ago and it was getting easier to communicate as time went by. And funnily enough, when we really couldn't understand, we relied on V., the Mexican woman, who spoke Spanish of course. Like in this very nice restaurant by the Tiber (? Tevere in Italian, Tibre in French), where our little dictionary couldn't help us with the names for food. By the way, food is another thing to enjoy in Italy, from the pasta to the gelati, in a "tavola calda" (a sort of snack bar ?) or a more traditional restaurant.
To add to the multilingual dimension of this trip, we kept on seeing people in kilt and silly green hat. That's when I remembered that it was the "St Patrick". We saw them during the whole weekend but we heard them singing particularly on Friday evening, as we were dining outside on the piazza Navona. Because it's Spring enough there to eat outside, even in the evening, provided that there's a heater beside you. We had quite a good weather, even on Sunday - the rain didn't fall before we were seated in the plane ;) - and I came back with a bit of colour on my face.
I sent a few postcards to some of you. Sorry, they're not very beautiful but I had already written and stamped the ones I sent when I found some better ones. I hope you'll like them nonetheless ;) At least I didn't sent postcards of the popes ;D as it was one of the most recurring topics. And you can look at the photos if you prefer.
Rome is a melting-pot of different styles from different periods of time. But somehow it works and it's still beautiful. Everywhere, and I mean everywhere, you find ruins and churches, statues and fountains. And tourists, lots of tourists. Did I mention the tourists ? You almost hear speaking English as much as Italian. So I'll show you many photos, probably too many but I can't choose. Don't be afraid, you don't have to watch them all at once, they're here to stay so you can come back later. And now that I have two photographers on my flist, I feel even more obliged to ask for your indulgence ;)
After we arrived at Fiumicino airport, we went directly to the hotel and then left as soon as possible to discover Roma ! The city was beautifully coloured under the sun and I'll let you admire the big church we visited first and other monuments.
A lot of times, as you wander through the city, you find yourself walking next to a field of archeological ruins (there's only two subway lines in Rome because of this, or so I was told 20 years ago when I first went to Rome). Then between two rows of buildings at the end of a street appears something magical, like the Coliseum.
View next and from the Coliseum.
The Palatine hill.
More views of Rome. Search for the wolf with Remus & Romulus.
The Vatican. There were so many people waiting to visit, it was impossible to do it too, so we just admired form afar.
More Vatican pics, and then three of the few things I didn't like in Rome : the massive Castel Sant' Angelo, what is I think the hall of justice but I could be wrong, and the pompous monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, the Vittoriano.
Much more pleasant and romantic, the Tiber.
Piazza di Spagna, where we saw again the men in kilt, this time playing bagpipes ;) and the very famous fontana di Trevi, in which you must throw a coin to come back to Rome one day.
The last three pics show the gigantic thermal baths of Caracalla, a really impressive place.
More views of Rome. And finally a few details, things I liked that I saw here and there.
The two pics in the middle are from the thermal baths too. I had just read about the many cats of Rome, supposedly thin and starving, when I saw those two playing between the mosaics. All the cats I saw in Rome were rather big and well fed !
Well, it was such a mixed experience. It certainly couldn't be as nice as last year, because I went to London with friends, but I didn't think the trip this year would reveal so much all the differences existing between the four of us. And we walked a lot last year but we also took the time to rest and we used the buses to go through the city.
Last year, I also discovered one of the women with us, we took the time to talk and appreciate each other and it was a really good time. This year proved that what I thought about each of those persons (and probably what they thought about me) was real and true. One I didn't like - I still don't like her at all. She's what we call here a "petit chef", a little chief, she likes to give orders and to be obeyed, even if she's often wrong. Please is not a word she's keen on using. I shared my room with her and it was all we could do to stay polite. She's got no empathy at all and I really wonder why she decided to work with disabled people !
My boss - well, we didn't talk much about our job and that's a good point. But part of what makes her a really good boss, her enthusiasm, her energy… also makes it difficult to live with her when you don't have the same aims as her. What was for me a holiday trip became a forced march because of her - I felt like I was in the army ! She's twelve years older than me but she's a regular hiker, which I am NOT. I'm not physically in a good shape, with a very bad back, not very good knees or blood flow (?), and too many kilos, and I'm certainly not prepared to go from a seated job to a three days hiking expedition without any preparation. I won't even mention the fact that I didn't have the right shoes for this kind of trip, just that by the end of the first day I was already unable to walk anymore, and it was only pride that kept me going till Sunday evening in spite of the constant pain.
So that's how a big part of the three days went, me trailing far behind them most of the time, and further behind as the day went on. Because it was "forbidden" to take a bus, we had to walk everywhere. Until the moment I said I couldn't do it anymore, and began to do what I wanted. They would walk and I would take the bus to get to the same place, or somewhere else. One of the other things I often find very annoying with my boss is that she listens to who and what she wants. So when I said on Saturday that I would like to see the villa Borghese, do you think she listened to me ? Of course not ! But suddenly on Sunday, after she read her guide book, she decided she wanted to see it… too bad because it was too late !
By that time, the other two women (both younger than us) were also becoming tired and we separated. I stayed with the one person I didn't talk about yet, a young Mexican woman who's been working with us for about two years now. I rather liked her but didn't know her very well. She's definitely someone very interesting, and funny. She explained to us during the weekend how she came in France because she wanted to learn a new language, and then stayed because she met the man who is now her husband. So we kept on walking together but at a much more sedate pace, we talked about a lot of things (even about Gael Garcia Bernal, who's Mexican like her ;D) and I finally really enjoyed the trip !
We were waiting for a plane on Sunday afternoon but Alitalia had sold more seats that there were in the first place, so we had to wait for the next one and we arrived back at Paris Charles de Gaulle in the evening. Since then, I've been nursing my feet (because of blisters and swelling) and my calves which only began to walk normally again yesterday. And I'm angry with my little group, and even more with myself for not going my own way before I was feeling too bad. I don't like to travel alone but if I go again next year, I can only hope this experience will help me and that I won't do the same mistakes. I'm sure at least that I won't go again with my boss anywhere !!!
Now that I've thoroughly annoyed you with all this, let's get to the good part of the trip, and the photos. Rome is as beautiful as I remembered, colourful, and most Romans are nice and helpful. A lot of them also speak French, which was very useful, or English. I often found myself using different languages in a single sentence (even German sometimes !), and that led us to laugh a lot with the people. Italian words kept popping into my head back from the two years I studied the language so long ago and it was getting easier to communicate as time went by. And funnily enough, when we really couldn't understand, we relied on V., the Mexican woman, who spoke Spanish of course. Like in this very nice restaurant by the Tiber (? Tevere in Italian, Tibre in French), where our little dictionary couldn't help us with the names for food. By the way, food is another thing to enjoy in Italy, from the pasta to the gelati, in a "tavola calda" (a sort of snack bar ?) or a more traditional restaurant.
To add to the multilingual dimension of this trip, we kept on seeing people in kilt and silly green hat. That's when I remembered that it was the "St Patrick". We saw them during the whole weekend but we heard them singing particularly on Friday evening, as we were dining outside on the piazza Navona. Because it's Spring enough there to eat outside, even in the evening, provided that there's a heater beside you. We had quite a good weather, even on Sunday - the rain didn't fall before we were seated in the plane ;) - and I came back with a bit of colour on my face.
I sent a few postcards to some of you. Sorry, they're not very beautiful but I had already written and stamped the ones I sent when I found some better ones. I hope you'll like them nonetheless ;) At least I didn't sent postcards of the popes ;D as it was one of the most recurring topics. And you can look at the photos if you prefer.
Rome is a melting-pot of different styles from different periods of time. But somehow it works and it's still beautiful. Everywhere, and I mean everywhere, you find ruins and churches, statues and fountains. And tourists, lots of tourists. Did I mention the tourists ? You almost hear speaking English as much as Italian. So I'll show you many photos, probably too many but I can't choose. Don't be afraid, you don't have to watch them all at once, they're here to stay so you can come back later. And now that I have two photographers on my flist, I feel even more obliged to ask for your indulgence ;)
After we arrived at Fiumicino airport, we went directly to the hotel and then left as soon as possible to discover Roma ! The city was beautifully coloured under the sun and I'll let you admire the big church we visited first and other monuments.
A lot of times, as you wander through the city, you find yourself walking next to a field of archeological ruins (there's only two subway lines in Rome because of this, or so I was told 20 years ago when I first went to Rome). Then between two rows of buildings at the end of a street appears something magical, like the Coliseum.
View next and from the Coliseum.
The Palatine hill.
More views of Rome. Search for the wolf with Remus & Romulus.
The Vatican. There were so many people waiting to visit, it was impossible to do it too, so we just admired form afar.
More Vatican pics, and then three of the few things I didn't like in Rome : the massive Castel Sant' Angelo, what is I think the hall of justice but I could be wrong, and the pompous monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, the Vittoriano.
Much more pleasant and romantic, the Tiber.
Piazza di Spagna, where we saw again the men in kilt, this time playing bagpipes ;) and the very famous fontana di Trevi, in which you must throw a coin to come back to Rome one day.
The last three pics show the gigantic thermal baths of Caracalla, a really impressive place.
More views of Rome. And finally a few details, things I liked that I saw here and there.
The two pics in the middle are from the thermal baths too. I had just read about the many cats of Rome, supposedly thin and starving, when I saw those two playing between the mosaics. All the cats I saw in Rome were rather big and well fed !
