New Year’s Eve in Rome is crazy. There may be other cities that are as crazy as Rome, but for most of my adult life
I have worked NYE so I am sure there is
heaps of craziness that goes on that I don’t know about, so Rome to me is
crazy. There are people walking down the
center of the main streets (no cars) talking, laughing, drinking and walking to
where they plan on spending their night.
The little cobble stone alley ways that are usually quiet are absolutely
packed with people. Cars are parked everywhere; on the sidewalks, blocking walk
ways, hoods in a small area and the rest
of the car sticking out on the road, a lot of crazy parking that wouldn`t fly
to well back home.
Dan and I had bought tickets the previous night for the Ice
Bar. A bar/club completely made of
ice. I was super excited, not for the
negative temperature, but A. for the fact that I actually got to go out for New
Years and B. I had never been to an ice
bar.
We make our way through the insane yet controlled crowd of
people enjoying the vibe of the crowd
and make our way – shoulder tight – through the alleyway to the Ice Bar. When we get there we light a smoke and
finish our travelers –of beer (you can drink in the streets). We are minding our own business when this
young Italian guy with long black hair – almost to his butt – and the thinnest
moustache on his upper lip comes strolling up.
Now, I don`t care about someone`s
sexual orientation, one of my very best mates is gay but this guy was even too
gay for my gay friends and of course he heads straight for Dan – it`s not the
first time. He sachets over and flips
his hair over his shoulders and says something in Italian and makes the hand
motion for a cigarette. Dan pulls out
his pack and gives the guy a cigarette.
The guy, almost stumbling, kind
of sexually begins to pat his own chest looking for a lighter. He finds one, lights his smoke and with star
struck eyes reaches his hand out and attempts to caress Dan`s cheeck. ``Oh boy``
I`m thinking ``where is this going.``
This isn`t the first time Dan has been hit on, in fact, he gets hit on by men more than I
do. I swear we can go to a night club
and he will walk out having more free drinks and getting more numbers than me
lol. Just when the guy got within 1 cm
from Dan`s face this guy comes out of nowhere and picks the other guy by the
waste saying ``leave them alone`` in Italian (or at least that’s what it seemed
like he was saying). The guy started
whining and then flipped his long hair over his shoulders and got lost in the
crowd. I think Dan felt relieved, I was
entertained J
The Ice Club isn`t that big, I would say it could hold
maybe, a maximum of 50 people at one time.
Everything such as the walls, the
bar, the seats, even the glasses for cocktails are made of ice – which I now
think every drinks should be served in an ice glass, you have no idea how much
better a cocktail is. The cocktails were awesome, soo yummy and the fact that
there are no dishes to clean at the end of the night is great for the bar staff. Dan placed our glasses on the bar and said to
the barman ``I brought some dishes for you.``
He looks at Dan, picks up the glass and smashes it against the wall!!! Seriously,
ice glasses, the best idea lol.
The only thing not
made of ice is the floor. Before you go
in they put a big silver poncho on you to keep
warm as the temperature is -5.
Most people don`t last more than 45 minutes at a time, I figured being
Canadian I could last ``no problem.``
The first time we were in was just over half an hour and then we wanted
a smoke, we walked into the lobby, got a
shot of hot chocolate and when we got outside I felt like walked out into a
summer night; Rome is nice weather but it gets cold at night, it wasn`t that
warm but being in the cold temperatures made it feel so warm. The second time was just over an hour and half
and we both started losing feeling. My
toes were freezing, Dan was wearing
thermal socks and his toes got numb as well.
We had to leave, we were so cold.
We went back in to use the toilet, but sitting out for 20 minutes and
going back in didn`t help, my body just
wouldn`t stay warm so we ended up leaving.
We had an awesome time.
Of course, within 5 minutes of
being inside I manage to meet the only other 2 Canadians in the bar, who we spent the countdown and some time in
the little Ice Room of the main floor.
They were only in Italy for a few weeks as they were running a Marathon
in Bologna; I hope they did well. Then
we met some American students, they made me laugh. I notice accents so much more now and they
just put a smile on my face. ``Oh my god, your like Canadian. We are like from Minnesota. We are so like close to Canada, we are almost
Canadian.`` Gotta love them. I loved being out and meeting people, and
having an awesome time in a cool (no pun intended) bar, I even got to practice
my Italian.
I remember waking up face down and fully clothed the next
morning. Yup, that drunk. I believe it was all the Lemoncello I drank
before we left, plus the shots of Jager, glasses of champagne, cocktails and
the wine we apparently bought at another bar after we left the Ice Bar. I vaguely remember having a chat in a lineup
waiting to use the toilet at some bar and chatting away to some Italian guy; telling Dan I was too sick to drink the wine
he bought me and him telling me he couldn`t buy drinks at one bar because he
didn`t have a ticket. Apparantly walking
me back home was quite entertaining, looks
like Dan`s the one with a lifetime ticket to Emmie Duty J
We were leaving for Venice the next morning. It was the last thing I felt like doing I
tell ya. I didn`t have wine flu but I
definitely had vodka flu or something, whatever it was I felt like shit!!! But,
as the trooper that I am we got our stuff together and headed for the
subway with my parents.
My parents stayed in Rome as that’s where their flight
leaves from. I really didn`t want to say
goodbye. The past two weeks with them
was amazing, two of my favourite weeks
of my travels. I was close to tears and
I think I saw a few in my mums eyes but I made our goodbyes fast so I wouldn`t
break down. As I hugged my mum I heard
my dad say to Dan ``you take care of my baby.``
In case you are all wondering…my parents loved Dan!!! I was nervous as it was the first time they
were meeting him but all went well, really well J
The train ride to Venice was agonizing and not because of my
``flu.`` It started off fine, in fact,
I was excited. Have you ever seen
in movies where people are backpacking in Europe and they get on trains where
they sit in a little cubby room, well, that’s what this train was like and the
seats actually pulled out almost into a laying position. The two seats across from each other met in
the middle once you pulled the seats out so Dan and I just stretched out and
slept, well tried to anyways. We were
with a couple that had a three year old boy.
On top of the kid smelling, the
father reeked really bad of B.O. that
filled the cubby so bad it was almost intoxicating and , they insisted on keeping
the door closed (we had the window seats which they had comfortably settled
themselves into until I showed them they were our seats.) Plus the kid never stopped. He talked, he sang, he screamed, he ran back
and forth a long the seats, climbed the
luggage shelves, banged the seats, my head was pounding and not because I had
the ``flu.`` Five and a half hours we
had to listen to this kid, they never
told him to be quiet or sit down ; I was
losing my patience. The kid had woken
me and Dan up 3 times and I had my earbuds in!
The last time I woke up the mother was talking so loud I thought she was
on the phone, the little boy was talking
very loud so instead of shushing him she decided to talk over him. At one point I looked at him, put my hand up
and said ``hey!`` The couple just
looked at me as if ``how dare you tell him to be quiet.`` He stopped for about 30 seconds. Finally
I got up and headed out of the cubby and looked out the window. Dan came with, and we just stood there for
about 10 minutes. Between our heads
pounding, ears ringing and infested nostrils we weren`t in the best of
moods. When we went back in the cubby I
asked them to keep the door open and they looked at me absolutely appalled but
I didn`t give two shits, I was
suffocating.
Finally, after a long
6 hours – that seemed longer than any 12-22 hour bus ride I had with Greyhound
in Australia – we arrived at our destination.
Venice.
As soon as we walked out of the train station we hit the
main street…OF WATER!!! Yup it`s right
there when you walk out. So
awesome. We grabbed a water bus and
headed to our hostel. It was probably
one of the best ``bus`` rides I have ever had.
Restaurants lights blinking on the water street that is just lined with
buildings, and a cool breeze as our bus made it slowly through the canal.
After wandering aimlessly through the streets we found our
hostel and dropped our stuff off, in our
massive dorm room; a double bed on the
lower area and two beds up in the loft area, all to ourselves J We went for dinner and then to bed with plans
of exploring the streets the next day.
Unfortunately, it rained all day the next day so we stayed in our room
watching movies, only leaving for food.
The next day however was sunny blue sky`s. We probably walked for about three hours all
together. In and out of the windy
streets, being asked if we want a
gondola ride – they are about $100 so we said no – if we wanted to buy a purse
at a good price, restaurants, shops and
heaps of people. The streets are so
tiny barely 4 people can fit in shoulder to shoulder, they are so narrow but yet there is a warm
cozy vibe to them. And in case you are
wondering, no, there are no cars. Everyone has a boat or takes a boat lol, in
fact; Venice is the largest urban city in Europe that doesn’t have cars. It’s actually quite nice.
We went for dinner at a little Ristorante around the corner
from our hostel. We ordered the tourist
menu which came with a first and second course and we also ordered a half litre
of red wine which absolutely delicious.
After we had consumed everything on our plates and in our glasses, we really wanted to order another half litre
of wine but they had a 20 euro minimum to use our card (we had already
paid) “that’s ok, no worries.” I said.
“no, I bring you wine on the house.”
“no really it’s ok you don’t have to.”
“Yes!” she said. Free wine!!!
After we went to this little bar that had a stools and a high barlike
table outside and had a few more glasses.
When we got back to the room our roommates who we were told were
arriving that night were not yet there.
Curious like cats we scoped out the other rooms in the hostel – we were
in a building behind the main one – and found that we were the only ones
there!!! We went out and bought the
Italian version of Goon which is a 1.5 litres of homemade wine in a water
bottle for 5 euros and had a little party.
Just Dan, me, music, a deck of cards and our Italian goon; and should I
mention we smoked out the window?
Probably not lol. It was a
really nice way to spend our last night.
I must say Italy has
been a bit of an eat, pray love thing for me.
I have eaten the best food – pizza and pasta, of my life, and so much of it, praying that I wouldn’t
put on the pounds but loving every minute of it!!! I’m actually quite gutted to be leaving, and
so is Dan. The past three weeks have
been incredible, I don’t want them to end.
I would to them all over again. I
have seen where my family roots are from,
been surrounded by my favourite language also my fathers native
language. I have never eaten so much pizza and pasta or drank so much
wine. These three weeks have meant so
much to me and are possibly 3 of my favourite out of my travels. I
really missed my parents in Venice,
Itay really didn’t feel the same without them :(.
Now it’s back to England.
We are currently on our flight which was delayed by two hours, we took
off when we should’ve been landing in Gatwick, we are hoping we make our coach
in time so keep your fingers crossed. Ciao Italia, Mi Amore, arivadercci x
PS. When we left, we had to go through passport control and I got my stamp :o)
- for first time readers. Please revert back to the Great Britain blog
