Oh Mein Gott!

Wow! I know not where to start so the beginning is a good place.

The 8hr train trip to Venice on which i witnessed an intercultural slaying match over a seat was the prelude to Italian hospitality! I arrived in Venice, the city of dreams, alone, slightly terrified and sweating like an animal in the sweltering 28deg heat!! I boarded the vapporetto and sailed away into the late afternoon air towards my hostel. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! I was doing it. I was there! All by myself, seeing things i had always wanted to see and feeling the cold air whip through my hair as we sailed along the Canal Grande, houses leaning slightly, aged and damp; front doors leading to open water, boats following no apparent set of rules but, somehow, avoiding collisions, i gripped the barrier on the boat for fear that i was about to float away on the weightlessness of my own emotions!!

Arriving in the hostel saw me man up and approach a girl who was also travelling alone and through whom i met such a super fantastic girl it makes me sad that i won't be there to tour the rest of Europe with her!! Enough of my sop! After a day of exploring Venice both by boat and on foot, through tiny dark alleyways where old men sat on lone chairs pondering life's existence, it was time for dinner and wine! There is no way i could possibly explain the intensity of all the flavours! They put salt in their food!! You remember that white stuff that they used to put in food in Australia when you were 2? It was around the same time that Maggi noodles still had a taste...the tomatoes are not floury but sweet and slightly sour. The olives glistening and still bearing a pit! Washed down with some marvellous local white wine my gastronomique journey was set to continue with a canal side picnic of wine, cheeses, chocolate and late night cards. Oh i am pining over the memory already! The next day saw me convince Amelie that a day in Verona with me is worth far more than a day alone in Venice...wow wow wow wow! Verona. Where do i start?

With a terrifying bus ticket buying adventure whereby the lady stared blankly at my request to get to the obscure little township of Pedemonte, followed by a 25 min wait alone in the street, during which i considered strapping my documents and cash to my abdomen for fear of a gang of gypsies cursing me and my bag exploding for not giving them any 'spare' change...what a word..spare...as if...i'm travelling...all my fears were unnecessary as i arrived at my bed minus breakfast (in Italy coffee=breakfast) which was so luxurious and so cheap i was convinced something bad was going to happen, settled in for a recharge night excited about my day ahead exploring the famed city of feuds and romance with Amelie. Verona was the gift that never stopped giving. I got into Flight Centre travel agent mode and planned a fantastic circular route around town visiting every sight the town had to offer a well endowed (map bearing) tourist! We started at Juliet's tomb. After swooping through the museum dedicated to the queen of hearts we descended into the bowels of the earth to explore the deathbed of literature's most famed couple. Love messages were scrawled into the rock, depictions of flames long gone and perhaps enduring...a truly girly awwwww moment! From there we followed the old town walls which are approximately 2000yrs old and in which the Veronese have established cafes, restaurants and offices, into the town centre. Piazza Bra was a feast for the senses. With Verona being the most Roman city in Italy after Rome itself it is not surpirising that a spectacular arena, which is still in use for opera season and holds 20, 000, greeted our smiling faces! From here we headed north to Juliet's house to leave our own messages of love upon its graffitied corridors. Decades worth of love notes pinned to the wall. Layers upon layers of permanent marker scrawled dedications in every language, barely a square inch of blank wall remained! After rubbing Juliet's right breast in the hope of good love it was time to explore the remaining ruins of the Roman gate to the city Porta Leona. A surreal remnant of an ancient time beneath the city, bordered a few metres above by cafes and souvenirs! In a truly educational experience we ventured through to
the Scaligeri palaces, built by one of the feuding families upon which the bard based his magnificent tale, now the location of the Veronese parliament. From here we crossed the river to get a better view of the Ponte San Pietra bridge, historically laden as it was bombed several times. The last time it was destroyed every rock was taken from the bottom of Fuime Adige and it was rebuilt as per the original! Crossing the bridge and climbing miles of stairs between ivy covered houses we discovered an amazing view of the historic town! Our journey south took us through Castelvecchio, a medieval castle built purely as an exercise of opulence by the Scaligero! A quick meal of cheap pasta and white wine finished the day and from there Bologna awaited!

This will be a quick one. Bologna was a downright disappointment! From the amazing experience offered by Verona i arrived to the greyish red concrete jungle that is the university town of Bologna. After discovering the 'charming' bed and breakfast was merely someone's house with a spare room and too much pot pourri housed in a faceless, nameless grey shroud of cement my day just delcined! Everyone was so angry looking. I ate my Ragu for which i came, yes i planned an entire stopover to try real bolognese sauce. And that was it. I sat alone, literally alone, in the restaurant. The food and service were amazing and the sweet wine dirt cheap but heading home in the dark for the first time in my life i was scared. I hurried back through graffiti poisoned streets where gruff looking guys passed me without even a glance...well maybe a glare but that was all. Dark alcoves were unavoidable and i skipped in front of cars simply to get into bed all the faster! The next morning i left Bologna. A ransacked handbag was sprawled at the door.

My disappointment was overshadowed entirely and my every expectation was blown completely out of the water when i got to Rome and back to my old pal! Waiting map in hand, Amelie greeted me with a smile and it was off to the Colloseum! The real deal! 50, 000 spectator capacity, crumbling facade and a 500m queue! Oh mein gott! Nothing could have ever prepared me for such a sight. We entered the arena, the sun glinting softly through the archways. I couldn't move. The sight of the ruined cells and corridors which once housed prisoners beneath the floor of the stadium, waiting to die a most gruesome death. The deathly steep seating, the marble steps worn out in the middle from millenia of stamping feet. I could feel the years of life pressing in on me! Or perhaps it was the tight feeling in my bladder from the lack of toilets. Either way, i was finding it hard to believe my eyes. Frome.hahh get it..rome...from here we ventured past the ruins of the Roman Forum, former CBD of the Roman world! and on to visit the many monuments the marvellous city had to offer by twilight!...it is at this point i take a pause..
Oh mein Gott!! i can't write anymore. If you have read this far i applaud you. If not...your deadded from Facebook.