Travelling!! (From Hereford Times)

Travelling!!

4:30pm Tuesday 10th April 2007

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Hello out there!! Is anyone still blogging? I was away for a week and came back to see no new blogs posted and since I talk too much anyway, I thought I’d put my 2 cents in or rather 2 pence.

We went to Rome for five days. I love travelling and seeing new places but after this trip I was ready to come home to sensible Hereford. First mistake. . . going to Rome on the week before Easter. People, people and MORE people. 2nd Mistake, thinking that like London we could tackle Rome with ease. NOT, Rome’s Metro is pretty much like two lines that cross the city and you have to walk out from where ever it drops you. And boy did we walk!

We couldn’t get into the Sistine Chapel since at 9:30 in the morning, 30 minutes before opening, the queue was some 2 miles long and I do not exaggerate. So our conciliation prize was that we walked around to St. Peter’s Square and there was the pope and his minions doing mass. So we have some teeny, tiny pictures of the pope.

Even in places that you think of in awe and especially around the Forum and Coliseum, the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, there were people trying to flog you everything from sunglasses to handbags to a piece of string that would supposedly make you that person’s Italian friend. And they didn’t take no for an answer, in fact we had to be downright rude in some cases to get away from them. These people kept an eye out for the police at all times and if they spotted one, they would snatch up their goods and run like heck!!!

The people of the city are fantastically dressed, very up to date fashions! I’ve never seen so many perfectly tailored suits before in my life. I felt like the poor peasant relative in my jeans and trainers with a camera around my neck. And everyone smokes! This results in the city being littered with fag ends everywhere you look. In some places I would swear people just dumped their ashtrays out the window. Combine all this with the litter and a beautiful city is filthy. What a shame with all the beautiful architecture and the magnificent sights, it’s all spoiled with litter and graffiti. We went to Paris a couple of years ago and I thought there was lots of graffiti there, but Rome exceeds it at least two-fold.

We walked a lot, we had a lot of wonderful food, and we enjoyed the city for what it offered. Our trip out of Rome proved a bit harrowing in that when being pushed from behind to get on the Metro my husband felt a hand in his pocket trying to lift his wallet and even though my bag was right in front of me, in the crush of all the people it was unzipped twice by unseen hands. Fortunately nothing was stolen from any of us but it left a rather bad taste in our mouths and home never looked so good. The litter we have complained about and the traffic that's driven us mad doesn't seem so bad after visiting a city like Rome!

And home we are for a few days. . .my daughter is visiting from Florida through the 15th so we are taking her around to see the local sights. This week Kilpeck Church, Grosmont and Skenfrith Castles as well as Tinturn Abbey. So much to see without having to leave the UK.

Tonight she is an honorary pink hatter at our Red Hat Society cider tasting event and then we are off to Florida for a well deserved rest. I have been in touch with a Red Hat Society group in Englewood, Florida where I have been invited to walk in the International Red Hat Society Parade on the 25th of April. What a privilege!
As usual I end with saying that all women 50 and over are welcome to join our merry little band of Red Hatters. Please contact me at 01432 353171 or via email at cindi.read@yahoo.com. Bye for now!!