I left you at the huge marble bench with the magnificent view of the Capitoline Museum and you’ll be glad to know that this is the final installment of my Rome visit.
So there I sat ... for about 2 hours. Reading, watching the world go by, people watching and being chatted up by an amazing array of Italian men ... it was unbelievable! After I’d been there an hour, this guy came up to me (they all thought I was Italian by the way ... something to do with how I was dressed I believe ... go figure!) he said “I notice you have 5 men come and talk to you ... I am the sixth!” He was right ... there had been 5 ... he must’ve been watching since I got there ... a bit creepy I thought.
Anyway, by this point, I’d learned exactly how to get rid of unwanted admirers (never thought I’d hear myself saying that ... but “Safety First” when you’re in a foreign country and on your own!) and I found that swapping my rings around and flashing a nice diamond band at them got them moving quicker that if you’d said “free pizza”! It became a bit of a game actually. I’d talk to them for a little while until they spotted the ring, presume I was married ... and leg it!
It was hysterical! I had such a good time! I sat there for about another hour ... and various men later, I hobbled back to the hotel, had a shower and headed out again for something to eat. I was determined that I wasn’t going to go to the same place again for my evening meal, so walked very tentatively (both because of my sore feet and because I didn’t know the area) up a side street where I could see a nice looking restaurant with tables all set out in a little square/piazza.
I ordered some vino bianco (of course) which arrived in a little jug which was far bigger than the thimbles I’d been used to ... it was nice, but rough ... Oh my goodness, it was rough ... I now suspect it was homebrew (due to the horrendous thirst and headache I had later than night) which I believe is quite common in smaller, family run restaurants. I ordered mussels and bread again and lobster tagliatelle for my main ... yum yum yum is all I can say. YUM. I enjoyed every mouthful and was quite getting used to eating on my own and really wasn’t a bit bothered whether people were looking at me or not! The waiter asked if I wanted more wine, but strangely enough (I mean, reallllllllllly strangely), I didn’t. I paid the bill and went back to my room. It was about 9.30 pm and I was pooped and felt strangely drunk (considering I’d only had one drink that evening).
I fell asleep pretty much straight away, but had a really fitful night. I must have drunk 1.5 litres of water during the night and felt like I had the worst hangover ever ... “That’ll be the homebrew” I remember thinking. I’ve always felt like that on the extremely odd occasion when I’ve had homebrew (I think that was back in my late teens/early 20s!) ... not nice. My mouth was like the floor of a parrots cage and my head was banging.
It was even worse when my alarm went off at 6.30. I had to pack, check out and get to the airport to check in for 8.40 for my flight at 10.40 am ... and as we already know, I can’t be late. So I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower, got dressed, packed (no breakfast ... I was too early), settled the bill at reception, grabbed a cab and was at the airport for 7.40 am! 7.40 for goodness sake! Three hours before my flight and check in didn’t open until 8.40. Bummer ... I curse my need to be early! lol
So I just kinda hung around ... had some breakfast, got my plane on time, had some Glaswegian kid prattle on down my ear the whole flight, landed safely, picked up my car without any event and was home by 11.30 am. Done. Knackered, but done.
It took me nearly a week to get over that weekend. I still can’t walk properly ... my hips are a bit sore and clicky and my feet are really scarred! But now I look back on it ... I really did enjoy it. At the time I said that I wouldn’t do anything like that again, but I so would! It was an adventure and I’m really proud of myself for doing it ... yay! Go me!
I also feel it pertinent to point out that at no point during my trip did anyone attempt to steal anything from me. I felt totally safe. Also, I only saw 2 Romanians, they aren’t hard to miss,
the whole time I was there and no Romanian children at all. Nor did I hear of anyone having their bags, purses, wallets being half inched ... nothing, nada, niente – so if someone comes up to you spouting that stuff, now you can put em right ... just like I’m going to do with that nasty woman in the hairdressers I mentioned in Part 1. She’s got it coming from both barrels!
I obviously took the Monday off work and had quite a busy week. Friday, I had dinner at my lovely friend, Michelle’s house. Although I’ve known her for years, I’ve never met her lovely family. She cooked a spectacular meal (home cooking ... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm yum) and we had a really pleasant evening ... her girls are adorable!
Saturday, I was up early to have my nails done and then it was off to Manchester (on public transport no more no less) to meet my friend Justine for “Champagne Saturday”. Can you believe the last one was April!!!! That’s ridiculous.
We had a lovely time – although quite uneventful ... sometimes that’s not a bad thing ... and weren’t nearly as drunk as usual. In fact, I was home and watching Camelot (how gorgeous is Joseph Fiennes?!!!!) by 9.00 pm. Sunday, I finally got to the cinema to watch the last Harry Potter *sob*, made even better by a huge hot dog, bucket of coke and peanut M&Ms ... you can’t beat it ... sod the diet!
This week’s been quite mundane really, in comparison to last week ... nothing very exciting has happened at all, but it is Friday and we’ve got the whole weekend ahead of us so who knows what’ll happen! I hope you’ve all had a fabulous week full of adventure and fab friends.
See you soon lovely people ... be fabulous and have wonderful weekend.
Love Jx
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