Roaming Round Rome.

Just got back - 4 full, packed, days bookended by 2 days travelling. Spirit willing, but flesh weak.

Air travel has lost it's allure - it's just boring - interminable queues & delays - & tiring, although you aren't really doing much. Land travel isn't much better, but more of that later.

Nice hotel apart from the first night when I slept in a room which reverberated with the air con machinery. "Sleeping" with a pillow over your head on a hot night isn't enjoyable. Once I'd persuaded them to move me it was fine, although I'm mystified as to why an Italian hotel couldn't produce a decent cup of coffee with the excellent buffet breakfast.

Fortunately we had booked tickets for all the important sites beforehand, so we skipped the queues in theory. In practice you still have to queue for ages for security, which is full airport type scanning. Rome is definitely the busiest city I have visited apart from possibly Istanbul. Everyone wants to see the Pope, (although he is so far away you can't see much), (tick), the Vatican (tick), the Sistine Chapel (tick), & St Peters (tick). The Vatican Museum is possibly the busiest, worst signed & most difficult to navigate tourist destination I have ever visited.

Hop on Hop off buses take you round the whole city. Our company was supposed to have buses every 10 - 15 minutes - They lied. They only had 4 buses & one of those was broken down. The others weren't far off  the scrap yard either. Standing in a queue, in the blazing sun, for well over half an hour isn't my idea of fun.

We did all the main things - Trevi Fountain - big / Spanish Steps - closed for some event / Piazza Navona - nice / Borghese Museum - long walk through lovely park / Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine, Circus Maximus - not as impressive as other ancient sites I have seen in other countries, many now sadly bombed / Trastavere district - interesting / Via Appia Antica + Catacombes of San Sebastian + tomb of Cecilia Metella - lovely rural escape from the city.

Coming home I got a cross country train from Birmingham airport to Oxford. It was packed when it arrived with people standing in all the carriages & lobby areas. It was a very short train from Manchester to Bournemouth. Surely the train companies know how many tickets they have sold & how many people are likely to travel on given days at given times? I would have had to stand all the way except that a very kind woman gave me her seat at Banbury. I spoke to one woman, a similar age to me, who had stood all the way from Scotland! I think this is appalling. I buy a ticket expecting to have a seat. It should be part of the contract. I don't have to stand on a plane.

Glad to be home, even if it isn't exciting. There's a lot to be said for places & people you know, boring routine & UK TV.