Late Start to the Day

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I should quickly point out that the late start was not due to getting up late, in fact I could have grabbed an extra half hour or so in bed if I’d thought about it (wish I had).  Internet here at the hotel is patchy and slow,so on deciding to upload the RAW pictures from my camera to a cloud site (MS Skydrive) it should have taken just a few hours maximum (it’s only about 0.5 GB), however I still have 3 files uploading and 1 to start out of 40 !! – it’s actually sped up this morning.  Once done I can delete the files from the camera (they are already on the laptop but I just want cover).

Waking up this morning the leg felt fine, but as soon as I wandered down to breakfast I could feel a slightly worrying stifness.  Thus my plans today will be a cautious wander.  Basilica Di Santa Maria Maggiore is just round the corner and is meant to be rather spectacular.  From there I have options in 3 directions depending on the comfort factor of the leg.  I fancy wandering back to and along the station to get to Porta Maggiore, though there’s not that much else around that area. From there I could hit Termini and get the metro up to Piazza Barbrini (Trevi Fountain) or Spagna (Spanish steps).  I’ll play it by ear.  Still need those uploads to finish ….

First Rome Photos Now Online – Update 2019

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I know I said I’d probably finish the wedding photos before doing any of the others, but now in Rome I’ve part changed my mind and have uploaded the photos I took this morning.  I had already processed 57 wedding photos, and that count now stands at 70, with about 160 left to go,

Photos are at my Webshots account

Update 2019

Webshots closed down their hosting (and then tried restarting it in an odd format).  I moved my photos to Photobucket, which was slow but worked well, even paid for an upgrade until they dropped the lower end ones.  Recently they also reduced the free account capacity to 250 photos (was already down to 2,.5 GB) so I’ve been forced to move again.  Now the photos for this holiday can now be found at my Onedrive Holiday folders

A Morning’s Wander then … Knee Pain !

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So I set off this morning towards the Colosseum, but cut east of it, up some steep interesting steps, through an arch to St Pietro in Vincoli, past the university building, past Parco Traiano and on in to Domus Aurea and Cole Oppio.  This is meant to be a pay to enter area, but unless I missed some thing (google spy-sat maps to be hit) then it was mainly an open park used by many for lying in the shade, while most the ruins looked to be shut off for archaelogical or repair work.  Still is was a pleasant treck,  I then wandered down to the Colosseum by which there is a fenced off area of ruins that do not appear on maps.  I took some photos of here, turned around and …, pain, sudden sharp at the back of my right knee. Continue reading

Inane Morning Entry

Not actually gone any where yet, but after a decent night’s sleep I.m now seeing a big difference between a high tourism area (Rome) and else where.  In Leonessa we had to use our limited phrases of Itlian even to get coffee and milk (the latter for cereal) in the morning,  Here even the cleaner said Good Morning in English.

Breakfast was interesting.  A lot more selection on offer, though the coffee was very un-Italian, perhaps due to the number of US visitors they cater for.  Also I noted that a later breakfast (here they serve it till 10) may not be a good thing as there were queues for tables not long after I got mine.

Right packed for the day, time to step out in to the heat.

First Night in Rome

Talk about making and ignoring plans. I hit Tripadvisor and looked up the restaurants in the neighborhood of the hotel as I did not want to wander far. I reduced the number to six, drew a map, which showed them to be in two clusters of three, and then set off towards the western ones. I found one quite quickly, but it was on the bottom of my list and wasn’t sure I fancied it tonight, The next two were nowhere in sight. But what proved to be a lot closer than expected, just 10 minutes walk, was Il Colosseo, The Colosseum. Continue reading

Veni Roma

Well I arrived and boy is it hot.  Not roasting and not too not for me, but from the coments I’ve heard over the last few days I think most of the others would be wilting.  Actually now I’m checked in to the hotel I’m relaxing in my air conditioned room.

Hotel Raffaello is only about 5-10 minutes walk from the main station (Roma Termini).  I’m not presently sure what’s near by but will take a walk around in a few hours time before looking to an evening meal.  In the mean time I’m relaing and will soon carry on processing potos – nedding ones first though I’ll post on FaceBook when I’ve uploaded the holiday ones to my Webshots account.

The hotelis so different from Hotel Leo.  It’s a lot smarter, air conditioned, initernet in the rooms (though the performance is more than  a little cap) and the shower is a jacuzi one with side spray so I gadget time later while getting refreshed.

Back to Fiumicino Airport then on to Rome

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Well checked out of Hotel Leo, left Leonessa, and headed south to Rome and the main airport to drop off the car.  The journey was pretty straight fowards though it was amusing to catch Abi and Rashmi taking a break from their return trip with a sneaky ice cream.  I almost stopped to join them but wanted to make good time while \i could.  Good job too as the caught up wsith me not long after.

I arrived as Fiumicino with but one concern on my mind.  Fuel.  Giving the car back without a full tank would cost me a lot.  Could I find any petrol stations on or near by the airport ?  No.  I ended up doing about a 30 km round trip before I as sorted.  Still the car was handed back without any issues and I proceeded on to the railway station to get in to Rome.  As it was close to 2 p.m. I grabbed a sandwich there, bouht my ticket, got it stamped (with out which you get fined) and then jumped on the train. A comfortable 30 minutes later I as in Rome.

Ciao Leonessa

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Well time to finish packing and then head on back to drop the car off before hitting Rome.

Leonessa is a really nice place, but like many small back water one trick villages times look bleak unless the snow starts to come back during the winter, as at present it’s a ski resort with no where to ski. The mountain roads to get here may be fun to drive but also leave it very much isolated and as there’s no work around much of the younger population is disappearing off. It’s a shame really as it’s a nice friendly place with it’s of trekking areas for those so inclined.

Hotel Leo is meant to be a relatively modern hotel, but it does feel dated. The staff are friendly (very few speak English, but I don’t consider that an issue), however service is slow and lethargic from most of them. My room was basic, there’s no air con in the hotel (not an issue I suppose in a ski resort that should be busiest during the winter) the bathroom was very basic, no bath, the shower had no real isolation, so it was easy to semi flood the main room.

Well it’s time to finish packing, check out, and head for Rome. Arrivedichi

Final Night in Leonessa

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With most of us heading back to the UK tomorrow or on to Roma, tonight those of us left headed up as a group in to the town square of Leonessa to go to a bar there. Most were just going to get panini and snack, while three of us decided to head to a restaurant or tratiatore instead for some thing more substantial. Before then we all sat down to relax and get in the first round of drinks. I still can’t believe that at ~8 pm all of us went for soft drinks, mainly granitas – mine was a water melon one that was superb. Continue reading