The Journeys ... The last trips

With the date of leaving Switzerland (June 2004) drawing closer and still having weeks and weeks on my holiday account, I decided to at least spend part of these days on real holidays. Therefore I went on short trip to Rome with a good friend of mine.

I have always been a great enthusiast for history - and if you are, you cannot get past ancient Rome. It really is strange, that I have never visited the Eternal City before. Now it was time, especially with the outlook of not being around Europe for some time (hopefully).

Arriving in Rome, we got chatted up for a hotel room at the railway station already. The price was ok (45 Euro for both of us, including breakfast), so we agreed and followed to guy. The room itself was ok and the location of the B&B-style accommodation was good enough (10 minutes walk to the Colloseum and the station). The setback came not before the next day, when we discovered the 5 Euro breakfast to be two cups of diluted instant coffee and two pre-packed croissants (not really Italian flavor, as I know it) and the construction site in front of our window. Ah well, such is life. Waking up with jackhammer noises....

Both of us interested in the ancient Rome, we kept running around town. I personally imagined the city to be larger. Unlike Paris or London, where it is virtually impossible to visit all important places on foot, we kept stumbling over the famous places by accident. Like one afternoon, when we were really shocked when the pint of beer cost us 8 Euro, only to find out that the Trevi fountain was just around the next corner of the restaurant. Duh. After 3 days, we had seen most places that were of interest to us. A little disappointed by the Romes attitude (I know Italians to be very nice and hospitable people, not so in Rome though), we decided to spend the rest of the time somewhere else.

After asking an Italian for a good place on the West coast, we trusted her and went to Monte Argentario - and were not disappointed. Probably crowded in summer, this island off the coast (station: Orbetello) was a good place to relax in March. We had to troubles finding a hotel and spent a whole day hiking through the hill sides of the somewhat largish island. After Monte Argentario, we headed to Pisa for one day...and then the time was already over and we had to go back to Switzerland. All in all, it was an interesting and funny trip. Some time to relax from work and prepare mentally for the upcoming 'great unknown'.