While all this was going on I was nursing Dalton’s swollen ankles from the plane trip which he could hardly walk on. Also he became quite delirious with lack of sleep and saying things that didn’t make any sense. Both have since improved however to this day he till doesn’t remember what he said.
We got up when we awoke and wandered around the streets in Rome. It was good to be back and not needing to use a map to get around. We were not overly fussed if we didn’t return to the major tourist sites as we had been there before. Rather we found ourselves walking around the unknown parts of Rome and the back streets to really get a grasp of the culture and to soak up the atmosphere without the hustle and bustle of the tourists - Trying to be as much of a local as possible.
We did visit the Spanish steps, however unfortunately they were doing work on this so it was fenced off which meant we could snap an uninterrupted picture. The Trevi Fountain was also a place we went to and then returned to the Ghetto for dinner. A very local place without the tourist prices. When we finished our dinner it was to our surprise now 10pm. We continued to roam back towards our accommodation.
We were awake early so we got up and went exploring at 0700, which was the best thing as there was hardly anyone around except for the locals. They were heading to work, working on buildings, opening up shop, singing in the streets and generally going about their daily business. Something we haven’t experienced before. So definitely a recommendation.
We walked past the Colloseo, The Wedding cake building and a few other places with the streets being bare and no one around. Perfect for photos.
We returned to our accommodation and went to the station to get our tickets to Termoli (convention). There were designated people to help assist you at the self-kiosks should you need them which was a new thing since we were last here. Previously this was the perfect pick pocket place. People would pretend they worked there to assist meanwhile taking the opportunity to pick your pockets when it arose. Also guards with guns everywhere. We had to catch the metro to another train station in Rome which we didn’t allow for and because of the rush to get to that train we forgot to Validate our tickets.
We only realized this when we were on the train and it came over the speaker. We had forgotten about this from last time. Which meant that up to a 200 Euro penalty was at stake. However as soon as we saw the ticket lady we approached her and said we were not aware and we had just heard the message, then she explained because we had approached her about it first she was just going to penalize us 5 Euro per ticket instead of the 50 Euro per ticket. In the past when you purchase a ticket its not for a particular day or time and people would not validate it so they could use it again. However now you purchase it for that day and a certain time and it must be validated. We were so appreciative not to have to pay such a large fine. We understand why it is necessary to do this now, it made more work for the ticket people on the train to then manually validate it. She spent about 10 minutes with us doing this.
We arrived in Termoli where we were picked up by Ralph and Mariano and headed to Petaciatto where we spent four days. We had the job of drying dishes each meal and also serving afternoon tea. When you get a job it is for each meal, every day. Its quite different having it for three days. Monday night we sat around singing all together. At least half left when convention had finished and the rest stayed until Tuesday all leaving at various times, most being dropped off at Termoli station. We stayed for clean up and were dropped off at Termoli with Sherilyn en-route to Bari.
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