Arrivedirrci Roma

Well, we left Villa Rota in the throws of their wedding preparations, thought they would be changing the tablecloths but we thought wrong, these people are really quite strange in some of the things they do that they find acceptable and the things that are intolerable. But I am sure the place will look amazing.

 

 

I really think they enjoyed having us there over the last couple of days. Perhaps it gave them a chance to show the place off to someone new, or perhaps it just gave them something to do? Anyway, they went out of their way to do everything and anything for us. I think we made some new friends. Alfonzo, Mina and Raffaele all said their good byes and Raffaele presented us with his family's own lemoncello (much better then the stuff the Villa stocks - so he tells us!

The drive to Rome was unevenvtful and much to my surprise we got here quite easily. Although, no one can tell me the italians drive better then in Australia. Trucks will drive on the centre line of two lanes, drivers will stay to the left lane (remember, they should stick to the right over here) simply because they dont want to move over to allow merging traffic, no matter how far off that event may be! They will see a situation arising and actually speed up to cut you off. Then they take pleasure in blasting the other driver. And some simply cannot drive!

We had ample time and took a leisurely drive to the airport, found the hire car place and dropped off the car. And they couldnt spot the new scratches and dents in amongst all the old scratches and dents! So, all good.

 

I am, not sure about Gregory, ssooooo over rudeness! I'm not talking about the people you meet in your accommodation or most of those in the service industry, it's pretty much other tourists and by other tourists, I mean, Germans, Italians, Spanish, English, American and dare I say Australians. Americans are by far the loudest although some we have met are very conscious of their reputation, and try to be more understated. Depending on where you are I.e what country, the English tourists can be quite obnoxious. The Dutch like their German counterparts are by far the most arrogant and demanding. The holidaying italians are just downright rude but we are in their country, so se la vie. The rudest tourists are by far the germans. They feel it is their god given right to be rude, demanding, loud, obnoxious and arrogant. Some Australians need to have a good look at themselves, not great ambassadors for our beautiful country.

 

Ok off the soapbox now, I know we still have Hong Kong to go, but our European trip has been wonderful.

Greg has been a most entertaining and amicable travel companion. We are still married for the time being and other than his trying to dispose of at least one of my legs in istanbul ( I look at this as a form of forced weight loss), we have not had any arguments, a couple of uncomfortable silences, but on the most part that's about it. I suppose after 29 years of marriage we get one another most of the time.

Throughout Italy, Croatia, Greece, Malta and Turkey religious themes abound. Clearly all these countries are very passionate about their beliefs. From the magnificent blue mosque, to the largest bascilllica in the world - St Peters in Rome we have seen some wonderful expressions of different faiths. None however compare to this one below,

 

 

 

 

 

 

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