I arrived in Rome today, I have already had good experiences. After my disaster in Granada with the cab I decided I was going to take public transportation although it is sometimes complicated. I arrived at the train station where I had to take the metro and then a local bus. At the metro there were signs everywhere to watch for pickpocketers luckily I did not have any problems but it is soooo crowded there I am sure it would be easy if someone wasn't paying attention. So I took the bus but when I got off at my stop I wasn't sure which way to go I asked a nice guy and he walked me towards the hostel, all of a sudden it started pouring down rain I was soaked in about 30 seconds I raced up to the steps of this building which was the stadium to get out of the rain and I still had about four blocks to walk and the rain wasn't letting up. This pretty nicely dressed woman asked me if I was heading to the hostel and offered me a ride!! She drove me to the hostel and dropped me off it was soo nice. It is much nicer to take a cab when you don't know where you are going but you deprive people of the opportunity to help you. It took me two hours to get from the train station to my hostel by taking public transportation. So many nice people, the people at my hostel are nice too, I went to the hostel restaurant and the cook there is a sweet, pretty, plump older grandmotherly woman and all I could think was I wanted her to give me a hug, of course I didn't ask her but I almost cried just longingly thinking about it. Her son was there and although I don't speak Italian I could tell he wasnt being very nice to her. A hug probably would have been good for her and me. I am pretty tired of trains, last Friday night I left Granada, Spain and did not arrive to Genoa, Italy until Sunday afternoon. So many adventures, broken down trains, switching to buses, crazy, crazy. So once I finally arrived in Genoa I went to Cinque Terre the next day, I had a wonderful challenging hike it is so amazingly beautiful there, I took lots of pics, I had a wonderful time it felt really great to exercise after sitting on my butt for three days. On the train ride home the train broke down, they make you get out and I was once again stuck at a train platform stinky and tired for 2 hours while they tried to fix the train. It has been really nice warm weather around 80 or 90 while I have been in Italy not like Granada where for the last two days I was there it rained, the storm already has passed here in Rome and I hope it will be nice tomorrow. It is 8 pm right now as I write this posting.
On my way to Genoa when I was waiting for my connecting train in Barcelona I was sitting reading my book and this family came over and they had four boys that were not very well behaved. One of the boys came over and kicked my water bottle and then kicked my luggage. I didn't really care at first, I love kids and wasn't too worried about it, my poor luggage has been pretty beat up. The little boy was messing with everyones stuff and then came back and started kicking my luggage again, I said no and smiled at him and put my arm in front of my luggage, he looked right at me and he was crossed eyed as well so I was feeling a bit sorry for him but he kicked it again. The parents weren't watching any of their kids and they were running around, rolling on the floor just all over. This older man that was sitting next to me yelled at the boy when he kicked my luggage and then said something to the parents, the father started yelling at the older man and challenged him to go outside. Now I don't speak that much Spanish but I was getting the jist of what was going on and I understand a lot more than I can speak and this scene made me nervous. The dad was asking the older guy if he wanted to go outside. The mother grabbed the dad and boy and pulled them back, trying to gather up her other children. The one cross eyed boy came up to the older man next to me and grabbed something out of his bag and so the man grabbed his arm. The dad went crazy and grabbed the old guy and pushed him, he fell backwards to the floor. Luckily he was ok but he got up and rushed towards the dad who was half his size and they were wrestling around but luckily security arrived and took both of them away. I was shaking and glad no one got hurt, the older guys wife had come in the middle of it right before they started fighting and everyone was talking in Spanish she was worried that they were going to miss their train. Luckily he came back a little bit later and said that the police did nada about it. I think that was my best Spanish lesson as I understood almost everything as it was being said. Everyone was talking to me in spanish and I was answering in spanish too. So I have had a few adventures since I last wrote. It is expensive for internet at my hostel 8 euro an hour but I will try to write as much as possible. I am really excited to be in Rome, I am going to see the Pope tomorrow he comes out and talks at noon. I have until Sat to explore there is so much to see I am thrilled!! Please send me emails I love to read them I haven't been as good as answering them but I love to hear what everyone is up to!!! I have so many more things to share but it is hard when you only have a certain amount of time as it is so expensive for internet and I am writing this instead of eating dinner and you all know how I like to be detailed of my experiences so until next time.
XOXO Marci
