Since I had covered days 1 – 10 of our trip in emails, I decided to pen this down after returning so as to have a complete record of our vacation.
We reached Rome at 9:30 PM on Day 10. Despite our hotel map mentioning that it was only 200 mtrs from the station, we stepped out and took a cab. On reaching the hotel, we realized that we had merely done a circuit of the station – the hotel was across the street from the opposite end of the station to the one we had exited from. We were also a little surprised to find the hotel lobby in darkness – with only one bulb on behind the receptionist. On speaking to him, we found that one of the electric utilities supplying power to Rome had a breakdown, and the hotel was without power. Instead of taking up the receptionist's suggestion that we lug our baggage up three floors to the room, we left the luggage at the reception and went across to a Pizzeria nearby for dinner. By the time we finished dinner, the power was back and we were able to go to our room.
This experience only accentuated the sense of unease we had developed about Italian infrastructure on reaching Venice. The first thing we saw on reaching the station was a notice indicating that there was to be a strike on June 21 st, the day we were scheduled to leave Rome for Milan on our way back to Bombay. We had checked with the railway staff, and they had assured us that our train would be running despite the strike.
The next morning, we took a bus for the Vatican. It was extremely crowded, and both of us kept a close eye on our belongings, keeping in mind the warnings that various people had given us about thefts in Italy, especially Rome. About halfway through our journey, a couple rushed forward from the back of the bus and spoke to the driver. The bus halted, and some cops were called. It turned out that the lady's bag had been snatched at the previous stop. After a 5 minute break, the bus proceeded, minus the cops and the couple, with the lady in tears. Nobody seemed to bat an eyelid at this incident.
We reached the Vatican and were amazed to see the grandeur of Vatican City and the St. Peters Cathedral. We climbed 500+ steps to the top of the Dome, and marveled at the views of the city, and the architecture inside the Dome. We later went in and spent an hour admiring the beautiful church. We then proceeded to the Vatican Museum. I for one was amazed to see the eclectic collection of fine art from various civilizations housed in a collection belonging to the Catholic Church. Some of the tour guides could be heard cribbing about the prudery of certain popes who had some sculptures painted up. But in my view, the Church had clearly adopted a very tolerant and inclusive attitude about civilizations before it – while there was some puffery on the victories of Catholicism over Paganism, most exhibits were presented in a neutral setting. After a long tour, we reached the Sistine Chapel, and admired Michelangelo's magnificent frescos.
We then took the metro to another station and walked down to the Fountain of Trevi. There is a walking path that leads from this Fountain to the Pantheon. Along the way, we saw Hadrian's Temple, a beautiful old monument that pops out of seemingly nowhere. At the Pantheon, I was surprised to find that what had once been a temple dedicated to Roman Gods was (and had been for 1500 years) a Catholic Church. We then walked along, taking in views of Roman relics seemingly at every street corner towards the Forum. On reaching Palatine Hill around 7:30, we found that access to the Forum and the Coloseum closed at 6:15 – we then headed down a road towards the Circus Maximus, which turned out to be an ordinary looking field. After having walked about 4 – 5 kms on our "Walking Tour of Rome", we proceeded to our hotel using the metro. Before leaving the station, we once again checked the status of our train, and were again assured that all would be well. That night, we had dinner at an Indian restaurant called "Sitar", which was located down the street from our Hotel. Sitar was run by a Punjabi, who had been working for the UN in Italy for several years.
The next morning, after checking out, we set out for the Coloseum. There was a long queue to get tickets, which was more disorganized than any I had seen in India. A number of people were ambling past the main queue – after watching about 50 people go by, Radhika joined them – and found that they were queue breakers, rejoining the queue up ahead. We too ended up bypassing about 20 people who were ahead of us in the main queue, though net-net, we were probably worse off. The Coloseum itself was really beautiful – there were detailed signboards explaining the nitty-gritty of the seating hierarchy, and guides explaining in gory detail how losers almost never survived the fights (to prevent match fixing allegedly!). There was also a museum housing various artifacts retrieved from the Coloseum. We then headed out to the Forum, and spent an hour and a half looking at the ruins. Even today, one can easily gauge the splendor that once was. We had been rationing photographs ever since we reached Venice (when my first memory chip got full), and as we were leaving the Forum, Radhika took one last photo and found that the memory card was full. We then decided to have an Indian lunch at Sitar since we were scheduled to reach Milan only at 9PM and had decided to have a sandwich dinner in the train.
We went to the station at around 3:45PM, which we thought would be when the train would roll into its designated platform. As we entered, I noticed a sign showing the word "SUPRESSO" next to several trains (but not ours). On reaching the platform, we found the train had not yet arrived. We waited but at 4:05, a sign appeared indicating some other train would leave from our designated platform. So I went over to the Information Desk, and found to my horror that despite the earlier assurances, our train had been cancelled. With nary an apology, the guy told me to take my chances at the reservation office if I wanted to reach Milan.
I then rushed to the reservation office and found a long queue at the Eurostar Italia counter. The guy in front of me (who had also been bumped) told me that we had a long wait ahead of us, and we should pray that there were seats available on the next train. This was a major concern – the 5:30 PM Eurostar Italia would reach Milan only at 10 PM, and other trains took 7 hours plus to cover the distance which Eurostar took 4:30 hrs. There were not many options open to us. After a seemingly endless wait (only about 20 minutes actually), I reached the counter. As I tried to explain my situation, the counter clerk very helpfully offered to give me a refund. I told him I needed to reach Milan – to which he replied that he did not speak English, and I would have to wait for his colleague to become free. After explaining our situation to his colleague, he took my ticket and disappeared for 10 minutes. He came back saying he was able to give us 2 seats on the 5:30, but could not say with certainty that the train would not be cancelled. At 4:50 after this saga, I returned to wait at the platform for the 5:30 train.
Once again we had a long wait, with no information about whether our train would leave. Finally at 5:15, it was announced that the train would leave. We rushed to the platform as the train was entering the station. It was 5:25 by the time we reached our seats (the platform was as crowded as an Indian one) but at exactly 5:30, the train started off. Until Bologna, all was fine. At 9:20, we seemed to be well on our way to reaching Milan on time. But at 9:25, the train stopped at a station called Piacenza to an announcement in rapid fire Italian. Fortunately for us, there was a Bangladeshi resident of Italy around who translated the announcement for us, and told us that the train was delayed by 30 minutes on account of a fire up ahead. I looked out of the train, and saw a number of other stranded trains (slower regional ones albeit), which had seemingly been waiting from as early as 8 PM. 10 PM passed without any announcement. We waited, with a growing sense of foreboding. I called the hotel to ensure that they do not give our room to someone else, assuming we were not showing up. Finally at 11 PM, one of the other trains left, and then at 11:10, we were on our way again. We reached Milan at 12:30 AM – it had taken 3 ½ hours to cover the last 60 kms. We then proceeded by cab to our hotel, which was very close to the station. For a change, we were thankful for Thomas Cook's incompetence – we had asked for a hotel close to the Airport, which is 50 km from Milan, but they had instead booked us next to the railway station, which was a blessing in disguise given the hour at which we reached Milan.
We woke the next morning at 4 am, and proceeded to the airport, reaching at 6 AM using the 5AM shuttle bus from the station. Our flight started engines at 7:25 (5 minutes ahead of schedule), and started taxiing. Just before the runway, it stopped, and the pilot announced that there was a problem with the ATC system, and no visibility on when it would be resolved. We were scared again, for a few brief moments, wondering whether we would make our connection to Bombay from Zurich. But fortunately, just as he finished speaking, he received word that the problem had been resolved and we were on our way. We made our connection comfortably, and at 9:20 PM (i.e. 15 minutes early), were overhead Bombay. But we had to circle for 40 minutes before getting ATC clearance to land, and finally touched down at 10:10. Thanks to the new, improved immigration and baggage handling at Bombay airport (kudos to Praful Patel for that), we were in a cab by 10:45 on our way home.
While the above mail may sound like a harangue against Italy, one must view things in context. Italy is undoubtedly a country with a lot to see – and it gets a large, unvarying tourist demand. The infrastructure there is far superior to anything in India – I would not have even noticed the delays I emphasized so much on an Indian vacation. But compared to the rest of Europe, it is in little league. So one can vacation in Italy, but must not expect the clockwork precision one sees in Switzerland – treat it more like a vacation in India, where adequate buffers for delays must be built.
Ciao then
Raj
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