Day of Disaster.

We were planning on re-visiting Pompeii today to catch up on what we missed yesterday, but decided against it because the weather was a bit pants and we are really trying to save some pennies now. So we headed back to the port with our rucksacks just to sit by the sea for a while before getting the train back to Rome (flight to Munich tomorrow).

It started to rain hard so we thought we'd just head back to the tube station and head to the city centre to catch an earlier train to Rome. In the tube station all the floors are marble and on a wet day are very very slippery. Dan walked ahead towards the ticket machine and I followed behind, looking at the change in my purse. Because of this, I completely missed the step in front of me and when down like a tonne of bricks after tripping over it. My rucksack just pushed me down and my hands couldn't stop me from hitting my head. I managed to sit up and it was obvious I'd hit it hard as I had blood on the floor! Four local people surrounded us and really helped us out. One called an ambulance, one got some water, another tissues, and the other had our bags put away safely in the station. Dan was fantastic and just held a tissue to my head and kept incredibly calm until the ambulance arrived.

I managed to walk to the ambulance with the help of two paramedics and Dan came in too. They made me lye down on the bed and relax and we headed off the the hospital. I've never been in shock before, its a weird feeling and all I kept doing was laughing and then crying! I managed to calm myself down an little and then a paramedic got some sort of drip thing to give me which set me off again as I hate needles! He got the message I think and said I didn't have to have it, thankfully! Once in the hospital there was no messing about - I went straight in and got seen by a nurse and Doctor. Unfortunately I had to have a local anaesthetic in my cut, which made me cry again but I tried very had to be brave! They put 2 stitches in my right eyebrow and bandaged me up so I stood out like a sore thumb! Then, in very broken English, we were given instructions on the antibiotics I needed and when I should see a Dr etc etc. They also mentioned an injection I needed (tetanus) but there was a real miscommunication and it was explained that the injection could give me hepatitis, not prevent it like its meant to! So I decided against it and we left...

On leaving the hospital, our paramedics were still outside and said they'd drive us back to the station - in the ambulance!! Not only that, they took us the scenic route and stopped to show us the view and get us to take pictures!!

We collected our bags and travelled to the main station to catch our train to Rome (thankfully we were still going to get to Rome at a decent time). Dan sat me in the waiting room and headed back to the fab pizza restaurant to get lunch, bless him. It was obviously busy as he took ages! Meanwhile, I had an old Italian lady trying to talk to me and make me laugh. We spoke about family, counted from 1 to 10 in English and Italian, and giggled over not understanding each other!

Once in Rome, we went to the Embassy just to find out if I needed a jab or not and the guy there wasn't overly helpful but he said I'd be very lucky to get one in Italy as they don't really offer them. We headed back to the hostel and settled in for the night, nice and early in preparation for our flight in the morning...