Rome! Let me start off by saying I'm sorry peeps but I wasn't a fan! We arrived New Year's Eve. We had dinner at a pizza place and then back on the bus for the 40 minute ride to our hotel. After unpacking and getting rugged up we were back on the bus ready to get dropped into the city to bring in the Nee Year in Rome! We had one goal! Get to the Colosseum by midnight! The crowd was massive! We detoured a little with a stop off at the Trevi fountain, the Spanish Steps and the Victor Emmanuel Monument. We tried and failed to get to the Colosseum but we saw some fireworks which I don't think we're suppose to be happening. There were just random people every where letting them off in the crowd! One minute they were 50 meters away, the next ride beside you. A little scary! Then right after midnight everyone started throwing glass bottles into the centre right where we were. Lets just say we got the hell out dodge quick smart! I've never seen so much rubbish and disgusting things going on. The crowd was massive as you can see in the photos. You were all squashed in and guys would just pee right where they were standing. Ewww! Anyway we managed to find our way out of the crowd and back to the bus in time to catch it home safe and sound. Phew!
The next day we caught the train into Rome for our free day in the city. We started off with a walking tour around the major monuments with Nick. First stop the Colosseum! It was closed though being New Year's Day. Then the Roman Ruins, the Victor Emmanuel Monument (which looked very different without the New Year's crowd), the Trevi fountain (where I threw my 3 coins in for love, luck and return to Rome) and finished at the Pantheon. After that we had some time to ourselves to fill in. There wasn't a lot to do though as a lot of things were closed but we had a look at some shops, sat at the Trevi fountain for gelato, filled in and hour and 10 minutes at this shop for Jacqui to line up and get a drink and use the loo. Ok so here's my gripe.....the city was dirty! There were no toilets around unless you could get inside the overcrowded shops and line up for hours to use one very gross toilet, there were no park benches or somewhere nice to sit and chill. So by now you all know about....THE TOILET PHOBIA - well from 9.30am till 8pm that night I did not use a toilet! We had to catch the metro, then a train home only to have to wait for our bus to come pick us up at 9.30pm! Well we decided to head back a bit earlier and just grab a taxi from the train station. By this time I am busting for a pee! I mean I'm pacing up and down, doing a jig, sitting on it, wriggling! Anything to hold onto it. There were no bushes or buses to go behind here!!! Lucky for us though we ran into Nick on the train and he was getting a taxi too. But naturally there's no bloody taxis! Rome apparently is the hardest place to find a taxi!!! Eventually he calls the hotel and they order is one! But I'm so busting now I can't even talk! Poor guy must've thought I was rude. I had to explain the problem the next morning! Apparently he'd never had toilet phobia person before lol. Thought it was funny! Anyway to finish the story - we got back to the hotel and luckily there were toilets in the lobby and all ended ok! Oh boy! I was never so relieved in my life! Goodbye Rome!