Arrividerci Roma and after the last 24 hours - thank goodness.

After a good nights sleep in the cat box I decided to have a shower. Now showers in Italy could never be accused of being roomy and the shower at Hotel Piemonte required a shoe horn and butter to get in and out of let alone manage to wash yourself.

Well the free breakfast made Mamma Angela's offerings shine. So I settled for a couple of rolls and a cup of brown milk advertised as coffee.

On checking out I discovered the city fee payable only in cash had doubled overnight to €2 and when I questioned it the desk clerk advised that they were a 3 star hotel. I would hate to see a 2 star or less. I just paid it as the past 24 hours was beginning to taint this wonderful adventure.

Our airport transfer turned up and unfortunately it was not Stefano but a rather gruff chap who was feeling shrugged that we did not arrive in the hotel lobby until 9:33 for our 9:45 scheduled pickup. His good side would have been hard to find with a backhoe,

The traffic was exceptionally bad near the Colosseum and when we got to nearly opposite to the Colloseo metro station there was a parked car outside and given the presence of the Carabinieri, Polizia, what looked like special forces or army, as well as several plain clothes officers the owner of the car had not just run out of benzina methinks.

Our driver was getting extremely annoyed that the traffic was interfering with his constant phone conversations (some conducted at 125 km/h with no hands free. Thankfully we arrived without incident even though one of his short cuts took us under an abandoned bridge currently being used by bulldozers. If we were about 300 k further south we may have been in danger of being "bowling balled" but all of a sudden the Autostradde came into view.

The airport was the usual hassle and more battling line jumpers at the customs VAT rebate boot but at last we are seated and were away.

Arriviiderci Italia and grazie you made me realize how great home is and until you spend a decent amount away you won't have a clue what I mean but believe me Australia is heaven on earth (and Monny is gold class).

I refuse to let the last 24 hours taint what has been a great (and spiritual) experience in my ancestral homeland - it was a blast and has doubtlessly changed me (hopefully for the better). 

Only KL between us and home so time to fire up the iPod and have Zuccherro make the next 12 hours easier 