Wednesday 29th May We left the unit at 7.45 & caught the bus & 2 trains to Tiburtina the main bus station for Rome in plenty of time for the bus to Perugia. The run was through beautiful country with little hill towns on either side of a large valley before we climbed across a range to another one. The land seems so fertile & all along near each town were various new industrial sites & warehouses which was a contrast to what we had seen further s...

Wednesday 22nd May Another grey day today. It was the day we had been working up to, a visit to the Vatican Museum. This should only be undertaken if (a) You have a strong constitution & (b) you can cope with crowds pushing & shoving. d*** finds both a bit too much. We arrived at the Vatican at about 10.45 & after fending off the tour guide touts, of which there appeared to be an endless supply, we found an Information Office where we were told w...

Monday 20th May Off reasonably early to see the Colosseum as our tickets from yesterday were valid for it as well as the Forum & we could go straight in rather than queue for a ticket. We skipped the audio guide after yesterday's fiasco & were glad we did as, in contrast to the Forum, the signage & explanations are really great. The place was built for 75,000 spectators & even in its runed form is still huge by any standards, with a very complex ...

Tuesday 14th May After breakfast had a short walk & then were off to the station to catch the fast train to Rome. Fast it certainly was & smooth & quiet also reaching 296kph at one stage & so it was a very pleasant if expensive ride. As it didn't pass through any stations I think that it must run on a separate track from the rest of the network most of the time. Joanne & Gian Carlo met us at the station & then drove us around a few of th...

Monday 13th May Walked down to the port area & caught a ferry to Capri an island about 50 mins by sea from Naples about 8km from the nearest mainland. After arrival we took a tiny, very crammed, bus up to Anacapri, one of the 2 little towns on the island which rises 400+m out of the sea. The buildings, mostly in white, look so smart after the drabness of Naples & the town is laced with narrow alleys a la Mikonos in Greece but what amazed us was the upmar...