Tramping about
Our first stop was at the Roman and Imperial Forums. The thing about a lot of these ancient sites is that they are all just 'lying there', which kind of amazes me but at the same time of course, what else can you do other than leave them 'lying there'? Not as though you can wrap them up and put them in a museum right...Elaine and I got maps of Rome to navigate our way around, and refered to the travel book of Rome to identify parts within each site.
So, there were the the Imperial Forums. They are lower than ground level, and most parts are cordoned off. But as with everything else in Rome, you just take a look at the site, and you get lost in it. You start imagining the Romans walking around. You imagine the philosphers spouting their theories and debating with each other. You imagine that it must have been a lot dirtier (now it's just dusty) then. You imagine it in its full glory, before the sun and rain got to it.
From the Imperial Forums, we walked to the Roman Forums - I'm not sure of the difference between the two. They are within stone's throw of each other, and seem to have the same structures and building style. You're allowed to walk through the Roman Forums and tramp through the ruins. We were able to identify the key highlights within the Forums, such as the Temple of Romulus and the Temple of the Vestal Virgins. We didn't get a tour guide so we more or less walked through the Forums on our own. But there were a lot of tour groups going round - mostly Americans, so every now and then we'd stop by to eavesdrop on THEIR tour guides.
It was quite relaxed, as we could take our own time in taking photos without worrying about catching up with the rest of the group. We probably missed out some key points, but we still enjoyed ourselves. From the Forum, we walked towards the Colosseum. There were 'Roman guards' standing around outside with short skirts and red capes but there was no way that we were going to pay money to take a photo with them! This time round, we bought tickets to a guided tour - we have to pay to get into the Colosseum. It's only now that we find out that if we paid the one fee, we could have gotten a guided tour at the Colosseum and the Forums, as well as entrance fee to Palatine Hill. The Beverly Hills of Ancient Rome. Too late now, but it's okay, we still took the guided tour.
The tour guide took us all the way to the top level of the Colosseum, showed us the different architectural style that showed when each level was built. We weren't allowed to walk on ground level of the auditorium as apparently it's being reinforced. You can only imagine what it must have been like when it was still 'new' and every brick is still in place. According to our tour guide, the Catholic Church did more damage to Rome's riches than the grave robbers ever did - the Church consistently tour out marble slaps and tiles to build more churches throughout the country. Our tour ended at the top level, with a great view of the Arch of Constantine.
From Colosseum, we walked towards the Palatine Hill. By that time, we were exhausted and needed a drink. Now we had bought a couple of bottles of water each when we left the hotel. At that point, it was 1.50 Euro per bottle. By the time we got to the Colosseum, it was 2.00 Euro each. And by the time we were on the way out of Colosseum, it had gone up to 2.50 Euro! Talk about situational value appreciation!!! It was our lesson learnt for the day anyway. We went to the supermarket at the end of the day and bought a pack of 6 bottles for the following day.
We wandered over to the Palatine Hill and had a leisure stroll through the ruins and gardens. This was where the rich used to live...big houses with high ceilings and big gardens. They directly looked over the Roman Forums - so they really had some view! By that time, it was about 3.30pm and we had been walking non-stop since about 10.00am! Our last stop for the day was Circus Maximus. This was where the chariot races were held, think Ben Hur. We always thought that everything took place in the Colosseum, but our tour guide said that it's not big enough for the likes of chariot races, so we had grand impressions of the Circus Maximus - which literally means 'big circle'. Even though it's not a circle, really...
But when we got there...our jaws dropped. It was just one really BIG DUSTY FIELD! I mean, what happened to our visions of a majestic sports arena??? It's been raped over the years, bricks and tiles and stones taken away for other buildings and structures, until all that's left is this field. What a let down! We had a quick rest by the FIELD, and then took the train back to our (yucky) hotel. It had been quite a day!
Visiting Rome...first thoughts
When Elaine said that she'd visit me, I started planning our out-of-Milan trips. First one is obviously for Rome! Because there are so many airlines serving internal routes, there were plenty of flights to choose from. The more important issue to deal with was - WHICH HOTEL? I'm a real fusspot when it comes to hotels. They have to pass the 'toe-curl' test...if I can step foot on the hotel room floor without my toes curling up in disgust, then it's passed. I spent hours on the internet trying to find a hotel that was central and modern and cheap. All three criteria don't fit together, as you can imagine.
In the end, I chose the central and relatively cheap - I think it's called Hotel Quirinale. In no way would it have been modern, since the building itself was about 200 years old. Well, it looks it anyway! By the way, there is no city skyline in Italy. Most buildings are not allowed to be torn down as they are considered heritage sites, and tall buildings aren't allowed so that you don't block the heritage sites. Plus, you can't dig too far into the ground before you hit some ruins, so you don't get a very solid foundation if you can't dig too far - which means you can't build that tall a building really. But I digress...
Our hotel was near a train station and it was walking distance to the main attractions of Rome. The first time I was in Rome was when I went with Luca to meet the Client. We were in the taxi from the train station (Luca hates flying) to the Client's office and we drove by the Colosseum and my jaw just dropped in awe...I mean, that's the Colosseum! In real life! Not in a movie or a picture! I was twisting this way and that in the back of the taxi so that I could see it from all angles, and Luca didn't even look up from the newspaper he was reading! I guess once you've grown up with all the sights and have seen it so often, you don't really notice it anymore.
Anyway, Elaine and I flew in to Rome, as we thought that it would be better to spend that extra money but maximise the amount of time we could have in Rome. We were going to take the train in from the airport - it's a 40-minute drive to the centre of the city - but when we got there, we found that we had to walk a fair distance to get the train. So in the end, we took a limo taxi into town for a fairly reasonable price, surprisingly. I just knew that the room will fail the 'toe-curl' test when walking down the hallway to our room. And true enough, when I saw the room, I didn't even want to put my bare foot down on the floor! It was big though, but really old. Don't even get me started on the bathroom...*shudder*
But we wasted no time in dumping our bags and then headed off for the exploration of Rome. We were on a very tight schedule, so had to resist the temptations of the shops that we had to walk past. Our 'places to visit' list went like this (though not in order of route):
- The Roman & Imperial Forums
- Colosseum
- Vatican City
- Castello
- Circus Maximus
- Trevi Fountain
- Piazza Navona
- Pantheon
Food! Food! Food!
Yes, everyone thinks that Italian food is yummy...I mean, how can you not like pizza and pasta right? Well, I found out that there are regional differences in attitudes towards food. The further down south the Italian 'boot', the more they love their food. By the time you get to the likes of Sicily, they are passionate about their food. Unfortunately, I'm at the northern end of Italy...
A Client explained the attitude difference to me in an anecdote - my Client's from Rome, so he's at the 'loves food' stage, since they're closer south. He had come up to Milan for a meeting, and by about 5.30pm, the group decided that it's time for dinner. So they all went to a pub (Italian version) and had drinks and some nibbles (probably the Italian equivalent of nachos and potato wedges). After a few hours, people started to leave for home. My Client was surprised, so asked them - "Hey, I thought we were going for dinner?" to which he got a strange look and the response "That WAS dinner!"
He was totally appalled that the Milanese would consider that as dinner, as that would never have happened in Rome. He said that ever since that experience, the next time there was any invitation for dinners, he made sure that he chose where they went - so that they don't end up in the pub having 'pretend food'. It's also evident in their lack of interest in having any a good Milanese dish. The most typical Milanese dish is the Italian equivalent of a schnitzel - except they don't call it a schnitzel. I mean, how creative and ambitious can you get with a schnitzel right?!!
The flavours also get stronger the further south you go, so you start with bland schnitzel in Milan, and then end up with STRONG Sicilian dishes. But I don't know what a typical Sicilian dish is...ha-ha! But I assume contains lots of herbs, sun-dried tomatos, strong-tasting cheeses...
The cost difference between eating out and eating in is huge, so I ate in about 99% of the whole time that I was there. Besides, it's depressing to eat alone in a restaurant. And in the 5 months, I had carbs EVERY SINGLE DAY - although in various forms, such as bread, pasta and rice. I'd have a prosciutto (exotic way of saying ham) sandwich for breakfast, and then a prosciutto sandwich for lunch (sometimes I'd buy from the deli downstairs from the office, so for variety's sake, I'd have a slice or two of mozzarella cheese in it). And then for dinner - a BIG plate of pasta or rice or potatoes. And guess what? I lost a ton of weight! So all those who believe in low-carb diet being a weight-loss method...it doesn't work!
What I found helped was not eating any deep-fried foods (only because I had no wok!)...so I actually didn't have any chips for the whole time! Didn't snack in the office either, which helps. Eating in pre-cooked food in the office was rather inconvenient actually - because they had NO MICROWAVE!!! I mean, we're in the 21st century and microwaves are not a common kitchen appliance!!! How is that possible?!! That meant that I had to cook every single day...which wasn't too bad, as I'm more Milanese when it comes to food than Sicilian! I was happy with a BIG plate of aglio olio pasta with nothing else.
Fruit is so cheap that I usually bought by the kilos. I was there during cherry season...I ate cherries for weeks and weeks! Then there was peaches and grapes and apricots and plums...oh, fruit, glorious fruit! There's a weekly fresh food market near my little apartment - but the only problem is that the stalls only start opening just as I'm catching the tram. So I regularly went to another market on Saturdays a train ride away - and lug kilos of fruit and potatoes back with me.
Gelato...gelati...I became a regular at the gelateria next to my apartment. How can you resist popping in for a scoop of gelato on a hot summer evening, just back from work? They had a 'chocolate festival' for two weeks - specially introduced 12 different flavours of chocolate ice-cream in various mixes. I had chocolate ice-cream coming out of my ears! But what was really disgusting was my discovery of a unique chocolate ice-cream flavour. I had gone in to buy my usual scoop of ice-cream and thought I'd try something new. I noticed 'cioccolato pepperoncino' and I thought - hmm, pepper and chocolate together? Surely that's a mistake - it's probably my lack of Italian language capabilities. So I got cioccolato pepperoncino. The first few licks were okay...it's chocolate...then another couple of licks and I thought that my lips were kind of burning. But it can't be, coz I was having chocolate ice-cream...so why should it be burning?
Elaine was visiting at that time, so I got her to have a taste of my ice-cream. Did she find anything wrong with it? She said no...Then I try a bit more, and then it got decidedly ugly. The chocolate taste was lessening with every mouthful until I can only taste bitter and spicy. URGH! It really was chocolate with pepper (as in CHILI pepper!)...oh gross! I threw it away, and ran back to buy plain old cioccolato to exorcise the taste out of my mouth. Just as well I found that out before the chocolate festival - imagine buying a TUB of that!!!
What else did I learn about Italian food? That the version that we get in most restaurants are bastardised versions of the real thing. Now I love cream-based pasta sauce. Give me a carbonara over bolognese any day of the week. So when I went with my Clients for lunch, I jumped on the "carbonara" (except pronounced with American accent on the 'a's). Well, first I get a laugh from Alessandro (the non-Alf Client) and I thought maybe I said the wrong thing, but no, it was just a very bad pronunciation of the real word. Then when it came, I looked down at it and said out loud, "Where's the sauce?!" There was a sudden silence, so I looked around. Someone asked "What sauce?" And I said, "Doesn't carbonara have a cream sauce?"
I got given the strangest looks (fortunately for me, it was only Ale, Fede, Desi and me at that time) and I realised that I've revealed my ignorance of true Italian food. Alessandro told me that what I have is the way carbonara is meant to be. "Oh...I see..." and then I tried to explain that the carbonara that I've always had is with white creamy sauce, and they all looked disgusted at the thought. They said that carbonara is meant to be only bacon, with the pasta lightly tossed with beaten egg and parmesan cheese until the egg is cooked, and then quickly served. I must say that Italian carbonara is really much lighter than the bastardised version. But I'd still eat the bastardised version any day!
My colleagues
In the few months that I was in Milan, I managed to meet some really lovely people. Though the language was a real barrier, we all managed to muddle through in a good way. I worked most closely with three girls in the office - this photo was taken on my farewell lunch.
My exec's name is Desideria - it sounds better when pronounced by Italians, so I shortened it to Desi. She started taking English lessons when they knew that I was going over - the agency paid for it. We both had English-Italian-English dictionaries on our desks and over time, we managed less and less without it. I'm sure it was as frustrating for her as it was for me, but she really made the effort and I appreciated it a lot. Just before I left Milan, she told me, "For me, working with you is very very nice". And I take it as high compliment indeed. She's the one sitting right next to me.
The girl on the left (in white) is Valentina. She's the events exec and her dad's a personal friend of Silvio Berlusconi! Luca told me that in the first meeting that I had with him. I think I'm supposed to be impressed, but since I'm not Italian, I think the impact is somewhat diminished. She's very young, but enthusiastic about what she does. She kept telling me that I was 'simpatica' (pronounced as sim-paaa-tica and roughly translates to 'funny' she told me)...she seemed really surprised that we got along so well and that we all seem to share the same sense of humour.
The other girl is Laura (in Italian, pronounced as LAU-ra as opposed to English pronunciation of LOH-ra). She's in charge of PR - but again in Italian, that translates to 'Press Office'. She is the most 'tai-tai' of them all, very classy and always dresses well. She's married to an older man, who absolutely ADORES her. She resigned while I was still there, and left shortly after I did. Her husband got a job somewhere else and she was going to follow him and work only 2 days a week. Lucky woman!
There were two Hungarian girls in the office who often acted as the translator for Desi and me. The blonde's Krisztina - she's been in Italy for a long time and speaks fluent Italian and English, so that's really handy. She's usually very quiet in the office and it wasn't until much later that I managed to warm up to her. The brunette is Ludmilla. She was working in Singapore for about a year, so we had a few things in common to talk about. Her advice to me on how best to learn Italian? Marry one! That's why she's fluent...
The other lady in the office that I worked a bit with is Maria-Grazia. She's less fluent in English, and always goes "come si chiama...(suck breath through teeth)...Italian word
" - the Italian equivalent of "what do you call/how do you say..." She's the one who walks 20 minutes to work and thinks that I stay too far away from the office!
I had three male Clients - two Italian boys and a Chilean boy. They are all younger than me! One Italian boy - Federico - is the son of a diplomat, so has moved around quite a bit. He has a strange Italian-American accent when he speaks English. The other boy is Alessandro - has a very clean-cut, good boy image - the kind that any mother would like to see her daughter bring home. Their boss (Christian) is the guy from Chile - he looks like an actor, but I can't remember who it is. Maybe a bit George Clooney, but could be coz he has the same grey hair. It was Christian who pointed out to me that Federico looks like ALF, the alien sitcom that was showing in the 80s. I can't look at him without thinking of ALF after that...fortunately Christian only told me that close to my leaving, so I didn't have to suffer the embarassment of accidentally calling him 'Alf' at one point!
House-hunting
Things you learn about housing in Milan:
There aren't 'houses' as Malaysians know it. Most Milanese like to live in the city, where there are space constraints, so they live mostly in apartments. Not high-rise apartments as we know it either. The apartment blocks are usually only about 3 to 4 storeys, some with lifts and some without. Most of the apartments are located above retail space - for those facing onto the main street. The agency's office is actually a converted apartment, so it had a full bathroom in there with a tub - and one resident green inflatable crocodile. This is a photo of the street that the agency is on. The building is the reddish one in the middle of the row:
One entrance doesn't mean one house or apartment. Most entrances are great big wooden doors which are about 2 storeys high. I continually wondered how anyone is able to push open those doors - until I saw a lady going back to her apartment. Carved into the big doors are smaller doors that are 'human' size, but the smaller doors are so cleverly hidden within the big doors that it's almost impossible to tell! The big doors are more like their 'gates' - automated and for cars.
They prefer location to size. So, better to squeeze into a small apartment that's right in the middle of the city than to live further out, in more space. I've seen apartments so small that I felt claustrophobic - and I'm not usually even remotely claustrophobic. The smallest one that I was almost convinced to visit was only 230sqft! "But it's very nice and it's in the middle of the city" was what the guy told me when I asked him how big the apartment was!
A lot of Italians invest in property. So they live in one but rent out another three more apartments around the city. And apparently, Italian men aren't that different from Malaysian men after all! They live with their parents until they're 30 years old and are mommy's boys...this is a complaint that I heard from one of the girls in the office
I had to do my apartment-hunting on my own as Mum had gone back to KL by the time it was apparent that the agency weren't going to do that for me. I looked at tiny apartments, I looked at big spacious ones. I looked at older buildings, I looked at newer blocks. At first, I was quite apprehensive about house-hunting on my own, as I had visions of serial killers luring innocent young girls (that's me) to quiet, isolated places and then killing them. But after one or two visits, I started to relax and realise that no one's that interested in killing young innocent girls in quiet, isolated places.
I finally found the perfect apartment - it's a bit further from the city than the Milanese are used to, but it's new and spacious, and it's located on a nice street. My apartment is the one on the 3rd floor (the only one without any plants or pots on the balcony) - and most importantly, there's a LIFT to the 3rd floor!
This is the view from my balcony. Not a very big balcony, but enough to fit a clothes horse! Ha-ha...
I had to take a tram (tram stop is just 3 minutes walk from my apartment) and then a train (tram stop to train stop is another 2 minutes of very fast walking) to get to the office. The train stop that I get on and the one that I get off are on two different lines, so there's another 3 minutes of very fast walking to switch lines, and a further 3 minutes from the last train stop to the office. In total, it took me about 30 minutes to get from door-to-door. I thought it was pretty decent! But when my colleagues heard how far it was, they all shuddered. One of them said that it takes her 20 minutes to get to office. WALKING! There's no bloody way I was going to walk for 20 minutes to get to work. All the short-bursts of fast walking is enough for me thanks!
I had a small supermarket (in photo) just outside the tram stop and a gelateria in between the supermarket and my apartment. All that you need to live in Milan! :)
Exploring Milan
Having Mum with me in Milan is kind of cool...we haven't really been on a mother-daughter holiday for the longest time.
After moving twice into three hotels, we have settled into a kind of serviced apartment. Small kitchenette with a small living room. The whole room would probably fit into our living room at home, but well, we'll make do.
Mum's been to Italy before - back in the 60s, when she was studying in England (she still claims that she's not the fortunate few!). But she did a whistle-stop in Milan and spent more time in Rome and Venice (I think?)...or was it Florence? Anyway, it was good though coz then she could explore Milan with me.
We visited the Duomo, which I eventually found out is kind of a generic name for any city's central cathedral. It's the only Duomo in Italy that doesn't have a domed roof though, and very gothic in architecture. Very different from other Duomos, which are more Renaissance. This is all from reading forums and travel sites and books of course. If I said it in my own words, it'll be more like, "The Milan Duomo has got sharp pointy bits while the other Duomos have got dome roofs and different designs"!!! I think the descriptions that have been used were 'lacy carvings' for the Milan Duomo. Would never have entered my mind to use the word 'lacy' to describe something that's carved out of marble!
We also went round to see the 'few' attractions that Milan has to offer - a couple more churches and a castle. Italy doesn't have a very long or prolific history of royalty. There's only been ONE king of Italy - King Vittorio II. Don't ask me how he can be 'II', if there wasn't ever a 'I'! But anyway, this is the Castello in Milan. This is me standing inside the walls of the castle, in the main courtyard. It got me thinking of all the 'princesses' of the past that used to run around the top of the castle walls (where it looks like windows).
Also made a day trip to Lake Como - no point for Mum being in Milan for so long without making a side trip. So we booked ourselves on a bus tour one Saturday. Como's only an hour's bus ride outside of Milan. It's a really lovely lakeside town, and looks like everything you would imagine parts of Europe to be. As part of the tour, we also got a ferry/boat trip round the Lake itself, and the guide pointed out famous and infamous villas. There's one that Mussolini and his mistress committed suicide in...okay, that's the only one that I remembered. AND George Clooney hadn't bought his bloody villa at Como yet, so it wasn't pointed out in the tour.
We were then given a tour around Como and then a bit of time for us to wander about on our own. Lots of quaint little shops, selling tourist stuff and knick-knacks. It was very tempting to buy bottles and bottles of olive oil with different type of fruit or vegetables in it, but there's only so much olive oil you ever need in a lifetime right.
Mum also got a free trip to Rome, which is kind of cool. The agency was putting together an event in Rome, and I was supposed to be there to meet the Clients and have a look at the event. Luca (my boss) was really nice about it and said that the company would pay for my mum's train ticket. So both of us went down earlier by train, and we even got a NICE hotel in Rome that's more American in standard. It's about 30 mins out of the city, but it was worth it. Very nice and roomy, and looks fairly new. The hotel provided a shuttle in and out of the city regularly throughout the day, so when I was at meetings, Mum caught the shuttle to explore Rome on her own. She went back to the Trevi Fountain, where she went about 30 years ago and threw a coin in and made the 'standard' wish to return. Well, guess what, it did come true for Mum! It took a long time for the wish to come true, but it did! I thought that was really cool that she managed to go back to there.
It was a great time for me and Mum just to spend with each other. Don't remember how long it's been since we've had the opportunity to just be 'mother and daughter' - and this holiday really gave us that opportunity.
Ah Italia!
"Milan! I'm going to be working in Milan! The fashion capital of the world! Oh my god! What am I going to wear??!!!"
Those were the first thoughts that went through my head when I was told that Milan is confirmed. The agency would pay for me to fly over and have a look at the place, quick debrief, see if I'd like it. But I'm booked to go on holiday, I told the MD. "Oh no problem. You come for one week, then you go for your holiday. If you like it, you come back."
Fantastic - free trip to Milan, and if I don't like it, no strings attached!
After that one week trip (it was cold and wet, and I spent the whole time there on my own, spoke to no one, had sandwiches for dinner every night and did zero shopping), I thought that I would go there just for the experience. After all, it's not every day that such an opportunity falls into my lap...and you know, Asians (or is it Malaysians?) have always had a fascination with Europe.
My mum said that she'd come along with me to help me get settled in, and I managed to get a free ticket for her on my Northwest frequent flyer points. The only thing is that I couldn't get her on the same flight as me - she would join me one day later in Milan. So leaving wasn't too difficult, felt some comfort knowing that I'd see Mum in 24 hours.
So here I am in Milan. I got to the hotel that the agency had organised for me...I walk into the room and...OH MY GOD! It's a bloody single room! I had told them that my mum was going to be with me, and needed a double room. Maybe the message got lost along the way, so panic stations! I ask the reception if they had a double room, and if not, could I add a bed in the room. Snotty bastard at reception told me, "No and no" - not exactly, but more or less! I get into the office and told my boss (his name is Luca) about my problem, and he told me not to worry, and that Stefano will sort it. He calls out for Stefano, tells him my problem, who then rushes out to sort it out for me.
By the end of the day, he says that he's got another hotel with a double room for me and that I can check-out tomorrow from the current hotel and then check-in to the other hotel. Phew! What a first day in Milan!
Our first stop was at the Roman and Imperial Forums. The thing about a lot of these ancient sites is that they are all just 'lying there', which kind of amazes me but at the same time of course, what else can you do other than leave them 'lying there'? Not as though you can wrap them up and put them in a museum right...Elaine and I got maps of Rome to navigate our way around, and refered to the travel book of Rome to identify parts within each site.
So, there were the the Imperial Forums. They are lower than ground level, and most parts are cordoned off. But as with everything else in Rome, you just take a look at the site, and you get lost in it. You start imagining the Romans walking around. You imagine the philosphers spouting their theories and debating with each other. You imagine that it must have been a lot dirtier (now it's just dusty) then. You imagine it in its full glory, before the sun and rain got to it.
From the Imperial Forums, we walked to the Roman Forums - I'm not sure of the difference between the two. They are within stone's throw of each other, and seem to have the same structures and building style. You're allowed to walk through the Roman Forums and tramp through the ruins. We were able to identify the key highlights within the Forums, such as the Temple of Romulus and the Temple of the Vestal Virgins. We didn't get a tour guide so we more or less walked through the Forums on our own. But there were a lot of tour groups going round - mostly Americans, so every now and then we'd stop by to eavesdrop on THEIR tour guides.
The tour guide took us all the way to the top level of the Colosseum, showed us the different architectural style that showed when each level was built. We weren't allowed to walk on ground level of the auditorium as apparently it's being reinforced. You can only imagine what it must have been like when it was still 'new' and every brick is still in place. According to our tour guide, the Catholic Church did more damage to Rome's riches than the grave robbers ever did - the Church consistently tour out marble slaps and tiles to build more churches throughout the country. Our tour ended at the top level, with a great view of the Arch of Constantine.
We wandered over to the Palatine Hill and had a leisure stroll through the ruins and gardens. This was where the rich used to live...big houses with high ceilings and big gardens. They directly looked over the Roman Forums - so they really had some view! By that time, it was about 3.30pm and we had been walking non-stop since about 10.00am! Our last stop for the day was Circus Maximus. This was where the chariot races were held, think Ben Hur. We always thought that everything took place in the Colosseum, but our tour guide said that it's not big enough for the likes of chariot races, so we had grand impressions of the Circus Maximus - which literally means 'big circle'. Even though it's not a circle, really...
But when we got there...our jaws dropped. It was just one really BIG DUSTY FIELD! I mean, what happened to our visions of a majestic sports arena??? It's been raped over the years, bricks and tiles and stones taken away for other buildings and structures, until all that's left is this field. What a let down! We had a quick rest by the FIELD, and then took the train back to our (yucky) hotel. It had been quite a day!
