On the road again

Written on the 3rd, posted due to internet complications on the 8th, from London.


I am currently sitting on a airplane neatly parked on the tarmac in Rome, which true to Italian efficiency is ridiculously late in taking off.
And I realise that I have been negligent in keeping you all updated on the latest happenings in my “exciting” life.
In the space of two weeks I will have been to 5 different countries and had many adventures on the journey.
But lets start at the beginning. It is the Bookfair season and this year Bologna and London are only one week apart. So a week ago I kissed Claudia goodbye and set out with a makeshift backpack and rolling suitcase to catch the bus to the Romanian border, I started to have my first doubts when it seemed like the concept of human capacity did not seem to be in the drivers vocabulary. For a long distance bus they squeezed a surprising amount of people in and even standing space was non existent after a while. Thankfully I had got on at the first stop and had procured a good spot where I could make sure nobody “mistook” my luggage for their own. Although the actuality of being able to squeeze my way off the bus in time to catch the thief was really nonexistent. I had no idea what my stop looked like, and it seemed like the timetable was more of a suggestion then an actual reference point. Thankfully shortly before I started to panic, I found someone who was able to let me know which stop to get off at, they left me however with the comforting words of, “there are three stops in this city you know which one to take right?” I have to confess I knew no such thing and hoped for the best as I jumped out.

It was pitch black by now, and I was supposed to be picked up by a friend in Romania, I would stay at their house and then fly to Milan that next day.
Well he wasn't there. The bus stop was really just a dirt hard shoulder and there was no station or even phone booth so I was feeling quite forlorn. Lucky for me two girls had gotten off at the same stop, they recognized by my furtive glances and nervous twitching that I was a foreigner and probably in a bit of a pinch.
They were very concerned as they warned me that this was a bad area, (great) and I shouldn't be standing there by myself. I wholeheartedly agreed with them. One of them lent me her phone and I was able to text my friend who had gotten stuck at the border, and let him know where I was. Which was lucky as he had no idea which bus stop I was at...
So within 45 minutes he arrived, I have to say I have never been so happy to see let alone get into a Korean car as I was then. Of course the border crossing took a good hour as they busied themselves sticking cameras down the fuel tank and I did my best impersonation of a dumb blond when I got caught with 8 packs of cigarettes over the legal limit. The ploy seemed to work and even though my Swedish accent was unconvincing they seemed to buy the dumb part. Sometime after midnight I was asleep in Romania after eating some non identifiable grains with what I presume was meat. I didn't ask.

Three hours later I was on my way to the airport in a semi state of delirium. I caught my flight and at 6:00 am was in Italy. Ahhhhhh sunshine! Coffee! Milan!
I checked in my luggage at the train station and spent the first part of the day, basking in the sunshine in fount of the Duomo, and doing my touristy bit at the various churches and castle. Soon enough I was feeling the effects of the early departure and made my way to Parma where I was staying with some friends.
After a nap of indeterminable length, as I couldn't seem to go to sleep, I was awoken by a horde of Italians on their way to play soccer... Now for those of you more familiar with me, it will come as no surprise that I had indeed forgone 3 kilos of valuable baggage space in order to accommodate my soccer paraphernalia.
So suffice it to say that when I have the makings of a proper game available, wild horses cant drag me away!
So strapping on my protective armour (I am terribly clumsy) and donning my cleats we went off and had a brilliant game in the 27 degree heat and to top it all off my team won!

The next day the rest of the bookfair team arrived and we drove off to the fair to prepare for the setup which took two long days. On the last setup day we managed to finish up before 5 so another soccer game was in order. I was feeling rather cocky after our crushing victory and strutted unto the field. Things went stupendously, we even let the other team score a few for moral purposes ;) However it all ended rather ignominiously with a horrible crunch as I managed to twist my ankle in a most unnatural angle. Great. The day before a four day fair were I stand for about 9 hours a day, I twist my ankle. And it wasn't just a ladylike sprain where I hobble off the court on some gentleman's arm, and have a delicate bump oh no.... This was a ugly blue ankle, swollen to hitherto unimaginable proportions, kind of sprain. No gentleman would even want to give me their arm after the sight of my obese swolleness! The only consolation was that we were winning at the time so my competitiveness was at least somewhat appeased.
Thank God for painkillers! My Dad happened to have some which were given to him by my grandmother. They were leftover after my Grandfather died of Cancer and were the strongest imaginable, (Yepp that's right Dad travels around with opiate painkillers, I guess he knows the kind of stuff I get myself into)
So for four days I stood elegantly leaning against the wall and wore slacks and black tights. Note to self, reserve any limb endangering sports till after important events.

After the fair we drove down to Rome where we spent a day taking in the sights, now I LOVE Rome, and museums but there is a limit to my interest in stone busts and Renaissance paintings. The Vatican while amazing become one long blur of blurriness and although I did my best to act amazed at yet another sculpture of some naked roman I think it was rather halfhearted. The Sistine chapel however was stunning and some of the rooms in that place were downright scandalous in the amount of finery used.

Well after Rome its now back to Belgrade where a whole new set of goodbyes will take place as I fly back to Ireland and then the next day to London.

In order not to bore you all, I will post only two pics from Rome and two from Milan.
Dont mind the spots on the pics from Milan, there was dust on my sensor, which I am proud to say I managed to remove with a balloon pump :)

Duomo in Milan.




Vatican in Rome, I got terribly excited over that statues bottom.