Rome sweet Rome!

Setting out from Stromboli before sunrise, we had 26 hours of travel ahead of us before we would reach Rome. It was this day that my sinus cold chose to unleash it’s full wrath upon me. Deciding to play it safe we took the big, slooooowww ferry to Sicily where we would catch our overnight train to Rome. The big beast would be more reliable in the heavy seas but would take a lot longer than the hydrofoil (5 hours vs. one and a half).
Finally arriving in the Sicilian town of Messina, we had eight hours to kill before we boarded the train. Exploring the town laden with our packs was marginally less appealling than camping out in the diner of the train station (the headache and snotty nose tipped the scales in favor of the station). Besides, we had unlimited entertainment courtesy of the inebriated patrons from the nearby park wandering in to use the facilities.

Adam took on "mission impossible" by going on a search for sinus potion and Kleenex for me. Not an easy feat considering it was a Sunday evening (most places were closed) AND all medications are only sold through the pharmacies in Italy. Fortunately, my knight in shining armour returned with some good drugs (of the legal kind… or that’s what he told me anyway) and the only Kleenex he could find – a bulk pack of the little purse-sized packets! Ahhhh, blissful drug induced grogginess, clear sinuses, and an endless bounty of nice soft Kleenex…. suddenly the Autogrill was the happiest place on earth.

Finally at midnight we got to climb aboard our sleeper train and curl up in our cozy little bunkbeds. We stayed awake just long enough to watch our train being loaded onto the ferry to make the crossing to the mainland. Very cool system I must say! The lowest ferry deck has train tracks on it and the train is broken up into smaller pieces for loading, the engine is at the rear of the train and pushes each segment onto the vessel. The more ferries we travel, the worse BC Ferries starts to look… can you imagine them dealing with trains? They have a hard enough time loading automobiles and getting from A to B without crashing. We do still have Asia ahead of us though… opinions can change.

We had a good laugh at the marketing pamphlet for Trenitalia that we found in our cabin. We couldn't resist posting it.

Yes, the passengers are quite delighted to be stacked three high; yes, they hire conjoined-twins to efficiently cater to your every need; and yes, the man in the bottom bunk is watching little birdies fly around his head after the door was slammed into it. High density train travel IS wonderful! I especially got a kick out of the guy in the crisp, wrinkle free suit in the middle bunk.

Despite having a lot more space, we certainly didn't look as polished as he does when we arrived in Rome bright and early Monday morning; nevertheless, we were thrilled to have a "home" again! Once we got settled in, we took advantage of the fact that we were finally in a metropolitan city and went for the ultimate ANTI-pasta… Indian food!

Less travel, more Rome in the next post...stay tuned!