Venezia

We're in Venezia!  It is as beautiful as ever -even in the pouring rain.  We were met at the station by Rob's cousins -truly lovely people, and have caught up with them since which was great. They gave us some strawberry flavoured grapes from their farm in Miane -absolutely beautiful.

The trip from Rome was fine apart from the usual fun with jamming suitcases in a tiny area and groups of Americans who think that all spaces belong to them.
 We went to the Venice marathon registration place at Parco San Giuliano in Mestre yesterday and Rob picked up all of his stuff.  We had a look around the exhibitions and saw some really seriously fit Italian runners- lots of people looking the part, with that touch of Italian style.

Rob's back is not the best and has flared up after the suitcase fiasco and I think that it will be hard for him to run, but he's determined to give the marathon a go.  The bus from Venezia to the start of the race is for runners only so I won't be able to get to the start which is a shame as it would have been good to get some photos.  There are only around 7,000 runners as the course is narrow.  Rob found out that he will be up near the front of the starting lineup because he has a low registration number.  He will have to be really careful at the start to go slowly and not get swept along by the really fast runners otherwise he will burn out in the first 10kms.  42kms is a really long way!!

Il Calcio

Rome back to normal + the game

Another beautiful day in Rome with everything seemingly back to normal. We spent some time in Palazzo Barberini -an amazing place and fabulous collection including Caravaggio's "Giuditta che taglia la testa a Oloferne" - Judith beheading Holofernes - very gruesome but an amazing painting.  It is the first time that we have been able to visit Palazzo Barberini as every other time it has been 'chiuso per restauro' -the familiar sign.  We walked heaps, enjoying the perfect weather.

We went to the calcio -absolutely amazing.  Had a great conversation with the cab driver- people are so nice when you make an effort to speak Italian and seem to have understood our attempts -at least the answers fit with what we've asked.
The game was Lazio v Roma, both have very passionate supporters and the stadium was almost full -not bad for an 8.45pm game on a Sunday night.  Sadly Lazio won 2 - 1. Despite that it was a great night and the atmosphere was fantastic -the fans make the AFL supporters look like wimps. There were huge numbers of police with all of their anti riot stuff -looked like enough to deal with a minor war but everything seemed ok and people just poured out of the stadium at the end trying to get home as quickly as possible.  After lots of walking and a cab we got back to the hotel after midnight.

Outside our hotel

Near our hotel

Riots in Roma

Today we were on the edges of a scarey demonstration in Rome- cops in riot gear with tear gas etc and people in hoodies on the other side. We were walking back to our hotel via the coloseum but couldn't because it was blocked by every type of police van possible. Walked up Via Nazionale which was closed to traffic, but full of police of every variety, some with dogs. Several train stations were closed so we caught the metro to San Giovanni. On the way the train filled up with young people escaping from the demo. Got out at San Giovanni to a station full of smoke. Ran out into the edges of a riot, fires, kids with iron bars, cops with tear gas. We managed to get out and back to our hotel-eyes streaming from the tear gas and stinking of smoke). All was quiet for a little while but now 7.55pm Rome time (1.55am in Perth) there is a huge demo in Via Magna Grecia and we are watching it from our hotel window. I hope that it stays as a peaceful demo and they stay safe as young people have come from all over Italy to demonstrate against the shitty situation for people in Italy (linking in with similar demos around the world).

The people have moved on -they were just passing through towards piazza San Giovanni.

Giolitti

Rome 14102011

Ciao Italia

We're in Rome and loving it! We've walked heaps and eaten potato pizza at one of our favourite pizzerias at Re Di Roma. We also managed to get to Giolitti and have the obligatory gelato :) Most importantly we bought tickets for the Roma/Lazio game on Sunday night.
Feeling a bit addled by jet lag at the moment but hope that all of our walking today will help us to get over it quickly. We're staying near Piazza Tuscolo in Rome and love it because there aren't many tourists around, the food is great and so far everyone has spoken Italian with us. We'll post some photos tomorrow.

Partiamo per le vacanze domani

One day to go and we haven't started packing yet. Customs staff are probably going to strike tomorrow- hope it doesn't affect us. Chissà!
Buon viaggio Debbie.
Happy Birthday Lee!

Percorso della Maratona di Venezia il 23 ottobre