Jamie – 4 October 2011

I had my second haircut for the trip today. No need to worry about barber conversation this time as the nice old fellow didn’t speak a word of English. This was a clear frustration to him. Romans like to talk. Barbers like to talk. He is a Roman barber, so the inevitable happened – he experienced a massive conversation buildup which was only released when his poor wife walked in the door. It was a torrent of words which probably involved me in different forms but I was happily ignorant of it all. Twenty-five Euro and 15 minutes later it was done. Bene? he asked. Si, grazie – ciao!

I’ve really enjoyed Rome. It’s completely mad. We parked our car on the first day and wisely haven’t touched it since. There are virtually no lines on the roads and it is pure Darwinism as to who survives the daily commute. We haven’t actually seen an accident but we hear about four ambulances an hour screaming off somewhere – some dodo bird of a driver having lost the fight no doubt. The kings of the road are without doubt the taxi drivers and top of any to-do list in Rome has to be a cross-town taxi ride. It’s a visit to Luna Park, Monza and guided tour all rolled into one. It’s unbelievably exciting – accelerator punctuated occasionally by brake – and we try to do at least one a day. The drivers are almost always friendly, albeit they come across as reasonably disinterested in their primary task of delivering us alive – preferring instead to take a phone call or admire the female form.

Today the boys and I attended Gladiator School where a reasonably intense gentleman (possibly an off-duty taxi driver) took us through two hours of attacking and defensive sword moves. Thankfully the swords were wood otherwise our trip may have been over as of today – try containing a 9 and 7 year old to the five official sword moves of a Gladiator! They actually both got it at the end of the lesson but then wanted to add some pretty fancy Jedi twists which the instructor did not approve of – not authentic apparently. Anyway it was great fun with lots of “Aves”, “Vales” and bruised knuckles.

The Adamson gladiators, ready for action.

Yesterday Bec arranged for me to see Rome from the comfort of a three-hour tour on a Segway. I’ve always been fascinated by these self-balancing devices and the way they improbably stay upright on two parallel wheels regardless of whether they are stationary or in motion. I’ve also been a little put off by the image of fat tourists who can’t climb three stairs using them to the amusement of the rest of us. However, I am completely hooked – they are enormous fun, remarkably easy to drive, allowed us to see a large amount of Rome on-foot (ok, sort of) at our own pace, and no, there were no fatties in our group.

The guide was an affable Italian archaeologist called Fabio who made me laugh often for no other reason than his voice. He was the best Borat impersonator I have ever heard. “Pleez follow me. Upa-here we have some-ding very nice, very special for you. You like it, no?”.

We hovered past the Coliseum, Circus Maximus and Forum. We also visited the Sovereign Military Order of Malta (or SMOM), which I had never heard of but which is a Roman Catholic lay religious order and also a recognised sovereign state, based in Rome. So Rome in fact houses three separate sovereign states – Italy, the Vatican and the SMOM. The SMOM is completely walled in and sits on a hill above the city. There is a famous key hole in its main gates through which you can see St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican City, perfectly framed by the key hole. It is a strange concept to be standing in Italy looking through the key hole of one country at the dome of another. This is also one of the best places to see Rome in all its panoramic glory as there are virtually no tourists around (as few know of it).

Over the last two days we have also explored most of Villa Borghese, Rome’s second largest park with 148 acres of rolling hills, gardens, a lake and the odd museum. We hired row boats, golf buggies and rickshaws, as well as played soccer with the local children who admitted that the Australian boys play football pretty well.

Soccer - a uniting game everywhere we travel.

The highlight of our time in Rome however has been a visit to the Vatican City, and in particular the truly beautiful St Peter’s Basilica, which has the largest interior of any Christian church in the world. We visited late afternoon on Saturday, having only driven into Rome a few hours earlier. The chairs were all set up in St Peter’s Square for a service the following morning.

In this day and age it can take a lot to make children stop in their tracks and just stare in awe. Ours were a little testy after their long drive in the car but Bec and I both smiled at their reaction as we crossed into the walled enclave of the Vatican City. For the first few moments they just stood silent and still. Then Foster said “this is awesome” and the other two nodded in complete agreement. The sun was setting and the whole area just seemed full of warmth – everyone smiling, looking relaxed and in awe of the views in every direction.

The Adamsons in St Peter's Square, Vatican City.

The Vatican chair arrangements. The 12th chair in the 37th row looks crooked to me.