Copenhagen to Stockholm

29/6

 

The ferry upset quite a few people, it got rough and there was much vomiting, or so I'm told. I didn't mind it, I even went out on the deck to feel the wind which was so strong that if I had tried to jump overboard I think the wind would have pushed me back like the hands of fate. I did worry about how the wind would affect my cook tent set up but after a few more hours of flat windy driving (including nearly being blown off a bridge) we were at camping Absalon and it was calm enough to set up the tent just fine (although I did make sure to peg it down securely).

Damien and Denise serve up dinner

Dinner was gnocchi with zucchini and ricotta and a soup starter, fresh out of the can just add flavour! One of the guys, Damien had been a chef and was very excited to help me with the 'mise en place' which I told him was not a word I was familiar with. I explained when you do mise en place in a tent, it is normally just referred to as 'prep' because its not all that fancy. He was still excited to help and kept my secret of the tinned soup. (it wasn't long into the trip before the passengers and I had no secrets but I tried to keep an air of illusion for the first few days). 

I was amazed with how helpful our passengers were! I didn't have to cut a thing and barely cooked anything either, all I did was instruct. It was something that had never happened before and it amazed me. I couldn't stop saying thank you.

Copenhagen

The Little Mermaid

After eating we went out for our driving tour, I thought the city looked like a bigger Amsterdam. We got out at a few spots, Cristiania, a hippy commune which I found amazing and repulsive at the same time, and later at the little mermaid statue, which was beautiful. Mon was so good with her spieling. You would never know it was her first time and some of the passengers said so. Mick was impressive too, even though apparently the dry run had been quite difficult. I was exhausted on the way home, 10:30 or so and the sun was just setting. However I still had a little organising to do when we got back to the camp and the 3 of us debriefed which was nice. We were obviously all exhausted and even getting back to our cabin was a challenge (we really felt like pro's at that point)! We collapsed into our beds and I wish I could say that I passed out but unfortunately I woke several times to the sun and Monika's snoring.

Tired and cold selfie, I don't shy away from the ugly stuff.

French toast for breakfast!

In the morning I feared that I had overslept and that the tent had blown away but none of this happened and french toast for breakfast went down a treat. We all went in to town together. It was 8 degrees and cloudy and we 3 went in to a cafe to stay warm, study and drink coffee. We talked over the upcoming days which I liked. Our main problem was the Stockholm marathon that was going to be blocking the city for us when we were supposed to being doing pick ups and set downs and taking people to the ferry terminal. What we were going to do about it was not resolved that day. When the sun came out we walked down the main shopping street and I found another jumper, fearing that this is  only  just the beginning of the cold weather.

So my wind fears were half justified, I walked in to this mess.

We walked on down to Nyhavn and the sky was blue and sun was beginning to warm us beautifully. Photos were taken and Monica decided that she wanted a classic Copenhagen open sandwich for lunch. Fine. But not in the area we were in because it was really expensive. Again fine. However we never managed to find this sandwich after about an hour of wandering and eventually I suggested that Monika go find it by herself seeing as she had to meet a friend in an hour anyway. I hope we can laugh about this now Mon! Mick and I ran into Meg and Mark (Meg is a trip leader from last year on our trip with her boyfriend mark and is an amazing asset to the whole trip) who walked and talked with us some more before I got a kebab and coke. It felt like a cop out but I was hungry and it was cheap.

Mmmmm, dinner.

I had said that I wanted to see the royal palace and this big church opposite it and when I had said it (hours ago) we had been at the same side of town as them. Now after looking for lunch, we were on the wrong side so Mick suggested we drive to it. We picked up the coach and it didn't take long to get to the palace on the stroke of 4 to see the changing of the guards and we hopped out very pleased with ourselves and took photos. Mick was pretty sure he shouldn't have taken the coach in this area and when he tried to get out he ended up narrowly dodging the randomly marching guards. It was pretty funny and others in the square were laughing at us maneuvering a huge coach past these guys who aren't allowed to react to anything even though you could see the fear in their eyes. It took us another hour to get home with the traffic but we had chats and I still had masses of time to organise and prep in the sun. An earlier bedtime that night and I wore my eye mask and had the best sleep in 4 days! Even with waking to Monika again.

The castle that inspired Hamlet

The next morning pack down was quick and the first drive was only 45 minutes to the ferry which would take us from Denmark to Sweden. This ferry was much calmer and sunnier with views of the Danish castle that inspired Shakespeare's Hamlet. On the other side however the long drives started. We filled in time by doing introductions. Everyone gets up on the mic to say who they are and what they do and what they are looking forward to and then some fun ones like who they would like to mud wrestle and why, an embarrassing story and what animal they would be and why. Its a great way to start to get to know everyone and another chance to learn names (I mostly had them down pat by now) and some of the answers had me in total stitches.

The crash marker

1/6
We had a short stop  that day at the memorial of the Bass player- Cliff Burton, from Metallica. At the time of his death  he was widely regarded as the greatest bass player in the world and he was only 24. The band was on tour and in the tour bus they flipped a coin to see who had to go in the top bunk. This poor guy lost and so when the driver rounded a corner in the middle of a nowhere forest in Sweden too hard, he flew out the window as the bus tipped. The bus landed on top of him and it is unknown if he was still alive when the crane came to lift it off him but it is definitely known that when the crane slipped and dropped the bus back down on him again, he died. There was a small tomb stone with some beer cans and guitar picks as tribute and I know Mick definitely appreciated this stop.

Sticky date pudding for dessert?

Dancing with statues in Stockholm

In Stockholm we settled down to a quiet dinner with drinks around the cook tent. I laughed at one of the boys (Tom) who saw me cutting up mushrooms and took himself quietly off to get another dinner because he doesn't like them but didn't want to complain. He came back after it had all been eaten and was disappointed when I said that the mushrooms had been for tomorrow morning! Oh dear. Music and banter went down well but nothing crazy. The next morning we ate the mushrooms with scrambled eggs and we all went in to town for a tour of the Town Hall where they present the Nobel prize. Mr Nobel was the guy who invented TNT. He became very rich and did many good things but was disappointed when he saw that his nickname was the Master of Death. He wanted to be remembered for something positive so upon his death his will read that his fortune should be awarded to those who contributed to the world in different ways. The beginning of the Nobel prize. The Blue Room (it's official name) was beautiful, designed to look like an Italian piazza, and that is exactly what it looked like, even with a blank high ceiling which they can project images of an open sky on to.. The Gold Room above looked to me like what the inside of a pyramid should look like. Huge and mosaiced with gold tiles it came upon us totally unexpectedly in what was otherwise a fairly ordinary Town Hall.


The Blue Room

The Gold Room

The Gold Room

The Gold Room

Stockholm Town Hall

We went further in to the city and got out at the Vassa museum. This was all about a huge war ship that had sunk in the 1600's after only managing to sail a few hundred meters into the harbour. It was left and almost forgotten about for 300 years until in the 1900's it was attempted to bring it back to the surface. They found it amazingly preserved, including several skeletons and have reconstructed it with a museum surrounding it explaining all that the ship can tell us about those times. It was one of the best museums I've ever been to, the ship is the size of several houses and in the most amazing condition, preserved in the cold waters and thick silt of the harbour.

The Vassa

The Vassa

 After the Vassa Museum Mick and I dropped the passengers at the palace and made our way to the supermarket for a quick shop which one of the passengers (Wade) joined us for. It was a grey and rainy day and I spent it back at camp cooking the Lasagna and Trifle for dinner. The trifle was funny. I needed jelly crystals and sent Mick to find them in the supermarket. He was unsuccessful and I sighed and went to look and found them. We both agreed that they were indeed jelly crystals. Then I wanted thickened cream and was very happy when I found some that was vanilla flavoured. All these discoveries were in Swedish remember. Back at camp and when I started making it, it turned out that the jelly crystals were in fact jam crystals and that the cream was yogurt. Oops. We laughed and put it together anyway because it was all I had to work with. Surprisingly it set and even better it tasted great! Some passengers laughed at us when Mick and I took the first bight together and turned to each other and said, 'this is actually good!' You should try it next time you make trifle.

The Helpers roster

Meg serves lasagne

After dinner Monika was taking passengers out to party in Stockholm. I had full intentions of going until I got exhausted and had some pains and strains in my body (I'm not going so well with my back so far). Also the next day was going to be my only day in the city and I didn't want to wreak it by going out and getting tired, also it's very expensive out here! All in all a lot of reasons. I disappointed Monika though, I know that. Mick said not to worry that its not my job to go out and there were other passengers staying back but I still felt bad. Oh well. I was doing breakfast in the morning (breakfast burritos) when one of the passengers (Colin) turned up in a taxi (this is about 10am) still with a beer in his hand, so some of them had a crazy night.

Chilled drinks in the cook tent

Hello Rekorderlig in Sweden!

I was well rested and after a very casual morning I went in to town by myself at about 1pm. I went in to Skansen, an area set up like Sweden was in olden times like Sovereign Hill but much larger. I caught a ferry over to it and dodged runners from the Stockholm Marathon that was going on that day. (The end result of what to do about pickups- ect? basically just that we could not do them until later, and we ended up paying for the taxis for those who needed to go to the ferry). I asked a guy in a high vis jacket if he spoke English. 'Much little' was his answer. 'How do I cross this road that is full of runners? ' He grinned and gave me a little push and all of a sudden I was jumping and hopping through the red faced, puffing runners with him laughing behind me.

The ferry to Skansen

A Viking Ship?

The theme park was pretty tempting too...

The Stockholm marathon

In Skansen I saw old fashioned shops, watched people carving draws, Upholstering chairs and blowing glass. Their gardens were beautiful, full of herbs, vegetables, fruit trees and flowers. They had a zoo and for hours I watched otters, moose, wolverines, bears, seals and generally had a ball. It was late by the time I got out and I caught the ferry back to the main town to wander and find something to eat before coming home on the train again. Again it was a nice quiet night of drinking and chatting around the cook tent.

Wood carving at Skansen

This morning was a super quick pack down. The passengers keep amazing me with just how helpful they all are and we were ready 15 minutes before departure. We watched the Swedish version of 'the girl with the dragon tattoo' which was great then pulled up at at servo and supermarket for me to do a quick shop. I've never shopped at a service stop with all the passengers hanging around before and it was quick but not too bad. One passenger, Moose, came and helped and I don't think he will ever want to come again! (He did). I taught him tricks like how to find out if an item is sour cream or not. Open it, stick your finger in and if it tastes like sour cream, buy it. Now we are just cruising toward the Norwegian border. It is very forested land and still flat. I can't wait for the mountains to start and I think Mick can't either, he is bored.  
 

Skansen

 

Skansen

 

Skansen

 

Skansen

 

Skansen

 


Otters at Skansen

Moose!

Skansen

A bear way too far up a tree

Geese at Skansen

Blind x 3 - RS2505

We call it 'going in blind' when you go on a trip to places that you have never been before. Imagine; you know how to do your job, in a hospital, in a store, wherever. Now they take you to a different hospital or store and ask you to do your job like you have been here all the time, oh and they all speak a different language and use different money. It's interesting. We have all the information (mostly), trips have been coming up here since the 70's and the one before us passes on as much as they can. But still, we have never done it ourselves before. On this trip, I was blind, Monika was blind and Mick was blind.

*I wrote this account as we were on the trip, day to day. So some of the tenses may seem off, and some of the opinions change dramatically by the end of the trip!*



Berlin from above

I flew in to Berlin from Rome on the 25th of May. I was up at 4am, flight at 6:30 and arrival at Wombats hostel Berlin at around 10. Monika met me there and we sat on her bed and talked candidly for the first time about our thoughts for the trip. To be completely honest with you, my thoughts were 'I want to pull out'. I was terrified at the thought of going in blind. I was terrified of how much work there is on this trip, and I was worried about how much was riding on me doing a good job, 45 people's health. No biggie. Oh wait, yes it is.

Monika was also scared. She had been studying for months now , all 3 of us have know about this trip since February and the trip leader has a crazy amount of study to do before they can convince a group that they are an expert on a place that they have never been to before. She will do driving tours, walking tours, instruct passengers on different things to do and what to expect where in places that she has never been before. All I have to worry about is not being totally sure what is in the supermarkets up there or what facilities the campsites have, very small worries in comparison to hers. At the moment I can hear her mumbling her Copenhagen driving tour to herself from the jump seat. Herself and Mick will make some excuse to the passengers tonight to disappear whilst I am cooking to do a practice run before the real thing. Mick would also have a lot of study to do, except that it's Mick and he takes it one day at a time with not to many worries at all. And I trust him. Calmest dude ever, if you see him worried you probably need to start worrying as well.
 
My first worry that morning of the 25th was that no one could tell me what coach my gear was under or where it was. I called around the equipment manager and after a few hours and some rustling around he told me the coach number and parking spot. I got the keys and made my way out to it and after checking over my gear a great weight was lifted from my shoulders, there were/are many others still sitting there though...

That night Monika and I met our 44 passengers. I was so nervous, Monika let me know that our RS is the biggest one that Topdeck has ever sent out and that didn't calm me (I don't normally worry this much I swear!) this worry was mainly about space. Mon gave them an introduction, run down of how the trip will work, a few rules and then I gave my own short introduction. Then we did some paperwork with all their insurance and passports. I tried to remember as many names as I could. Eye contact and silent repetition helps. 

View of Berlin from my hostel balcony

 I walked them down to the restaurant that I had sussed out earlier in the day and we had our first group meal of Soup, Pork Knuckle, Sauerkraut and some rich German beer that filled me up to my ears. Mick joined us mid meal because of his many train delays and I was glad to sit down for dinner and chats with him. Mon had suggested that we all go back to the hostel bar for drinks and mingling and I was having fun but was also absolutely shattered from my long day and had just one drink and a few chats before heading to bed.

My first experience of strange sun times came that morning when at 5:30 I woke to light outside that I would normally associate with 7 or 8am. I was so confused that I didn't even believe the time on my phone display and had to get up to check my watch which definitely said that it was still 5:30 and I had not overslept my alarm.

That didn't make me feel a whole lot better and I spent a very unrestful hour waiting for it to go off before getting up to start one of the most important days of the trip for the cook. Why? In Scandi there is of course shops. However they vary in size as you go along and are very expensive (or so I'm told). The idea is to stock up in Berlin at the Metro (cash and carry) for all the food for the first 4 days and then also as much/all of the dry goods as possible for the rest of the trip. Things like uht milk and cream, juice, curry paste, cereals, muesli bars and herbs and spices. Mick and I arrived at Metro at 7 when it opened and finished shopping and packing the coach at 2pm. We were joined by Monika at about 11 when she finished her driving tour and we were also lucky enough to have the help of another group in town, Blake and Scott and their two wallahs (Trip leaders in training) who were an amazing help with packing the coach.

Cute cafe's near our hostel

I started the shop with my head in a mess with all I had to do and get, I felt physically sick at one point and had a raging headache for the whole thing. I was so scared at one point that I called another chef in Rome just to hear that I was doing it right and to be reassured that even if I did forget anything, I would be able to get it up there. That phone call kept me grounded for a little bit longer and got me through the shop. Thanks Marissa :)

We packed it all away and went straight back to the hostel where I had just a few salads to prepare in my hostel room. It can be surprisingly easy and calming to cook in a hostel room, or, it can be cramped and frustrating, luckily this was the former. I had a few more jobs to do, ordering some bread from down the road for pickup in the morning, organising my fridges and straightening out my to do list for the next few days. Then, as guilty as I felt about it, I had a nap for an hour and a half. I felt guilty because Berlin is such a wonderful city with so much to do, and specifically the area our hostel was in, around Alexanderplatz, is one which I have not spent much time in and is full of boutique and different stores, wonderful restaurants and is just walking distance from the city center. But I was shattered and 'look after number 1' is a sentiment from my Dad which I take to heart. So I slept.

A side note example of what it means to go in blind. Our hostel is one that I have never stayed at before. I have visited it just the once before on our training trip. All I have done in the area is walk up and down the streets to the group restaurant and the bakery. I really haven't done anything else. But when a group of passengers walk up to you asking for a restaurant recommendation from their chef, I cant just say, I have no idea I've never been here before, because how does that look? Nor can I tell them anything too specific because I haven't been there before and if it is a bad experience, it comes back to how they see me. I had noticed lots of Asian restaurants around the area and the night before Mon had said that she had gone out for duck that was great, I have also heard trip leaders in the past say that Thai around here was good. So, confidently, I told my passengers that the Asian around here was great and there were heaps of places to pick from. Luckily they came back later with reports of the great Vietnamese they had had down the road, and I looked like I knew what I was doing!

Pub crawl with Dr. Dan, Blake and Meg

Last night we went for the optional activity offered which was a nightlife tour of Berlin, better known as, a pub crawl. In Berlin it is legal to drink on the streets so one of the highlights is when the organizers hand you a beer at the meeting point in the center of a very trendy nightlife area of the city. We went to 3 different bars, all quite different. We drunk, danced and generally mingled with our passengers (except when Mon and I snuck off for some cheeky and delicious fries). The last stop of the crawl was a club just down the street from our hostel, I did a crafty smoke bomb and no one seems to have noticed or cared. Winning!

First departure morning

This morning was a struggle, lack of sleep will kill me soon but forcing myself into action is something I'm pretty good at at this point. Mick and I loaded everything on to the coach and I went off to pick up the bread. We have so much food that we have actually blocked off and filled up the back 5 seats with dry goods which I warned the passengers not to eat. Because of this we are all very tightly squeezed together (no spare seats at all!) but no one seems to mind and they are all chatting. We stopped at a boarder shop to stock up on booze in preparation for the expensive destinations ahead (one case of strawberry lime rekorderlig for me!) and had lunch in the car park there. The weather has changed enormously. In Berlin the skies were clear and it was hot! Now we are looking at a blanket of gray and the wind is whipping up something crazy and made the picnic a little hard.

Moose, Tom, Mick and Jake brave the weather on the ferry (don't let their clothing deceive you, it was freezing)

On the ferry right now and it is rocking quite heavily from side to side and several passengers have already thrown up. We are a bit delayed by the rough seas but hopefully tonight will still go smoothly, I have my first dinner to cook whilst Mon and Mick go for a dry run of Copenhagen and then I get to go and see the city for the first time! Hopefully tonight will be an early one and I wont be hating life quite as much as I was this morning.

The Amalfi Coast

Rome site has been quiet this start of season, with 5 days off looming we wondered how we would fill our time. Cheeky trip to Sorrento anyone?
 

 

We is me and Laura, the other crew on site with me. After checking with our boss the day of departure rose sunny and warm and we felt like we were off on the start of a very good thing.
We stood on the train on the way down. Reading upright for most of it, I still marvel at how you can disappear into another world even amidst the most distracting of circumstances, like trying to stay upright. When we finally got seats the Italians around us, all strangers to each other, pulled out strawberries,  huge and shining, and offered them around the carriage. Insisting that they take more and more until the carriage was full of smiling faces bighting in to bright soft red jewels.

In Naples we walked with our faces screwed up in the force of the sun. The noise and the dirt and the crazy, strong natured people surprised us. Yelling, pushing, racing, honking, whistling, they are a very intense city of people.
 

 

Pizza in this city is a beautiful love affair. Small shop fronts were overflowing with customers vying for a slice of attention (or pizza) and we chose somewhere a little quieter. Just a margarita, the barest of flavors, but every single one of them is so strong and individual that you really don't need any more. How do you know you are in Italy? The tomatoes are even more flavorsome than the cheese.

Sorrento at last and we were welcomed at Hotel Londra with an unexpected 3 course dinner which we could barely fit in! Food coma and bed.
 

 

Laura and I woke to a drizzle, a downer on our plans but we tried to make the most of it. We were just a short walk from town where we found old churches to shelter in, markets to browse and Gelato to be tasted. The flavors were exotic, my choice - Mascarpone, caramel and pine nuts with Ricotta, honey and walnuts. THAT's what I'm about.
 

 

In an effort to escape the rain we opted for the 'hop-on-hop-off' bus to Positano and Amalfi. Laura was fast asleep in no time, and I struggled to stay lucid to enjoy the breathtaking scenery. In Positano the rain was lashing down and one look between us said we were not getting out here. On the way to Amalfi we hit heavy traffic and that was it, I was out for the next hour until we stopped in the town.

Amalfi for us was about the pastries and churches. There's is large and intimidating, rising several stories high suddenly out of nowhere when you round a corner. It is a strange stripy orange against the green green mountains. Stripy churches seem to be a trend in Italy, the duomo in Florence springs to mind...

 

In the not so distant background of the church, much smaller churches balance precariously on the tips of rocky outcrops, or snuggled deep into crevices, just peeping out of the green.

The drive back to Positano was splendid. As the last one on the bus I got to sit in the jump seat. The perfect spot for viewing the incredible scenery but also a terrifying spot for watching Italian driving. My heart was in my mouth for much of the driving including one point when I exclaimed 'Mama mia!' out loud, and I think the driver laughed at me.

 

The rain had stopped and clouds were hovering around the mountains. Either sitting on top like a spray of babies breath wreathed atop a brides head, or else they were moving, falling swiftly down the slopes as if the clouds were in fact a sheet of water and the mountain a giant waterfall.

That night we again ate well at the hotel and then fell heavily in to bed.

The next day broke more promisingly than the last however the cost of the ferry across to Capri put us off our initial plans. Instead we walked to the town again before catching the train back to Naples, winding our way through towns where lemons as big as my head practically pressed themselves against the windows from the trees tightly boardering the train, merging this slowly with stations covered in graffiti, red tape and rubbish the closer we got to Mt vesuvious. We made it just in time for our connecting train, again packed full, and watched movies for the three hours back....
 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 
 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

Hot tips on the Colosseum

 

It is a well known fact that no-one (except the English) enjoy lining up. But when touristing around Europe, waiting in lines is the unfortunate downside to ticking off must see items in many countries. If you are in the know then there are often ways of jumping the queue and just recently I discovered one for getting in to the Colosseum in Rome in just a few minutes.

Myself, Laura and Tobin were heading in to the city early in order to get a place in the subterranean Colosseum tour which we had heard often sells out early. We were in by 10am and already the queue was wrapping around the outside of the building as well as deep inside it's bowls to the ticket office. We groaned when we saw it, but figured that there had to be an easier way, especially as it was a specific tour that we were looking for. We approached the guy who was obviously in charge of organizing the line where we might go for the subterranean guided tours and he directed us down the empty space that said it was for groups only. We passed hundreds of people waiting in line for the regular entry tickets for the Colosseum and lined up behind 6 other people who were booking the guided tour. For an extra 9 euro (bringing the total to 21 euro) we had skipped hours of waiting and had a guided tour. The ticket also includes entry to the Roman Forum next door and the Palatine museum within it AND all of this is valid for two days. Amazing!

Arch of Tito in the Forum

A few other tricks for entry into the Colosseum that I have heard (but not tested) is to join the much shorter line for an audio guide, it will cost you 5 euro more but cuts most of the wait. Or if you really just want the 12 euro normal ticket, you can buy it from the Roman Forum entry where there is usually less people waiting than at the Colosseum.

Whilst we waited for our 12:20 tour, Laura and I wandered in the Roman forum. The area is about half a kilometer squared and is PACKED with ruins. A whole day could be spent in there but we were just killing a few hours. We met up with our guide and about 15 other people back at the Colosseum and the first place we went to was the underground section. Basically when the Colosseum was operating 2000 years ago, gladiators and wild animals were kept and trained in various schools in the surrounding area, many of which connected directly to the Colosseum via underground tunnels. They would then be in the bowels of the arena, surrounded by up to 80 man operated lifts (and the slaves operating them) which would hoist the various animals and men up through wooden trapdoors and into the view of the spectators. The wooden floor of the arena has all rotted away now and so what you are left seeing from above is the maze of small tunnels and shafts of elevators. We were down amongst this with our guide in the damp and the shadows and it was very impressive to see the tall stone walls stretch above us with nothing but the forces of gravity holding them together.

Down in the bowels of the Colosseum

 

Hallways where the gladiators used to walk

The guided tour also took us up above where the normal ticket gives you entry. Up in our birds eye viewing spot we could see on one side of us the collapsed and pillaged but still grand remains of the Colosseum and on the other side was the Palatine hill and roman forum with collapsed temples and villas for as far as we could see. Blocking out all the tourists you could very easily imagine what it would have been like to be an ancient Roman sitting in that seat and checking out the view around him.

 

Colosseum from the highest point

 

Tobin at the Colosseum

 

In the Forum

 

In the Forum

 

In the Forum

 

In the Forum

 

In the Forum

 

View of the Forum from the highest point of the Colosseum

 

View of the Forum and Palatine Hill

 

Looking at the surroundings of the Colosseum

*On a side note, the spelling of Coliseum/Colosseum has been brought to my attention, I did some research and you might be interested to know that although both spellings are correct, Colosseum is unofficially used exclusively to describe the ancient arena in Rome whilst Coliseum is used to describe all the other 'Colosseums'! This page gives some reasons why http://grammarist.com/spelling/colosseum-coliseum/

Roads (and train lines) to Rome

Where can you find gypsy children busking, a Chaplain to His Holiness, and beautiful couples draped over one and other breathing deeply, asleep? On Italian public transport of course.

This weekend I took a trip from Rome, down the coast to Naples and Sorrento. A trip that was expected to take two - three hours. It took 6. Myself and Laura were already aware that Italians have no love for timetables, the bus that runs from outside our campsite to the station's timetable reads 'operating between 0500 - 2300'. There is not even any indication of how many times within that bracket it will pass by. So what I'm saying is that when our train from Rome to Naples did not depart on time, we shouldn't have been surprised. However I was surprised when for half of this 3 hour train ride (the website said it would be 2 hours) we were standing with about half the other passengers of the train. I've never done the trip but I don't think that Sydney rail oversells its tickets from Sydney to Canberra, which I think would be equivalent.

We did have some enlightenment on our trip as to why Italy has no timetables. Why put them in place when your transport is never going to run to them? We caught a hop-on hop-off bus between Sorrento, Positano and Amalfi on our free day. It's timetable was very comprehensive and we even ran to catch the first bus, thinking that we might miss it. No worries there it seems, it was half an hour late in leaving. The drive itself was stunning enough to make you not worry about the standstill traffic all around the coast and we arrived at Amalfi only an hour after the brochure said we would. From there we worried less, just turning up at the bus stop when we were ready rather than reading the timetable.

Despite all this we were somehow still surprised by our last bus of the day. The lady at the stop had said it should be there in an hour and so we went off into Positano for a look around. When we came back she apologized profusely and said that due to the traffic the bus hadn't actually left Amalfi yet and would be another 45 minutes or so, then another hour from there to Sorrento. We had booked dinner and couldn't really be that late so we hopped on the next public bus/ cattle car that came through to get home. Again a crazy squash of people, I sat on a step underneath someone's chair for the whole journey.  

It is lucky that the public transport attracts the sorts of characters that I mentioned at the start. Priests and Nuns, tourists, businessmen, students, families, buskers, lovers and drunks all use the buses and trains and lead to some wonderful people watching. I really wanted to be an Italian fly on the wall of the conversation that happened when a young priest in plain cassock went up and introduced himself to the priest wearing a cassock with fuchsia trimmings and hat whilst on the bus ride to our campsite.

I cannot recommend Italian public transport at all, I haven't even mentioned how dirty it is, but there really isn't any other option. I certainly wouldn't want to be driving myself in their crazy traffic! It needs to be approached with a positive attitude, the realization that possibly nothing will go right, and I would not recommend making your travel plans on a tight time schedule. Get on Italian time. I hesitate to say 'bring back Mussolini!' but it seems he did have some positives....