Rome, Italy

On my days off from Anna Villa, I went to Rome. On the first of these visits I went to the Colosseum, the Forum and the Palatine Hill. While waiting in the very long line for the Colosseum an man came up and offered a tour of the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill for 20 Euro including the entrance, which meant to tour only cost 10 euros and I did not have to stand in the line.
It was the best tour I have done so far on my travels. The tour guide was very vocal and got you really involved in the tour. It was great to hear the history of the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill while looking around it. It was especially helpful for the Palatine hill as there is not much left of the ruins. Palatine Hill...what remains.

After the wonderful tour I went down and explored the Forum in the heat of the day. It is so amazing to be standing in the old centre of Rome. This was centre of the world in the past. I’m amazed at how much the Roman Empire achieved and then how the super power came to an end. It makes me wonder if I will see the end of a super power this lifetime and if so will one of the countries I visited so far become the new super power.

After looking around the form heart of Rome I walked over to the Pantheon. On the way I could not believe how many ruins make up the city. There are all the tour sites but then as you walk around the town you just stumble upon amazing old ruins with no idea what they once were and no sign or big crowd of tourist. The place is just so full of history. After about a 20 min walk I reached the Pantheon. It is amazing, so perfectly round and so big. I could not fit it into a photo. The hole in the ceiling is apparently 9.1 metres (30 ft) in diameter however when you look up at it from inside it looks a lot smaller due to the light.

After the Pantheon and I bit more exploring through the city I reached the Saint Peter's Basilica. It is a very impressive site to see at the end of the road. I was absolutely exhausted by the time I reached St Peter's but decided that I had to climb up the tower because I might not get another chance. So I walked all the way up the 330 plus stair to the top of the tower. It was hard work and very hot but the view made it all worthwhile.


After the amazing view of Rome from St Peter's I walked back to the train station via a gelato shop near the Spanish steps. I was exhausted but was looking forward to my next trip to Rome where I would be visiting the Vatican City.

Anna Villa , Rome

My new work was at a farm and B and B called Villa Anna about 40km outside Rome. It was owned and run by an English couple called Mick & Angela Brown. Mike had been in the air force and after leaving the service they had opened up B and B's around England in area like the Lake District. They had finally got sick of the English weather and had moved to Italy to start up Anna Villa and some farming. They grew all their own vegetables and grapes for wine. It was so lovely.

Mike and Angela are really nice people and a pleasure to work for. When I arrived they made me a cup of tea and we waited for the other worker Sharon to arrive. Sharon was a blast. She was in her thirties and had just packed up and sold her life at home for a one-way ticket to Italy and the world. She did not have any really plans expect she wanted to go to India and China and Tibet. We spent hours swapping ideas on where to travel to. I loved it.

Working at Anna Villa was great. We would work for one day and then have the next day off to explore Rome. The work involved gardening and general farming. Both Sharon and I liked manual labour so it did not take us long to get through most of the days jobs. In the evening we would have dinner with Mike and Angela, which was always amazing, and get to sample some of the farms wine. Yummy! I could have stayed there forever. The weather was really hot around 35 everyday but the we had a pool to swim in so Sharon and I spent our lunchtimes relaxing in the pool. After a week however I had to say goodbye to Mike and Angela and start the train trip up to Sweden!

Rome, Camping

I arrived in Rome in the afternoon and booked into a campsite outside of the city centre. I was exhausted both mentally and physically. I had no idea how much working at La casa sul lago had taken out of me. So I spent the next two-day just sitting by the pool in the sun and reading a book. It was great. I felt I had heaps of time to see Rome as I would be living near by on a farm so sight seeing could wait.


While staying at the campsite I got a new camera for 70 Euro! Yeah! It was great. I think the only photo I took at the campsite was this one of me. Sorry guys but it was a great place to stay.
While in the campsite I got an email from Emma (a friend from Sweden who I met in Singapore in 2006). She said I had to come up and visit her in Malmo, Sweden for her birthday on the 6th September. I really wanted to see her and Pelle (her husband) and her birthday sounded like a great date to aim for. So I told my new work in Rome that I would have to leave on the 1st of September instead of the 4th like I had originally planned. They were fine with it so I started working out ways to Sweden using my trusty Eu-rail guide.

Torricella the final days

While getting off the train in Torricella I saw a woman who looked very lost. Torricella being a small town and as she did not looking like a local I assumed she was coming to stay at the hostel. So I introduced myself and took her to the hostel. She was really nice and I spend the next few days hang out with her and showing her the sites. She had come to Italy to work as an Au pair and had a few spare days before she started work.

After two days she was off and I was sad to see her go and really upset at how much my boss charged her for everything (something like 70 euros a day for a bed and 2 meals). At the hostel they just acted like it was really free and easy but they kept a tab on everything you did and then gave a you a huge bill at the end of your stay. I understand they need to make money but they should tell people the costs of things instead of acting like it all comes with the service. They do not even have an official price list for anything. I was also upset she got charged so much because they did not have enough dorm rooms due to the Beglium kids staying there, so she had to sleep on the floor with the workers and me. It was really crap living conditions with 6 of us sleeping on the floor of a dorm room and a broken toilet in the room that smelt. I would not have paid for it myself.

The next people to leave was Lara and Emma and then Stephie and Eggy would leave a day after that which would leave just me. I did not check with my boss that he had understood my email about me I wanting to stay an extra night but assumed that it would be fine since all their staff was about to leave.

Lara and Emma left and the money situation got revealed. I am use to people talking about weekly wages or hourly rates not monthly especially if you are only going to be working somewhere for 2 weeks.. but it turned out instead of being paid 300 Euro a week it was 300 Euro a month. Ohh well I was not too stressed about it as I was doing it for the experience and not the cash and these things happy with cultural differences. So Lara and Emma left and some how got paid 100Euro each for their 1 week of work. As I said before they were way more into the holiday part of the working holiday so it all seemed good.

The next day my favourite Estonian girls left, Stephie and Eggy. Eggy was in tears and it was so sad to say good bye to them. So then it was just me in the room by myself. It felt really weird but it was only going to be for two nights cos I had organised my next job in Rome. Just when I was getting use to the idea of having the room to myself a lovely girl called Pamela arrived to work. Pamela is from Mexico and one of the nicest people I have met. She arrive at 5pm and had not eaten so I took her down to the kitchen and re heated some of the lunch for her. While we were sitting in the kitchen my Boss came in and stayed yelling continuously at us. He said we had no right to go to the kitchen and that we were stealing from him etc. I tried to explain that I was just trying to help out and that I had never been told that I could not go into the kitchen before. He would not listen so Pamela and I just sat out side and stayed out of his way. Pamela looked so shocked and was ready to leave. I tried to tell her that it was actually an ok place to work at but was being to have my doubts about it too.

While hiding outside we meet two of the Belgium camp leaders called Griet and Thomas. They were both really nice and invited me to come stay with them in Gent,Belgium. Never to be one to tour down an offer I took their details and promised to see them sometime in September.

That evening when I came down for dinner Laura (my bosses girlfriend) came up and asked me why I was still there. I was really confused so went to talk to my Boss. I apologised for upsetting him earlier and he said he did not care. He only said he had hired Pamela to take my place and that I should leave. It was all so confusing and 10.30 at night. It turned out he had never read my email about the fact I wanted to stay an extra night so had expected me to leave a day earlier. But it was so odd that he had not said anything all day about it.

I told him I could not leave that night cos there were no trains at that hour so could I stay and work in the morning to pay it off. He then went on a rant what I too poor to leave and why did I want to stay because no one there liked me, etc. I was so upset but had no choice but to stay there another night. The next day I worked from 6 am until 2pm straight and then packed up my stuff. I did not want to be told I had not worked enough.

As I was leaving I asked for my pay to which my Boss answered that had given it to Lara and Emma and I should have go it off them.. I was so pissed off! So I explained that he had not paid me and I never got any money of Lara and Emma and why would he give them my pay anyway. He was obviously lying cos within seconds he gave me my money and then told me how he really liked working with me and was sad to see me go. I swear he was so nuts, his moods changed so often.
So i put on my pack and walked out into the pouring train to wait for my train. I felt the rain was fitting for the situation and I felt free again. Next stop Rome!