Again, new experiences seem to be the order of this trip. Its been 3 hours into my inaugural sleeper train ride to Paris from Rome and I am still rather wide awake. As there isn’t Internet access on the train (not much expectations there, one might say, but if you were here to observe the condition of the train… I doubt you’d have any too if you were here…) I have resolved to writing the entry on words on my lappy before publishing it when I get a connection later upon my arrival in France.
Italy, as a tourist destination, wasn’t all that bad on hindsight. I’d give the whole Italian experience a modest 6/10 on Jason’s scale of “Love it or Hate it” with 10/10 getting the most love out of me and 1/10 getting none at all. The country was beautiful and the sight of numerous ancient ruins lying there basking in the glow of the warm sunrays is simply breath taking. The ruins lying a strewn on Palatino hill, the almost in tact Pantheon standing gorgeously against the backdrop of modern Rome… all those were sights that’ll stay with me for a long time to come. If Rome were just a land with such breath-taking sights and NOTHING else… a 10/10 would be no issue at all. What I really didn’t like about the country was the almost bipolar attitude they had towards visitors to their country. One minute you could be walking down an alley smiling and exchanging morning greetings with a local on his morning jog around Circus Maximus, the next second you could be getting shoved off the bus by an aggressive Italian woman for obstructing her way. The booing and total lack of respect they had for the American water-polo team when they emerged from the changing room onto the pool deck during the Italy-American preliminary match was testament to just how discourteous they were. Italian food wasn’t fantastic in general (Though they were exceptions in Florence and Venice… but those exceptions were mainly restricted to the Gelato stores we frequented during our week’s stay in Italy…) with much of the pasta served being either too plain or just lacking in flavor. Complaints aside, the overall experience was still a positive one and I would do it all over again had I been asked to rethink my decisions.
Again, I must reiterate the fact that I am now lying chest down on the second bed of a sleeper coach. The cramp living conditions coupled with the rather bumpy ride I am having now as we speed through the darkness across the Italian countryside simply doesn’t make for ideal writing conditions.
The trip thus far is coming along pretty fine. There were numerous bumps along the way but I think those bumps made for pretty good lessons in life for all of us. I learnt a lot more about myself during the trip and I learnt the importance of tact and good self-control. I have come to understand myself and the way I see things and operate as an individual a little better and am now more aware of where my limits (all limits one can think off…) are. Tolerance and patience are the two key ingredients for a trip to be successful. As I mentioned to some of my friends and relatives before; all it takes is for one head to blow for the trip to dissolve into total failure. There were a many close shaves for me but I guess practice makes perfect; whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger and I guess that’s how it has been for me thus far.
Melvin and I had a late night in Rome yesterday, as we walked the streets one last time before we left for France. We talked about a lot of stuff and I think we both learnt a little bit more about each other. We were course mates about three years back during my PTI course and schoolmates prior to enlistment. That coupled with the sparse interactions we had over the course of our lives certainly made (Re) introductions a whole lot easier.
Tomorrow’s going to be a rather long day (We’re expected to arrive in Paris at about 9.30 – 10.00 a.m. From the stations, we’ll make our way to our hotel, wash up deposit our bags and stuff before heading out to explore the city a bit. There’s supposed to be a Sandeman’s walking tour around Paris sometime in the late morning and afternoon too… Hopefully we’re awake enough for that.) so I should probably get some rest soon…
Ciao and till the next entry J
