The Vatican and Pisa

The party of 7 breaks up as people scatter towards Milan in the north and Napoli and Pompeii in the south. I still have the Aussie for company: Shannon is 24, drinks Foster's by the six-packs, is on track to visit 25 countries before he is 25, and speaks in an easy drawl as we set out to meet the Pope.

The Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel are closed on Sunday, but St.Peter’s Square is chock-full with people. The reason’s soon evident: the Pope makes an appearance at a window, waves his arms and goes on to deliver the same speech in Italian, Spanish and what-not. The interiors of the Basilica are stately but not ostentatious. Efforts to get a stamp of the Vatican City on the passport prove unfruitful and we return to Italy for lunch.

1400
The post lunch session is similar to the previous day as we walk across Rome, surprisingly small enough to be traversed on foot. The Pantheon, Piazza Navona and other landmarks fall to our advances. The final two stops on our itinerary turn out to be non-starters though: the Catacombs are closed and the Roman Baths at Diocletian are too pricey to enter.

1940

The train to Nice en-route to Barcelona leaves only at 2330 and I take an earlier train to Pisa to catch a glimpse of Torre Pendente.

2330

The Leaning Tower is right across the town from the railway station, but right across takes only 25 minutes. The walk is uneventful but memorable: a cold moon-lit November night, streets empty for the most part, and a solitary tourist backpacking at midnight.

An hour later, I am quite pleased with the night’s camera work and sip a cappuccino at an all-nighter close to the station. The Nokia’s FM receiver picks up dozens of stations, one of them playing Floyd to my delight, as I wait for the 0240 to Nice.

Monday
0700

It has been my worst night’s sleep on a train: six people in the compartment, no room to stretch legs, head rests at awkward heights. The fatigue stays with me the rest of the day: through Nice and Montpelier to Barcelona. I seem to have lost some of the appetite for travel... five weekends left in Europe.