Italy 2005 - U2 Rome + London farewell

27th July 2004

Well hello again all,

This is it. My final instalment of my 2005 holiday adventures. It's sad that this is it but of course I have to get back to Oz and earn some money so that I can continue this lifestyle in the future some time....all ready working out the plan for the next holiday. Who wants to come to Brazil for Carnivale in February 2007???

So, the final update. What have I been doing? Well, last time I wrote I was still in Rome and I caught up with my friend from Sydney, Marta. We went to St Peter's, climbed to the top of the dome and took loads of pictures from the highest point in Rome. It is such a fabulous view from the top of the dome that the climb of over 400 stairs is worth it - even though we both felt like we were going to have a heart attack going up. It is so stuffy and hot that it is some sort of endurance test I am sure. Anyway, that was ace and of course we had to have a gelato after our visit to top off the day in true Italian style.

Friday was my last day at school and even though I got through the week of Italian school fine it left me realising that when I go back to Italian school in Sydney I need to pay more attention to the grammar of the Italian language. That is what I found most difficult and even though mostly I could communicate with the Italians I know that my grammar sucks. Need to work on that and pay more attention to it. School was cool though. Nice to do and get to meet some new people. Most of them professional students though. One girl is learning her 5th language so she can fulfil her dream and work at the United Nations one day. Pretty impressive I thought.

But that was school all over and done with. I wandered Rome Friday afternoon knowing that the only point of me being in Rome now was so see U2 at Rome's Olympic Stadium on Saturday. Of course I couldn't wait for that to come around. I even made sure I had an early night on Friday night so that I could be full of boundless energy for the concert Saturday.

So, Saturday came around and what a day it was. The morning was pretty much spent packing and relocating from the accommodation I had been in through the school to a hotel in the city. That was no problem and then pretty much I decided I wouldn't wait and I would head to the concert. I figured that gates opened at 3pm and I should get there as early as possible so that I could find myself a good position on the pitch, as close to the stage as possible. That was my rationale for leaving the hotel at 3pm and arriving at the stadium at 3:30pm. I though I would get in early. Of course all the Italians had the same idea too. It was hilarious as I got off the tram and made my way to the stadium. There were bagarrini everywhere (ticket touts). Not just one or two saying "I'll buy any spares" but around 200 or so, all trying to get potential business by selling tickets at a better price than the competition. That was funny enough but on top of that there were at least 100 sellers of non-official merchandise outside the stadium. They were all decked out with their trolleys of shirts and memorabilia that they could wheel around with ease. Everyone was out to make a buck. Then the guys who walked around with esky's of cold drinks selling them. No one was missing any chance. It was great to experience all that. As it was the gates didn't open until 5:30pm or so which meant that there was lots of time spent milling around the stadium outside checking out all the bits and pieces of Italian culture going on. It was great.

Once in the stadium the day just got a whole lot better. I wandered around, took lots of photos of the stadium filling up and then pretty much waited around for the support acts of Feeder and Ash to come on. They were great value and everyone got into it but of course everyone was there to see U2. I found myself a position about 30metres from the stage and then just before the U2 started I was talking to some locals around me and suddenly I had found my new best friends for the night. Italians that spoke perfect English as they had spent 3 months in Australia last year learning English. Was great and they insisted I hang out with them for the night. Sure thing I thought!

So when U2 came on it just went wild. Again, just like when I saw them in London they started with Vertigo, finished with another version of Vertigo and did hit after hit in between. The highlight was definitely when they did Miss Sarajevo which is the song they originally did a duet with Pavarotti on. Bono sung the whole Pavarotti bit of the song in Italian and the entire 80,000 crowd of crazy Romans all went wild. Yep, you guessed it. It was AMAZING!!! It didn't actually matter though that most of the concert was in English. It was absolutely wonderful to hear all 80,000 people sing along almost every word to every song in English. Was like being in the middle of
some large choir and when U2 did "With or without you" it was just fantastic.

The concert lasted for 2 1/2 hours and was superb all round. The support acts were great and U2 just rocked. I was a little worried about how I would be getting back to Rome after the concert as it was always going to be questionable how well the public transport would run with 80,000 people all leaving at once but as it turned out I didn't need to worry about that. My new best friends had actually driven to the concert so they offered to give me a ride back into town. It just kept getting better and better so we went back to town, hit a pizza bar after the concert and shared a few drinks together. Was a great ending to my Roman adventures. A brilliant night all round shared with locals. AMAZING!!!

Sunday of course was travel day. Get organised, get to the airport and get back to London. That was all done without any dramas although I have to admit I did feel a bit weird catching the tube Sunday night given all the dramas going on over here but after the initial nervousness I realised that just like everyone in London, you just have to get on with it. When I got back to Colin's house, he and Frix were there and we talked for hours about what I had been up to. It was just a hysterical night. Very very funny....in fact, there have been loads of laughs with the two of them on this holiday which has been brilliant.

So, this week has been pretty much catching up with everyone and saying my goodbyes. Had lunch with Colin on Monday and then yesterday I had lunch with Pete and his mum to say goodbye. Was nice as another school mate Mitchell is in London at the moment as well so came along. Last night I had farewell drinks with the Glastonbury crew and that was just full of great laughs and topped off the holiday in a fantastic way. Even though it was a school night everyone got into it nicely.

And that's it. Pack now and leave. That is what's left for me to do. I am mostly packed all ready but just need to sort it out and then tonight I head off on the gruelling journey home. I just want to get there now. I don't want to go through the flight in between. Anyway, a small price to pay for the brilliant time I have had away.

So, all that's left to say I guess is a VERY BIG THANKYOU to everyone who has been a part of this holiday and helped to make it truly memorable. Thanks to Colin and Frix and Colin's flatmates for being so welcoming whilst I have been staying here. It has been great. A bonus on this holiday has been meeting some new friends as well which has been brilliant. It is just ashame I live so far away from this part of the world. Oh well, gives me an excuse for a holiday I guess...

To those of you in Australia, I can't wait to see you all and to everyone else around the globe, stay safe, let me know what you are up to and I look forward to seeing you all sooner rather than later I hope.

Bye for now,

Dave