What have the Romans ever done for us?

But apart from the sanitation, the medicine, education, wine, public order, irrigation, roads, the fresh-water system, and public health, what have the Romans ever done for us?

Reg, Life of Brian [1979]

Finally, I’ve been to Rome.  It’s been firmly at the top of places I wanted to visit for many years now.  Almost everybody I know has been (yet another popular European city on the Easyjet or Ryanair runs) and they all say the same thing about how you can turn every corner and there is something to see.

Our trip was not for sightseeing or even just to experience the great city’s bars; we (me, Stu & my dad) went for this season’s Champions League Final hoping to enjoy the same success as in Moscow last year.  Without going into any detail whatsoever, we lost.

We still had a couple of nights in Rome to enjoy the city.  We arrived on Tuesday afternoon and pretty much had 24 hours to explore the city before the football took over.  There are literally thousands of things to see and do in Rome but due to the time constraints we had to be selective.

We decided to first head to Vatican City, a country in it’s own right.  Everybody knows the Vatican and it’s a perfect example of how the Catholic Church was the first massive corporate entity that existed.  The opulence of St Peter’s Basilica is astonishing:

  

Our next stop was the Trevi Fountain, one of the most fascinating sites in Rome, originally fuelled by water 10 miles from the city (in another show of Roman power) it has become an iconic symbol of Rome.  As with many of Rome’s attractions, it has been restored but the original fountain is older than America:

Two down, one to go.  Our final stop was the Colosseum.  If the Trevi Fountain is older than America then it’s safe to say that the Colosseum is older then pretty much everything.  it is just 71 years short of it’s 2000th birthday and although it’s nearly all restored there are still loads of examples of its original features.  Being a huge fan of Gladiator I assumed I knew just about everything about it but to be in a building nearly 2000 years old was pretty inspirational.

Here is the link to my full set of pictures from Rome.

Aside from the sights, we didn’t get too much of a chance to explore the nightlife of Rome, we had one night and during that time the booze ban was introduced for the football; we did, however, find a bar that was willing to serve white wine in teapots! Genius! It was like when Moe had to serve beer in bowling balls in the Simpsons!

I’ve missed stuff out, for example the Spanish Steps are just, well, steps but Rome is certainly a city I’ll be revisiting.  In reality we only had 24 hours to see the place and you could easily spend a week there.  I’d love to go back and get into the meat of the place – I’m not a history buff but there’s something about Rome that intrigues me.  Also, because of the alcohol ban there’s not much I can advise about the drinking in Rome.

Finally, about the football and to finish with another Life of Brian line, Always look on the bright side of life…

Tignes Reds!

I'm sat here thinking what has happened this week and my first impression is 'not a lot' but having thought about it for two seconds, it's clear that it's been a very busy week!

The first newsworth event is the arrival of newlyweds Northern Nigel & Northern Marie who are staying in Val d'Isere with a few mates. They arrived Saturday afternoon and we met up with them on Sunday morning for some boarding. It was a pretty miserable day and definatley one that we wouldn't have got out of bed for usually but it was great to see them and catch up!

We had one of our best days on the mountains the day before, Stuoobs demoed a pair of skis and we went over to Val and covered most of the mountain, we ended up on the far side of the valley and found some beautiful tree runs.

Since the weekend we haven't touched the snow. On Monday we hired a car and took the girls to Geneva airport for their week home, we stopped of in Geneva centre for a bite to eat and then said our goodbyes.

Under normal circumstances this would have sparked a flurry of activity involving getting home as soon as possible and getting on it until somebody tells us to stop. This week, however, was different as the next day we were off to Meeeeeelan!

I got up a little earlier than usual to go to the radio as I had to record a couple of days' of broadcasts (and the next day's news!). Stuoobs & Adam picked me up at 9.30am from outside the radio and we were on our way to Milan!

When the draw was made I did a Google Map and saw that it was only three hours to Milan. Great Success! We booked the car, sorted out a room for the three of us and began to get excited. Adam was in charge of the tickets and managed to sort a few out. We later found out that one of the roads we were relying on is closed every winter, the Col du Petit St Bernard. This meant that we had to go via Albertville (McDonald's anyone?) and the journey was closer to six hours, with stops. Not to be deterred we were drinking in Milan by 3.30pm and met up with Adam's brother (spitting image of Ferris Buller), a couple of mates and our very own Mr Jonathan Huck who was in town with his usual lot.

Wherever in the world you travel with United there are fans from far and wide and there are usually banners & flags promotng their whereabouts. We couldn't resist...

Outside the San Siro:


The match was good, as ever it's nt my job to review the game but we had fun!

Euro aways are brilliant, absolutely, the anticiption from the draw, the scramble for tickets, the journey, meeting friends new & old, the drinking, the singing snd the match are all 5-star things to do. However, once the final whistle goes it's a different story; we are generally kept in for 45mins to an hour and the melee to get back to the city centre is always exhausting. We weren't up for a night out as we had to be up and out in the morning as Adam & I had work the next day (I hd the morning off but had to be back in Tignes by 4pm).

All in all very good!

Wednesday night was fun, we Looped again after some heavy Ginning in the flat with Guy - I don't remember a great deal about it but I do remember being asked by Jamie, the owner, to take Guy home as his legs had stopped working. On my wy back to Loop after escorting him part of the way home (I found two of his colleagues and legged it) I slipped on the ice and my right had now looks like Freddy Krueger's face! Stuoobs woke me up as he wretched in the toilet & he slept on the kitchen floor!

Yesterday was a total right off - a real day of nothingness as we nursed our hangovers.

As I write it's Friday afternoon and any moment now a car will arrive carrying my wife, Caroline, Andy Forbes & Laura Bailey. Andy & laura are here foe four nights and one anticipates gin.

I'll leave you with a picture of the San Siro...