All the roads lead to Rome.... has a new meaning today

Everyone's heard the saying “All the roads lead to Rome”. While normally that is considered to mean that...well... all road lead to Rome, at least in the time when all roads were actually build by the Romans. Then all roads literally lead to Rome. Today this saying has maybe a bit different meaning..

My definition is a bit different. Yes I admit that my road as well has lead to Rome, well total of 3 times. This time a bit longer time, for some 5 months. After one month in Rome I have noticed the biggest problem in Rome. No it is not the mafi... you know what I mean... but it's the roads. All those roads that lead to Rome.

There is some 8 million people leaving in Rome. Seems that all those 8 million have a car... well maybe not all of them, since it is not legal for children to drive (some do anyways I know). The roads in Rome are ancient, some from literally from first century C.E. Unlike in Toronto where roads are literally straight... and tens of kilometers directly to one way... none of the roads in Rome are straight. Maybe that is the reason why the traffic in Rome is so bad, so slow.

Last Saturday it took us 1 hour to driver some 35 km, to the other side of Rome. Sure there was a Juventus and Lazio (Rome) finals football-match. Sure we did not know that when we head on our way. We did see that the traffic on the motorway was standing still, so we took to the small-roads... with the others who thought the same way. On the way back home late in the evening it only took some 30 minutes for the same trip.

If you want to get from A to B in Rome, you might have to take two or three buses, a metro and maybe a train. Journeying for just some 25-35 km inside Rome can take as long as 2 hours. So make sure that you live next to or near your work/school. You don't want to spend 3-4 hours a day in public transportation. While you are on your way, have a book with you, to use your time more wisely. Anyways you'll be exhausted when you come home after all that Journeying, so you don't have energy to do much reading at home for sure.

Metrolines are good in Rome, but unfortunately there are only 2 lines, the A and the B lines. It is not like in most big cities where metro-lines cover most of the city. In Rome that is not happening. One metro goes from West to East and one from South-West to North-East. Also metros stop working at 9pm except on Saturdays. So they do not help much when you are traveling home in the evening time. No wonder people here have their own cars... just to be able to get home in the evenings.

Also another very Roman thing is to strike. Bus strikes are very common. You don't want to get stuck on the other side of the city on a day where there is a strike, so take a habit of checking out from www.atac.roma.it pages in case there is a strike for the buses. On a strike-day the busses normally run in the morning and again from 4 to 8pm. During the day or late evening you are on your own.. literally. No buses so you better make sure you are home in time! I once almost didn't make it home. Would have been nice to walk 10km in the evening. Most likely I would have gotten lost on the way... That road would not have lead to Rome...

The traffic is something that controls the life of people in Rome. It is as usual topic here as the weather is in England... You might have a plan what to do for the day and then the traffic changes your plans totally. You never know how your day turns out to be, it all depends on the traffic... all those roads leading to Rome...

Didn't think I'd be “Winter-swimming” in Italy

One of my hobbies in Finland has been winter-swimming. Yes swimming in an icy-cold-water, the sea, in the middle of winter. Sometimes in a cold as -1 Celcius sea-water. Few winters I did winter-swimming regularly, two-three times a week. But I did not think I'd be winter-swimming in Italy....

After almost one month in Italy , I'm getting used to it that hot water is not a certainty! Two weeks ago I already experienced the electricity “shortage” when the fuse got burned and I had to wash my hair in a cold water. Yesterday I had a bath in an icy-cold water. How did this happen?

I went for a run in the neighborhood, after which I wanted to do some cleaning, since it's my cleaning turn this week. After all that sweating... running and cleaning... I finally got the water in the bath running.

Don't you just love hot baths? I do!!! In Finland most houses have thrown away their bathtubs and replaced it with a shower. I personally loved the bathtub when I was a kid. Nothing as nice as a long hot bath – with bubbles of cause.

Well here in Italy I finally have a bathtub! I'm going to enjoy it I thought! But it's not that easy in Italy!!! Once I was ready to go to my hot bath... I dipped my hand into the water and help.. it was icy-cold. NO HOT WATER!!! Well I needed to wash my hair again and I needed to get of the dust and sweat so I had not choice, but to use the cold water to wash my hair first and then dip into the icy-cold water... to have my "winter-swimming" experience from Italy...

Why was there only cold water? Something to do with the fuse-boxes again I believe... a bit too complicated for me.... too many fuse-boxes... When my roommate got home, she was wondering why we don't have hot water and why is the heating not on. She cried out joking... “All I ask after a hard day is that there is hot water and heating”.... Me personally have gotten used to the cold rooms and don't so much mind if there is hot water or not. Done that, been there.... and little bit of humor on the way will help you not to take it too seriously!

A friend said that I've been tested by Rome... well since I've done winter swimming willingly in icy-cold-water, then I can do without hot water occasionally in Rome! Just for the joy of being here...

Wellcome to Rome, Italy

Through some strange co-incidences I ended up living in Rome for 5 months. I wanted to write this blog about how it is like to live in Rome as a foreigner. Each country is different and each country has it's pros and cons. I don't want this to be a winy report of my negative experiences, but an honest report of things that I pay attention to and notice.

Being a Finn, a country of Nokia phones, high-technology and some pretty good race-drivers and yes some pretty good hockey-players, Italy is quite a different world to what I've accustomed to. I've traveled a lot in many different parts of the world, but I've always loved especially everything about Italy!

Ever since I was a child, I was in love with the Italian language. No I never studied it, had so many other languages to study first for different reasons I needed this and that language. But still I was happy to hear some Italian music, and infatuated with Italian historical drama-series. Just had to see each one of them!!! Elisa di Rivombrosa, Falcon and what ever it was... Obrofari and so on. I just love to listen to the language and pick up new words. My infatuation has brought me to to Rome Italy this winter and I'm going to take everything out of this experience.

After just one week of living in Rome I have come to notice many things that are different to what I've accustomed to. I want to write to you about these points that I've noticed here. I also want to give some tips for all non-Romans who want to visit Rome, Italy.

I arrived to Rome a bit over a week ago, with 3 luggages and big handbag, total some 65 kilos. How it is possible for me to bring so much “stuff” on a plane? Thank God for good friends and one friend in particular, Eveliina. She works for an airline company and was kind enough to bring me to Italy, me and my luggage. As an airline worker she can bring more luggage as we regular tourist-class travelers.

So what did I bring to this land of fashion, bags and shoes??? Well, lots of clothing (some 23 kilos in luggage) and shoes, but not so many bags (except the luggage's themselves of cause). Why did I bring clothing to Italy? Well being a warm country that it is, I knew that the houses are not as warm as they are in Finland during the wintertime. One thing you never have to suffer in Finland are cold houses in the winter (well excluding some private small-houses saving in electricity). But in Italy, as in many other southern countries winter means cold houses. Why is this? It only became clear to me now, after moving here. Italy has no nuclear-power plants and therefore the electricity is very, very expensive in Italy. I never thought of nuclear-power plants in Finland before, but boy do I miss them now! Funny how I have come to appreciate nuclear power when facing the effects of lack of it. I wonder if Finns against Nuclear-power would be really willing to face the consequences that would come if there would not be nuclear power in Finland. What would that mean? I'm sure we would see the same effect that people face in Italy, houses are kept cooler since electricity is sooooo expensive. When in Finland all houses are warm all-year-round, that is not the case in Italy. And that is why I brought along lot's of clothing.

What kind of clothing? Woolen socks, woolen long-johns, woolen cardigans, woolen cloves and so on. You would never think I'm going to Italy!!! In Finland I would only use such when I go out to do sports in the winter-time – well yes, difference if of cause that I use the car in Finland so I don't need very warm clothing since I'm mostly indoors, warm!

What else did I bring in my 65 kilos of luggage? I brought a new Luhta blanket and billow and a fleece-blanket. What??? Why not just buy those from Ikea in Rome? I did a bit of a research before I came – yes I'm a freak for checking things out beforehand – and noticed that beddings are expensive in Italy, more expensive than in Finland. How is that possible? To my knowledge salaries in Finland are much higher than they are in Italy. Still Ikea sells the same blankets and pillows with more higher price in Italy than they do in Finland. Since I could not bring things back to Finland if I did not first bring them in the same luggage to Italy, I decided to buy my bedding from Finland and bring it to Italy. When in Italy Ikea beddings were around 40-80 € and pillows on top of that, I found a perfect Luhta blanket and pillow for 26 € total from on outlet in Helsinki. Not only are they light, but at the same time warm. And the best of all, they fit into my luggage.

I do wonder how people in Italy can afford to buy things here. Fashion, shoes, bags are all expensive just like in Finland, but considering the salaries I don't understand how people manage. Well yes, the poorer people are not wearing high-fashion. The further you go from the center the more you see non-fashionable people. People wearing regular sports-trousers – I know this is what Finns were known for still in the 80's. Yes women here do use make-up, and you can see each woman – well almost each – having make-up, even if they wear sports-trousers...

Well I have learned to shop in outlets and this is what I wanted to do here in Italy also. I am not a big shopper... I've never been. I buy things when I really need. Well sure, I can visiting certain outlets in Helsinki regularly during the sales-season. But only in the sales-seasons! Then I buy so much of new things with fractions of the normal-price, that I don't normally need to visit “normal” shops. Only in some special occasions, or when I cannot get something specific from the outlets.

One thing I needed, that I did not bring with me from Finland were winter shoes. Not that I didn't have them in Finland, but just because I could not fit them in my luggage. So since I came to the land of shoes and bags, I decided I can buy at least one of each (hmmm... let's see if it is only one of each...). During the first week I checked several shops and found out that all nice looking shoes cost from 100 € upwards. No way am I paying that much for shoes!!! Yes I am very economical. I want quality, beautiful but still cheap. Impossible you might think, but no, I do get that normally, I'm just careful where I shop and especially WHEN I shop! Since I had a mission of finding myself winter-shoes, I asked some friends where do they shop for shoes. I got a good hint that next to Termini Train-station there are cheap outlets. Crossing the street from the Termini I found a queue of cheap shops, but only one as an outlet-type of a shop, "Lucky". When others sell poor-quality shoes (non authentic materials), this one had real-leather shoes for -50% and more cheaper than the original price. There I found myself a pair of black-leather shoes from suede leather for 55€ (normal price 129€). In my view 55€ is still much, but definitely better than 129€. I still wonder how do people in this land of low-salaries buy themselves a pair of shoes? Of maybe they use the non-authentic ones. So how is it possible some shops can sell with such prices? Being an outlet they sell the left-overs of the original stock for different retailers. So they do not have all the shoes in all the sizes. There would have been many nice models, but being a Finn I have my shoe-size 40-41, very non-typical Italian size... so not many shoes with so big size available here.

So next goal is to find a bag! I already found one nice from ….. but sorry if I feel that 69€ is too much for a bag. Yes it was beautiful, knitted gray and black bag with a bow on front. But still I'm not ready to pay for 69€!!!! Let's see what other options I'll find! I only have a small handbag so I'll must find one soon.