Viv's Birthday & Public Transport

We stayed in for most of today, only venturing out for Viv’s birthday dinner in the city. We had dinner at a beautiful Italian restaurant where Kez claimed to have had the best lasagne in her life. Big call, Kez!! Flora hasn't been in Melbourne for Viv's birthday in the past 10 years but when she is around, they do it in style, in Rome!!

Warning: Rant to follow.

Driving in Italy is crazy but taking public transport isn’t without its own perils. It takes 45 minutes to travel just over 5km to the city centre by bus. The entire time is spent being packed like sardines. Upon realising that the bus is too full to get on, passengers at the next stop jump on anyway and force the occupants to shuffle along millimetres at a time.

The bus does not move, naturally, because its doors cannot shut. We wait. The bus driver doesn’t say a thing. The doors stay open. ARGH!!! The worst part of this is, we took the bus at all hours of the day – early-ish morning, late morning, early afternoon, early evening and late evening – still packed! Never again. I thought commuting in peak hour in Melbourne was bad.

Rant over. I still love you, Rome!Read more