Brian Takes Road Trip through Europe

I started by visiting the ancient Palace grounds which house magnificent ruins overlooking Rome. The panorama inclused views of the Tiber river, Vatican, Colosseum and Vittorio Emmanuel monument. Italy itself has a long and varied history, however through my travels in Turin and Rome I learned a great deal about the country. Ancient Rome, including the Colosseum, represents a magnificent past which changed the Western world as we know it. The colosseum conjured images to me of the MCG. Oh, to renovate and play the AFL Grand FInal there. I don't think it would happen though. Maybe if we got some of our DIY televsion crews over there it would be a differetn story. That is the other things about Italians. Changing a great deal from province to province, nonetheless they have coffees which are way too small, chain smoke, drive like it is bumper crash at the royal show and are generally a passionate bunch of people. I fear, however, what would happen if they went short of food. In the provinces, they all take a 2 to 4 hour gap in the day s they can eat. In the evenings, they eat no earlier than 10pm. Mamma Mia! Anyhow, I left Rome on a winding 4 hour train ride through mountains (not over, through) and valleys and arrived to a rainy beach. After that my Swedish friends, Elisabetta our Italian friend and I hung out for a few days, then i went north to meet Nazarena in Florence. We took a hotel and then proceeded to see the city sights which are pretty amaing, meeting up witht he others in Pisa. After Pisa the road trip began, travelling with the 2 Swedish guys in a turbo charged Calibra, we saw Venice by night, Lubjana (Slovenia) by day, Austria inviolved beer mountain climbing and Vienna sight seeing, then we drove to Prague for a beer and then drove non stop via Germany Denmark into Sweden. In Sweden i visited a Moose farm, drank beer and spirits and absorbed their culture. Sweden is a big country, 9,000,000 and they love driving fast. Very different to Italy. To leave Sweden my friend Daniel drove me 400km to the airport where i made it with 15 minutes to spare (I have never missed a flight yet). I woke up as the plane jolted back onto London soil and 9 hours later walked into work. All in all a fun vacation, plenty more to it than described. More to come.