I’m on a train heading for pescara which is 3 hours due east from Rome on the coast. There i will rendezvous with dale, a family friend and spend some time with him.

After climbing the sleeping volcano in Napolis we headed north for Rome. Dinner was pasta and pizza followed by a stroll around the Colosseum. Adrian and Everlean continued homeward and i booked into a hostel for 2 nights.

The Vatican was my first stop on Sunday. I wore my Sunday best, jeans and my “Jesus loves greg most” t-shirt, and wondered through st Peter’s basilica. After some time i stumbled upon the confessionals and thought, being the good catholic boy, that i should cleanse my soul, evidently, I’m in trouble. We discussed my teenage years and every fun thing I’d done was a mortal sin. When he asked if I’d stolen anything the issue of the legitimacy of mp3 laws was raised, he suggested an electronic block. He even had an issue with what i studied at university. Jean-Paul Sartre (my favorite philosopher) is filling my head with rubbish he asserted and psychology is a dangerous science. He suggested Thomas Aquinas and a catholic university then ordered i recite 30 prayers, none of which i knew so i just sat on a pew and pretended. i think god clued on that i was pretending because it rained on my walk home.

I kipped back at the hostel and plotted the nights mortal sins. I bought some beers & a kebab (sin #1, your only allowed to get drunk for surgery but i don’t think J.C. has an issue with kababs), saw some porn (sin #2, i passed a newsagency), watched star wars (sin #3, i denied my faith and asserted i was jedi), then jumped the fence at the Colosseum and sneeked around playing gladiators with an american mate (sin #4, i’m pretty sure that’s a no no).