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Best decision ever! I had a super good and warm night sleep, and I even get a free breakfast, with chocolate cookies and orange juice. That’s what I call luxury travel! Although it was pretty early, as we arrived at 6 AM in Roma (Rome). Fun fact: In the last 24 h, I spent 17 of them in trains, including nine just this night, in 6 different trains.

I directly take the metro to the Colosseum. Not even out of the station, and you can only see it. A massive ring of classical architecture, in the middle of a vast paved place, surrounded by its fellow roman ruins. What a feeling, to stroll around such an iconic piece of History, which saw the height and fall of the most powerful empire of its time, now one of the most visited attraction on Earth. And yet at this early hour, nobody is around to spoil the moment. I feel privileged to be here, watching the sun slowly rising over the Colosseum. I climbed a path exactly opposed to where the sun wasa emerging, and got to witness some awe-inspiring moment, when the astral light crowned the jewel of Roma.

Alas, I must already leave, by the same metro.

I’m now taking the train back to Torino (Turin), by daytime. The countryside between Roma and Firenze (Florence) is lovely, and exactly what I’d expect from Italy: olive trees, cypress, hills and high-perched villages and their churches. It reminds me of a Thorgal comic which name I forgot.

Once in Torino, I don’t feel very well. Maybe I’l getting ill, or maybe it’s just tiredness, I don’t know. I opt to go for a lunch and then directly to the modern and ugly new station. What a mistake… I had forgotten that FUCKING PUBLICITY JINGLE that is loud as Hell, last about three seconds but most infuriatingly, IS REPEATED EVERY 20 s. I kid you not, I actually timed it! I HATE ads at the best of time, but this is just pure madness on a whole new level. I can’t imagine what they expect from people appart from becoming crazy and throwing themselves under a train to stop the pain. After three hours in the station, I was mad as hell, and I couldn’t take it anymore. I even screamed at it a couple of times…

Torino: ugly, expensive, and that freaking jingle: 0/10. At least now I’m in the last train on which I can use the Interrail Pass. This pass is a godsent, I cannot recommend it enough, although I’m sure that in my case (three weeks, going to cheaper countries, and having a few days of bus travel), I probably didn’t gain much money, or even loose some. But it matters not. Next year, the three months pass will be well worth it.

Now we can get off our masks, as we passed the magically anti-COVID border. Back in France!

Kind of bittersweet, as all good ends should be. But it’s not quite over. Unfortunately, my friend Rémi in Lyon is not available tonight, but in my train change in Chambéry, I got to see Antoine, a friend and former colleague that I met in our reconversion formation in 2018. I had not seen him in thrre or four years, it was great to catch up, albeit very briefly.

Already I’m back in the train for Lyon.

This time, I’ll have to go to an hostel, so I first take the tram.

The rain is absolutely pouring out right now, so I have to run for dear dryness to the metro. At last, after a very, very long day, I can have a shower, a change of clothes (I didn’t had either since Ниш (Niš), four days ago!) and a proper bed. That is such a refreshing feeling hmmmm.