07.23 There is a temperature of -17,9˚C in the darkness outside. It is slightly warmer in the darkness of the coffee pot. A new year will soon be here and so will a new trip. It starts today.

09.12 Christer and myself are standing at the bus station in Sundsvall await the arrival of the Y-bus. Y-buss (http://www.ybuss.se) is a bus company with routes from northern Sweden down to Stockholm. We left Pink Raisin and the Bearded man in Christer´s apartment. They were characters, persons on a children´s broadcast on the radio. We also overheard about a traffic accident on the radio. It had taken place near Sundsvall earlier this morning.

09.25 It is freezing cold at the bus station. The bus seems to be delayed, we are dressed for Italian weather and the air around the Selånger River is not to toy with, damp coldness which goes straight to the bones.

09.37 The bus arrived. We are, a little late, leaving Sundsvall.

10.17 The bus driver said good bye, put on his jacket and got off at the petrol station in Gnarp. Will he be back? If not, will he be replaced?

Peter in Tönnebro, a bus stop on the border between Swedish provinces Hälsingland and Gästrikland.

12.28 He was replaced by a woman called Siv. Siv by the way, was involved in that traffic accident we heard about earlier. Her car had all of a sudden spun around on the highway, the E4. The police had driven her to the bus. Now she has driven us to the road tavern in Tönnebro. Christer and I are about to have a hamburger with fries at the restaurant Frasse’s.

15.59 About half an hour late we´ve arrived in Stockholm and the good(?), old City terminal. We are doing mostly nothing before we will head on to Nyköping.

City terminal, Stockholm.

18.33 We’ve reached Nyköping and have once again walked inside Railway Hostel by the railway station. This time we are staying in room 10. We are catching our breaths before we go out for dinner and some grocery shopping.

19.11 We went to the pizzeria 12:an and had pizza (surprised?). It is dark, cold ( -14˚C) and partly slippery outside.

20.46 We were supposed to meet Christer´s sister who lives here in Nyköping. We had plans to meet her for a cup of coffee in town. But a combination of the cold weather and that she was not feeling well put an end to her participation. We decided to have a cup of coffee anyhow and went to Coffeehouse by George. There we had coffee and muffins before we went shopping at Hemköp. Now we are in the room again and are reading about the eternal city. It is peaceful in this less eternal city, a lack of people in the streets, plenty of minus degrees. The reason why we are here once again is not the fascination over Nyköping town but the fact that we will yet again fly with Ryanair from Skavsta airport nearby.

22.06 Things have been read, plans for tomorrow have been made. What exactly will happen remains to be seen.

Arriving at Railway Hostel. Peter is collecting our keys.

Wednesday 30th of December

04.30 It is great with Pago orange juice and a sandwich for speed breakfast. We’ve packed the few things we had unpacked. How many euro should we withdraw before we leave? I don’t want to go through what we went through this summer in Germany once again.

05.58 It has been written before and is again written in the journal. We are at Skavsta airport for a flight with Ryanair.

06.42 Information about how to act and behave is being told in English. Grownups are meandering, kids are crying and the staff is doing their best. We’ve boarded the plane.

The Alps managed to break through the thick blanket of clouds.

09.07 The lady next to me first thought that we had some pointy clouds under us. She changed her mind as she was told that it was the Alps.

ITALY

10.13 We’ve finally reached Rome and the airport of Ciampino. You are, if flying here, supposed to sit on the right side of the plane. This will bring you an amazing view of Rome just before you touch down south of the city. Ciampino is furthermost an airport for low cost flights. It is tiny but it works. We are waiting for the luggage carousel to move. I heard something. Is it time? Nope.

We´re approaching a Rome where it´s raining (but not snowing).

11.06 We had some more waiting before our luggage arrived. I think this was the longest wait ever in any airport we´ve been to. We are once again waiting, this time for the airport bus from Terravision (http://www.terravision.eu/rome_ciampino.html)

11.35 It only costs 4 euro to enter the city from the south with the airport bus. We are going along the old Roman road Via Appia and can see aqueducts and other remains from the old Roman Empire.

12.28 I am sitting by the computers at Hostel Alessandro Downtown (http://www.hostelsalessandro.com) on Via Carlo Cattaneo 23. The bus took us to the railway station Roma Termini. We saw some familiar things on our way there, climbing Santa Claus figures, which we´ve seen in Spain, Andorra, Malta and Slovakia and also a bus from City Sightseeing, which we went around with in Cape Town and also saw in Frankfurt. We are heading out to see more of Rome. We will have no access to the room until 15.00. We are tired but forced to ignore it.

12.56 Our walk begins in the neighbourhood. We are staying on the hill/district Esquilino. Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore is the name of the church we just went inside. The ceiling, walls and floor are amazingly beautiful. At the front by the altar is the burial place of the sculptor Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini. The church was founded in the year of 432. Most things here in Rome have a very long history.

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

Inside the Santa Maria Maggiore church you´ll find 5th century mosaics and other amazing things.

13.53 After some more walking we decided to have a classic bench break in the park Giardini del Quirinale. We’ve reached a new hill/district, Quirinale. We’ve passed various things on our way here such as the church Santa Susanna, Quattro Fontane (the four fountains) and the ministry of defence.

14.07 We are in front of the president´s palace. It is called Palazzo del Quirinale. How many knew that Italy has a president? How many of you know his name? For you who don’t know it, his name is Giorgio Napolitano.

14.29 We’ve spent the last hour looking for a place to eat. This search and perhaps some other things have brought us to Foro Traiano (Trajan´s Forum) just next to the huge National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II.

15.01 We had a kioskwagon bought warm sandwich with prosciutto, airdried ham and mozzarella. The price, with a beverage, ended up at 8,50 euro. It was breathtakingly tasty but also very expensive.

A typical old Fiat on Via Torino.

Lots of history in this photo. You can see the old Roman square Foro Traiano (Trajan´s Forum)
, the 18th century church Santissimo Nome di Maria al Foro Traiano and Trajan´s column.

A famous building in Rome, the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II.

15.24 There is plenty of people here in the city. It is beyond crowded by the famous fountain Fontana de Trevi. How can we be so sure about that? Well, via the cosy square Piazza della Pilotta we´ve walked to the fountain. It is beautiful, mighty and most likely some other things as well. There are men dressed as Roman soldiers among the tourists. They might be tourist attractions or just ghosts of the past, who knows?

15.50 Our planned visit to the pasta museum was cancelled. The museum was closed for renovations. We are sitting on a metal bar. We are in front of the Fontana del Tritone. The fountain is one of Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini’s creations. We are on Piazza Barberini. Cars, big as well as small are moving around. A man in a reflex vest is replacing a garbage bag in a waste basket. This isn't thrilling enough to make us stay here much longer.

The popular Fontana di Trevi

16.40 We are back in front of the church of Santa Susanna which we saw four hours ago. We are making plans about what to do next. Shall we head for the hostel, find a grocery store or something completely different?

17.11 We chose the hostel. We are in room 204. It is more a dormitory than a room. It´s got eight beds divided in four bunkbeds I am craving a rest. We didn’t find any grocery store. This isn't news as it comes to us and Italy. It was all the same in 2004 when we traveled here.

The streets of Rome are never empty.

18.22 We went out again and headed for the railway station Termini. Here we’ve searched for a grocery store in vain. According to the information board it´s supposed to be one here. There is of course a small shop across the street from the railway station but we want more than that. We are now having espresso and muffins here at Wok Italia on the bottom floor of the station just next to the escalator to the metro. I ordered coffee in hope of getting a big cup and got an espresso. Did I do something wrong or?

19.42 The coffee was just what we needed and we pretty soon found the grocery store, Conad. It was in an area of the station where we hadn’t been before. Isn't it strange that things always appear on the last place you look? We bought sausages and pasta for tonight and perhaps for some other day. We also bought two Cordon Bleu to have tomorrow. We’ve returned to Alessandro Downtown and Christer is in the shower. I will head there as soon as he returns.

22.21 We boiled the pasta and the sausages. All was eaten and enjoyed. There is nothing like homecooked, hostelcooked, what the heck, food. It took some time before the water decided to boil but all went well. We didn’t find any salt but that didn’t matter. We’ve seen some Asians here at the hostel. They are doing the same thing as we are doing. They are staying here. We’ve seen a print on one of their bags, NUS. NUS, doesn’t that mean Norrlands Universitetssjukhus? The University Hospital of Norrland. Do they come from our old university city Umeå? Or can it mean something else? I’ve tried to log in to the computers here but failed. Christer made it on his first attempt. I will try again later. I am mostly tired now.

Thursday 31st of December

08.43 I just got from the shower. A pleasant scent came from the kitchen. We are about to have breakfast. The last day of the year is here and a church bell just tolled.

10.11 Bread, marmalade, juice, milk and coffee. This is what was offered for breakfast. We are about to start our first whole day in Rome. There actually are some more things to see here. This will be a better day. We’ve slept well and feel ready. We’ve had a bright and brilliant idea. We’ve put aside some small packages of butter from the breakfast table. They will be used as we fry our dinner this evening. We will also try and get some packages of salt from some dining place in the city.

10.38 Our morning stroll has taken us through some cosy areas on our way to the National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II. The street goes up and down. The name of the street is Via Panisperna.

A nice quiet part of Rome along Via Panisperna.

11.06 Our first stop is outside of Mercati di Traiano (The market place of Trajan), a mall with an ancient touch. The market was built between the years of 100 and 110 AD. There was an entrance fee to see more of the market and we’ve skipped it.

11.25 Behind us is the National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II. To our left is the column of Trajan from 113 AD. A statue of emperor Trajanus was put on top of the column as soon as it was done. He remained there until he mysteriously disappeared without a trace sometime during the middle ages. A statue of Saint Peter moved in on the 4th of December 1587. In front of us is Trajan´s forum. All this was built to celebrate the Roman victory over the Dacians in modern day Romania.

Mercati di Traiano

Chiesa de Gesú (Jesus church) is the jesuit church in Rome.

Are you allowed to park your car like this if you belong to the police?

12.24 We’ve kept on walking, took a quick look at the Gesú church and have been shopping at DeSpar. We bought a small bottle of wine each, an icecream and a piece of chocolate. It is time for a bench break. We are by Area Sacra di Largo Argentina. There is fence in front of us and inside of it are some of the countless remains from the early glorious days of the Roman Empire. Down there are the ruins of different temples and also of the theatre of Pompey. It was in this theatre that Julius Caesar was murdered on 15th of March 44 BC. The temples are really old, the oldest date back to 4th century BC. A cat is strolling around by the fence. I think it is cool to see a cat here in the middle of a huge city.

12.50 The thing about the cat wasn't that strange as it first seemed. The whole area is a sanctuary for cats, Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary.

For us +19˚C is a lovely temperature on New Year´s Eve.

Area Sacra di Largo Argentina

13.17 Christer is feeling tired, my calves hurt and in front of us there is a small girl with a camera. We are of course at Piazza Navona. There are countless of stands, pigeons and walking people here. Up ahead in the distance, I don’t see a shimmering light but I can hear the guitar solo from the song Hotel California. We also took a quick peek at the square Campo dei Fiori with its market.

13.42 We walked around at Piazza Navona and saw the beautiful fountain Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi, the fountain of the four rivers by none other but the master Bernini. Another master is the guitar playing guy here. He keeps playing one rock classic after the other. I so would like to remain here but we’ve other things planned.

Typical street/alley in central Rome.

Piazza Navona

14.00 I just sat down on a bench inside Pantheon. Pantheon means "all gods" in Greek and was a temple for all the Roman gods. It is mighty, devoutly and there is of course plenty of people here. Pantheon was erected by the emperor Hadrian 120 AD and has been a church since the 8th century. It is the burial place of the painter Raphael and the Italian kings Victor Emmanuel II and Umberto I. The ceiling is a dome and the distance from the floor to the round hole in the ceiling is just the same as the diameter of the dome, 43,3 metre. This morning’s breakfast is ancient history. The walking has taken its tribute. I am getting hungry.

14.31 The hunger is ever so presence. Behind of us is the column of Marcus Aurelius and a fountain with two marble fishes and an ever so living seagull. Marcus himself has left the column and his place has been taken by the apostle Paul. The place for these sights is the small square of Piazza Colonna.

Pantheon - the exterior

Pantheon - the interior

15.17 Hungry dogs hunt the best. Hungry men are seated at Burger King on Via del Tritone. We are having a Big King XXL, fries and cola. We sure needed this. This food chain has saved us before and I guess it will do that again. I will go looking for some salt for tonight’s pasta as soon as we are done here.

16.07 There were ever so few packages of salt at Burger King. The fact is that there were none at all. There are several sights in Rome. We and hundreds more are by/on the Spanish steps. They are some stairs in Italy, constructed by Italians and financed with money from France. So the question is, why the name the Spanish steps? Well, it has taken its name from the square below, Piazza di Spagna (Spanish square).

The Spanish steps is yet another spot in Rome attracting loads of people.

View from the Spanish steps.

16.54 There are things in life which are hard to resist. A great example of such a thing is the bench break. It feels strange that there will be a New Year in just seven hours. The reason for this might be the fact that it has been around +18-19˚C warm today.

17.10 Our curiosity has been lowered by the falling darkness. Some things can be seen later. It is time to head home.

17.28 We are back in our room. Here people are sleeping or resting. A guy just sneezed and now he lies there sniffling.

Sunset in Rome.

20.16 We just had our New Year dinner. We had Cordon Bleu with pasta. It wasn't the best frying pan I´ve ever used but it was enough to heat the food. Christer found some salt in a cabinet so that was solved (in water). It took some time but we finally managed to open the screw corks on our wine bottles. It didn’t go that well as I tried to be a gentleman and help a lady to remove the cork from her bottle. Our home is over populated to say the least so it is better to be out and about. Our room has a scent which reminds of an uncleaned locker room in some old sports arena. This often happens as a gang of people from far away open their luggage. There are several people from South America here. They are on their summer vacation.

21.16 We are having a coffee, a regular cup of coffee is called Americano. If you just say coffee as I did yesterday you will get an espresso, tasty, strong coffee served in a thimble. We are at the café Moka in the railway station. We need to kill some time before the clock strikes twelve. It has, I am sad to say, started to rain.

Our room smells bad and it´s not because of us.

22.10 We walked around on the streets as the rain all of a sudden came down heavily. We’re seeking shelter outside a store for clothes which has a big sale. It is closed now. We’re hiding from the rain which falls, pours, comes down. There has been thunder and lightning. All that we can see fromm here are some policemen sitting in their car. We are opposite the home office by Piazza del Viminale. We only brought one umbrella, but no umbrella in the world can stand such a heavy rain.

22.25 Ordinary people are hiding from the rain, ordinary people are staying away. The streets are empty. And so they appear. They just keep coming. The guys selling umbrellas! The whole of Rome seems to have been invaded by these odd guys.

22.48 We have visitors here in our shelter. A man and a woman just arrived. They just said "salve" and went out in the rain again. Is this where we will celebrate the New Year? I hope not!

23.05 We defied the weather and headed out under my umbrella. Christer´s umbrella is left behind warm and dry in the room. We’ve reached the Piazza della Republica (The Republic Square) and are seeking shelter under the ceiling. Guess who is here as well? Oh yeah, the umbrella men. They think we ought to have two umbrellas and that the one we have is way too small.

23.15 We remain at the Republic Square. This isn't the place to celebrate the New Year. We will head on. There has been an ease in the raining.

23.42 The rain falls down, the rockets climbs up. We are once again in the area between Trajan´s Forum and the National Monument of Victor Emmanuel II. Fireworks can be heard, people are throwing firecrackers all over the place. We are about to prepare ourselves for a wet New Year celebration.

Peter is doing what he should, even in the rain.

The end of 2009.