Roma

Well I am having a day of languishing in the van. The skies are decidedly grey and every now and then a big bucketload of rain comes down and soaks everything. Nick is off helping a fellow traveller in his campervan with some DIY, he's been gone for hours and has taken the soldering kit with him so who knows when he'll be back...

Last night there was the most terrific thunderstorm, our power went out and the rain was torrential. You really feel the elements when you're in a campervan, the lightning was so vivid and the thunder was so loud, we were snuggled up all nice and warm and it was really very exciting. Today all our tables and chairs and our awning are soaked through and covered with leaves. The air is still very damp.

We have been here for a few days now, staying at a site called 'Happy Camping', which is apparentely named after a porn film, so I was told yesterday. We are on the north ringroad outside the city, and can get into the centre on a train for one euro which is a bargain. Yesterday we went to the Vatican Museum and got very achy legs - it is massive. We saw the Sistene chapel of course, the second time for me but the first for Nick... and all of the collections from Ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. We both found that stuff a lot more exciting than all of the religious imagery. There is some interesting modern stuff there as well though, Dali and Francis Bacon. We were so tired and hungry when we finished as we hadn't taken a packed lunch that we decided to go for some wine and a pizza. Bit naughty when on a tight budget but there you go.

We came to Rome from Umbria and Lake Trasimeno, which is the most beautiful Lake we have found on our travels. It even beat Garda. Out site was two metres from the waters edge and it was incredibly peaceful. Just below our camper there was a nest of 'Nutria' in the rocks, they are Italian otter type creatures and are very cute, with fat bodies and round heads. We watched them come out every evening and swim off for fishies. We did a lot of cycling and walking around the lake and into the surrounding hills. It was just lovely. We also saw little bats, owls, herons and egrets plus all sorts of gulls, it was a twitchers paradise! We had good weather there, sunbathing weather even which was glorious. We've travelled further south and it's got worse! But apparentely its snowing in the UK so I really can't complain. It's still Tshirt weather, you don't need a jumper until the evening. We also met some great fellow travellers from the UK - John & Rosie from Cornwall who are beef farmers and Sean and Iona who are also longterm travellers like us.

We were thinking of going to Croatia after Italy but after some research we have discovered that there are hardly any campsites open after October, so we will probably head up Italy again and into France. Paris before Christmas would be nice, then back to the UK from Christmas and January.

So its a day off today then we are going into Rome again tomorrow. We still have so much to see in the city: the Colosseum, the Old Jewish Quarter, The Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish steps, Villa Borghese..... I think we will stay in this campsite for about another week.