60th International Youth Rally.
Rome 2010.
We landed at Ciampino airport in Rome to beautiful blue skies and warmth… sorry to make you all jealous but the weather was mostly fantastic.
We had bumped into 4 participants from Cambian and Wyvern Region at Bristol Airport. They had details of the shuttlebus/Metro/bus to the site which would be much cheaper than taxis. It was working well until we found ourselves in the middle of Rome at rush hour and the Metro not working!!! With all our luggage in tow the bus was impossible… the Romans do not care about the maximum number of people on buses, personal space or health and safety!! We eventually piled into 3 taxis and we had ourselves a Convoy GB. We thought it was just our elderly driver who was mental but when we arrived, everyone was shaking!
An FICC would not be fun unless there was a problem! The FICC organisers had not booked enough tents for us all and the site was overbooked. They were happy for us to stay that night but then they expected us to move to another site 1.5km away and be transported at night and in the morning. After MUCH negotiating that evening we got beds, however, the next day we ended up shifting quite a few tents so that we could stay on site.
The disco in the bar kept the youth entertained until 2am each night and created a great atmosphere. As per normal, the youth never want to stop at that point.
The weather was fantastic allowing everyone to venture into Rome (about 5 miles away). It is as fantastic city and we all had chance to experience a bit of culture in the Vatican Museums, the Coliseum, have a guided tour or do the bus tour.
On Friday in the Sports, Great Britain won 3 medals -
Gold and Bronze in Football
Silver in Volleyball losing to Slovakia by 3 points with Marianne representing the Region in the VolleyballOn Sunday morning quite a few were looking forward to joining the Pope in St Peters Square, a must when in Rome on Easter Sunday, but unfortunately the heavy rain on the tent encouraged most to remain in bed.
Returning to the airport worked out really cheap, unable to get tickets we hopped on the bus without paying (when in Rome), 1 Euro for the Metro and then used our return ticket for the shuttlebus.
Our Youth really joined in with the other Regions and nationalities and made the most of their experience in Rome.
Nikki
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