The things I do to see the sunrise at Gianicolo.

Last Saturday, I woke up at 4am. I keep waking up at 4am lately. Probably my internal clock is still a little bonkers. It didn’t help that I always felt tired by 8pm and faint on the bed.

Anyway! Cart was still fast asleep and suddenly I was feeling spontaneous. I had a scooter and am now armed with GPS with my new phone. I thought to myself, “Why not go to Gianicolo to see the sunrise?”

Cart and I fighting to be mayors in foursquare with our new phones

Gianicolo is a hill in Rome where you could see plentiful of monuments and sceneries in front of you. Cart was always telling me of how beautiful it would be. Its winter here in Italy at the moment and days were shorter. Sunrise was at about 7.30am. I could just step out of the house and be back in time just as Cartcart wakes up to have breakfast with him.

And so I left the house uncombed and un-mekap-ed, since there will be no one around to impress because, as you know, Italians never function before 9am. I started up Sam Kymco, my scoooter, and off we headed to Gianicolo.

Still not glamorous, but Sam looks a lot better now that he’s fixed up

It was so tranquil and quiet riding through the roads at 7am. A stark contrast to what I normally see during the afternoon. It was so still that I could practically lie down on the road. Definitely a relaxing ride.

It was only when I approached Trastevere when Sam Kymco suddenly choked, stuttered and just died! WTF! My heart just stopped. I tried to restart it. Wrrr! Brrr! Nothing. Restart again. Wrrr! Brrr! Nothing. Of course I had a mini panic attack! And the only thing I could think of was to call Cart.

Cart : Zzzz …. Pronto?

Me : I AM SO SORRY! SAM JUST DIED AND I AM STUCK HERE IN TRASTEVERE!

Cart : (silence)

Me : Hello?

Cart : Zzz …. You know this is Murphy’s law at work right? Nevermind, stay where you are and I’ll be right there as soon as I can.

And there I was, waiting around Trastevere, watching life slowly starting as the dawn turned into morning and got brighter. More people walked past. 30 minutes passed by. I was sorely tempted to squat down, Ah Beng style. After all, uncombed, un-mekap-ed, I dont really have anything to lose

This is an example of an Ah Beng

Nevertheless, Cart arrived soon-after and tried to diagnose the problem. He tried to start the engine. Nothing. And we decided to push the scooter all the way to the mechanic. But despite how small Sam Kymco looked like, he was heavy! And after a while we stopped and decided to take a break.

With a breakfast of champions with cappuccino and apple tart

By this time, life was already starting to bustle. There were people up and walking about and the streets were starting to get busy with traffic. We returned to the scooter. It was about 9am, but it was still to early for the mechanic to be open.

And that was when I had the idea to put in some petrol. I could still see some petrol at the bottom of the tank, thus I wasn’t sure if it will work but we could just try. So we walked to the nearest petrol station, bought a bottle of benzina and filled up Sam Kymco, the prodigal son.

And I started the engine. Wrrr! Brrrr! Wrrr! Brrrr! I wasn’t feeling very hopeful … And then …Vrrooom! Sam started to bite! He stopped working because he was thirsty! Doh! I left him too dry

Cart was bemused and asked if we should head to Gianicolo. It was already several hours after sunrise, but we went ahead there anyway since I’ve never seen the place in the morning. And one of the first things I noticed was this :

Garibaldi must be feeling shy lately because he and his horse are all covered up. Cart tells me that monuments are being restored in lieu of the 150 years of unity in Italy festival which is coming soon.

And then I saw this pretty scene :

I was fascinated by the lighting and love how the rays just burst through the clouds like that. I was completely enthralled and felt so blessed to be able to see and share it with Cart cart. Belissimo! Sungguh cantik!

Nevertheless, it wasn’t what I wanted to see though and so, the next day, being awake at 4am yet again, I got ready to go out, kissed the sleeping Cartcart and started Sam Kymco to go to Gianicolo by myself. It was such a cold cold cold morning! Sam had a lot of condensation going on and my hands felt as if they were soaking in ice water during my entire journey despite wearing gloves. I need better gloves!

But I feel it was worth it. Because this time, I managed to see the sunrise. It was so beautiful.

Seeing this, makes me feel so blessed to be alive. And I stayed to see the sky turn from purple to salmon pink to gold before starting to head back home.

Unfortunately the day was extremely cold and by the time I reached home, I was starting to get the sniffles and my fingers were alarmingly numb and I knew that I was dangerously close to getting a frostbite.

And at this point of time of writing, I feel sick. I think I could have penyunomonia

Arrghh!!!