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My name is Andrew and Im a climboholic 9-Nov-2006 At 8:35:39 AM ClimbTheWorld

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I just remembered a story that is relevant to this thread and thought you all might like to hear it. It's long but it's worth it.

I was travelling around Western Europe alone, on a limited budget, in the middle of winter and with limited time. As I'm sure many travellers can attest this combination got me somewhat down. I was sick of rushing from place to place trying to take in landmarks that look the same in real life as they do on a postcard.

I longed to be home in Oz playing backyard cricket with my mates, or back in the Californian summer exploring the Sierra Nevada Mts. It got to the point that when I saw a new landmark I didn't think of its historical significance, instead I began to analyse how to climb it! Stonehenge was boulderer's paradise, the sandstone carvings of Notre Dame looked like they would be perfect pinch grips, the Acropolis offered new route possibilities and the monasteries of Metora offered unlimited cragging.

On one occasion I was staying with an American exchange student on Rome. She had just finished her exams so we went to a party. After the party we couldn't get a taxi so we decided to stagger a short distance down the road to the Colosseum because there were always taxis there... In our drunken logic we didn’t realise this may not be the case in the middle of the night. I had visited the Colosseum that day and analysed how to climb it. So when one of the girls we were with suggested that we climb in to the Colosseum I didn’t need any further encouragement. I was up and over in a flash but this girl got stuck on top, like getting stuck on the top of a fence.

What we didn’t realise is that the Italian police do patrols around the Colosseum from time to time. They drove around the corner and saw her perched on top. This was enough to make her get herself together and get down the other side. But now we were stuck inside the Colosseum with the Italian police circling around the outside. Initially I didn’t stress out too much in my drunken state. We explored a bit then we realised that we could now see two sets of lights flashing through the arches. Then another appeared making it three cars circling us.

We could only see all three at once if we stood in the middle of the Colosseum, which posed a problem for timing our escape. I managed to yell to her at the side when there was a gap in the cars so she could climb over. To get myself out I had to judge where the cars would be in the time it took me to run to the edge and climb over. I sprinted, climbed and somehow managed to come out exactly where my friends were looking for me. I took about three steps when the Police car flew around the corner.

After some questioning with arduous interpretation they were forced to let us go because they had no proof that it was us in the Colosseum. I woke up the next morning with a hangover and after a few moments I suddenly realised how close I came to waking up in an Italian Jail!