Rome

I’m glad to say that when we drove to Rome, it was mainly on the outskirts and the traffic was only slightly nerve racking (I was impressed and appalled the way a young lady drove a smart car through traffic like it was nothing more than a Vespa Scooter). The Sosta where we decided to stay was one recommended by John and Linda, it also was the cheapest of the 3 we knew of. It was completely fenced in and had 24 hour security watch. This meant we could come and go as we pleased which was great news. If you can believe it, the manager’s name was Luigi and his behavior was odd, but extremely fun and friendly. The check in took about 20 minutes, but was well worth it. He explained three ways of getting into town, showed us on a map where all the main sites are and provided us with detailed directions on how to get to each site using the public transit. He also had a print out of how to drive to our parking spot which was just neat. We left feeling very informed and happy. Since it was still rather early we set up camp, had a bite to eat and purchased the transit tickets from Luigi. We had 45 minutes of travel on any form of public transit for 1 euro. Not bad considering this is Rome. The tram and the bus stopped right outside the gates, but since the bus came by every 10 minutes we took the bus to the main station, from there we took the tram to the Coliseum. Julie and I could not imagine visiting this city in the summer because it was already filled to the brim with tourists (Julie and I stopped considering ourselves tourists long ago, we’re travelers). Everyone thinks that southern Italy is warm, but as you can see by our pictures people are actually wearing toques (it was still nice though, around 8˚C and sunny). To our dismay the Coliseum closes at 3pm and it was 3:15pm when we stepped off the subway. We did take many pictures though and had to say “No gratzie” to the many peddlers surrounding the coliseum. We then decided to visit Palatino Hill but learned that it too closes at 3pm. Damn! So we headed towards the Trevi Fountain knowing that it would not be closed. Trevi fountain is located in an extremely small square which made it hard to navigate through the throngs of tourists to get a good vantage point for a photo. We concluded our day after visiting the Trevi fountain (it was a spectacular fountain), but being as cheap and broke as we are we didn’t follow the superstition of throwing two coins over your shoulder into the fountain (first coin is to ensure a trip back to Rome, the second is for a wish). So we decided to walk back to the main train station so we could see more of the city and along the way we passed by many other spectacular unnamed sights. It was very awesome walking around Rome, exploring. With Rome being the largest city in Italy, you don’t feel it in the old centre with many pedestrian roads and everything being located within walking distance.

The next morning greeted us with a dazzling bright sun and cold crisp air. It was around 9am when we made our way towards the Vatican City. We ventured into St Peters square and witnessed the insanely long line entering St Peters basilica. It took Julie and I a few moments to locate the entrance to the Vatican museum (they had two signs pointing in opposite directions?). Although this line up was long, it proved to move swiftly. The main reason we went to the Vatican museum was to see the “Great Creation” painting on the ceiling in the Sistine Chapel. However, this was not all that we saw. We spent a few hours visiting the many exhibits; there was a large concentration of the Roman period and a fair section from Egypt. Many of the hallways had very elaborate paintings on the walls and the ceiling, everything extremely detailed and “rich”. Once we saw everything there was to see we made our way to the Sistine Chapel. This small room was rammed with people all looking up at the many paintings. Julie and I expected something different, so that means we were partially disappointed. This was also the only place in the museum that you couldn’t take a picture. After spending 24 euros to get in, Julie was in no way leaving without a snapshot of the famous painting. Now, I forgot to mention that I dropped our make shift button for the camera in one of the rooms. The room was full of traffic and the floor was finished in impossibly small tiles. So needless to say, I lost our small pin, thus ending any chance for us to take pictures. This caused a nasty argument, but wasn’t without purpose, Julie managed to come up with an idea to take pictures but she still remained upset, but managed to stop glaring at me. We took her ring on the keychain and bent it to form a straight point, so we could then press the hidden contact inside the camera, thus making it possible to take pictures. However, this blunder actually made it easier for Julie to take that secret picture in the Sistine Chapel. So Julie was armed with the camera pointing at the ceiling, hoping to capture that tiny painting, she said “I think I got it” and not a moment later a security guard walked up to her and asked her not to take any pictures and to cover the camera lens and turn it off. We complied but we don’t think he knew we had already snapped a shot. We left shortly after as the room was cramped and smelled of ass. Julie feeling vindicated.

After we left the Vatican, we made our way to the Coliseum for another chance. This time we made it in. One thing is for certain in Rome, expect to cue. Once inside we made our way to the highest area to have a view of the centre ring. Julie and I were surprised to see all of the secret passageways that would have been under the arena floor. There was only a small section of the floor replaced. This, we suppose is to better educate how the Coliseum worked. We both feel it would have been better to see a completed floor, especially if you could walk out onto it. After that we went to tour the Royal Forum and Palatino Hill. The description in the Shoe Strings guide is much better than actually seeing it in person. We did enjoy the walk, but our feet started to get sore (we completed over 40,000 steps today, on average we do about 10,000). I tried to convince Julie to go to the Trinity College pub, but she said the more money we save now, the more I can spend in Milan (when we meet up with Phil) and when we head over to England. Discussion over, we went to Mc Donald’s (sorry Dad, I know you hate hearing how often we visit Mc D’s but it’s convenient, fast and cheap). The main reason we went to McDonald’s though, was for a bathroom. We have learnt that almost all restaurants, pubs etc in Italy don’t necessarily provide you with a toilet. And to our dismay, McDonald’s bathroom was closed. It was however, right across from the Pantheon (which did appall us, we would have preferred seeing a café or something). Despite us being so close to the Pantheon, we didn’t venture in, because that was on the list for the following day.

We awoke early once again the next day, and once again it was a gorgeous day. The only site open on Sundays in Rome happens to be the Pantheon, St Peters basilica and the Spanish steps. Today we started off near the Spanish steps and made our way to the Pantheon, our intention was also to visit St Peters basilica, but Julie was tired from the previous two days and we had already seen the square and the church from the outside. So after an extremely pleasant walk around a few new streets (we spent about 5 hours in town) and a quick call to our parents we made our way back to our van for a much needed rest. The bus was extremely full on our way into town so we couldn’t (or didn’t try) to get our tickets validated in the machine. This meant that when we arrived at the main station, we could take our time. We used our time wisely. We went to a book store and purchased some books. I picked up a book that contained 3 novels, Terry Brooks’ The Sword of Shannara Trilogy and Julie picked up Michael Crichton’s Next, a Sudoku book and an expand your brain book (basically it has many different questions like math, memory, and word problems geared to “strengthen” your brain). I learned later from my dad that the trilogy I purchased is now more than seven books. We also managed to visit an internet café and learn more details from Phil regarding Milan.