Rome

I didn't really know what to expect from Rome when I visited a few days ago. This stemmed partly from the fact that I had only glossed over the guidebook entry but mostly from the fact that my original plan failed miserably.

I left Colleen and Josh's early in the morning on Tuesday and started off right by missing the train that I wanted to catch by 30 seconds. Josh, Colleen and I were were almost stuck in Venice the night before (very beautiful at night!) and luckily caught the last train around at midnight. Needless to say, getting up and out of the door before 6 am was a struggle.

I had a quick Italian breakfast (cappuccino + bun) and took the next available train to Venice where I transferred to another eastbound train for Bologna. I had plans to stay at a Hostel in Ferrara, outside of Bologna.

Things really fell apart when I arrived Ferrara, and walked a kilometre to the hostel. It was closed, and showed no signs of reopening. Suddenly, I understood why I couldn't reach them by phone the night before.

My plans for the day were quickly deteriorating. Because I missed the first train, there were no onward trains to my next destination, Ravenna. This messed things up for taking a bus to the Republic or San Mario, a very tiny country nestled in the mountains of central Italy. I decided to cut my losses and headed to Rome.

With plan B in effect, catching a train to Bologna was no problem. Strangely all the onward fast trains to Rome were fully booked. I didn't realize that Monday was a holiday and that everyone was heading home on a Tuesday after visiting family. I had to wait around for an intercity train that made nearly every stop from there to Rome. It was the most painful train journey I've taken in Europe so far.

12 hours after leaving Pordonone, I was finally in Rome. I conjured up enough energy to drag myself to two hostels near the station that were both fully booked. I could my eyes watering from the empty feeling this left me. No tears though. All that kept running through my head was "you've gotta be kidding me", although I wasn't quite sure who my internal dialogue was speaking to exactly. Scanning my guidebook, I found a third hostel near the station that had a bed. It was basic and not really cheap but it would do.

The next morning I woke up and had a hot shower. I enjoyed it a lot and wouldn't realise until later how lucky I was to get it. Just an hour after I left the boiler broke (in addition to the broken microwave and stove without gas in the kitchen). I was staying in a ghetto hostel, but it didn't matter. I was in Rome!

I started day one at the Vatican Museum. I was there at 9 am and the line was HUGE. It stretched at least half a kilometre around the steep Vatican walls. I decided to postpone my visit and come back tomorrow. The next stop was the St. Peters basilica. I had to go through security to get into the main square and discovered school groups and other Catholic pilgrims gathering for a mid morning mass. I though about waiting around to see if the Pope would show up (there was a pavilion at the front that looked Pope-worthy), but instead decided to see the Basilica the next day after the museum.



I sent my first morning wandering around the old Renaissance part of the city. There were a lot of baroque buildings that reminded me of those I was in Salzburg. In the center of all this were a few squares with elaborate fountains and the best preserved ancient roman building in the city. The Pantheon, once a pagan sanctuary, is now a Christan church. It was that famous concrete dome that you always see pictures of. The hole in the centre is nine metres across!




After I felt like I had done the old city justice, I went to the older part. Mostly in ruins, the Forum was the social and political venture of ancient Rome. You could see the old senate buildings and a hill that used to be where all the palaces were. I laughed to myself about all the tourists spending 11 euro to go inside. Figuring I've seen enough pictures of the inside and outside of the place before, I decided seeing the south side for free was enough. If I had a travel buddy at the time, I would be eating my words an hour later.

A cafe up the hill from the Coliseum offered reasonably priced sandwiches. I had a lemonade, espresso and ample sandwich for 5.50 Euros. That's how much I ended up paying, but the cashier had trouble telling how much it would cost because I didn't know whether I wanted to sit down or not. Eating the same thing at a table would cost 9.50, I later found out. I ate my sandwich standing at the bar and then had a sit down under a shady tree in the grass of a nearby park.

As I said, I didn't feel the need to go inside the Colosseum but wanted to explore the ruins of the palaces on a nearby hill. I got there and found out that I had to buy a combination ticket with the coliseum. grudgingly I bought it, and headed up into the landscaped ruins of the Palinate hill. After relaxing a strolling fro about an hour, I descended the hill and headed to the coliseum. There was a high line for tickets, which I walked right past because I bought my ticket at the other site (A tip for anyone who goes to Rome).

I was surprised by how much fun I had once inside. It was really interesting to see how the stairs and tiers of seats would have been arranged. It is exactly how a modern stadium would be designed. I ran around the place like a kid snapping pictures and looking at everything.







On my second day in Rome, I teamed up with an Argentinian traveller named Mattias. We got to the Vatican museum early and wen throughout the long line in about an hour. Time flew and the line moved fast. Once inside, we browsed through the Egyptian section. There were quite a few statues of the gods with animal heads. I was struck by an ancient script (Assyrian, maybe?) on a stone tablet in the next room.




We saw a lot of sculpture along the way, walked down a long room covered in maps and found our way to Renaissance papal apartments covered in frescoes painted by Raphael and his followers. I really liked a huge mural depicting the fall of paganism in Rome. Emperor Constantine is on a bog white horse with a lot of gold, where the pagan kind is looking pretty dirty and defeated.







There was little nudity in these rooms, but I noticed the painters had a little bit of a sense of humour. Is that a goose between that guys legs.



We eventually made it to the Sistine chapel. It was nice, but didn't move me anymore that the papal apartments. My neck got a little sore looking up. I wondered if Michelangelo had a lot of neck an back pain from painting for so many years. Mattias and I were going to go into St Peters Basilica, but the line was long and slow moving and the sun was hot. We sat in the shade for a while and chatted. I took it that he was more of a party traveller and Rome was leaving a dull impression. He just wanted to go back to Argentina from where he has been absent for 6 months, working at a tapas bar in Ireland. He has a girlfriend and a one year old son waiting for him when he gets back, so I don't blame him for wanting to be there.




Back at the hostel, Mattias went off for his siesta and I headed to the station to catch a train to Naples.