Destination VI: Rome, Italy

Kenny, his roommate, and I during the pub crawl...

Red wine, Schweppes, Italian cheese, crackers... And the Spanish Steps ♥

The famous oculus in the Pantheon... the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome!

The Pantheon (under construction... how typical!)

The Roman Forum

Temple of Romulas in the Roman Forum... these are the second oldest working doors in Rome! (The first are at the Pantheon...) The purple stone making the columns to the sides of the doors was exhausted by the Romans because they liked it so much. Its also the same type of stone that was used to make Nero's bath.

Just hanging out at Palatine Hill!

Colosseum!!!

Colosseum!!!

The view from the top of the Spanish Steps...

The Trevi Fountain at dusk...

Kenny and I at Trevi Fountain...

Making my wish at the Trevi Fountain!

We arrived at the Rome train station sometime around 23:00 and just barely missed the last train heading in the direction of our hostel. This meant we had to follow the night directions. That meant riding a bus. After missing it the first time around, we climbed inside and settled in for a nice long ride to a parking lot filled with more buses, and then we climbed inside another one. When we finally reached our bus stop it felt like we were literally in the middle of no where. The hostel shuttle service wasn't running anymore, so that meant we had a one kilometer walk ahead of us. Fun. We started walking and Kenny filled me in on how the new Yamaha and Honda dirt bikes have changed and why they are so much better now. By the time he was finished we were at the hostel. I was pretty happy he was able to distract me for the entire kilometer. Our hostel was called Camp Tiber, and our room was half of a small mobile home thing. It had the squishiest beds I have ever slept on... Not the best for a good night's sleep. We could hear our neighbor snoring all through the night, and around 3:00 the power went out, so it was freezing. I know, it probably sounds awful, but it wasn't half bad. There was a mini-mart, a restaurant, a bar, and as long as you made the shuttle/train not too far of a trek into the city. Plus it was cheap... That's always the best part being a poor student traveler.

The next morning we woke up and headed to Vatican City (check the previous post.) After spending the entire day at Vatican City we decided to try and squeeze in a few more sights. So, we headed in the direction of the metro. Problem. It was closed and we were directed to take a bus instead. We found the bus we needed to get to Trevi Fountain. The ride was not what I would call pleasant. It seemed to take forever, and the bus was way past capacity. We were crammed so tightly it was impossible to move one muscle. About half way through the bus ride a handicapped man insisted that the bus driver let him on the bus because he was handicap even though he could clearly tell there was no room. Have you ever seen a bus full of Italian's become furious... I have! And let me just say, all the stereotypes are true, hand gestures included. I know, I get it, he was handicap, but in order for him to get on the bus 10 other people had to get off. I just didn't think it was fair. But, what can you do? Finally we made it to the Trevi Fountain. After being bombarded by men trying to take our pictures, we made our wishes! And for good measure made an extra one to ensure a return visit to Rome! So touristy, I know. From there we headed to the Spanish Steps. At the Spanish Steps you have to watch out for the rose pushers. Those men are relentless. After insisting their roses were gifts and that they were free they would ask Kenny for money. They would walk up to me and set the roses on my purse. They don't take no for an answer! I managed to not end up with any roses though. If they set them on my purse I would take them and set them on the guy's arm. I figured their system out. After spending all day and part of the evening out exploring we made our way back to our side of town, and enjoyed dinner at a small restaurant right next to the hostel. That night we crashed.

The next morning as we were waiting for the shuttle to pull up someone shouted Kenny's name. Coincidentally, Kenny's roommate, Taylor, and his girlfriend, Marisa, were staying at the same place... Weird. So we got on the shuttle and headed to the city. Our first stop was the Colosseum. We decided to get a tour. Probably not the best idea for the Colosseum because our guide was a moron! He kept referencing the movie Gladiator and filling our heads with useless information. Luckily the tour also included Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum, and that tour had a different guide... With a brain. Anyway, the Colosseum was incredible. It was so huge! As I have said before I really enjoy ruins, so this entire day was right up my alley. After we left the Colosseum we headed to Palatine Hill. Rome's origins are on Palatine Hill and the ruins there are incredible. The tour guide had lots of fun stories; I felt like I learned a lot. After Palatine Hill we headed down to the Roman Forum. In the Roman Forum, we saw all sorts of things including Caesar's grave and the Roman Senate house. From there we headed to the Pantheon. It is the most well persevered building from Ancient Rome, unfortunately for us it was under construction, so we didn't get the full effect of the exterior. Inside we got to see the oculus, which is the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome. It is incredible to think about the technology and intelligence the Romans had nearly 2,000 years ago. Some royalty is buried inside the Pantheon, but the tomb I was most intrigued by was Raphael's. After leaving the Pantheon we enjoyed some more gelato... I chose something that tasted like eggnog and it was really good! After checking out the Pantheon we picked up some wine, Schweppes, cheese, and crackers and enjoyed them on the Spanish Steps (this is probably one of my favorite memories.) We tried to get a hold of Kenny's roommate to see if he and his girlfriend wanted to get dinner, and that's when they told us about the pub crawl. Basically, we went, we crawled, we conquered (or at least that's what our free t-shirts say.)

The next morning we slept in a little later than normal and decided to take the day nice and easy. We ended up in a park somewhere a little out of town near the catacombs. We had a guided tour through the catacombs, and it was really interesting. It was the first ever Christian burial site, and several popes had been buried there. Over the years the catacombs were pillaged and the tombs were opened, so no remains were actually in the catacombs. Whatever was left of the bodies is now deep under the catacombs (which are already 30 meters below ground.) So, it was nothing like what we saw in Paris, but very interesting nonetheless. that night we enjoyed a delicious dinner, and I had lasagna again. The next morning we woke up and said farewell to Camp Tiber... we were off to Naples!