Rome, Italy
Trip Start
Feb 27, 2008
1
8
31
Trip End
May 28, 2008
Rome,
Italy
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The first hostel was near the train station and we had only booked it for one night. So first thing that day we had to move out and go to our next hostel which was located a block from the Vatican City. We got settled in and then took the subway to the Colosseum. We purchased 3 day Roma Passes so we got free metro travel and entry to certain museums included in the price. The Colosseum was quite amazing to see. It was built in just 8 years and could seat 70,000 people. Allowing the lower classes to attend games was actually a political tactic by the emperor. He figured if the lower classes worked all day and then went directly to stand in line for tickets and then saw the games. They wouldnīt have any time to plan an overthrow of the empire. And he was right, for the most part. After the Christians banned the games in the 6th century, the Colosseum fell into disrepair and all the marble and iron was removed to build other palaces and churches in the area
Arch of Constantine
. When I first found this out I was a bit scandalized that someone would tear down such a beautiful structure. But I guess if it had been decommissioned, at the time, it would have been a lot easier to take marble off the existing building than to quarry new marble. After the Colosseum we walked across the street to the Palatine hill. This was the hill where Romulus and Remus supposedly lived. Historyīs tale of two leaders never ends well and this one is no different. Romulus kills Remus and names Rome after himself. He built his house on top of the hill and from then on, all the Kings and Emperors would place their house, castle, and eventually palace on the same spot. What stands today are the remains of Domitianīs Palace which was very elaborate and covered almost the entire hilltop. It was 7 stories high and terraced along the side of the hill. It looked down onto the Roman Forum and had by far, the best view in the city. They have begun to excavate beneath the palace and have found the remains of the earlier emperors houses that Domitianīs palace was built on top of. The house of the Emperor Augustus was restored and reopened just three days before we arrived so we felt lucky to get to see it. It was rather modest compared to the Palace that would later be built on top of it but I guess if most of the people were living in tiny huts, this 4 bedroom house would have seemed quite elaborate. We walked down the hill into the Roman Forum. This was the "downtown" of ancient Rome. There were shops, baths, banks, lawyers offices, Doctors, the Senate, basically everything that you would find in our modern-day downtown
Colosseum
. The Forum sits about 25 feet below the current city but it hasnīt sunk, the city has risen! Todayīs Rome is literally built on top of the old Rome. Layers and layers of rubble have piled up over the millennia making the new ground level higher. Seeing all this old stuff worked up our appetite, so we went around the corner from our hostel and had an authentic Italian dinner. Karla had Pizza and I had beef. The bottle of wine made it terrific! Wine in Italy is so cheap itīs unbelievable. In some cases itīs cheaper to get a glass of wine than Coke or a beer. At the grocery stores you can even find good wine as cheap as 2-3 euroīs. That night I went out to Camp di Flori and Karla stayed in (the wine made her sleepy). When I got back to the hostel and was taking off my shoes to crawl into bed there was a flash an amazing BANG that shook the whole building. Car alarms were going off all up and down the streets and I thought a bomb had gone off so I rushed to the window. It turned out that it was only a thunderstorm. Now Iīve heard lots of thunder and lightning, and Iīve even stood about 100 meters from a bolt that struck the ground, but I have never heard anything like this. I donīt know if itīs the height of the buildings or the fact that everything is covered with stone, but the thunderclaps just seem to roll on forever. Roman thunderstorms are actually something to be scared of.For day 21 see the Vatican City entry..
Colosseum collage
.Day 22
Because Easter was so busy, we had to change hostels again, so that was our morning activity. This hostel and the previous hostel had "lock out hours" which are times during the day when the hostel is closed for cleaning. I understand this need, but do you really need to be closed for 5 hours a day to clean? The hostel isnīt THAT clean, youīre not fooling anyone. So while we were locked out we visited the Capuchin Friars at the Church of the Immaculate. This is a really creepy tomb with the bones of over 4000 monks arranged and decorated along the walls of these six alcoves. There were still some monks completely together with their robes on and they were decorating the walls and the ceilings. It was super creepy and I didnīt really like it that much, but it was cool to see and now I donīt have to go back. After this we walked down the hill to the Spanish Steps. There were tons of people here just like at the Trevi fountain. And wherever you have tons of people, you have Indian salesmen. These guys are ruthless, selling roses, little bubble guns, buzz-egg magnet things, and all sorts of stupid stuff that annoys me. Their tactics are quite low, if your not paying attention they will hand a girl a flower and then tell the man that he owes five euro or something like that. Itīs bothersome and I think it degrades the monuments
Colosseum collage inside
. When itīs sunny theyīre peddling fake designer sunglasses, as soon as a cloud of rain appears they start selling umbrellas. If you already have an umbrella, theyīll ask if you want to buy a bigger one. I donīt understand why they do it and I donīt understand why EVERY SINGLE one of them is from Indian decent. Is it a racket or something? If I start selling fake designer sunglasses at a discount is someone going to break my knees? At the Spanish steps in one of the only American Express branches in Rome. The day we went there, it happened to be a one-day strike. This is apparently something not uncommon in Rome. If the employees are unhappy, they donīt come to work for one day. And apparently they donīt get fired for this. The branch was open, we walked in, but there was nobody in there except the security guard and on every window was a sign that said they were having a one day strike and would be open tomorrow. So strange....
Dejected by our bad luck, and tired of everything Italian, we went to the Hard Rock Café for dinner. It was really good to finally eat nachos and listen to good old Rock nīRoll. After dinner we gathered up our things and did our Laundry. We had dinner while we waited for our laundry. It started raining on the way home but we held our warm bags of dry cloths tight to us and made it home alright.
Day 23 - Day trip to Pompeii
We took a day trip to Pompeii today
Colosseum from a distance
. The train took about three hours, but we had our books so the time went by really quickly. I didnīt know what to expect when we arrived but I did not expect that there would be a bustling city when I got there. "I thought this place was destroyed?" I said to Karla. The town was large and vibrant with plenty of people and a vibrant town center with clock tower and church and everything. In terrible Italian we asked for information and were directed out of town on the main road. About a half-mile from the train station we reached the entrance to the ruins of Pompeii. Hereīs where my second misconception was corrected. I imagined the lost city of Pompeii to be a small collection of buildings clumped together with ash on the floor. Maybe they would even be incased inside a newer, modern building. But I was grossly underestimating the size. IT"S A CITY! Itīs a big sprawling city with wide streets, a theatre, a stadium, a church, graveyards, and even a downtown area that looked like a mini version of the Roman Forum. There were houses that were still completely intact, only missing their roofs. Some houses had enough roof structure so that they could be restored accurately. The walls still have plaster on them and the paintings are still visible. Some buildings in the shopping districts have advertisements on them. In the tour guide it even said that they had found first century graffiti scratched on some of the walls. I was absolutely floored at the size of the city and the quality of which it was still preserved
Colosseum inside
. It really makes Ancient Rome look like a pile of rocks compared to the whole streets and homes that are still standing, just as they were in the first century. We spent over four hours walking the streets and seeing the houses. We saw most of the town but to see every last house and building would take literally weeks to complete. It was certainly a strange feeling to walk the cobblestone roads, still with ruts where the carts wheels had eroded the stone, and think about how many Ancient Romans walked these same streets. I expected to see bodies lying in the houses but since people were allowed in the houses, the bodies were covered in plaster and moved to a separate enclosed area of the city where they were placed in glass cases. Standing in the Theatre I wondered what entertainment was in style when the town met its tragic end. As I entered the stadium I wondered how many gladiators of Ancient Pompeii did the same. I highly suggest this to anyone who travels through Italy. Make it a point to see this city. It is worth whatever length of time you spend on the train. I would really have kicked myself if I had come all this way and missed such a cool experience. Between the return train trip and the four hours in the city, that ate up almost our entire day. When we arrived back at the hostel we had dinner and then found an inexpensive bottle of wine at the local market and found the bottom of it very quickly. Sleep was easy that night. Day 24 - Easter at the Vatican
We woke up early to the sound of pouring rain
Colosseum inside2
. God hates me!!!! After breakfast we trudged through the puddles to the subway station and rode toward the St. Peters stop. I thought that because it was raining, maybe there wouldnīt be quite as many people there. WRONG! Heavy rain doesnīt mean less people, it just means more umbrellas. The rain must have had everybody in a bad mood because everyone was pushing and shoving to get ahead in the crowd. Meanwhile, their umbrellas were simultaneously blocking my view and dumping water on my shoes. I felt like screaming at the top of my lungs "GOD IS WATCHING YOU! STOP CUTTING IN LINE!" But they probably didnīt speak English anyway. The pope came out and did his blessing on the crowd, then the choir sung the introduction. After the first half hour or so, when the Pope turned over the podium to one of the other clergy who would be announcing all the new sins for this year, we decided to take off. My shoes were soaking and I didnīt understand a word of Italian OR Latin. It was one thing when it was the Pope saying it, but if it was just some guy in a black suit,.....sorry, time to go. On the way back to the Subway stop we were hassled 1.29 million times to buy an umbrella. Every last one of the umbrella salesmen were of Indian decent.....It really puzzles me how the Indians have the umbrella market cornered.
While shoving to get into the subway entrance a guy pushed past and cut directly in front of me to go down the stairs. "Screw this guy" I said to myself and I closed my umbrella directly above his head, sending a plethora of water down his neck. He instantly turned around and started to shout something in Italian. I saw beneath his jacket that he was a subway booth attendant. Shit, this was not the guy to be pissing off at the moment. However I am not to be outdone when pissed off. I started shouting louder than him in English. " GO MAN, YOU WANT TO CUT SO BAD YOU MUST BE IN A HURRY, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!" as his volume increased, so did mine
Forum Building
. He waved his hands, so I waved mine more flippantly. All bets were off at this point. Spit, hands, and umbrella drippings were flying everywhere and after about 15 seconds the guy realized that I couldnīt understand what he was saying and I wasnīt going to stop yelling in English, so he took off. But he only went to the other side of the subway turnstiles and started talking to his other subway security friends and pointing at me angrily while I bought my ticket. I thought I was going to be sent to Italian jail on Easter for assaulting a subway staff or something like that. But, just at the right moment, a group of Indian umbrella salesmen came racing by, being chased on foot by a police officer. This distracted the Subway employees long enough for me to take off my hat, slip through the turnstiles on the opposite side, and disappear into the crowd. Phew, maybe god doesnīt hate me..... I was wet, tired and dejected by the low quality of character of the Roman people. I wanted to go back to the hostel, dry my shoes and take a nap. But, remember, there is a lock out until 4pm. This was beginning to be a real pain. Karla and I had lunch at the Hard Rock again and then did some souvenir shopping by the Trevi fountain. I figured that we had had enough excitement for the morning and retired to our Hostel for the remainder of the evening. We had Pizza and another bottle of cheap wine for dinner. This $2 bottle of wine thing is great! Itīs not even crappy give-you-a-headache-in-the-morning wine either. In America when we say "cheap wine" we think "crappy wine" but this is truly fine quality, inexpensive wine.
Day 25
I had about all I could handle of Rome by this point so I agreed to stay in town and work on my travel blog while Karla went to Appia Antica
Forum Senate building
. It took her about an hour to get there and an hour to get back. She said it was pretty cool to see, but way too large to try and walk. It started to rain about 3 pm so she called it quits and came back to Rome. That evening we went to Campo di Flouri, a local flower market by day and bar hot spot by night. I toasted to Rome and was slightly glad to be leaving the following morning. OK some ground rules before reading this next part. Iīve held back all my grievances for the last 6 days until now so I can get them all out at once. When I say Italians, I really am speaking about the Italians in Rome. It does not apply to all Italians. This does not apply to Italian-Americans or people who are descended from Italians but arenīt living in Rome. And I guess this also wouldnīt apply to people from elsewhere who are in Rome studying or working temporarily. OK here we go:
A letter to the people of Rome:
Screw you! Just who do you think you are? Iīve been around the block and Iīve seen my fair share of assholes but you guys take the cake. What is wrong with you, honestly?
First off, You donīt have to constantly look like youīre way too important to be doing whatever it is your currently doing. Try smiling sometime, it might make you feel better.
America might have a bad world image for invading Iraq, but I think you have spoiled the world with Gucci, D&G, Pucci, Prada, Versachi, and all that other bullshit that you call fashion. WHY do your babies sunglasses have to be made by DG? I bought mine for $5 and they work just as good as yours
Forum Together
. Wearing high fashion does not entitle you to cut in line or be inhumane to other people. Maybe if Gucci made special sunglass-goggles for the shower you would be more inclined to take one. YOU STINK! Thatīs not an insult, itīs a fact! If you take a shower and use soap, it takes that smell away. Iīm not sure why you havenīt figured that out yet. (that's just directed at the men, the women smell like expensive designer fragrances)What is your problem with forming a fucking line? Everyone else can seem to do it, but you canīt. If Iīm standing behind a person going through a turnstyle, guess what? I WANT TO GO THROUGH THE TURNSYLE TOO...... NEXT! Youīre constantly walking straight up in the front of the line with a look on your face like "uh, Iīm way too important to be standing in this line." I finally caught onto your game and started following you up to the front of whatever line you were cutting and cut with you. That doesnīt make it right, itīs the only way to get anything done with you heathens.
Youīre .....no Iīm not going to say it......
The children are so disrespectful, and I risk sounding like an old man saying that "kidīs these days donīt have any respect." But they make valley girls from California look like scholars and thugs from New York look like customer service reps. I canīt believe you would Graffiti a historic landmark or leave the water running in a public bathroom and just walk out
Hard Rock
. Basically anything that would make a person say "who in the world would do such a thing?" The answer; Italian Highschoolers. If you were like that when you were a kid, then I understand how you got to be how you are now. If you werenīt like that when you were a kid, then youīre country might as well shove off because the whole lot of you wonīt know how to function in the worlds society when your children grow up. Iīm going to say it......!!! No Iīll hold back....Every time I think about how the United States is screwed up and ruining the world, Iīll think about you and you will make me feel better. Iīm glad I have come to meet you because you have made me love my own country and culture more. I love your city, but I hate you. Go take a shower and learn some manners, find out how to form a line and get back to me. Iīm going to say it, I canīt hold it in anymore: YOUīRE WORSE THAN THE FRENCH!!! There, thatīs how I really feel... take that!
Comments
Fun Photos
I like ysome of your photos a lot. I am a lover of Italy. I spent 5 months there photographing everyday for a book whic won an international jprize. Please go to my web sites and look at my images. Grazie. www.piazzabook.com
Ciao,
MB Flower