When in Rome…

The train ride from Pisa to Rome on Wednesday went smoothly and we were happy that our hostel was located only a few minutes from the train station, but of course it took us nearly an hour to find it. We stayed at Hostel Beautiful, which is nice, but not definitely not ‘beautiful.’ Tired from traveling, we made a quick dinner, met and talked with our hostel mates- Sebastian from Argentina, Karl from Africa/Canada, and our roommate Faraz from Pakistan. We went to bed early knowing we had a long day of sightseeing ahead of us.

 Some people spend days touring the city, but with the help of Faraz, the three of us managed to see all the major sites in one day. We walked a few short blocks to the Colloseum, which lucky for us wasn’t very crowded on a Thursday morning. The Colloseum is amazing! We walked around the upstairs, which gave us a view of the underground tunnels, the lower level, and every angle of the interior. The upper level held a small museum with artifacts, detailed columns, and information boards. As we were walking along, Jayme spotted Chris and Genie, who we met on the beach in Barcelona, Spain. When you see thousands upon thousands of strangers each day, it is easy to spot a familiar face. We stopped and chatted with them for a few minutes and made plans to meet up for dinner later that night. We toured the lower level of the Colosseum before moving on to the Forum and the Palantine. Exhausted from the heat, we slowly wandered around the Forum, but were amazed by all the ruins. The views of the Forum from the hill were unbelievable and as we were standing there, looking over the remains of a city from thousands of years ago, we were quickly jolted back to present day as a helicopter flew overhead. It was neat to be standing in the middle of history as a huge piece of machinery passed right over us… what would the ancient Romans have thought seeing a helicopter flying over their city?

We continued on, touring what is left of the Circus Maximus (which is not a lot!), the Monument of Vittorio Emanuel II, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, the Spanish Steps, as well as the many other ruins, plazas, statues, and churches along the way. We enjoyed the most amazing gelato near the Trevi Fountain and headed back to our hostel for a much needed siesta. The three of us slept for nearly two straight hours.

We were planning on meeting Chris and Genie at the Ponto Sisto (one of many bridges along the Tevere River) at 9:30 pm. We gave ourselves thirty minutes to walk there, but after speed walking for an hour, we arrived thirty minutes late, to find that they too had just arrived. It is so hard to gage travel time in an unknown city, especially at night when it is difficult to read the street signs. The four of us apologized for being late, realized we were glad it all worked out, and set out in search of food. We found a crowded bar that offered a free buffet dinner with the purchase of a drink and decided to give it a try. We each bought a drink that cost roughly 8 euros, which is at the top of our budget for a meal (we usually spend 8 euros between the two of us), but figured it was worth it with the delicious food that was offered in the buffet. With drink in hand, we set off for the buffet, only to see that they were clearing off the last of the food… the buffet was over and we had just spent 8 whole euros on one drink!!!! Although, they were the best mojitos we had ever had! Luckily, we found a cute little restaurant, Genie talked down the price for us, and the four of us sat down on an outside patio for dinner. They walked us back to our hostel around 2:00 am and we were asleep in no time.

Our alarm went off at 6:00 am on Friday after less than 4 hours of sleep! We took a two hour train to Napoli followed by a quick thirty minute subway ride to Pompeii. We were looking forward to seeing Pompeii, but it topped our expectations! We thought we would see the ruins of a few buildings and some artifacts, but we spent five hours completely captivated by what we were experiencing. It was larger than we expected and the ruins were in excellent condition. The city sits on a plateau next to the sea, with Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background. They city was built in the end of the 7th century BC, struck by a large earthquake in 62 AD, and was still under construction in 79 AD when Mt. Vesuvius erupted burying the city under ash and rock. It was rediscovered in the 16th century, but exploration didn’t start until the middle of the 18th century. Nearly 70% of the city has been excavated and we are pretty sure we saw just about all there is to see.

Around every corner, there was something that took our breath away and we could almost picture what it might have been like to live in Pompeii so many years ago. The large cobblestone streets that tied the city together were lined with the ruins of what were once shops, restaurants, houses, baths, parks, and gardens. The streets had sidewalks as well as elevated stepping stones used to cross the streets after heavy rainfalls so people wouldn’t get their feet wet. Some of the ruins were the size of a closet with four walls and no ceiling or floor. While others were much larger and in excellent condition, you could still see the brightly colored and intricately painted walls. The paintings depicted everything from hunts, the final episodes of the Trojan War, erotic scenes, animals, geometric shapes, daily life, or just simple colored walls. It was bizarre to walk the streets of a city where life had immediately stopped! There is an unnerving feeling of being in a city where life just ended, compared to a city where life moved on. We were walking in homes where bodies had been found and seeing the casts of the bodies in the positions they died in was eerie. The entire experience was overwhelming and it is difficult to explain exactly how we felt. Words cannot describe our day at Pompeii.

We had planned on waking up at 6:00 am on Saturday to beat the line at the Vatican, but we turned the alarm off and slept in until 8:00 am. We said goodbye to Faraz and began our hour long morning walk across Rome to Vatican City. The line was over two hours long and between the heat and our conservative clothing (long skirts and shirts with sleeves) we took a few quick pictures and left. Even though we didn’t go inside, the plaza and the architecture of Saint Peter’s Basilica was beautiful. We are disgusted with the amount of McDonalds we see in every city we visit, but they come in handy when you need to use a free restroom and a place to change. Our long skirts were quickly converted to short dresses and we headed off to eat margherita pizzas on a rooftop terrace. We decided to see the Trevi Fountain one last time and made a quick stop at our favorite gelateria for the most amazing ice cream we have ever had.

We are very tired from our three full days in Rome, but are not looking forward to our upcoming travel days. Our train leaves Rome at midnight and we will arrive in Brindisi at 7:00 am on Sunday where we will spend the day.