Rome- Day #1

I want to apologize that it has been a while since my last post. I was in Rome for the week and we didn't have any internet access. Also, it may take me a little bit to get everything posted from this past week because I am trying to be somewhat thorough with my blog because it was such an awesome trip.

Okay, so here we go.

The Rome trip was fantastic. When I got home I was absolutely exhausted because we were go, go, go all day, every day. We probably walked about ten miles minimum while we were gone. We left Castiglion Fiorentino (Castig) really early on Tuesday morning and we got on the train to Rome. Luckily I have mastered sleeping on the train, which requires clutching my backpack so nothing is taken while I am asleep. Also luckily, my backpack mostly serves as a pillow because other students are always around ensuring that I wont get pick-pocketed.

When we arrived in Rome we walked through the massive train station and met the bus outside, which drove us to our hotel. This was our first encounter with Roman drivers and how absolutely terrifying they can be. It appears to me that they don't believe in lanes and that they are all constantly late for very important meetings. For those people on vespas and motorcycles- which are more numerous than cars- they apparently get the right to drive like maniacs without any consequences. They don't stop at red lights, they'll drive on the sidewalk or median, and will zoom between two "lanes" of traffic without giving it a second thought. Now just imagine a group of 40 American students on their first day in Rome trying to cross the streets. The phrase "right of way" is an utter joke to Roman drivers.

We dropped our bags off at the hotel- Hotel Primavera- and had about an hour to hunt down something to eat. Katie, Luke, and I went to a little pizza shop near Piazza Navona (more on that later). The pizzas are huge rectangles and we communicated to the shop owners in broken Italian and with hand signals which one we wanted and how big of a piece. They heated it up in the brick oven and then weighed it to determine the cost of the slice. Then they fold it in half and make it into a pizza sandwich. This was the typical run down each time we got pizza in Rome, which was frequent because it was cheap and everywhere.

After lunch we wandered around for about a half hour looking at historical buildings and random painted people in Piazza Navona. Our first Roman tour began at 1:45PM. We left from the hotel- the guide, who was thankfully American (no accent) had lived in Rome for 12 years, so it was not a struggle to understand him. We saw the plaza in which Caesar was assasinated, ruins of Pagan temples, the Jewish ghetto, and blocks upon blocks of Roman ruins. We walked around the Roman Forum and saw pre-Christian temples, pillars, and arches.

We ended the tour at the Colosseum- yes, THE Colosseum. Take a moment to absorb that. The Colosseum built in 80AD which housed gladiator fights to the death, that was systematically flooded to house naval battles, and the Colosseum that still stands in Rome today, almost 2000 years later. It was breathtaking and one of those 'Wow, we really are in Italy" moments.

The tour guide explained that the massive structure still standing is believed to only be 1/3 of the original structure. I can only imagine the immensity of the original, whole thing. One of my favorite things about Rome was the amazing preservation of the historical and ancient sites. While some of the things are in ruins, I still find it amazing because they're 2000 years old, and sometimes even older!

As a side note- near the Roman Forum stands a church that Peter and Paul- the biblical Peter and Paul- were imprisoned. Sometime in the first century AD a great fire ravaged Rome. Blame was initially placed on Nero, but to remove blame from himself he shifted it to the Christians- more specifically the two well known ones currently living in Rome.

The walking tour was three hours long, and yes it did prompt the singing of the Gilligan's Island theme song. After the tour a group of 9 of us (Katie, Micah, Jillian, Luke, Braulio, Vincent, Adrian, Melissa, and I) went to dinner. Meal of choice? Chinese food. I know a lot of people would wonder why on earth we would get Chinese food in Rome. That's like getting Mexican food north of the Red River... weird. However, we've been studying immigration into and out of Italy in our LBAR 332 class and we knew that there is a significant Chinese immigrant population in Italy- notably Florence, Rome, and Venice. The idea of some authentic Chinese food and a chance of pace from pizza and pasta was something we could not pass up. I ordered sweet and sour chicken with chicken fried rice- yeah, yeah, it's not a very adventurous choice, but you've got to be careful what you order at a restaurant with the word "squirrel" on the menu.

After thoroughly enjoying our dinner, the group of us walked around Rome wandering in the general direction of the Trevi fountain. After some wandering around and a few minutes of choppy conversation with the locals (asking for directions), we finally found the fountain. It. Is. Breathtaking. First of all you have to remember that the thing is massive. It's not your typical fountain by any means. It was designed by Nicola Salvi in 1732 to cover the entire wall of Palazzo Poli. It is immense and absolutely goregous. We did the typical throw a coin over your left shoulder and make a wish. It was cheesy, but 'when in Rome...'

From the fountain, six of us went on a gelato hunt. Fortunately the gelateria we found just happened to be in the plaza in front of the Pantheon. We did not get to go in that night, because it had closed at 7PM, but we got to walk around the front where all the columns are and we peeked through the doors and saw the oculus in the ceiling.

We walked back to the hotel and I told myself that I was going to go to bed early. It was about 9:30 and I had already been awake for 15 hours. I was determined to get some sleep so I would be functional in the morning. But then... a group decided to walk to Vatican City (about a mile away from our hotel) and see it at night. Honestly, how could I pass this up?!

The walk over there wasn't too bad- just the typical cold and wind that everyone had learned to combat by dressing in lots of layers. On the way we saw Castel Sant'Angelo, or Castle of the Angels. If you have ready Dan Brown's Angels and Demons or seen the movie then this building should be familiar to you.

We took a left at the castle and went down Via della Conciliazone- the road that leads straight into St. Peter's square. The road was built, I believe, in the 1930s by Mussolini. Before that, there was no straight shot to get to the Vatican, but those wishing to go there had to wind through neighborhoods. St. Peter's Square is massive. Walking towards it I was thinking in my head "okay... I thought it would be bigger." When we walked into the square though I felt dwarfed by the surrounding 284 columns topped with statues of saints. An Egyptian obelisk stands at the center of the square, a reminder of the once great expanse of the Roman Empire. I took tons of photos of St. Peter's Square and the Vatican. It was a great view because there were virtually no people in the square with us- very rare. We walked around taking photos for about an hour and a half and then finally headed home. I went to bed around midnight- much later than I had intended, but it was totally worth it.