Rome in almost a day, and Pigeon Brothels
Wednesday, 15 April
We slept in a bit in Pisa; when I got up, I met the other girl in my room- she was from Amherst, MA and studying abroad in Scotland, so that was kinda random. At the cafe we got breakfast at, these two "money police" dudes were hitting on the woman working at the counter and gossiping with her for a long time, and kept saying goodbye and going back to talk more, it was really funny. We chilled in the Piazza dei Miracoli again, and saw a bit too much of the pigeon mating process until a child came and kicked them. In the train station in Livorno, we ate lunch and there was an adorable child watching the train arrivals. Keener decided he was going to be a commuter when he grew up.
Upon arrival in Rome, we checked our bags at the train station and headed over to the Spanish Steps. I Rocky Balboaed them for a few steps, but there were just too many to run up singing the entire way. After admiring the sun setting over the city, we went and got dinner at a place near Piazza Navona, where we were served the biggest gelato I've ever seen. We walked the city at night a little bit, checking out Bernini's fountain in the Piazza Navona and passing Hadrian's Tomb and the Pantheon en route to the Trevi Fountain, which is GORGEOUS at night. After people watching, our real adventure began as we attempted to find our hostel.
After grabbing our luggage, we got the A train to Flaminio, where we were supposed to get the F train. Unfortunately, we had just missed the last one, so needed to wait and take a tram, which took quite a while to arrive. Fortunately, a small knot of slightly intoxicated French guys standing near us burst out into a song about waiting for "Le Tram." I looked around and noticed music notes on their hoodies- so apparently they were an a capella group, thus explaining the tight harmonies. After the tram finally arrived, we took it to another place and got on the 200 bus, and both of us spaced out and ended up getting off with the majority of the crowd. Which was wrong. We went over to a nearby hostel and asked directions, and they rushed us back to the bus so we wouldn't miss the last one. After finally getting to Prima Porta, we had to call the hostel and wait for a shuttle to come pick us up at the bus station, and ended up being checked in to our "hostel" aka camping site by quarter to one in the morning.
Thursday, 16 April
I was aoken by the sounds of people typing, which didn't make sense as Keens and I were the only two in our room, and neither of us had a laptop with us. After going to the bathroom, I came back and realized that there was an animal in our ceiling. After the intensifying cooing, I realized that the sound in the ceiling were pigeons. Mating. Yes, our room was a pigeon brothel. Go team.
Getting in to the city was much easier and took about an hour instead of the three hours it took us to get halfway to Florence. We went to the Vatican and in to St Peter's Basilica, which was gigantic. It could easily swallow several of the large cathedrals I've been in before. There was a mass going on in a side chapel, which was probably the size of my church at home. There was also this woman who had lined up a shot in the middle of a hallway and wanted to take a photo, so she gave me a death glare when I accidentally got into the frame, rather than saying anything. Litlte bit out of the spirit of being in a church, really. The Swiss Guards were cool, they sort of looked a bit like clowns, or like they were wearing the boy costume from Mother Ginger in the Nutcracker.
We got lunch near the Vatican, and were seated near a southern couple, so it was very interesting listening to the woman trying to speak Italian with a southern accent, and also recalculating her miscalculated bill incorrectly. After food, we went back to the Trevi where I made the wish, and we people watched some more. We then wandered on to the monument of Vittorio Emmanuelle II, and then tried to get into the place where St Ignatius is buried, but it was closed which was a bummer. We went in to the Pantheon, where the first two kings of Italy are buried- Vit Emm II and Umberto- as well as Raphael (not the ninja turtle, though). I liked that there was a sign in there telling you that you couldn't nap.
The Jesuit Church (St Ignatius of Loyola, of course) was really cool, though I quite liked the model that one of the Jesuits worked on for twenty six years or so of all sorts of churches and places of worship from different places gathered under one dome. Definitely such a Jesuit thing to do. Some guy was trying to ask us for directions to "God's Eyes." We still have no idea what he was talking about.
We passed by Hadrian's Tomb again, but it was closed, and then went by the Trojan Column and the Roman Forum, which were both cool and old. There were a lot of helpful signs near the Forum to explain what everything was, which was nice. Keener gave me a cheap tour of the Colosseum from the exterior, peeking in when we could, since it was twelve euro to get in which was a bit out of budget. He knew a lot of cool stuff, like were Caeser sat, and where the nosebleed section was, and how they put sand on the floor to soak up the blood, and how there was an outer concourse but a lot of the most exterior wall is missing now, since stones and iron were taken to build other things. The entrances were numbered, which was also cool and a lot like football stadiums and things now. We checked out Constantine's Arch while we were there, then went to find the Domus Aurea. After much aimless wandering, we asked for directions, but the couple wasn't from the area so went and asked "grandfather" (as they called the old men emerging from this cool random old building), so we were able to find Nero's old house. It was closed for renovation, though, but was pretty cool. We hung around the Trevi a bit more the rest of the evening before an uneventful return to the pigeon brothel.
Friday, 17 April
We saw the Tiber River before peacing from our crappy hostel, and then went and people watched on the Spanish Steps before going back to the train station. After saying goodbye to Keens, I got to the platform for Fiumacino airport, but some crazy dude kept coming up and bombing through the ticket kiosk and telling me to put money in the machine, so I eventually just bought the one he kept getting even though I was pretty sure I qualified for a student discount. It was just sort of confusing and weird to my tired mind. Getting back to England was relatively uneventful, which was nice. And thusly ends my Italian adventure..
We slept in a bit in Pisa; when I got up, I met the other girl in my room- she was from Amherst, MA and studying abroad in Scotland, so that was kinda random. At the cafe we got breakfast at, these two "money police" dudes were hitting on the woman working at the counter and gossiping with her for a long time, and kept saying goodbye and going back to talk more, it was really funny. We chilled in the Piazza dei Miracoli again, and saw a bit too much of the pigeon mating process until a child came and kicked them. In the train station in Livorno, we ate lunch and there was an adorable child watching the train arrivals. Keener decided he was going to be a commuter when he grew up.
Upon arrival in Rome, we checked our bags at the train station and headed over to the Spanish Steps. I Rocky Balboaed them for a few steps, but there were just too many to run up singing the entire way. After admiring the sun setting over the city, we went and got dinner at a place near Piazza Navona, where we were served the biggest gelato I've ever seen. We walked the city at night a little bit, checking out Bernini's fountain in the Piazza Navona and passing Hadrian's Tomb and the Pantheon en route to the Trevi Fountain, which is GORGEOUS at night. After people watching, our real adventure began as we attempted to find our hostel.
After grabbing our luggage, we got the A train to Flaminio, where we were supposed to get the F train. Unfortunately, we had just missed the last one, so needed to wait and take a tram, which took quite a while to arrive. Fortunately, a small knot of slightly intoxicated French guys standing near us burst out into a song about waiting for "Le Tram." I looked around and noticed music notes on their hoodies- so apparently they were an a capella group, thus explaining the tight harmonies. After the tram finally arrived, we took it to another place and got on the 200 bus, and both of us spaced out and ended up getting off with the majority of the crowd. Which was wrong. We went over to a nearby hostel and asked directions, and they rushed us back to the bus so we wouldn't miss the last one. After finally getting to Prima Porta, we had to call the hostel and wait for a shuttle to come pick us up at the bus station, and ended up being checked in to our "hostel" aka camping site by quarter to one in the morning.
Thursday, 16 April
I was aoken by the sounds of people typing, which didn't make sense as Keens and I were the only two in our room, and neither of us had a laptop with us. After going to the bathroom, I came back and realized that there was an animal in our ceiling. After the intensifying cooing, I realized that the sound in the ceiling were pigeons. Mating. Yes, our room was a pigeon brothel. Go team.
Getting in to the city was much easier and took about an hour instead of the three hours it took us to get halfway to Florence. We went to the Vatican and in to St Peter's Basilica, which was gigantic. It could easily swallow several of the large cathedrals I've been in before. There was a mass going on in a side chapel, which was probably the size of my church at home. There was also this woman who had lined up a shot in the middle of a hallway and wanted to take a photo, so she gave me a death glare when I accidentally got into the frame, rather than saying anything. Litlte bit out of the spirit of being in a church, really. The Swiss Guards were cool, they sort of looked a bit like clowns, or like they were wearing the boy costume from Mother Ginger in the Nutcracker.
We got lunch near the Vatican, and were seated near a southern couple, so it was very interesting listening to the woman trying to speak Italian with a southern accent, and also recalculating her miscalculated bill incorrectly. After food, we went back to the Trevi where I made the wish, and we people watched some more. We then wandered on to the monument of Vittorio Emmanuelle II, and then tried to get into the place where St Ignatius is buried, but it was closed which was a bummer. We went in to the Pantheon, where the first two kings of Italy are buried- Vit Emm II and Umberto- as well as Raphael (not the ninja turtle, though). I liked that there was a sign in there telling you that you couldn't nap.
The Jesuit Church (St Ignatius of Loyola, of course) was really cool, though I quite liked the model that one of the Jesuits worked on for twenty six years or so of all sorts of churches and places of worship from different places gathered under one dome. Definitely such a Jesuit thing to do. Some guy was trying to ask us for directions to "God's Eyes." We still have no idea what he was talking about.
We passed by Hadrian's Tomb again, but it was closed, and then went by the Trojan Column and the Roman Forum, which were both cool and old. There were a lot of helpful signs near the Forum to explain what everything was, which was nice. Keener gave me a cheap tour of the Colosseum from the exterior, peeking in when we could, since it was twelve euro to get in which was a bit out of budget. He knew a lot of cool stuff, like were Caeser sat, and where the nosebleed section was, and how they put sand on the floor to soak up the blood, and how there was an outer concourse but a lot of the most exterior wall is missing now, since stones and iron were taken to build other things. The entrances were numbered, which was also cool and a lot like football stadiums and things now. We checked out Constantine's Arch while we were there, then went to find the Domus Aurea. After much aimless wandering, we asked for directions, but the couple wasn't from the area so went and asked "grandfather" (as they called the old men emerging from this cool random old building), so we were able to find Nero's old house. It was closed for renovation, though, but was pretty cool. We hung around the Trevi a bit more the rest of the evening before an uneventful return to the pigeon brothel.
Friday, 17 April
We saw the Tiber River before peacing from our crappy hostel, and then went and people watched on the Spanish Steps before going back to the train station. After saying goodbye to Keens, I got to the platform for Fiumacino airport, but some crazy dude kept coming up and bombing through the ticket kiosk and telling me to put money in the machine, so I eventually just bought the one he kept getting even though I was pretty sure I qualified for a student discount. It was just sort of confusing and weird to my tired mind. Getting back to England was relatively uneventful, which was nice. And thusly ends my Italian adventure..