SOLO EURO II: DAY 10-11 [ROME]
i left in the wee hours of the morning from florence to rome. it was a smooth ride with no issues, but once arriving at rome was another story. it turned out to be a doozy of a day. first i dropped of my backpack at the hostel with no issue. i then made my way to the colosseum.
everyone knows about the colosseum. it is one of those places everyone says you must visit when you are at rome. buying the ticket a couple months before my trip was challenging. the website was crashing quite a bit, but i was able to reserve my ticket. it was not very clear what to do with your reservation (as i did not have an actual ticket), but i was able to sort of troubleshoot that problem when i was in florence. the website is not clear, but forums told me i would have to wait in another line which should be short. when i arrived (which was an hour early, because why not), i could not figure out which damn line as there were quite a few and they were all long. i took my chances and waited in one long line. it turned out to be right one, but also most of the people in line turned out to be waiting in the wrong line. i guess they were hoping the shortest line was the one to get a reservation. because i was so early, the lady who helped me offered an earlier admission ticket time which was nice. also, watch out for skammers. i had probably 5 people try to get me to buy a ticket off of them.
moral of the story. accept that your visit to rome will be like disneyland, you will waste tons of time waiting in lines.
loot at that line!
the colosseum was fun, but i am not gonna lie, i enjoyed my time more at the less impressive verona arena than the colosseum. the verona arena allows people to walk throughout and it is way less busy. at the colosseum, you are pretty constrained to what you can see, you are herded like cattle through different lines, and there are oh so many people.
the next visit was the roman forum. the books & websites told me lines here should not be that long & you can also enter at the palatine hill, but the worker told me there was no entrance at the palatine hill. that meant i had to wait in the long line at the roman forum (took over 45 minutes). fortunately i was able to meet a nice older american couple who were stopping at rome via a cruise. conversation allowed for time to pass a little more quickly.
the roman forum: arch of the septimius severus [203 ad (left)] & the temple of saturn [497 bc (right)]
the roman forum is a collection of ancient government buildings & was the center of life in rome. originally the location was a type of marketplace, but starting at around 500 bc became a center of public affairs. this was where elections & processions were held.
crazy to think these are the original stones that ancient romans, including julius cesar, also walked on.
troman ruins, including the roman forum, are literally in center of rome, only a few feet below the rest of the city. there are public walkways above the forum that allow people to get around the current city, without having to walk through the ruins (and therefore paying admissions).
house of the vestals. sounds a bit culty, but this was the residence of a group of female virgins who performed state rituals that men could not perform.
temple of antoninus & faustina (141 ad)
the temple of caesar, which was built at the location where julius cesar's body was cremated.
i then walked somewhere to find lunch & was lucky to find grano, a little hole in the wall. this is where i found the best pasta during my trip. inside it was very hot & there was little seating, but man the pasta was good. it was also my lucky day because it was the best type of pasta & sauce, gnocchi & pesto.
pesto gnocchi with a salad & coke.
the she-wolf, a symbol of rome
next was the capitoline museum. to get there, you have to walk up the capitoline hill, which was dedicated in the ye old days to the god saturn. the art & archaeological museum opened in 1734 as a public museum. this museum was really fun, because not only were there interesting works but the buildings had such interesting details on the floors & arches. also inside is the ruins of the roman temple for jupiter.
bernini's medusa.
from the museum's balcony, you have a view of the roman forum & colosseum.
i then decided to call it a night & return to the hostel. it was a very humid & people-filled day, which drained my energy. but the events kept on coming, i had a "fun" experience at the hostel. more about that in the next post.
the next day i woke up early to see some more of the busiest sites in rome. after quite a stroll was a visit to the trevi fountain. no i did not throw a coin in. even though it was early, 8 am, there were still quite a few people there. the day was humid & turned out to rain a couple of times too. being from dry socal where when it rains the clouds warn you a couple hours of advance, i was not aware of the rain to come.
the trevi fountain
now i never plan places to eat during my trip (i tend to eat choose out of convenience), but i knew i had to visit la casa del caffe tazza d'ora, a coffe shop/distributer that has been opened across from the pantheon since 1946!
my usual, a cappuccino & croissant.
piazza della rotanda
next was a visit to the pantheon. it was first a roman temple & later a catholic church. the pantheon is still in great shape because unlike roman ruins, it has been kept in constant use. famous italians are also buried inside, such as the painter raphael (like the ninja turtle) & queen margherita (like the pizza).
the pantheon (125 ad)
the dome is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome & has not been reinforced as it is not needed (the romans knew what they were doing). the design was a reference to the jefferson memorial in washington dc. the oculus is not a window, but literally a hole in the ceiling. because of his, the pantheon was built with drains in the stone floors, so the floor is not flat but has a slight angle throughout to direct water flow to the drains.
and yes when you cough, boy does it echo.
a couple hours later i returned & tried the granita di caffe con parma, a specialty. it's a sweetened espresso slushie with a layer of cream between & on top.
i then made the walk towards the victor emmanuel II monument, also known as the altar of the fatherland. the latter is actually only a portion of the monument that includes the tomb of the unknown soldier (which was previously an altar to the goddess of rome). victor was the first king of reunified italy & the monument is a national symbol of italy. inside are a few small museums.
the tomb of the unknown soldier.
i then took the looonnngg walk towards the borghese gardens. on the way was the spanish steps. honestly, i do not know they are so popular but it's one of those sites your expected to visit when you in rome.
the spanish steps with a church above & the fontana della barcaccia below
the palazzo zuccari with its famous monster facade.
the next stop was the borghese gallery. the museum started as a private collection of a 17th century cardinal, but eventually was opened to the public as the borghese gallery in 1903.
this is where i made a mistake. i am a big planner, but read that reservations were not needed. i was wrong. by the time i got there, the worker was not very kind & still to this day i do not know really what the problem was as his english was not very good, but i made the assumption that reservations were needed. as i was leaving, a man from orgeon was selling his family's tickets as his young children had lost their patience for the day. i bought one ticket at regular price & he told me if the ticket did not work (as there were reservation names on it), he would wait at the entrance & give me my money back. now i am no fool & knew this was a risk, but thought what the hell, as this was a long walk. fortunately the ticket worked but because the museum closed every 2 hours as admission had time slots, i had only 1 hour left.
the rooms were epic
bernini's rape of proserpine (c. 1621)
caravaggio's boy with a basket of fruit (c. 1593)
i did enjoy my time, but i do not think it was necessarily worth the hassle of buying another person's ticket & only having 1 hour to see everything. the whole time i felt rushed & because all the audioguides were taken, there was very little info in english available. so i ended up walking around aimlessly & not learning much. i would think it is worth it if you properly buy a ticket & have some sort of audio guide or guidebook. i find this museum comparable to the capitoline museum, so unless you are a super big art fan, you can choose one.
they also have a little cafe. i ended up getting an itty bitty iced coffee (evertyime i ordered, it would always include a single ice cube) & a peperonni & cheese panino.
the borghese gardens ended up being much more enjoyable for me. there are tons of little trails & trees (which means shade!). also, the gardens have other museums other than the borghese gallery. i really enjoyed sitting on a bench & just being away from people. also, there are little tiny details of statues & monuments. you never really know the age of them.
morning glory (?) in the afternoon sun
my day ended earlier than planned, so i thought i would check out a church that was pretty close to the hostel. the basilica of santa maria maggiore was built in 422-432 ad. even though the picture does not reflect it so well, the church is filled with mosaics as opposed to only paintings. it was pretty, but man, the line was long to get in. i was surprised it was so busy for a church that does not get as much attention as other sites at rome.
i then had dinner at a random place near the train station. most evenings, i would eat dinner near the trains station as my hostel was nearby & there was a wide selection of options.
i felt like catching up on my veggies intake. i got a very good salad & apricot juice.
now for a song! i decided on a pretty little song as i have been listening to a lot of folk music, it just calms me and makes me so happy. eva cassidy's lyrics to "it doesn't matter anymore" is a bit of a downer, but the song's sound makes me happy. enjoy!