Level 2-3: When (we were) In Rome

I began writing this a long (long, long) time ago - considering my track record, it would probably take me about a month to re-write two paragraphs, so I'm leaving them as they are. So, enjoy this outdated introduction to an even more outdated blog post!

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It's the end of the school year in England now, and the girls (particularly the Fourths - about Year 7) are going through the strange end-of-year feeling, where time seems to be speeding up and slowing down at the same time.

I'm not faring much better myself; I'm leaving on a very, very long tour of Europe in less than a month, and while each day individually seems endless, there really isn't much time left. By the end of the holidays, I will have been overseas for more than eight months. We'll all be two-thirds through our ridiculous adventure. But enough about the future - I haven't finished telling y'all about the past yet! To Rome!

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Thursday 14th April

It was an overnight train to Rome from Venice, our fold-out bed things being small (no problem for me) and comfy and allowing us to sleep well. Checking in to the hostel at 8:30 and leaving our bags in the luggage room, we took advantage of the free breakfast they offered, took all their remaining maps, then took off in search of the Trevi Fountain. The others educated me on the cultural importance of the fountain - how Lizzie McGuire threw in a coin and wished for an adventure - which they promptly did. Feeling no pop-cultural obligation to Ms McGuire, I made my own wish. No, I will not tell you what it is.

I guess if any imposingly large white marble building could grant wishes, it may as well be this one.

From the fountain we made our way to the Spanish Steps, somehow finding it in us to climb all the way to the top - maybe it was to escape all the con-artists at the bottom practically forcing roses into unsuspecting tourists' hands.

THE GREATEST STREET NAME. NO EXCEPTIONS.

The Spanish Steps, taking the jobs of honest hard-working Italian steps.

We then explored the small church at the top. Compared to the riches we had seen in Milan and Venice, the relatively sparse decoration was a nice change. It was a shame to read many of the signs near the paintings, which said things like "The original decoration was destroyed/removed/not liked very much and left out in the hard rubbish", but when it's been around for over 400 years, I guess sometimes people feel the need to redecorate.

Outside, we sat on the steps for a while and admired the view.

Okay, so we were really doing our very best impressions of this dog.

Our nap over, we headed over to the Pantheon, digging our way through the throngs of eager restaurant employees trying to sell us lunch. It's a very large building which was built by the Ancient Romans, then had the interior redone when Jesus became a bit more popular. It's notable for the circular hole in the roof, that no-one can really work out how they managed - and to top it all off, it does funky things on the solstices as well, so it's basically Roman Stonehenge.

Comparing the sunlight in this picture and the greyness and rain outside isn't the most inspiring of activities.

Ready for lunch, we returned to the road of rabble-rousing restaurateurs. Now, that alliteration was just as underwhelming as our meals; despite promises of "large plates of pasta", the portions were far too small for our teenage tourist tummies. 

Being 43% sugar still doesn't explain why it's yellow.

After lunch we took a train and a bus to try and find some catacombs at Caitlin's suggestion. We didn't find them, but we did stumble upon a medieval castle... thing. It was free for Cultural Week so we headed right in. We met a very pleasant if somewhat standoffish tour guide:

The most interesting thing we saw in the castle.

Our sightseeing for the day now over, we took the bus back in to Rome, chatting with some lovely German ladies in their 60s who go on holiday together every 10 years. They were pretty cool and told us all about how when they were young, one of them stayed in Italy for three years with a boy she met. "Each year we would go back and tell her to come home!" Eventually we made it back to the hostel and had dinner there, plain pasta with a tiny bit of cheese sauce - we were all so hungry we didn't mind so much.

Friday 15th April

A late start today, leaving the hostel by 9:45 after our free breakfast. The plan was to go to Vatican City, and after several starts in the wrong direction, managed to get to St Peter's Piazza by 12:30.

And yet when I turned up for work wearing this exact outfit, I was told it was inappropriate.

Luckily the line moved quite quickly (no thank you, dodgy people, we would not like to sign up for your tour) and we were inside the Basilica by 1:25.

Now, this is where I must apologise. I made a pretty slideshow full of pictures, but I am currently unable to find anywhere to let me put them on this blog without paying for it. Yve did a test-run and the links generated ads (before the whole thing crashed), so no pics as of yet... sorry!

After lunch it was time to head back into Rome to go to the Colosseum. Yet again the ticket was free as good ole' Cultural Week let us in to everything. Yay! Walked around and took lots of photos; the millenia old building, the cats enjoying their ability to ignore the safety barriers, and a couple who looked like brother and sister. THEY REALLY DID, ALRIGHT? Don't judge us, when you should be judging those people. At least one of them has issues to sort out.

So what if you could fit 50,000 people? The MCG can hold 100,000. So it's better.

 

Because when I think of the Colosseum, I think cold drinks and hamburgers.

After returning to the hostel, we asked the (Aussie) guy behind the counter where to go and get gelati. After finding the place a few blocks away, this is what we recieved:

And with that, our dairy-fueled adventure was over for the day... Saturday would be our last day in Italy together, before the others left for Turkey.

Saturday 16th April

Returning to the Vatican in the morning, we made our way around the museum, picking the shorter route (which still took a couple of hours). In some parts we could take pictures, others we couldn't, and others still we weren't supposed to but everyone broke the rules anyway.

Again, if anyone's interested in my photos from the Vatican Museum, you'll just have to wait until I can find a sneaky cheap way of putting Flash up here again. Sorry 'bout that.

Our final stop was the Sistine Chapel, decorated by some people's favourite Ninja Turtle Michelangelo. We managed to snag some seats and had a rest - watching the token tourist being kicked out for taking photos was almost as interesting as the chapel itself. A quick rest outside reminded us that when not in England, there remains a chance that there might be more sunshine outside than inside.

Yve enjoying the warmth...

...but having a bit of trouble with the light.

Having explored the main part of the museum, we had a quick look around the other section. The items they had on display from their collection of over 70,000 objects were from Western Australia and the Northern Territory. Imagine that?

I want to know why I haven't seen things like this already. Victorian school art classes, you have a lot to answer for.

Our trip out of Italy over, we returned to the city centre to visit the Roman Forums, then accidentally walked past them and ended up at the Memorial for Emanuele Vittorio II. By this point we'd become used to the whole massive-white-marble-building thing going on, though, so we called it a day and went for dinner - and more importantly, dessert. If anyone's going to Rome, find the gelati place called "Fossi". It will not disappoint.

Evidence of us not being disappointed.

And with that, our Italian escapades together were over - the others had a very early flight to Istanbul the next day (via Hungary - because, you know, that makes perfect sense), and I would be catching an afternoon train to Florence.

If you want to know how their (amazing) tour of Turkey went, go and read the others' blogs, because they're more organised than me and had it all online months ago! (Four months, in fact. I would like to think that my ability to meet deadlines is clearly an indicator of future success in the professional writing field.)