Our second day in Roma still consisted of just Sara and I, as Sara's roommate Yiting and friend Rosie weren't getting to Roma until our third day there. My move to my second hostel was a very easy affair; it was literally one floor down from the hostel I was in... same building, just 10 seconds down the stairs. This made me very happy, as I didn't have to lug my bags down the street to a far location. We decided to make our way to the Vatican City and see that for the day, which was definitely worth the trip. We got directions to get there, which involved us using the metro. Metros in Roma are nice, easy enough to use.
We arrived in the area of the Vatican City and decided to grab lunch before heading in. We wandered a few blocks away from the walls of the Vatican, where we found a little pub where we grabbed sandwiches at half the price of restaurants closer to the Vatican. That's an easy tip for anyone trying to find cheap food – take the extra five minutes to walk away from the tourist attractions, prices will drop drastically. After lunch, we walked to Saint Peter's Square, which was incredible. We did see and hear a few things that made us cringe, though. A security guard came up to a group of girls to yell at them as they decided that Saint Peter's Square makes for a good location to put out towels, lay down in bathing suits, and tan. That's right, tan. In the middle of Saint Peter's Square. People. And we also overheard a woman telling her family that this was the place that Tom Hanks was at in that movie. Cringe.
On the plus side, we went to the information booth in the Square and found out we could purchase tickets to the Vatican Museum there and bypass the line. I cannot express in words how much time this saved us. The wait at the information center was roughly five minutes, the line into the museums snaked around the wall for half a mile. The man there also recommended that if we wanted to see Saint Peter's Basilica to come at seven a.m., when it opened.
We went to the Vatican Museums, using our wonderful tickets to walk right up to the doors and get in instantly. This was a trend we found to hold true nearly everywhere in Italy. READ THE SIGNS. There is usually a place you can buy tickets for a museum without going through the really long line. We bought tickets for the Galleria Academia in Florence, where the David is, at the Architecture Museum, which no one was at. We walked right into the Galleria Academia. Very nice.
The Vatican Museums were quite nice, though. It is full of statues and paintings that the Church stole over the years, including Egyptian works, which I found particularly interesting. I do love Egyptian statues. Of course, the pinnacle of things to see in the Museums is the Sistine Chapel, which is unbelievable. A giant room with every centimeter of wall and ceiling space painted with religious murals. The painting of God reaching out and touching Adam's hand was right above my head. We ended up going back to it after the crowd had worn down. We also got a quick drink in the cafe, where I purchased a 7-Up drink, which amused me.
After the museums, we grabbed a delicious dinner at an outdoor pizzeria a few blocks from there, which was less than half the price of the restaurant right outside the museums. Hah. It was a bit sketchy to me, though, as the restaurant itself consisted of a room barely large enough to stand in, and presumably a kitchen tucked somewhere. Or at least a stove. But the food was delicious and the price was fair, so I was quite happy. We then walked back to our hostels, which was quite a hike, but totally worth it. We saw a dozen different sights on the way home. Quite an amazing second day in Roma.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Roma, Day I
Well, this is quite overdue for an update, so here goes, my trip to Roma, to be followed by my trip to Firenze, and finally Paris.
My trip to the great city of Roma began very early in the morning, catching the 4:50 a.m. Train from Freiburg to Basel, took a connection from there to Milan, and a second connection from Milan to Roma. The train ride was nice enough, and comfortable enough that I got a little sleep. We arrived in Roma somewhere around 2:30 in the central station. Thankfully our hostels were relatively nearby, five minute walks each, so we didn't have far to travel with all of our bags. Packing for an extended trip isn't fun, but I stuffed all my clothes in a big travel bag and it worked out well. For getting to Roma at 2:30, we managed to see quite a lot.
We grabbed a quick lunch at a little pizza restaurant near Sara's hostel before we began the day. We decided to walk from the train station to the major sites of the city. We walked by the Republic Place and saw several fountains, all of which were really nice. It's weird seeing elaborate sculptures and statues in the middle of the street. Our main destination of the walk were the Spanish steps, and we ended up coming upon them from the top of them. Right near them, though, we saw an old church that we peaked in and got to witness a Mass being recited in Latin, which is something I've always wanted to see.
The Spanish Steps are quite an interesting place. I would have enjoyed them even more if it weren't for the very awkward event that caused us to hurry down them in embarrassment. A man came up to Sara as we began to walk down the stairs and told her she was very pretty while handing her a rose. He continued to to follow us, giving Sara a total of three roses and telling me how lucky I am. It's weird to travel alone with Sara, simply because everyone will pretty much assume that you're a couple. To have a man give her roses and tell me how lucky I am was just too much awkwardness. But oh well, we survived.
After the Steps, we made our way around the city, seeing some mausoleum and seeing the Pantheon, which unfortunately is half-covered in scaffolding (a trait common to nearly every single structure that you'd like to see in Europe) and was closed at the time. We finally made it to the Trevi Fountain, which was where Sara really wanted to go. It's quite a beautiful fountain, and the illumination at night made it even more so. It made for a good ending for our first night in Roma. We got dinner at a little Italian restaurant where I got delicious salmon pasta. We then made our way back to our hostels and called it a night. Not a bad first day at all.
My trip to the great city of Roma began very early in the morning, catching the 4:50 a.m. Train from Freiburg to Basel, took a connection from there to Milan, and a second connection from Milan to Roma. The train ride was nice enough, and comfortable enough that I got a little sleep. We arrived in Roma somewhere around 2:30 in the central station. Thankfully our hostels were relatively nearby, five minute walks each, so we didn't have far to travel with all of our bags. Packing for an extended trip isn't fun, but I stuffed all my clothes in a big travel bag and it worked out well. For getting to Roma at 2:30, we managed to see quite a lot.
We grabbed a quick lunch at a little pizza restaurant near Sara's hostel before we began the day. We decided to walk from the train station to the major sites of the city. We walked by the Republic Place and saw several fountains, all of which were really nice. It's weird seeing elaborate sculptures and statues in the middle of the street. Our main destination of the walk were the Spanish steps, and we ended up coming upon them from the top of them. Right near them, though, we saw an old church that we peaked in and got to witness a Mass being recited in Latin, which is something I've always wanted to see.
The Spanish Steps are quite an interesting place. I would have enjoyed them even more if it weren't for the very awkward event that caused us to hurry down them in embarrassment. A man came up to Sara as we began to walk down the stairs and told her she was very pretty while handing her a rose. He continued to to follow us, giving Sara a total of three roses and telling me how lucky I am. It's weird to travel alone with Sara, simply because everyone will pretty much assume that you're a couple. To have a man give her roses and tell me how lucky I am was just too much awkwardness. But oh well, we survived.
After the Steps, we made our way around the city, seeing some mausoleum and seeing the Pantheon, which unfortunately is half-covered in scaffolding (a trait common to nearly every single structure that you'd like to see in Europe) and was closed at the time. We finally made it to the Trevi Fountain, which was where Sara really wanted to go. It's quite a beautiful fountain, and the illumination at night made it even more so. It made for a good ending for our first night in Roma. We got dinner at a little Italian restaurant where I got delicious salmon pasta. We then made our way back to our hostels and called it a night. Not a bad first day at all.
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