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Published: June 29th 2006
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Roma, Roma, Roma…well, to be honest, I did not think I was going to get to Rome on this trip, but my good friend Claudia and I were trying to figure out a way to see each other since she lives in Zurich and I’m in France. Okay, maybe not the closest, but closer than we’ve been in a few years. Actually, we were quite determined to meet up as we met six years ago (we lived together in Scotland) and have seen each other every two years since then. Anyway, our schedules just weren’t working for her to come visit me or me to go visit her, so we figured out a different plan: we would meet somewhere else. Claudia was already going to visit her best friend in Rome to go to her graduation show (she was in theatre/dance school), so I decided to join the party.
I arrived in Rome on Saturday morning and was ready to conquer the city in only 2 ½ days. Claudia was there to meet me at the airport; however, she was quite concerned that she wouldn’t recognize me as I seem to have a different haircut/colour/etc. every time she sees me.
Luckily, I recognized her quickly and we made our way to the city centre.
For those of you who’ve been to Rome before, you’ll know what I’m talking about when I say that words cannot describe the first glimpse you get of the Colloseum. We emerged from the subway and there it was...literally right in front of us. Although the subway stop is called Colloseum, you really don’t think it will be right there when you leave the station! It was amazing. Although a large portion of it has been rebuilt, you know that it once stood there and was used long, long, ago and those thoughts (similar to the ones I had when I saw the pyramids) will stay with me for a long time. The rest of the afternoon, we spent wandering around the ruins that are right beside the Colleseum and go all the way up to Piazza Venezia, a monstrous building dedicated to Victor Emmanuel I. Seriously, stupid big.
That night, we went to see Claudia’s friend's (Michelle) show at a small theatre right next to the Colloseum. At first, I was quite excited to see a bit of theatre...and then I realized that
it would all be in Italian. It was actually quite humourous when Claudia and I figured it out at precisely the same moment. Regardless, I enjoyed it. Claudia was my personal translator, telling me who was in love with whom, etc. The funny part is that all of the songs were in English; however, due to accents and the fact that the actors didn’t really know English, most of it was inaudible. After the play, we all went for pizza. It was quite fun watching the dynamics of Italian actors/singers/dancers. You know, because Italians aren’t usually that expressive 😉
The next day, we walked around the city centre and visited many, many piazzas. They are pretty cool. Most of them are just these wide open spaces that people hang out in with some kind of ancient fountain in the middle. Although we had planned to visit the Trevi fountain and the Pantheon that day, we met up with Michelle’s dad for lunch and, instead, spent the afternoon basking in the sun at a restaurant terrrace. When we actually decided to move again, we opted to go to the other side of the river to another country: the Vatican. For
some weird reason, there wasn’t a line-up at St. Peter’s Basilica, so we decided to do the visit on Sunday instead of Monday as we had originally planned. Well, in my defence, I didn’t know we were going to be visiting St. Peter’s Basilica that day, so it totally sucked when I was refused entry based on my tank top and short skirt (but it was sooooo hot out!). I didn’t want Claudia to suffer, so I told her to go in and take lots of photos for me (as she was my official photographer due to last week’s misfortune). At least it gave me time to write some postcards! Speaking of the heat, the only refuge was the free water all over the city. At first, the perpetual flow of supposedly clean water coming out of ancient fountains didn't really strike me as the most sanitary option, but when in Rome...
After we visited the Basilica, or, more aptly, Claudia visited the Basilica, we met up with Michelle at new piazza (shocker) and we decided to go see the Trevi fountain as it was just getting dark and we heard it was quite the sight at night. Well,
so did umpteen other tourists, but it was still pretty cool. In typical tourist style, we threw a coin over our left shoulder and made a wish. For some reason, though, rather than the granting your wish, I guess that this gesture is supposed to mean you’ll come back to Rome. Ahhh, smart little tourism bureau—creating superstitions to get people back a second time! 😉
After the fountain, Michelle took us through all of these little tiny streets to go to the, and I quote, “best pizza place in Rome”. It was similar to a pizza place I went to with my family in Brooklyn. We waited in line outside for about 30 minutes and, when we got inside, it really wasn’t anything special, but there were lots of photos on the wall of people with the owner, who I can only assume are famous Italians. The pizzas were actually quite delicious and very, very affordable. A whole pizza (mind you, it was super thin crust) was $6. Not too shabby for the land of the overpriced Euro.
On Monday, I only had half a day, so we got up early and went back to the Vatican to 1) check out the infamous line-up to the museum and Sistine Chapel, which we quickly laughed at, took photos of, and bypassed, and 2) let me make a second attempt at getting in the Basilica. Well, for some strange reason, the Basilica: dead on a Sunday afternoon; very alive on a Monday morning. After not laughing at the line, I realized that me and the Basilica were just not meant to be. We decided to continue on our way and walk to the other side of the river to at least visit the inside of the Pantheon. It was actually pretty great visiting the Pantheon with Claudia because we both visited a semi-replica in Edinburgh when we lived there. The replica is only a “semi” because they ran out of money before they finished the first set of columns. It’s lovingly referred to as “the embarrassment of Edinburgh”! It was pretty amazing. The only light comes from a large hole in the top of the dome. It’s also pretty impressive to look at Raphael’s tomb, as he was buried there with only a few others, including the great kings of Italy...not too shabby for a painter! We also went to the Mouth of Truth and I was that close to getting my hand bitten off...just like every other tourist who sticks his/her hand it its mouth. Actually, it’s kind of gross when you think about how many people’s hands have been in there. Ewww.
Before departing for the airport, I took Claudia for some gelato, the first I had while I was there. HAHA...seriously, who am I trying to fool? We all know that I had gelato every day for lunch, right? If only I had time for another pizza...However, between the piazzas and the pizzas, I definitely had my Italian fix!
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