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Published: February 13th 2009
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Ok I’m going to get this thing finished I swear! This is the last installment of Amanda and my trip during our Christmas break. We ended our travels exploring the wonders of Italy. After leaving Venice we took the train to Perugia, where I studied for 4 months during the fall. Amanda wanted to see where I had lived, I wanted to introduce her to people I had met there, and most importantly, I left a bag there, so she could take it home for me. Once in Perugia we checked our bags at the train station and I started by showing Amanda the mini-metro (I think she has pics of this, but I don’t, sorry). The mini metro is the tram that is like an elevated subway, but instead of having a long series of cars hooked together there is just one car at a time. I always thought of it as a mini roller coaster that moves very slowly. My favorite pizza place was closed, because it was a holiday the following day, but we headed to the café where I was supposed to meet Walter and Evelina. These two people were very important to my stay in Perugia,
they were kind of like my Italian grandparents. I talked to Walter almost every day for about 15-20 minutes and I have him to thank for helping me improve my conversation skills. We were able to sit and chat with them for about 30 minutes before we had to take a look at the rest of town because we were to head to Rome that night from the station.
The other things I showed Amanda were: my apartment, the gelateria (ice cream), the school building, the town center and Duomo, the Etruscan arch, and the look-out point so she could see over Umbria. I think that is about all we had time for before we had to take the train to Rome.
Once we had arrived in Rome it was pretty late so we just found our hostel, ate some food, and went to bed. While we were in Rome it rained most of the time—typical Roman Winter. We were also accosted by many umbrella sellers who were ridiculously annoying. They just couldn’t believe that we would rather suffer sprinkling rain than spend a fortune on their umbrella! Even if you had an umbrella they would try to
convince you that you needed a bigger one.
On the first day we were in Rome we basically walked the entire city. For some reason that always ends up happening to me; I walk most of the city on the first day and then wonder what to do with my time! We found plenty of things to do though and even had some down time to rest from traveling. Anyway, the first day we saw Santa Maria Maggiore, a church near the train station, and then we walked up to Piazza del Popolo to see the obelisk in the middle of the piazza. Most of the things we did this day involved getting to the attraction and then just looking around, but we continued down the street to find the Rome Hard Rock to collect our shot glasses, and then on to the Spanish Steps—as seen in Roman Holiday with Audrey Hepburn. The steps were crowded with shoppers as this is where the shopping center of the city is located. Then we walked to La Fontana di Trevi (Trevi Fountain) and tossed our coins in over our shoulder as you are to do to ensure your return to Rome.
Next we walked past the Pantheon through crowds of people to Piazza Navona where there was a festival for La Befanna -a children’s holiday that involves a witch who brings gifts.
The second day in Rome we went to the Vatican City to see the Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica. Inside the Vatican museums we saw displays on ancient Egypt, Etruscans, Romans, and Greek civilizations. There were also many rooms of sculpture where you could probably find a statue of anything you wanted if you looked hard enough! The tapestries and the painting were also another highlight. One of the things I like the best was being able to see the Apartments that are used by the Pope. The paintings on the walls in there are from the Italian Renaissance and were done mostly by Raphael. These are rarely on display. We also had an opportunity to see the Sistine chapel which was painted by Michelangelo around 1510, so it is in quite good shape for being so old. It was my second time seeing it, so I tried to describe to Amanda what I had learned about it in class…sometimes that makes her happier about me dragging
her to all of the art museums. 😊 We spent the entire morning in the Vatican and then went to Old Bridge gelateria for no other reason than it is delicious, and then we walked to St. Peter’s Square and saw St. Peter’s Basilica. There was a giant Christmas tree in the square and a Nativity scene of presepi (terracotta figures). The last thing we did on our second day was go out for authentic Italian pasta. Amanda had been telling me that if we did anything in Italy we had to eat pasta…because apparently that is the only reason we were there (just kidding Amanda!). We found a restaurant by the Colosseum and sat down for a traditional meal. It was delicious!!
The third and final day in Rome Amanda and I went to the Colosseum and toured the inside and were able to see the original stairs and parts of the original white marble floor. It was basically amazing! Even though it was raining, it was my favorite thing that we did in Rome. The original floor has long since disappeared, but there is a reconstruction of a piece of it, so one can imagine what it
would have looked like. Now what you see are the cages and halls that were built under the original floor. There was also an artifact exhibit of statues and various carvings from other museums that were being shown at the Colosseum which was kind of neat. Next we walked around the forum and saw the Arch of Constantine and where all of the political figures of the ancient Rome lived and led everyday lives. It was really keeping up a steady rain by this time and even with our umbrellas (not acquired by the street salesmen) we were pretty wet. Amanda was ready to go inside, but I twisted her arm to see the forum even though she was “tired of seeing old things”. Haha! We spent our last afternoon enjoying another pasta dinner and then packing to leave early the next morning for the airport —Amanda leaving for the United States and I leaving for England.
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