Advertisement
Rome has been amazing! To tell you the truth it had to grow on me, when I first got out of the station I just didn’t feel that ‘Wow I’m in Rome!’ first impression was that I could probably be anywhere else in the world, and most likely, it would be somewhere near a toilet! Yes Rome smells, A LOT!
I had travelled down from Florence with Sabina, one of my room-mates there and as we were staying in different places we decided to meet up early on our first day (don’t remember what date that was, let alone the day!) and head straight to Vatican City. Well since we both overslept we decided to give that a miss and go check out the tourist spots. First stop was the Spanish steps and Plaza di Spagna, to be honest they were a total let down for us! Most likely not for all the people who had attended the function that must have been held there, but since we got there in time to wade through all their rubbish and see the workmen pulling apart bleacher stands and hauling away god knows what, we weren’t all that impressed. However the
Fontana di Trevi made up for it! What an amazing piece of art work! Got there in perfect time to grab a few photos before the hordes descended, oh and here’s a tip, if u throw in euros when you make your wish to return to Rome, the money makes it’s way to the government, but if you throw in foreign coinage the money is given to charity (that’s the rumour I heard anyway!). We pretty much spent all day walking around checking out sights like the Pantheon, Piazza Novana, and any roman ruins we stumbled upon. Obviously the highlight of my day was when we finally made our way to the Roman Forum! Now I was in Rome! It was so amazing to finally see it with my own eyes, not just a picture in a book, and it was everything I thought it would be, here I was standing in a place that had seen the footsteps of Plato, Socrates, Caesar, Marc Antony! It absolutely blew my mind, you have to use your imagination a bit more here then at Pompeii, but having gone to Pompeii first it gave me a good idea on how to picture things!
We didn’t go into the Coliseum though, I had been advised that it just wasn’t worth the line or the amount, so this time (unlike my Naples advice) I decided to listen! It’s spectacular enough from the outside anyway!
The next day we finally made it to Vatican City! Though we did for some reason make the stupid mistake of thinking because it’s pouring with rain there won’t be as many people lining up, so we won’t go as early as planned! And what a stupid mistake it was, we rocked up at about 10am and the line was over 1km long!!!!!! I have to unashamedly reveal we did not actually line up for as long as we should have due to some sneaky footwork around all the big groups! But no matter how long you wait, it’s totally worth it! The actual Vatican museum artefacts didn’t appeal to me that much, I had already seen so many things that were similar! But the ceilings are beyond imagination in their beauty! I had the sorest neck the next day from spending so long looking up! Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel is jaw dropping! I do have to say I almost missed
the ‘Creation’, I had always assumed it was the whole ceiling! But it is only a teeny tiny part of an amazing piece of work. The frescos in the rooms decorated by Raphael are just as breathe-taking in their beauty. After the museums we had to join yet another line to get into St Peters, which does move a lot faster as you only have to pass though security (it’s free to get in). The first thing to see upon entering is of course Michelangelo’s ‘Pieta’ (Carved stone statue of Mary holding the body of Christ after it had been taken off the cross, the only item Michelangelo ever signed) again not quite as big as I was expecting but the emotion he was able to get out of that piece of rock is unimaginable, there were more then a few people around me with tears in their eyes. Obviously being the biggest cathedral in the world St Peters is massive, and to get the whole effect you have to pay to go up into the Cupola, we were in the last group of the day so had to go part way up in the lift (which costs more). People
Line up at the Vatican
Tell you what, I'd rather wait in this line in the rain, then during the summer down the bottom from that height look about the size of ants! But the views of Rome from the outside are stunning, you can see for miles and miles!
That night I was supposed to return to the camping grounds were I was staying (recommended by some Aussie girls) it was a great place to stay and cheap, but I had a 4 bed room to myself and had to leave Rome by 9:30pm to get the last coach. And as we didn’t finish our dinner until then and were only half way through our wine I made the decision to stay in town and keep on drinking! Lucky enough I didn’t get stranded, the owner of the restaurant was also the owner of Sabina’s hostel, and he gave me a free bed in her room for the night! It was great, so in the morning I did a mad dash out to the camping grounds got my stuff and moved into town (what was even better I still didn’t pay anything for that night either!).
Took things a bit slower on Saturday, no we didn’t have hangovers! It had started out as a crappy looking day, but
had got so hot it was just hard to move! And the fact was I wanted to stay as covered as possible (I prefer it that way in Italy, attracts a lot less male attention). We made our way through some nice parks, past the Circus Maximus. Stuck our hands in the mouth of the lion of truth (and hey, I still have my hand!) checked out the Piazza del fiore, the infamous square where Caravaggio had to go on the run after killing the man who had just beat him at tennis! (Caravaggio is a painter, for those of you who don’t know). We did have plans to have a nice dinner (back at our usual place) and then go look at all the sights light up at night! However, when we got to the restaurant Lorenzo was already waiting for us with a bottle of mine ready! So a great meal and a few bottles later, the manager (Valentino) starts playing on his guitar and singing other locals join in, before we know it the place is closing, we are surrounded by all the staff and a few left over customers and locals, and until the early hours
of the morning we all sat there drinking and singing along, it was the most amazing night I have had on my trip so far! Will probably be the best one of the whole thing!
Next Stop Interlaken.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.066s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 44; dbt: 0.0405s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb