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Published: June 17th 2006
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The Colosseum
self-explainatory, classic Rome Rome, Italy:
I have always wanted to go to Rome, so I was really exited about this part of the trip. Latin was the first language I really ever studied, but since it is a dead language most of the class is centered around the culture and history of the Romans rather than the language itself. Our first full day was a Wednesday, and apparently the Pope gives free public speeches on Wednesday’s. By the time we figured out that you had to have a ticket, however, it was too late to get one of the free tickets, so the concierge recommended that we just go the Vatican the next day and do it on our own, and do a tour of the city instead. But we were up and out by about 8:30am, thinking we were doing so well to get out that early to see the Pope, so we had the whole day ahead of us. We walked out of our hotel, which was on the main street in the city, Via del Corso, and walked about 2 blocks to the Trevi Fountain. At 9am, there were only a few tourists at the Fountain, mostly senior citizens and
The Forum
self-explainatory, classic Rome the 4 of us. (Park, who I will be spending the rest of my travels with, landed in Rome the night before and joined Danny, Mike and I for 4 days in Rome.) We made our wishes, and I got rid of some useless old Lyras that my dad had given me, and made our way to the Spanish Steps. By 11am, we had seen a good portion of the city, and all that was really left to see were the Ancient Roman ruins.
We went to the Coliseum by about noon, and I managed to convince the tour guides that were offering tours of the Coliseum and the Roman Forum to give us both for the same price. So we skipped about a 45-minute line at the Coliseum, and had a tour of the Forum and the ruins for 20 euros each. The Coliseum was great to see, but after studying it so much and seeing so many pictures and videos of it, I felt like I had been there before. The ruins and especially the Forum were great to see, but again I had seen them so many times it was kind of boring. You really have
to use your imagination because the Coliseum and the remains of the Ancient Romans really are ruins; it is pretty difficult to imagine what they were like in action 2000 years ago. We also went up to the Palatine Hill, where Rome was originally founded by Romulus in the year 750 B.C. (Rome would have been named for Romulus’ brother Remus had Romulus not killed his brother before naming the city for himself.) We toured the ruins until about 3pm, when our stomachs could no longer take the heat and hunger after such a long day and an incredible amount of walking. It is really hard to survive even until lunchtime when the “breakfast” they give you at the hotels consists of a piece of toast, ham and cheese, and yogurt if you’re lucky. Where are my eggs?? It is definitely an American thing to eat a massive breakfast, but that is something I will never give up!
The next day we had to check out of our hotel because we only had it for 2 nights, and move into a new one across town closer to the train station. We packed up and checked out early so we
The Vatican Museum
Vatican, gold ceiling could get to our new hotel, store our bags with them, and get to the Vatican by 11am. Park and I were in one hotel, and Danny and Mike were in another, so we shared a taxi and went to our hotels, planning to meet at the Vatican. When Park and I got to the Vatican, you first get out of the Metro station by the Vatican Museum. We were told that the Museum is incredible, but that you could be waiting in line for upwards of 3-4 hours to get in unless you pay something like 40-50 euros for a private tour. Stubbornly, we decided to just try our luck, and as we walked out of the Metro to the museum, I saw the longest line I’ve ever seen for anything! It was wrapped around 2 full sides of the Vatican, which if you have seen it is a massive city enclosed by a 25-30 foot wall on all sides. As we walked past the entrance, I noticed someone who looked really familiar, and as we got closer, Park and I saw 3 girls from USC that we both knew, waiting in line about 20 people from the front!
The Vatican
Park and I outside the Basilica at the Vatican We immediately ran up to them, and in less than 5 minutes we were walking into the Vatican Museum! An amazing stroke of luck for us, because there is no way we would have waited in the line that was wrapping around the city, and growing by the second. However, without cell phones or any form of communication, we lost Mike and Danny and couldn’t even tell them goodbye. But we made it in the museum, and spent the rest of the afternoon in and out of the Museum and Sistine Chapel, and looking at the Vatican from the front of the Basilica.
So after skipping a long line at the Coliseum, and a massive line at the Vatican, we had seen everything we came to see in record time. Now we are on the train to Naples where we hope to find a few days of rest from the extensive amount of walking we have been doing everywhere. Our hotel is not near the beach, but I cant wait to be in the sun and spend the day in Capri tomorrow. We are going to be doing even more walking once we get back to Florence and then Venice and Milan, so we need a few days rest in Naples.
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