Advertisement
Published: September 30th 2017
a
Cool park - complete with ancient Roman ruins!Geo: 41.8955, 12.4823
The ferry arrived early at Civitavecchia. They woke everyone up at 5:30 to sell their stupid cafeteria breakfast. Bastards!!! I took advantage of the cabin and used the shower before disembarking.
Saw a Royal Caribbean cruise ship at Civitavecchia - they must dock here instead of Rome. It's quite far from Rome, though. All the better to sell their own over-priced tours to their customers. Cruise ship bastards!!!
Things were fairly disorganized as I got off the ship. There's a bus that takes you to the port entrance, and one that takes you to the train station. The buses are labeled, but there's a mad rush to get on each bus, and you don't know when the next one is coming. Maybe something was announced in Italian over the PA on the ship, but all I heard was them advertising their stupid breakfast!!!
The train to Rome had a screen displaying the train's speed - I didn't realize that Italian trains were capable of speeds in excess of 150 kph. Saw the dome of San Pietro (St. Peter's basilica) as we were arriving in Rome. A welcoming sight. Got to the Termini train station - massive! I seemingly walked forever just
b
Very impressive wall painting - in person, it looked almost 3D. to get to the exit.
The area around the station is a bit dumpy ... but nowhere as bad as Naples. Grabbed a sandwich at a shop nearby - peppers and diced pork (bacon, chunks of pork, and ham). Bad bread, but good mayonnaise (from the packets that I had stolen from the hostel in Bosa - but Braun made me take them, I swear!!!). I ate it at a park w/ ancient ruins nestled inside. Cool. Saw a transvestite on the way over to the park. Rather, I heard "her", to be more precise. Not so cool, but definitely memorable!
Got to the National Museum of Rome, but it seemed odd ... it didn't match my guide book's description. I realized that I went to the wrong museum! Many museums in Rome are named "National Museum". The museum sucked, but it had a great cloister and a nice garden.
Off to the correct museum. There were some amazing bronze sculptures from 1 or 2 AD, I believe. Unbelievable! They were still in remarkable condition. A fairly interesting museum.
I somehow lost my phone card that I just recently bought. Either I threw it out or more likely, I left
c
c it in a phone in Santa Teresa. This kind of thing really bothers me - replacing it will cost 5 euros that could be used for gelato, instead!!!
Had a salami panini and fruit salad for lunch, and a pricey pastry (3 euros!!!) for dessert. The pastry definitely was not worth it - I'm not even sure what it was. It looked good, but didn't taste that great.
Off to the colosseum - a breathtaking exterior but an unimpressive interior. After, I walked around the ancient town area. Arches, basilicas, temples - I was impressed. The forum area was much better than the colosseum.
Palatine hill - a nice place for a stroll with its elevated vantage points and park, but it's not overly memorable. You could see Circus Maximus from the top of the hill - there isn't much left, but it was basically a Roman Nascar racetrack with chariots racing around the oval. It held over 300,000 people!!! Incredible.
After, I wandered around the ancient town some more. Saw a piazza designed by Michelangelo - it was beautiful, but no more so than many others I've seen on this trip. The Pantheon - I couldn't go inside, sadly, as there
d
Caligula. Twisted SOB!!! was a religious service taking place.
Rome is beautiful and amazing. I walked up Via del Corso (main drag) - it was packed with people, maybe because there was a protest that pushed excess traffic up that way? Via del Corso isn't as elegant as the Champs-Elysees in Paris, and didn't have the raw energy of La Ramblas in Barcelona.
Walked to Piazza del Populo (some special event for kids was going on) and then to the Spanish steps. It was packed! But I was disappointed at the false advertising - from the name, I expected it to be covered with beautiful, scantily-clad Spanish women. Liars!!!
Off to the Trevi fountain. Even more packed than the Spanish steps. I did the whole coin/wish thing that every tourist does. The first coin you throw in is supposed to guarantee that you will one day return, and the second is for a wish that is supposed to come true. I thought about wishing for world peace, but settled on wishing for the Spanish steps to be covered with beautiful, scantily-clad Spanish women. More false advertising! When I returned to the Spanish steps later that night it was only covered with tourists. Lying bastards!!!
e
The Emperor Augustus. As revenge, I returned another day to wash my dirty underwear in the fountain. That'll show 'em!!!!
Had dinner at a restaurant recommended by LG - overall, a decent recommendation. Zucchini flowers stuffed with cheese and fried. The batter wasn't very crisp - perhaps the oil was too cold? Still very good. Mixed salad with bitter greens and excellent tomatoes. Meatloaf in a basil cream sauce - definitely not North American style. Stuffed in the centre was a carrot, artichokes, and a celery stalk. Very good; the sauce was a great dip for the bread.
They had an interesting dessert for 1 Euro - not what I expected. Chestnut and walnut gelato stuffed in its own shell. Not a big fan of it because I don't really like chestnuts or walnuts very much. But it was a scam!!! Turns out it was 1 Euro for each piece (4 in total). And no one ever asked me how many I wanted - why not just show it as 4 euros on the menu? I wish I would've known - do you know how much gelato I could have gotten from a gelato shop for 4 euros??? Enough that it would have
F - 2000 year old bronze sculpture of a boxer
"What??!!! I'm supposed to fight Mike Tyson? What if he bites my ear off?" been squirting out of my nose as I ate it, that's how much!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.107s; Tpl: 0.03s; cc: 10; qc: 26; dbt: 0.0619s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 2;
; mem: 1.1mb
