Roamin' Ruins

Europe » Italy » Lazio » Rome
January 27th 2008

Published: May 6th 2008

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Lil Al

The Colosseum at night

I’m actually back home in Perth now, but I left out a lot of my travels in Europe as my computer broke down about halfway through my stay in Germany. So I thought I’d go back and finish them all off, both for your enjoyment (I hope) and a record for me so I can remember my time abroad.
So to kick things off again I’ll take you back to January...to my trip to Rome, Italy...
With only a month and a bit to go before embarking on my whirlwind tour with my mother, I risked taking four days out of my essay-writing time to fly to Rome with a couple of my friends from Freiburg who are were also international students. Although it meant increased pressure afterwards to get my last two essays done, it was DEFINITELY worth it!
The original plan was to go on a trip to Verona, Venice and Padua organised by the student services and International Club, but due to a lack of interest it got cancelled. My friends and I were thoroughly disappointed, so we decided to take matters into our own hands and found cheap accommodation and some cheap flights

waiting in the airport

we did a lot of this...this is Heather and Emily, both studying maths...

to and from Rome (well as it turned out Ciampino, which was about an hour’s bus and train ride from Rome). Although I had really been looking forward to a gondola ride down the canals in Venice and exploring the cities that were the settings of Romeo and Juliet and many other Shakespeare plays, I have also always wanted to go to Rome. By this stage I had been to a few different areas of Italy (Milan early on in my time, Chiavenna in the far north over Christmas, and Tuscany in the south on a different trip in 1998), but Rome seemed completely different to all of them. With massive stone architecture dating back to B.C., it felt like a city built for giants.
After checking into our slightly cramped, but comfortable hostel on the evening of our arrival, we headed out to explore the area a bit. Our hostel was actually quite close to the Colosseum and Roman Forum, which were impressively lit up. I felt suddenly small and insignificant. After a brief exploration we headed back to chill out at our hostel (with about half of Australia!) before having an early night so we could get

One of the victory columns

an early start the next day. We wanted to get to Vatican City before the rest of the world. 😊
We took quite a leisurely stroll across Rome from our hostel to get to Vatican City just before 10:00. There were a few people lining up at the security checks but we definitely beat the crowd. After having a look in the famous St. Peter’s Basilica, we headed into the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel. Everything was all so elaborate and beautiful! - a little too much to take in at once. I must admit that, with all the build up to the Sistine Chapel (both verbal as well as the rooms and rooms of artefacts in the museum leading up to it), it didn’t quite live up to expectations. Michaelangelo’s paintings are extremely beautiful, detailed and realistic, but I have seen many photos and reproductions of the various parts that actually depict it quite well, that I felt it was a bit anti-climactic. I don’t think the hundreds of people crammed into the small chapel really helped my impression too much. However, that being said, the huge painting of

the Last Judgement

that took up one whole wall did

streets of Rome

I just couldn't get over how BIG evertyhing was! and the streets were so small and hilly.

give me the feeling of being small and insignificant once again. I did enjoy it overall, and was only slightly disappointed.
That afternoon we slowly made our way back to our hostel via the Castel Sant’ Angelo, the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain, and the

Spanish steps

, all four of which were extraordinary in size and structure. The Castel (castle) was round and sort of cylindrical, with a significant area toward the top jutting out over the rest of it. I have seen countless castles in Germany and also a few in France, but this was completely different. Where in Germany the guard towers in fortress walls are smaller, circular structures and the palaces themselves tend to be square or rectangular, this castle was almost like one huge circular “tower”.
The thing that amazed me about the Pantheon is how “out of place” it now seems. Here was this huge basilica with sixteen massive columns in front, with normal houses and apartment buildings within 5 metres on all sides apart from in front side. About 3 or 4 metres from the entrance there was a smallish piazza with a fountain. I’ve heard of the Pantheon before, but I must admit

Huge building

I can't quite remember what this building is, but it was HUGE

my ignorance as to what is was used for, so I was slightly surprised to find that it is now used as a church. Having said that, though, it has fulfilled a number of different purposes in the past, including being an “altar” of sorts to the ancient Roman gods, as well as a meeting place for a group of artists, among whom was once Raphael, whose tomb is now inside the Pantheon. So along with the statue of Leonardo in Milan, I have now seen structures built for or by three of the four Teenage Mutant Ninja turtles. 😊
The Trevi Fountain was EXTREMELY crowded, but still amazing. Although I may not be a huge fan of the beach or swimming in general, like Jamie and the guys on Backyard Blitz, I do appreciate a good water feature. But the Backyard Blitz crew have a lot of work to do if they ever want to beat this water feature. Inspired by Hilary Duff in The Lizzie McGuire Movie set in Rome (please no smart comments - I watched it for the scenery! :P), I threw a coin over my shoulder into the pool, to ensure I will come

Some ruins

These ruins were just in the middle of a busy street

back to Rome someday (this is actually believed by many, not just Hilary Duff! :P).
From the Trevi Fountain we walked up the

Spanish Steps

(after I led us in circles a bit - sorry guys!), stopping briefly about halfway up to enjoy a bit of the sunset. We also got to “enjoy” the “serenading” of a not-quite-all-there man singing

Everybody Dance Now

, despite the sign saying

no shouting, no racketting, no singing

. Then we stopped for pizza before finally arriving back at our hostel and having a bit of a quiet one after being on the go for about ten hours!
Next morning I got quite a thrill when I successfully (and to my knowledge politely) ordered two cappuccinos in Italian, despite not having ever learnt the language, apart from the few words and phrases listed in the back of the Lonely Planet guide! 😊 After the cappuccino stop we continued on our way to the

Roman Forum

, a collection of what are now ruins of an ancient civic centre. The only structures that are still fully intact are a couple of archways built for the entry of the victorious kings on their way back from battles and a few buildings that were taken over and

Castel Sant’ Angelo

thus restored by the church while they were still in an alright state. What I found interesting was that at one stage the whole area had been completely abandoned and the dirt began building up on top of many of the buildings and eventually, after being completely buried, was used as cattle grazing land. It was excavated by archaeologists and anthropologists a few hundred years later. Or at least that’s what I understood from our tour guide. I had a little trouble tuning into what sounded like Spanish English, after having really only heard German English for the previous five months! :P
We also fitted in about an hour of wandering around the

Palatine Hill

, where the ruins of various palaces can be found, and also a visit to the Colosseum. I think that would probably be my highlight of the trip. Built during the reign of Emperor Vespian’s (sometime between 69 and 79 A.D.), this massive “stadium” is an amazing piece of architecture. It effectively has about four levels, the first being a series of underground tunnels an chambers in which they stored the wild animals and sets they would hoist up into the arena during a “performance”. The

The nativity scene in Vatican City

It was still up from Christmas. Each part was given as a gift from various parts of the world.

actual arena was a wooden platform on top of that, which was usually then covered with sand, but could also be flooded to enact water battles. This was where the gladiators (slaves, prisoners of war, volunteers and at one stage Christians) fought the lions, tigers, bears, or whatever the guards decided to release. The “ground level” seating area was where the knights sat and the next tier of seating was where the wealthy citizens sat, followed by the “plebeian” seating tier. There were four podiums located at the north, south, east, and west points of the stadium, in front of the tiered seats. These podiums were reserved for emperors, church leaders, and other such VIPs. At various stages in history the Colosseum was destroyed by fire, overgrown with plants, made into a fortress for two warrior families, and affected by a number of earthquakes.
On the top level of the Colosseum there was also a very small display about the ancient Roman theatre, which I found particularly interesting, having studied a bit about ancient Greek theatre in high school. I discovered the two styles of theatre have a lot of similarities. They even had a few life-size models of

St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City

the masks that were used. These things were HUGE, as they not only helped the audience sitting high in the big amphitheatres, but the mouth holes were created in such a way as to serve as a sort of loud speaker to project their voices. Fascinating!
The rest of the afternoon we spent resting before heading out to a place for dinner recommended by the LP guide. Unfortunately it didn’t mention that it only serves meals for lunch. However we had found another nice-looking place on our way there, so we decided to give it a shot. Although more of a bar, this place was perfect. The staff were extremely friendly and their English was really good (which was helpful - ordering two cappuccinos is about the limit of my Italian :P). The portions were not huge, but it was well priced and tasted delicious! Because they were more of a pub there wasn’t a huge range of choices, but we managed to find something for all three of us, including vegetarian lasagne for Emily! We had a typically Italian dessert of Espresso and a chocolate mousse between us, which they didn’t end up charging us for, even when

Mary holding her Son, Jesus' body

I found this statue quite moving, displaying the love Mary had for her Son

we pointed out that they weren’t on the bill the first time! So if you’re ever in Rome, do go to Ai Tre Scalini Bottiglieria on Via Panisperna, not too far from the Colosseum.
The following day it was back to Germany. One of my friends suggested we try and catch a Sunday morning mass in the chapel of a nearby 17th Century monastery on the way to the train. It was quite interesting. Not being a catholic nor being able to understand Italian, I felt slightly uncomfortable, but it was quite fascinating observing the few members of the congregation and the twenty or so nuns go about their usual Sunday mass rituals. I also picked up on a few Italian words I knew and could even tell when they were reciting the Lord´s prayer.
We then had time for one last coffee in Rome before starting on the journey home that would last a total of eight hours, including two hours of waiting in the airport before we could check in and then another hour waiting for the bus from Karlsruhe airport. It was a great weekend, so I was sad when it came to an end