Only two days after I returned from Amsterdam and Brussels, I took a plane to Rome with my friend Danielle. I was expecting a city covered in the brown dust of ancient ruins, pushy men, and no English speakers. What I actually experienced was--pleasantly--quite the opposite. We spent the better part of the evening before our departure planning where we wanted to go each day. Thank god for my host mom, travel guides and maps. My host mom is an art history teacher and has been to Rome numerous times, so she helped us figure out what was worth visiting. We were thus able to spend one day in each quarter of Rome and (mostly) avoided riding the Metro or bus across town multiple times in a day.
Rome is ridiculous, but awesome. There's a Catholic church on almost every corner, and after you've visited two or three, the rest start running together in your memory as an endless collection of gold and marble statues. At first, Danielle and I felt overwhelmed with the sheer amount of art and buildings there was to see. When you're faced with a million options, how can you pick just one? We relied heavily on maps and travel guide recommendations, but we often started out in the wrong direction before realizing yes, that gelateria we wanted was indeed the other way. It takes a while to acquaint yourself with a new city.
On Thursday, we visited the Vatican Museum and St. Peter's Basilica. Not only did we get up early to avoid huge crowds (which is, by the way, impossible), but it was absolutely pouring rain, and we couldn't find the entrance to the museum because the thing is so enormous. By the time we got inside, we were cranky and our clothes were very damp. We went in the Sistine Chapel first, which was much smaller and darker than I had anticipated. We then attempted to navigate the huge maze that is the Vatican--rooms and rooms of intricately decorated ceilings, marble floors, gold cherubs, and Renaissance/Baroque era statues. After a good three or four hours wandering around, we moved on to St. Peter's Basilica for even more Catholic bling sightseeing. I can see why Martin Luther wanted to move away from the excess of the Church in the 1500s. The churches in Rome are like palaces.
That night, we ate dinner in the Trastavere neighborhood. The narrow streets were almost too picturesque; it was a series of winding cobblestone paths lined with tall, butter-yellow buildings, little shops, and fountains in every piazza. Classic Italy. We found a cramped, lively restaurant for our al dente pasta dinner, complete with live accordion music. And as I poured myself another glass of Chianti and mopped up the remains of my pasta sauce with foccacia bread, I asked myself to remember that moment forever.
On Friday, we visited the Coliseum and ancient ruins. The thing about Rome is that it's a great mix of history--half the city is ancient Roman, and the other half is Renaissance/Baroque. You walk down a street with leather shoe shops and cell phone stores, turn a corner, and suddenly you're standing in front of a building with 1,000 years of history in its walls. And stuff like that is everywhere.
The Coliseum was impressive, but I enjoyed the Palatine and Roman Forum more. We had nothing but sunshine after that rainy day at the Vatican, so our visit lasted several hours. The Palatine was like a park dotted with ruins, and there were several places to catch wide views of the entire city.
Saturday, we visited the central part of town, including the Pantheon (less impressive than I was expecting) and a Medieval church from 1100 AD. We also toured the Palazzo Massimo, which holds some of the best-preserved frescoes in the world. Last on the list was the impressive Galleria Doria Pamphilj, a huge art gallery that has housed one of Italy's most powerful families for centuries. We ate dinner near the Trevi Fountain at a restaurant with deliciously cheesy pizza and fresh buffalo mozzarella.
On our last day, we visited possibly the weirdest church I have ever encountered in Barberini Square. What would appear to be just another church houses an exhibit of 4,000 monk skeletons in the basement. Basically you walk through a series of 6 rooms and marvel at how screwed up this one monk must have been to dedicate his life to arranging skeletons into chandeliers, archways and ceiling decor. Unfortunately there was a no-photo policy, so if you'd like to creep yourself out, click here.
We didn't spend any late nights out in Rome, as it seemed like less of a party city and more like a place to see during the day. We didn't encounter any pushy Italian men, and English was widely spoken. The only complaints I have are:
1) The water. Restaurants don't serve tap, yet they'll charge you as much as 5 Euros for a bottle.
2) Public transportation. There are only two Metro lines that stop running at 11:00 p.m. and only cover the north and south parts of the city. The bus system isn't too stellar either--not clearly marked or mapped anywhere. Thus we did a lot of walking.
3) Fiumicino Airport. DEAR GOD. The security line wrapped all the way around the airport twice and left us scrambling and stressed to make our flight back to Pau on time. And then when we got to the gate and stood in line for another half an hour, we found out our plane was going to be delayed another two hours. And there was a huge group of French boy and girl scouts getting on our plane. We didn't get back to Pau until 1:00 a.m. (as usual, Charles was way too nice and picked us up in the car), at which point I was ready to kill someone or drop dead from fatigue.
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