benvenuti a roma!

Rome is one of those places that everyone has their own image of, even if they have never been there.  It is so well publicized and famous that if you finally get to go there personally, there's already an idyllic picture in your mind of what it should look like.  That's kind of how I felt when I first got there.  I had all these thoughts about how pretty I had heard the city was and after reading Angels & Demons and seeing the movie I knew a good amount about a lot of the big touristy areas, but I think all of my expectations of Rome exceeded how the city actually is.  For one thing, it is extremely crowded- mostly with tourists.  It's hard to walk around in the touristy areas and even in other areas as well because of how old the sidewalks are.  After one day (we did walk more than the average tourist probably walks in Rome) my legs were definitely feeling the crooked, ancient stone streets. 

free pasta dinner that our
hostel offered- amazing

Our hostel was definitely unique.  It was probably the most ancient building on this small side-street, and when I say ancient I literally mean a crumbling, brown, cardboard-looking building stuck in between two newer-looking buildings. Of the 3 hostels we stayed in, this was the only one where we met and talked to other people traveling.  This hostel seemed to be mostly students or young people traveling, there was a girl from Australia in our room who had been traveling for seven months! She basically went to most countries in Europe and also to Africa.  I don't think I could survive 1 month living in hostels and from my backpack let alone 7.  The other two people we met, who were really friendly and outgoing and ended up coming with us to eat gelato, were from England and Canada.  The girl from England had been traveling for 2 years because when she went to New Zealand she loved it so much that she stayed for a year, and is planning to go back and work there. The guy from Canada was basically just going with the flow of traveling and didn't really have a plan for where he ended up.  That lifestyle seems insane to me, since I always like to have some kind of plan, but I'm sure it's also very liberating and gives you a great opportunity to meet tons of people. 

We did a lot the first day we were in Rome.  The first thing we saw was the Colosseum, which is every bit as impressive as the pictures make it seem.  It's interesting that one of the main attractions in Rome is a place that was originally used to watch gladiators fight, watch lions kill people, create rivers between animals and victims, or any other type of gruesome entertainment that the Romans came up with.  

The next stop was the Trevi Fountain, where throwing a coin into the fountain means you will have a fast return to Rome.  We'll see how quickly my 1 euro cent coin gets me back to Rome.  If that happens I'm making a point to witness those crazy Michelangelo-designed uniforms worn by the Swiss Guard of Vatican City, which unfortunately was the one thing on my list that I did not see.  The fountain was pretty impressive with all its intricate stone designs, and it was located in a somewhat small area which was neat because it felt like it was hidden within the city.  After the fountain we saw the Pantheon (not to be confused with the Parthenon- which we eventually saw in Greece).  

pretending to be columns in Rome

Day 1 was concluded with our second traditional Italian meal: pasta made from scratch.  I'm not even sure how we found this restaurant, but we stumbled upon it hidden in a not-so-touristy part of the city.  It was called La Carbonara and has been operated by the same family since 1906.  The walls were covered with either shelves of wine or messages and signatures of all the people who have eaten there over the years.  The pasta I had was delicious, and included fresh tomatoes that seemed to have so much more flavor than any other tomato I've ever eaten.  We were sitting next to a couple who had been traveling around Italy for a couple weeks, and La Carbonara had been their favorite place so they decided to come back on their last night. The workers were really friendly and helpful, and also spoke english, so we had them recommend things to us. 


There's no correct place to bring this up so I'll just throw it in randomly.  The great toilet flushing mystery. I have never seen so many ways to flush a toilet as during my 6 days traveling.  Every new place was like a challenge- where will the toilet flusher be.  The one that baffled me the most was the string hanging from the ceiling (I was absolutely convinced that there was no way to flush that toilet), but I also experienced pedals on the floor and levers on the wall.  

typical Vatican hallway

Day 2 in Rome we woke up at 6 a.m. to start the hour-and-a-half walk to the Vatican Museums.  We were very dedicated tourists.  I don't think I ever slept past 7 a.m.  The Vatican Museums were ENORMOUS.  Epic would also be an appropriate word.  There are around 1200 rooms in the museums, but only 600 are ever open to the public.  I was so overwhelmed when I first got there, we had no idea where we should start.  Good thing it basically leads everyone on the same general path, ending with the Sistine Chapel.  I've never seen so many sculptures, tapestries, frescoes, or decorated ceilings in my life.  There literally isn't a space on the walls or ceilings that doesn't have some type of painting or other work of art.  There was one room full of only sculptures of animals, and hallways of statues on either side, a tapestry hallway, and artifacts from all over the world.  The Sistine Chapel is hard to describe, there was just so much anticipation before finally arriving there because there must have been about 100 signs that kept saying "Cappella Sistina" with an arrow, yet it took about 3 hours to actually get there.  The frescoes designed by Michelangelo, Bernini & Botticelli inside were beautiful (we weren't allowed to take pictures), and it was kind of a strange feeling being in the same place where Conclave is held, since it's such a monumental event.  I wish I had known more about the specific paintings on the walls when I was there- eavesdropping on tour groups only gets you so far...

Time for what I was most excited about - St. Peter's Basilica & Piazza San Pietro.  I may have been as excited as I was about it because of how much Dan Brown talks about it in Angels & Demons, but it was for good reason.  It is the most impressive work of architecture that I have ever seen and the way it is designed (thank you Bernini) makes it even better.  It just seems flawless, with the two enormous arcs of columns, an Egyptian obelisk in the center, and St. Peter's Basilica facing la Via della Conciliazione, which connects the piazza to Castel Sant'Angelo.  

I did not take this, but I wanted to show the entire piazza and all of its grandeur. 

I was also excited about Castel Sant'Angelo because of everything I had read about it thanks to Dan Brown.  It used to be used by the Popes as a fortress, and in Angels & Demons it was seen as the church of the Illuminati.  There is also a secret passageway that led from the Vatican to this castle that was used by Popes if their lives were ever in danger. I loved Ponte Sant'Angelo, which is the bridge leading to the castle and is decorated by stone angels all the way up to the castle.  

at Ponte de Sant'Angelo

I loved being able to see all of the things I had read about in person.  Oh, Robert Langdon, you've taught me so much about architecture, art, and symbols :)  (For those who don't read Dan Brown- Robert Langdon is a fictional character)

Now that I have officially written a novel about Rome, it's time to travel even farther back in time, to a place where I hoped I would only need to know the words "feta" and "baklava."