When in Rome...

Howdy folks!

So as most of you know, I'm currently in Italy on my Europe trip. I arrived on Saturday, June 6 and I'm already exhausted! I'm having a few issues typing this entry because a) I'm using a really really tiny keyboard, b) I'm exhausted, and c) this is an Italian keyboard so keys are in different locations! (E.g. the parenthese keys are two left from where they normally are, the apostraphe key is on the question mark key which is beside the backspace, etc... Colour me confused!)

On to the recap! (Photos to come later when I have more time to sit down and sift through the gazillion I've taken.)

My first adventure started at the airport when I kept setting off the security alarms. I ended up having to get patted down by a female security guard. I'm blaming my underwire bra.

I flew on Air Transat... Wow. What a dump! I've flown on many planes before, but Air Transat was the first time I've ever felt like I was in steerage! If my ass was any bigger, I'd have never fit into the seat! It didn't help that I was sat next to a gruff Italian guy and his wife. The guy was much more vocal than I about how uncomfortable the seating was, and he kept fidgeting. The flight itself was okay - I was uncomfy because at first I was too cold, and then I was sweating hot. I didn't get much sleep due to nervousness and Mr. Italian flopping around like a landed fish.

After landing, it was surprisingly easy to get from the airport to the city centre! I took the airport train to Rome's Termini station - but I don't remmeber much of the trip. It is soooo humid in Rome! And the train wasn't airconditioned, so lack of AC and lack of sleep makes for a very very sleepy Mau - I kept drifting asleep and then jerking awake. :(

I managed to make it to my hostel eventually. It's pretty cool! Very very North American/European. The checkin counter was playing the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, and even now in the bar where I'm typing this, they're playing Moby. The hostel rooms are huuuuuge and they have big lockers under the bunkbeds to store your stuff. Very awesome. The old-school Italian elevator is a bit intimidating though - it's this tiny contraption with the folding doors that you can see through. It took a bit to work up the courage to use it. I'm also happy because my roommates are all cool - but more on them later.

Yesterday I immediately left the hostel to start exploring the city. I soon learned one of the first lessons that all tourists to Rome must learn - thou shalt not snap photos of every old building you come across.... Or you'll be sitting around forever and ever and run out of camera space. Seriously, I can't believe how indescribably beautiful Rome is. EVERY BUILDING is the old old style. Streets have the old bricks instead of asphalt. The streets are narrow. There are churches on every corner. So I rapidly had to give up on taking a picture of every interesting building I came across because it was an exercise in futility.

Another observation about Rome - Smart cars abound. Seriously, I've seen more Smart cars in the past 48 hours than I have in the past 10 years in Canada. Plus all the other cars are extremely tiny too... Which is probably a good thing considering the crazy paralell parking that goes on here. I saw a car bump into the one ahead of it while parking and totally didn't give a damn. When there aren't tiny cars, there are scooters and motorcycles. I also haven't been this terrified of crossing the street since I was in Thailand. Seriously, it's pretty freaking scary to take that first step through a busy roundabout.

During my initial expedition, I can't remember how many times I got lost. Well, lost is a relative word. I always knew where I was in relation to a certain tourist location, etc. I'd randomly walk down some streets, run into a beautiful fountain, set off on another street, find a tourist spot, wander off again, etc... My fave thing right now is the tourist map everyone is given. It's so detailed and helpful.... And it's ridiculously easy to identify who else is a tourist by it. LOL - we all have them in hand.

Despite being continually "lost," I still managed to find the following tourist destinations:

• The Spanish Steps - These were in a very pretty area. At their top is an old old Church and an Egyptian obelisk. The best thing though is that you can get a beautiful view of the rooftops of Rome. I can't believe how many domes there are! At their base is a pretty pretty fountain. I think it has some historical significance, but I can't for the life of me remember what.
  
• Shopping district - Beyond the Spanish steps you can find the couture shopping area of Rome. Gucci, Prada, Armani, you name it, they got it. I felt low-class just walking through it!
  
• After the shopping area I wandered to the Piazza di Popolo (or something like that)... Much more impressive on my map than in real life. LOL. Again, I have no idea what its significance was, but there was a pretty fountain, columns, etc. I was also pestered by Indian men trying to sell me roses.
  
• According to my map, at this point I was near the Tiber River, so I decided to walk along it. Now, in most cities I've ever visited, water areas are pretty. Not so with Rome. The water was so dirty and brown, plus it was really really low. The pretty thing were the bridges crossing it - they had multiple arches, etc. Very cool.
  
• I wandered South towards the Pantheon. Unfortunately I got there while it was closed for Mass, so I want to visit it again tomorrow. But I have to admit, it's an impressive building! It's just so mind boggling to see how huuuge it is and to realize how old it is. While I was in that plaza I sat on one of the rock columns beside it, and I have to admit, it was humbling to sit in the Pantheon's shadow on a rock that was over 2000 years old!
  
• After the Pantheon I wandered further South along whatever interesting roads I found (and of course, in Rome, they're all interesting looking!) I saw the Vittorio Emmanuele Monument. I was beyond tired at this point, so I just admired it from a distance and proceeded to get lost again.
  
• Now, this time I was truly lost - I thought I was somewhere South East of it, but somehow I stumbled on Trevi Fountain. I snapped a few photos, but in the end, it's just a pretty fountain! I don't get the appeal.
  

By this point I was utterly exhausted and starving. I hadn't ate since Breakfast on the plane (11am) and it was like 7PM. I did have some gelato, but I paid an arm and leg for it, only to discover that it's that same as is served in Canada! Now, I've been reassured by some people I've met that Italian gelato truly is better and that I must give it a second shot.

After getting lost on side streets, I finally made it back to my hostel and met all my roommates. I was sharing my room with 2 American girls who were on exchange in the Netherlands, an American guy who was travelling through all of Italy, a guy from the Netherlands who just finished BIKING here, and a guy from Malaysia who has been travelling for 2 months and is on his final month in Europe. They were all crazy cool about introducing themselves and were super friendly. However, they are kind of inconsiderate about certain things - the first night some of them went for a pub crawl. I didn't have a problem with that, or with my bunkmate waking me up when crawling into bed at 3am. The girls were rude though in that they turned on the huge overhead light when they came in a 6AM. And last night, I was in bed sleeping when everyone came back from their evening walk. I woke up and told them they could turn on the light if they wanted... But I was under the assumption they were back so they could go to bed (It was 1AM)... Well they poked in and out, were chatting, etc. I woke up some more and we chatted and were laughing, but I have to admit, I was uncomfortable with how loud some of them were being, and sure enough, someone came and banged on our door. And then they got loud again, so bang bang bang again. And STILL my bunkmate was hyper, so I had to be a bit of a bitch (and by that I mean, meekly remind them) that I HAD been trying to sleep before they came in. They settled down after that, but I was wide awake and had a hard time sleeping again.

Anyways, more about Rome. Yesterday I spent the day in Ancient Rome. One of my roommates told me I should sign up for a tour because you get the skip the line, they're good, etc... Well, skipping the line was right, but the tour was crap. We were a group of 30 people and the tour guide had a little microphone that we all listened to through these cheap-ass ear pieces... And it was a windy day, she had thick accent, etc. so the result was that I couldn't hear a thing. At least I skipped the line for the colosseum!

Oh the colosseum! Words can't describe how magnificent it was! As with the pantheon, it's mind-boggling to realize how ancient these ruins are! I don't know what else I can really say about the Colosseum, because you've seen most of it in books, etc. I did manage to jar my back though when I was leaving - the turnstile I was going through didn't turn when expected, so I hurt myself. :( After the colosseum I visited Palatine Hill, the legendary starting location of Rome. It had some terrific ruins, but I didn't know what any of them were! There's a distinct lack of signage to explain all of Rome's tourist locations. :(

While on Palatine Hill I was taking a short rest and listened to part of another tour group. I liked their guide so much that I got her brochure so I could take in part of her Vatican tour.

After Palatine Hill I visited the Imperial Forums... Crazy cool ruins!!! Columns and arches and ancient temples! OMG they were beyond cool. Again though, you don't know what you're looking at, so you tend to have to do post-research after you get back to your room. (That's what my roomie referred to it as.) I was so tired at this point that I actually found a slab of marble and flopped down on it for 30 minutes or so and catnapped in the shade. Nothin' like flaking out at some ancient ruins.

While on Palatine Hill I met some Canadian girls and I ran into them again while in the Forum, so we got together for a lunch at a nearby trattoria. It was great not having to eat alone. We made plans to go to the Vatican today (more on that below). After lunch we split up because I wanted to explore the ancient area some more.

Well, I didn't really do the ancient stuff too much again - instead I walked around the ancient Roman Forums (lame becuse they were indistinct lumps of rock in grassy areas - I could have been walking around an rocky field in Canada for all the definition these ruins had). I strolled around the outside of the colosseum some more and wandered to Domus Aurea... Which is apparantly just a park for locals... Probably the first authentic Roman locals I've encountered since arriving!

After ancient Rome I decided to go back to the Spanish Steps - it was nearly night now and I was hoping to catch sunset over Rome. Well, I did... But it was anti-climatic. LOL. I stood around for like an hour with such anticipation, only to have the sun go down with barely a blink. No red skies, no brilliant flashes of light, etc. Le sadness! Oh well. I wandered home, got a salad for dinner and went to bed. (Whereupon the roommate fiasco with loudness took place - right now I've had about 12 hours of sleep in 48...)

Today I got up bright and early so that I could go on the Vatican tour. Again, I don't know how to describe it! It's so opulent and gaudy! I'm sure if I was religious, I'd be more properly impressed, but I'm happy our tour only took us for the highlights. You could probably take a full week to explore the various museums and look at their paintains and sculptures. I got to see some original works by Rafael, Michalangelo, DaVinci, etc... Towards the end of our tour, we of course went through the Sistine Chapel. Erm... Anti-climatic is the word. Again, if I was religious it would be more impressive, but I'm not, so oggling the dreary walls (little light to protect the painting) was a bit boring! You get better details in replicas, etc. I feel blasphemous just typing this.

Our tour had to cut short before we could go to St. Peter's, so I'm meeting up with the Canadian girls again at 6:15 to check it out again.

Right now though I'm utterly exhausted. I've used up all my energy reserves, especially since I haven't had a good night's sleep since arriving. My feet also feel like they're going to fall off any time now. I'm sweaty and sunburned (if I get skin cancer, can I claim it's couture cancer because it's from Italy?). I really don't want to go out again, but if I don't, I'll have to visit the basilica on my own. Despite this, I AM thoroughly enjoying Rome. It's not at all what I expected, but it's also more.

Tomorrow's plan is to chillax and re-visit the Pantheon. I also want to go to the Capitoline museums. 3 of my roommates left today, so it'll be interesting to see who's left.

I also just want to say - WOW. There are so many tourists here! It's insane to fight through the crowds! And it's not even the heigh of tourist season!

P.S. I apologize for the mispelling of any location names in this post - I'm too tired/lazy to pull out my guidebook and find the proper spellings.