Day 1: The Colosseum, Forum, and Trevi Fountain
We started Rome with Barcardi Breezers, peach tea, and pizza sandwiches. The mediocre food was masked by the view of ancient ruins in the middle of the city of Rome. All through lunch a man selling parasols repeatedly interrupted our conversations to see if we would like to buy one, and we decided it was time to head to the Colosseum.
We were convinced to take a tour by a young American guy standing by the entrance line (his perfect hair and suave mannerisms having no impact on our decision to expand our educational horizons). It turned out to be a great decision because we got to skip the incredibly long line of Asian tourists and actually learned about what went on in the Colosseum. Our guide was hilarious and he told us all about where they kept the lions and how gladiator fights worked. I had no idea how much funding was needed for these fights. Animals were shipped across the world to please the crowds costing the emperors millions and millions of dollars. We also learned that most fights did not end in death except for one fighter who rigged most of the fights and ended up killing his opponents (meaning animals or other gladiators). Some fights were declared fight to the death matches or others offered terms of surrender (but only if the emperor was in a good mood that day). Our guide was also kind enough to tell us what was wrong in the movie "Gladiator" but unfortunately I never saw it. That will be number one on my list of things to watch this summer.
After walking around the Colosseum and seeing actual armor from fights long ago (I'm keeping the dates vague to create a feeling of mystery..and because I don't remember when the armor was from), it was time for our second tour of the Forum which is the center of development of the city of Rome. Our second tour guide had a very thick British accent and talked incredibly slowly, like he was narrating a PBS special for two year olds. It was a cross between crocodile dundee and Ben Stein...hard to explain I guess. I don't remember much from the forum tour because I couldn't really wrap my head around how old everything was, but our guide told us the story of the beginnings of Rome and Romulus and Remus. He said that most of the mountain has still not be excavated because all of the ruins lie beneath the ground. He also told us about the beautiful painted marble found at the site (conveniently borrowed by a small place called the Vatican), leaving not much left at the Forum. It then began pouring rain, so we continued the tour soaking wet. The rain stopped quickly and we got to see a double rainbow over the ruins of Rome. It was pretty unreal. Our guide then showed us where the kingdom's oldest temples were located and the first building of commerce. There were more ancient ruins that he explained but we all got a little distracted by this little baby on the tour who kept giggling every time we looked at him. His mother didn't like this and put down the hood of the stroller so he couldn't see us anymore. We tried to see the building where Caesar's ashes are kept, but it started closing before we could get in.
Now remember, we're still in Italy, and this day is missing something very important that has been a crucial part of our experiences in other Italian cities, gelato. We stopped for some on our way to the Trevi fountain, and for the first time were very disappointed. Our flavors were mediocre and the woman at the cash register was extremely rude. We downed it quick so we wouldn't have to think about it, and then made our way to the fountain.
Now I thought that the Paris metro was good for people watching, but the Trevi Fountain blew it out of the water (pun intended). There were European girls climbing on the fountain to pose for pictures and loud Americans with Frommers guide books EVERYWHERE. We threw in pennies and made our wish. Gulfem and I then proceeded to act like 5 year olds and fight with water. We then decided to sit and relax for a while and just enjoy the view. We came at the perfect time of day because as the sun went down we got to see the fountain light up.
We decided to go grab dinner and I suggested we try to wander a little bit so we could find a place less touristy. As we walked down some side streets, I stopped in to what looked like a bookstore to ask if there was a good restaurant near by. The woman replied "well we are a good restaurant, but we're closing." Oops. She continued in broken English, "There is a good restaurant near here. Go straight, then you will see steps, always keep right, there is a good view." By some stroke of luck, and a few trips down the wrong steps into dark alleys, we found what looked to be a beautiful view and a restaurant called Melo with flashing lights. The place looked packed, so I took this as a good sign and asked for a table. They squeezed us into the restaurant, and we immediately knew that this place was a winner.
We started with the best bruschetta I have ever eaten, and if it was culturally acceptable to lick the plate, I would have done it. One of the waiters came to our table with a guitar and sang us a song in English called "Felicia No Capiche." He was hilarious and we spent the rest of the night humming the tune. We ate some okay pasta, and then Diana and I found the holy grail of desserts. We split a cannoli and the restaurant owner, a cute old Italian man in a black vest, offered to cut it in half. As he cut it he shook his head and moaned "my beautiful cannoli" and you could see that it pained him to cut his perfectly crafted shell. Then our waiter told us about how he was learning to speak English and we complimented him on his language skills. After the check, he brought us out shots of lemon cello and Theresa and Kendall almost took it like a shot. The waiter yelled, "No Tequila Boom Boom" and told them to sip the liquor. While the others paid their check, our waiter took my hands and pulled me out of my chair to teach me traditional Italian dances. All of dinner we had heard a loud group of people clapping and singing behind a wall in the other part of the restaurant. He danced with me to the other side and much to my surprise, the noisemakers were all 80 year old Italian men with endless bottles of wine. Our English speaking waiter and very non-English speaking owner begged us to come back the next night to see them.
We went straight back to the hostel for the night to pass out in preparation for our 8am wake up call to see the Vatican. When we got back to the room, the empty bed was filled with a guy covered in tattoos and piercings with long dreadlocks. I was surprised at first, but after a few minutes I found out that he was a French tattoo artist with great music taste. We exchanged some bands and ended up giving me a sketch of a music tattoo to keep.
Day 2: The Vatican, Pantheon, and Spanish Steps
We woke up at the crack of dawn, grabbed pastries, and ran to the Vatican Museum to make it to our reservation time. There is no way to describe the amount of things that are in the Vatican museum. Of course the Sistine Chapel is one of the most famous parts of the museum. Michelangelo's "The Last Judgment" actually interrupts the wall's chronological portraits of the bible, leaving out stories of Mary and the coming of Jesus. The nudity of the painting was also very controversial at the time. The Pope's Master of Ceremonies Biagio da Cesena complained to the pope of the nudity and called the artwork a disgrace. Michelangelo then painted Cesena into the portrait as the judge of the underworld. Michelangelo was also beginning to become frustrated with his waning skill in painting and this can be seen in the morbidity of this work. The ceiling was once a starry sky but was commissioned to be painted over because it did not live up to the beautiful art already painted on the walls. The two back windows were actually filled in to make for more room for paintings (These fun facts brought to you by the audio guide I insisted on renting by myself). The only problem with the Chapel is that it is packed shoulder to shoulder and everyone disregards the rules for no talking or photography. This leads to bright lights flashing everywhere and annoying high school tour groups running around and yelling. Despite these issues, I was still able to enjoy the pure beauty of the paintings. The paintings are simply breathtaking. We also walked through other rooms of the museum including the hall of maps and tapestries. After seeing Raphael's self portrait in Florence, I was able to spot him in one room as he painted himself into his work. He was depicted along famous scientists, philosophers, and poets of the time.
Next we went to see the Vatican and I was shocked to see that this was also a burial site for popes inside the church. Theresa, our informed catholic, taught us that each pope has his own symbol, and we spent a long time looking at the memorials on the ground and the beautiful wall sculptures. By this time we were starving so we went to Piazza Navona to grab lunch. Everything was super touristy and overpriced, so Diana and I decided to share a caprese salad and pizza. The mozzarella was unreal, and we got to watch as tourists took pictures with human statues.
After lunch came possibly the best gelato of my life. It was this cute little shop in a brick alley with flowers around it. We walked in and a very sweet man from Peru let us try all of the flavors. It must have taken us 30 minutes to figure out what we wanted, but I ended up getting white chocolate, dark chocolate and wine, and mille foglie (some type of italian pastry). Then we saw the same baby from the Forum (the one with the mean parents who wouldn't let us make googly faces at him). The parents looked seriously concerned at this point that we were stalking their child.
Then we headed to the Pantheon and saw the hole in the ceiling and the drain in the center for the rain. There was a famous Madonna and Child portrait covered in a gold cover plate. I think Theresa told us something interesting about it, but I don't really remember. What I do remember is seeing the same baby AGAIN.
At this point we just had to leave because it was getting a little creepy. Then we headed to a paper store down the street. The man gave us a demonstration on how they make paper and how he uses the traditional techniques of his family in Florence. Theresa and Gulfem bought letter seals (like the initial thing with wax), and I almost got one until I realized that I haven't written a single letter or postcard since arriving in Europe.
After that we stumbled upon a leather shop. The store looked like a workshop and there were purses covering the ceiling and walls. One woman with crazy hair was smoking a cigarette behind stacks of leather, and I ended up finding a beautiful brown leather satchel and a rose leather keychain.
By that point it was almost sunset, so we rushed over to the Spanish steps. We climbed to the top and bought Peronis to drink while we enjoyed the view. We spent most of the time being harassed by men selling sunglasses and hemp bracelets. Finally, I told them that we really weren’t going to buy anything and that they should go away. The guy looked outraged and finally left us alone. Then we were free to enjoy the view of Rome at sunset.
We stopped for dinner one last time before heading to the hostel. We got really cheesy gnocchi and stopped at a bakery for late night cannoli before passing out at the hostel. Our French friend was asleep at that point and smelled horrible. Luckily we were so tired, it didn’t really matter. The next morning we said our goodbyes to Rome and headed it Istanbul!
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