When in Rome

Thursday morning lecture began with more of Earl incorrectly translating what our speaker was saying, IE just reading the PowerPoint and adding 5 minutes more of his own interjection to each point. For lunch I walked with Ria and Erin through the nearby park which was quite lovely; we found a kebab place for lunch as preceded by pictures while Erin and I tried not to fall into the lake. Then we had some more amazing gelato, partly because they had wonderful flavors including amaretto and coffee and secondly because the woman gave us GIANT scoops it was great. Then we wandered onto the floating dock/pier and sat and ate gelato with our feet in the lake and it was also rather nice. Returned for more class followed by a bit of down time, then I went to H&M with Beza and did more unnecessary shopping J Met up with Sara then had Mexican for dinner – apparently we can still eat any kind of food we want no matter where we are, yay for globalization.

Thus begins the saga of my Rome trip, which at the moment is only halfway finished. Orlando and I left Lugano around 9:30, walking up the giant hill that Ticino is with our bags and trying not to hyperventilate on the way up. Since it was night time the ticket office was closed but Orlando was sure that his email said the only thing we needed was our reservation number, so we got on the train with just that. Milan (I keep wanting to call it Milano because of Pepperidge Farm cookies, but in Italian it is called Milano so ha!) was our correspondance point so we got off there and switched to a non-Swiss train. Well about thirty minutes into the ride the ticket checkers come around and Orlando tries to give her his number but it doesn’t work. We had already used his number on the Swiss train to Milan, and it was the only reservation number we received while booking our ticket, but the lady said it wasn’t the one she was looking for. We pulled up the online confirmation saved on the computer, and she saw that we had indeed booked tickets all the way to Roma, but since we didn’t have actual tickets to give her she would have to fine us in addition to make us pay for tickets again! Luckily she was nice and found out that at our next stop we had 15 minutes during which Orlando and I could jump off the train, run to an automated machine, and get actual copies of our tickets (which we should have originally done in Milan). We got in about 15 minutes early and had a half hour to find and print our tickets, so it worked out perfectly even though the lady never came around again to validate our tickets. Anyway our train was an overnighter and we rode second class so basically it was six of us crowded into a compartment sleeping sitting up all night. Needless to say I was not comfortable and woke up at about 4 in the morning and just stretched and watched Italy go by in the darkness, but I fell asleep from 4 to 7 when our train got in.

Since I booked my hostel after Orlando I couldn’t get into the same one he was in, but both of our hostels were near the train station. We checked in; mine is basically in an apartment building and I think they rented out a flat to make into a hostel. It was very small, but had a bed and bathroom which was all I needed. I had breakfast at mine, which consisted of two cups of coffee (really it was faux coffee, it was two cappuccinos which don’t actually have that much coffee in them) and some bread and jam. Friday was probably the longest day because we started so early. From our hostel we walked towards the Spanish steps but first passed a Basilica, I think it was Santa Maria e Angelos, whatever it would be in Italian, but basically it was Mary and the Archangels. It was pretty, and then when we went outside we were in Piazza Repubblica and there was music and a whole bunch of kids right outside the church for I’m not sure what reason, Orlando thinks they were socialists. Anyway we continued walking until we got to the Spanish steps, which unfortunately were pretty disappointing. I was all set to have gelato at the Spanish steps since it seemed appropriate for Rome and Italy but there was a giant scaffolding/poster advertising the obelisk I guess they’re planning to put up there, and I guess since it’s October there were no flowers along the sides like it shows in all the pictures. We walked to the top and saw some people selling pictures/paintings, then went back down and headed for Fontane Trevy. Trevy was definitely not a disappointment, it was actually quite beautiful. We got our token pictures there, sat a while, then kept going. On a side note, one thing we noticed is that there McDonalds on literally EVERY corner – they were everywhere. Then we walked to the Pantheon, which was sort of church-like inside too, with a big dome in the middle and I think Victor Emmanuel or someone famous but who I haven’t heard of is buried there.

The next stop was St. Peter’s Basilica and Vatican City. The line to get into the basilica wrapped around the entire piazza, so we got in it of course. There was video of the pope shaking hands with people, then suddenly he was walking down a hall and leaving the basilica, right in front and across the piazza from where we were standing! You could see the crowds of people congregating towards him, and we watched his car drive away. Not long after he left it started torrentially downpouring, and neither of us had brought an umbrella since it was beautiful out when we left and the forecast didn’t have rain in it. I uselessly draped my faux-silk scarf that I had just bought over my head, and then when we were practically about to get in there were signs saying that Swiss army knives were not allowed. Well of course I had the one I just bought from the Red Cross with me, and I didn’t want it taken away, so Orlando suggested I hide it under a trash can. Someone had the same idea, so I put mine nearby the trash can in a different spot and we were rushed in without them even checking our pockets because it was raining and they wanted to get everyone out of it.

The basilica was of course beautiful, we saw Peter’s tomb and John Paul’s tomb and all the dead pope’s tombs as well, and pretty artwork and chapels and whatnot. Then we left and I ran back to get my Swiss army knife, afraid that it had been found and stolen. Well it wasn’t there when I got back, just as I had worried, and I think the torrential rain might have swept it away in the mini rivers that were made. I found two Swiss army knives by the trash can, and considered taking them in exchange for the one I lost, but one was kind of grody and the other was fancier than mine and I felt bad for the person who would have lost it. It started pouring again so I had to make a decision quickly and I threw them back down near the trash can and ran under the overhang. Next we wanted to see the Sistine chapel, so we walked around the corner and were about to get in line as the rain had let up a bit but then it started pouring again. My jeans and feet were already soaking wet, as well as my scarf, and I really didn’t want to stand in the line in the rain. We were trying to decide what to do, since we didn’t know how the buses worked but couldn’t very well walk back to the hostel in this rain. A bunch of men were walking around trying to sell the tourists umbrellas, but I didn’t want to buy one when I had a perfectly good one waiting for me at the hostel. One guy was pretty insistent, but we kept saying no, and he finally opened one up and said he would sell it for us for just one Euro. We still said no, then he just gave it to us and walked away! I think it was karma for not taking the knives. We walked over to where all the buses were and found out that you don’t buy tickets in a machine but at the newspaper stands or tabacchy shops, which I thought was weird but I guess that’s just how it is. We got on the metro which took us back to the train station and near our hotel. From there I took a much needed shower and changed, as well as got my umbrella.

I met Orlando again around 5, and by then it was pretty much too late to do any more sightseeing since everything was closed or closing soon. Orlando wanted to see some kind of show, so we walked over to the Teatro Opera to see if there was anything we could catch, but according to the poster there wasn’t anything showing until a few days from when we left. We wandered down the street and found a church were they were having people sing songs from different operas, so we got tickets for 15 euros then looked for a place to eat dinner before the show started. We ended up at a trattoria right by my hostel, and let me just remind you how much I love Italian food. There was a group of 6 Italian men sitting near us, and we watched them devour full plates of carbonara in probably less than 5 minutes, then have a meat/shrimp dish as well! I helped myself to some of the buffet antipaste, including some delicious mozzarella and tomatoes, asparagus wrapped in prosciutto, and breaded fried mushrooms. Orlando and I both wanted wine, and the waiter brought us out an entire liter (probably 4 glasses each). I ordered saltimbocca alla romana (veal saltimbocca), and Orlando got carbonara. He got his pasta before me, and so did a couple of tables that got there after us, so I wasn’t very happy with the service. When my veal finally did come it was pretty good, but I tried Orlando’s carbonara and didn’t like it that much. We certainly did not finish our wine, and the guy was nice and charged us less since he could serve the leftover wine to the big group that had just come in. We headed over to the church and met a group of older ladies, one of whom actually used to live right near me in Walnut Creek! She was even the second person I’d met that day from Walnut Creek – a couple of the people we talked to at the Basilica were from there, too. I heard opera singing for the first time, and absolutely loved it. I plan on seeing a full opera with Matt when I get back to DC J That ended around 10pm, and we were pretty exhausted so we headed back to our hostels and went to bed. I met a group of students from BU that were studying in London but were in Rome for the weekend, they were nice. Three of my roommates were from Australia (but didn’t know each other beforehand), and they were nice too.