10 June 2008 - 20:10 - Somewhere between Munich & Rome
Well, I'm on the train now. My train car is mostly German teenagers on a school field trip...There's no one my age on the train. My couchette-mate and her three-year-old son have fallen asleep, so I think I'll go take my book to the bar car and read for a while until I'm tired.
When I got to the bar car, I found that everyone between 25-40 was hanging out there. There were at one point as many as 25 of us, sitting around drinking, playing cards, talking about our travel plans. Ahhhh, forget trying to sleep, the bar car was much more fun!! :) I would like to clarify though, in case the people from CityNightLine are reading this, I had nothing to do with the broken glass on the floor the next morning. And certainly nothing to do with the wine on the windows. I wouldn't waste good Italian wine like that.
Anyways, on to Rome....
Rome
(As with the last one, there will be a "log in" button, but you should be able to just hit the "view slideshow" option in order to see the photos without logging in)
Ahhhh, Rome. For years and years and years I've wanted to go to Italy, and the first thing I went to see (after stopping off at the Farmacia for my foot) was The Colosseum.
It was amazing. Every time I turned the corner, there it was again. Okay, maybe not that often, but it was pretty cool that every time I turned a corner, there was some building or fountain or monument or something that I wanted to see. And having just come from Dubai (where the big skyscrapers are less than 20 years old) and Germany (where most of the biuldings were rebuilt in the mid-1940's), this city is old.
A quick note on my hostel: I stayed at a wonderful place called The Beehive. It is just a couple blocks from the Termini train station, which made in convenient to everywhere I wanted to get to. They have an 8-person dorm room (which I stayed in, for only 20 euros a night!), as well as a number of double and a double/triple hotel room. They also have a restaurant downstairs, free internet and computer access, a lovely garden with tables and everything, and a fabulous cat, Ingmar. It was a great location, very comfortable, and the price was fabulous. If you are ever visiting Rome, I'd suggest at least checking it out while figuring out your travel plans....
On my first day in Rome, after wandering around The Colosseum and the Roman Forum, I went over to the Piazza della Repubblica, and decided to go hang out at the Fontana delle Naiadi, which is the fountain in the middle of the traffic circle. It was nice weather, I had the sun shining in my face, I had taken off my sandal to let my foot get some air, and after a random drive-by-propositioning, I noticed the cops showing up. Not just a few cops either, I counted over 100 officers of either the Polizei or the Carib Nieri. There were camera crews, a couple ambulances, and lots and lots of cops. Soon the protesters started showing up. That's when I decided to move out of the middle of the traffic circle (where there was only one easy way in and out), and I opted to sit at a nice little coffee shop, watching with morbid amazement. The Italians were coming from all over the country to protest our President. Wow. First of all, the President doesn't even come to see me when I'm at home, but here he is stalking me on vacation?!?!? And secondly, everyone else in the world wants to protest him when all of us are counting down the days until his departure??? Amazing...
I ended up leaving before the protest got into full swing, partly because I didn't think my parents would appreciate a call for bail money from an Italian Jail, and partly because there was a soccer game that night to watch. :) The first night I was at Cafee Trombeta, a couple blocks from my hostel, where they had great desserts and even better flat screen tv's. :) (The second night was at a great restaurant on the other side of the train station from me, with a nice 70-year-old man who owned the place who was so impressed that I was a female who knew all about soccer that he kept asking me to stay in Rome. Alas, that was my last night there....)
My second day involved trips to Vatican City (both the museum and the Basilica), and then wandering about, seeing the Spanish Steps, the Pantheon, more of the presidential motorcade...yup, he was still following me around town....
On the third day, I went on an early morning journey to the Trevi Fountain (Rome at 7 in the morning is gorgeous! No crowds, only locals on the roads, and fresh pastries at all the cafes!) I then took a midday train to Florence....
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