DAYS 4 & 5

Day 4 (29 March 2008) – Leaving Barcelona, Arriving in Rome

Ah! Days of travel! There really are few things worse than traveling all day. Something that should be relaxing quickly becomes stressful and takes every last ounce of energy right out of you. Plus, being the one who has to organize the trip and make sure that everything falls into place and that you get everywhere on time and all that (as opposed to your dad doing it all for you!) is an added stress! Never would I have dreamed that raveling would take this much concentration and energy.

Anyway, moving on. Check out from our hostel in Barcelona was at 11 am and we had to catch the bus from the bus station around the same time to be in the Girona Airport in time for our flight so sleeping in ceased to be an option. Fortunately we made it out of the hostel and to the bus stop and consequently to the airport in time for all of this. Once again, Ryanair proved sufficient and we made it onto and through the flight with little to no hassle (thank God!).

Flying into Rome over the Mediterranean Sea was again a highlight of the trip. I really can’t stress enough how surreal the whole ordeal truly is. Lu seems to feel somewhat the same way. I feel myself randomly smiling or giggling and when she asks me why, I can’t come up with any better answer than, “We’re in Italy!” Only in my wildest and most hopeful dreams did I ever think I’d be here. But throwing sentiment aside, seeing Italy from the sky was gorgeous, even in the tail end of winter/beginning of Spring. The sun was again shining and I was again thankful. Upon arrival, we were again a bit confused where to go, but found the Terravision Bus (with the help of a nice man who pointed it out to us) and hopped on. On a completely unrelated note, we didn’t have to go through passport control or customs when we arrived in Italy which I thought was a bit odd. I was frustrated I didn’t get an Italy stamp in my passport! Anyway, 40 minutes later after sitting on a bus listening to two obnoxious Americans having a rather loud conversation behind me we had arrived in Rome! And a rather sketchy part it seemed, as well. We were apparently at the big central bus/metro station, but despite the fact that we felt even more than lost we found the metro, bought at 3 day pass, and attempted to follow the directions we had to get to our hostel (which is somewhere north, just outside of Rome).

After another hefty amount of walking carrying my heavy suitcase (why did I buy a bag without wheels!?) through the metro station we finally found our train and got to our station, but the directions said we had to change to an above-ground train, but we didn’t really know where that was, and all the signs were in Italian! Upon leaving the station, we ended up finding the train and got on. 20 minutes later we arrived at our destination but from here we were supposed to catch a shuttle bus directly to the hostel. By this point, its about 6:15pm and the part of town we were now in looked even *more* sketchy! We must have looked really lost coming out of the station though because within a minute or two this chick comes up to us and asks if we we’re British. Without even thinking, I said that I was! So she asks if we’re trying to get to the hostel and she points us towards the bus. Thankful beyond measure we started walking to the bus she had pointed us to, but she corrected me and explained that they (she and her friend) were waiting for it too! Without her help I really wonder if we should have found the place. But we did and the shuttle bus brought us to this campsite/hostel that we were to stay at.

I must admit that after the success of our hostel room in Spain I was a bit apprehensive to see what a room at some campsite outside Rome that was cheaper would be like. We checked in and got our key and were pleasantly surprised. Being situated outside central Rome, the Tiber Campsite/Hostel is quiet and quaint. It’s gorgeous with all the greenery, kept up beautifully, and is actually very safe. There is a restaurant/bar and a little market as well as a swimming pool. Our room is actually half of a portable trailer that’s been split into two rooms. But we each have a comfortable bed and a shower. Its perfect! The only drawback is that we’re a bit far from the city, but I think we’ll make it work.

After getting situated in the hostel we ventured down to the restaurant because we hadn’t eaten anything all day. The restaurant, to our surprise, was both cheap and cute. It feels like a Macaroni Grill except cheaper and more laid back. The pasta was to die for and the wine was tasty as well. Lu and I managed to finish an entire bottle of white wine and the waiter (who was quite cute, I might add) looked impressed. We sat talking for another hour and after some dessert and coffee (thank God for coffee!) we decided to call it a night. We’re off to explore Rome itself tomorrow and I couldn’t be happier!

Day 5 (30 March 2008) – ROME, Italy

Last night might be the first time I can honestly say that I didn’t really sleep. Despite going to bed at a decent time and being exhausted from all the aforementioned traveling, I could *not* fall asleep last night. Literally, I don’t think I actually even dozed off until about 5 or 6am and my alarm went off at 8am! I think it was the coffee. Well, that and our room was quite cold as well. Its lovely and adorable, but really cold. And we’re next to the restaurant/bar so its not exactly quiet until that closes at about 1am. Anyway, I spent the night tossing and turning, so after I’d finally fallen asleep waking up and taking a shower was not something I wanted to do. But alas, I sucked it up and got in the shower by 8:30am so that Lu could take one after me and we could catch the shuttle bus by 9:30am. All went according to plan and we were off on the shuttle, then to the metro which felt considerably less complicated this time.

On the agenda for the day was to see the Coliseum. I know it sounds incredibly cliché, but words truly can’t describe my awe at actually seeing this structure in real life. There it was, a mountain of stone just sitting there with people all crowded around. Again, it was something that I’d always dreamed of seeing after learning about it in school and seeing it in movies but never truly thought I’d get to see it. Immediately the cameras were out and I was snapping my first shots of the Roman Coliseum. But though the outside was incredible, we wanted to go inside.

Almost immediately we were hounded by a tour guide promising to help us beat the queues and gain access to parts of the building that the public doesn’t normally see all for the price of 15 euro! But, it was free admission day so we initially passed on his offer. Again, we were hounded by another this time offering a tour for 12 euro. Not wanting to wait in the queue (which according to the guide would take us about 2 hours to get through) and also wanted information about the place rather than just the sight of it, we paid the 12 euro and went on the tour. In all, it turned out to be slightly useless. I think the only thing we learned from the tour guide (or the only thing that stuck, at least, because she must have repeated it every 4 or 5 minutes) was that not everything that was there was actually part of the ancient structure. Apparently when the Coliseum was slightly restored, some new brick had been added to the old brick, and our tour guide felt that this was the most important point of the whole tour. New brick and old brick. It became a running joke for the rest of the trip. Old brick and new brick. New brick and old brick. Anyway, after the useless tour we got to wander around and take pictures… of the old and new brick.

To be perfectly honest, while immense and impressive, I had imagined the place to be a bit larger. The arena is big, but not enormous. But looking on it, after a while both Lu and I agreed that filled with people, and in its heyday, the Coliseum must have been truly spectacular and unprecedented. There was a neat exhibit in it as well with a bunch of original Roman artifacts which was interesting as well. To see things (carvings, busts, coins and such) that previously had only been pictures in a book until this point was both amazing and fun.

Following the Coliseum, we ate lunch at a cute little restaurant on the street, getting pizza from a buy who spoke very little English. Yay. I feel like a snobby American at places like that even though I try not to be one. It’s no wonder why Americans have a bad rep internationally… we don’t make the most agreeable tourists. But, moving on! Our tour guide had told us that for the 12 euro we had already paid we could take a tour of the Palatine Hill/Forum at 2pm. Well, Lucy and I had forgotten (or did we just not know?) about Daylight Savings time, so when we an hour late for the tour, we realized we’d been an hour behind all day! Fortunately for us, there was another tour at 3:30 so we took that one instead.

The Palatine Hill and the Ruins of the ancient Roman Forum are really nothing more than excavated ruins, but it is incredible. It was surreal (again) to be standing at Rome’s heart: the Forum, and to see Emperor’s palaces and homes and stone that’s thousands of years old in pillars, busts, arches, and very recognizable pieces of buildings. Again, we took an insane amount of pictures like any (and every) self respecting tourist. I think what I liked most about it was that it wasn’t just stone. Since it had been in ruins for so long, there was grass and greenery growing all around it!

And that was pretty much it for the day. I had made it through the whole day without sleep, and this far into the trip Lucy and I can still stand each other. It was nice to be able to actually stay in explore both the Coliseum and the Forum without feeling rushed instead of trying to pack too much into the day. Wanting to make it back to our hostel before the sun had been set for long, we headed back toward the metro station by about 7pm. It was a great day. It really was and taking pictures of all of it never got old. We started at the Coliseum and finished there as well, and I took way too many pictures both times. I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

We made it back to the hostel fine, and got some food and now here’s hoping that I actually sleep tonight. I didn’t have any coffee with my dinner (or all day, in fact) so here’s hoping. I did have wine with dinner though in hopes that that would send me to sleep. I love the fact that you can get a pitcher of the house wine out here for about 4 euros. It’s awesome. I’m going to miss that.