When in Roma

As I type this we are on a train heading to the town of Bari, which is on the East coast of Italy and major port for cruise ships and ferries on the Mediterranean. If all goes to plan, we will spend tonight on a ferry heading to Bar, Montenegro where Steph's parents are just getting settled down for a two year mission trip. All going to plan, however, would be a minor miracle in the debacle that has been today. It all started when our alarm didn't go off and we woke up late. We figured that we still had plenty of time to catch our train at 8:20 (we thought), so we packed up and left with about an hour to get to the train station. The line to check out took about 10 minutes, then we waited for a bus for about 10 more. The bus we took was not the most direct, so that was about 15 more minutes to get to the metro station. From there, we hopped on a train for about 20 minutes to arrive at Termini, the main train station in Rome. If you've done the math, we had about 5 minutes to catch our train. We fought through the masses of people, ran around following the signs for the trains, ended up running down this really long corridor then having to run all the way back, found the right platform and it was...empty. Eight minutes late. You might be thinking "hey, at least Italy's trains are timely and efficient" but we later found out otherwise. So we went to a self service machine to try to change our ticket and somehow booked ourselves on the train for the next day. Next, we stood in line for 20 minutes to be told by the customer service guy that we are only allowed one change, and thus he cannot help us. Plead as we might that we only rebooked by accident, he was unwilling to help. He did give us a call center number that we can call (for a fee), and maybe get half our money back, but for now we'd have to buy another ticket. After much scrambling, panicing, and frustration, we booked a very indirect (and thus cheaper) ticket to get to Bari. I must mention that the ferry we are on our way to catch only goes once every couple days, so if we don't catch this one we are screwed. Anyways, for our next ticket we have to take 2 trains, a bus (ugh, no more buses..), and another train. The first train was late (why couldn't our first train have been late?), so we arrive at our first transfer point with 0 minutes before the next train is supposed to leave. But there is no train on the platform - is it late or did it leave early? Turns out neither. The workers apparently wanted a Friday off or something so they are on strike for the day. Just like that. The guy at the ticket booth just kept waving his hands saying "Strike! Strike! No trains!" By the grace of God we happened to have been sitting next to an American couple who are stationed in Naples with the Navy and have both compassion and a car - two things we were in desperate need of. We found out that there was a train leaving to Bari from Caserta, about 30 minutes away from where we were. But is this train on strike too? We had no idea, but anyways they insited on helping us and drove us over there. After a lot more confusion (the pinnacle of which was when I stood at the customer service line only to get the front and have the lady say no, lower the curtain, and apparently go on break), we were finally able to buy a ticket to Bari! What a relief. We've had to sit on the floor of the train most of the time, and I'm not sure we're going to get reimbursed for the ticket we missed out on due to the strike, but we don't care at all. Thanks again so much to the Francos! Our trip to Montenegro would have been ruined without them.

All of that isn't going to dampen our spirits after two wonderful days in Rome. Actually that didn't get off to a good start either. When we arrived in London, we had the snarkiest border control agent ever. She grilled us for 15 minutes, accusing us of trying to migrate illegally to the UK since we didn't have anything printed out for our departing flight. She certainly didn't like that we are currently unemployed either. Literally the most hostile human I have ever encountered. Ridiculous. Anyways, Rome. The eternal city. When visiting you only want the best in accomodation and location, so we stayed in a lovely little...tent. That's right, a massive campground just west of the city center. This place was a KOA on steroids. Wouldn't surprise me a bit if there were a thousand people staying there. It was crazy. The tent was nice and cheap though, and the campground had washing machines and dryers, so we did a load of laundry and were happy as clams. Our first day there we went to the Vatican City area, which includes St. Peter's Basilica and some other Catholic landmarks. The first thing that stuck me was the sheer number of tourists. I was thinking that coming in September the crowds would have died down a bit, and maybe they have, but wow! Just an insane number of tourists. We thought Machhu Picchu was crowded. Anyways, St. Peter's was amazingly ornate and BIG! She won't admit it, but Steph's favorite part was that all the Pope's are buried there. You can go down in the basement and see the shrines and tombs of Pope's dating back to 590 AD. It started to rain as we came out, so we sat and just enjoyed the view of the Basilica and Piazza San Pietro. One of the things we wish we had done before Rome was buy a guidebook. We could not figure out where the Sistine Chapel was but knew it was nearby. Evidentely you have to go inside the Vatican Museum to see it, which we didn't do (we didn't know what was in there). That's the one thing in Rome, that we know of, that we didn't get to see this time...

Steph in Piazza San Pietro with St. Peter's Basilica in the background

ceiling of St. Peter's

After the rain cleared we explored Old Rome a bit. I had read that Piazza Navona was the prettiest in Rome, and it didn't disappoint. There are no streets surrounding the plaza so it was just a peaceful area with a big Egyptian statue, fountains, sidewalk restaurants and nice old buildings with attractive little balconies. We especially liked the area around there - narrow cobblestone streets, boutique shops, tons of restaurants and cool old stuff. It was probably our favorite area of Rome. We had dinner of pizza and pasta in one of the sidewalk restaurants and then wandered around to some of the sites at night. A good friend of mine once recommended seeing the monuments of Washington DC at night, and now I make it a point to see all the good stuff at night. We saw the Pantheon (my favorite), the Trevi Fountain (Steph's favorite), and the Spanish Stairs (nobody's favorite - what's the big fuss about here?). And of course in between these stops we made the time to eat lots of getlato. I think we found the time to make three gelato stops that first day...

Our second day was reserved for Ancient Rome. How cool is it to walk out of the metro station and be face to face with the Colosseum, built starting in 7 AD? That famous landmark (although incredible) wasn't our favorite stop that day though. That was probably the Roman Forum, a large area of churches, temples, monuments, arches, gardens, and other relics from the heart of Ancient Rome, in various levels of conservation - from rubble to beautifully restored. Many of the structures were destroyed or damaged during the fall of Rome and the Renaissance period, and the ones that still stand only do so because they were turned into a church or something similar that was used by the people who later ruled Rome. When we first went in we kept saying to ourselves how in the future we'd like to learn more Roman history, but afterwards we're not sure. It is a LOT of history. Maybe we'll just watch Gladiator instead...

the remains of old columns in the Roman Forum with the Temple of Saturn in the background

the Arch of Septimus Severus

the Basilica of Maxentius - or what's left of it

View of the Arch of Titus and Colloseum from Palatino hill

We both thought that the Colosseum was cool from the outside, but the inside wasn't THAT interesting. Maybe we should have gotten a guide, but we were too cheap. I found it interesting that the only way they know what the appearance of the Colosseum was like under different rulers is by what was printed on coins from that time. Also, before the network of hallways and rooms were added underneath the arena (for storage, staging, machinery for trap doors, etc.), the whole thing was filled with water to simulate naval battles. That wasn't in the movie. They also brought all kinds of exotic animals in like lions, leapords, giraffes, and elephants for the gladiators to fight and sometimes would throw an unarmed criminal in to get torn to shreds. How strange life must have been back then.

inside of the Colloseum - there would have been a wooden platform with sand over the middle area

Our camera battery had died the night before when we went to the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain, so we went back to see them in the daylight...

just some cool government building

Pantheon - they were doing renovations to the exterior but still looked awesome

the roof of the Pantheon has a big hole in it. Supposedly it would collapse without it.

the Trevi Fountain - throw a coin over your shoulder into the fountain means you'll return to Rome one day

Overall we were really happy with Rome. We ate loads of pizza, and of course tried lots of gelato. All the sights, though crowded, pretty much lived up to the hype. Makes us excited to see the rest of Italy, which people rave about even more than Rome. After Montenegro, we have 5 days to see Florence and some of the coast - we're thinking Cinque Terre and maybe Pisa. We'd love any tips about where to go, what to see, especially what to eat!