This is long, long overdue, but I’ve been doing a lot of work for school. So, two essays and two presentations later, a summary of my adventures in Rome:
Day One (starting in Brighton)
I woke up. I caught the bus to the coach station where I got the bus to Heathrow. I missed my stop, not realizing I was supposed to get off at Terminal 5. I had to catch a bus back to terminal 5. It was funny because I had to pay 50p to get the bus, but all I had was a 10 pound note, and the driver didn’t have change, so the three people who were also on the bus immediately started going through their change and one of them paid for me. Old people are so sweet :)
Anyway, after that I got to the proper terminal and got on the plane. It was a really smooth ride, pretty much no turbulence except towards the end when we went through some clouds. Once I arrived in Rome I caught the train to Termini station, then I took the metro to Viale Manzoni. The hostel was a short walk away, around 4 minutes. I stayed at Ciak Hostel, a nice, cozy little hostel, which I’d definitely recommend. (No, they aren’t paying me to say this, I just found their staff to be amazing. They’re all really nice there.)
And then after I checked in, I wandered around to find somewhere to eat. That’s when I had my first issue with the language barrier. The guys who worked at the pizza place didn’t speak a word of English. They kept asking me if I spoke any other languages and I felt really stupid for only speaking one. I eventually got my message across, got some pizza, and went back to the hostel, hoping the next few days would be less awkward.
Day Two
I decided to start early and went to the Coliseum. Unfortunately my sense of direction is terrible, so pretty much whenever I wanted to go somewhere I went the direct opposite way. (Eventually I spent so much time there that I did learn how to read the map properly, so yay for entrapment by volcano?) I walked the wrong way for ten minutes, then walked back the right way. It was pretty much a straight line from the hostel to the Coliseum. I walked around the entire thing trying to figure out how to get inside. Upon walking around a second time I realized the entrance was extremely obvious, and that I still sucked at directions.
It was really cool. There’s a little museum type thing on the second floor, and you can walk around the inside (but not on the ground on the inside). I had already downloaded a free thing about the Coliseum before I left, so I listened to that while I walked around. They had gladiator fights in there and everything.
Next was Palatine Hill, which is
a short walk from the Coliseum (there are signs; the Roman Forum is next to it too). It was really pretty, though very uphill. I was tired after only a few minutes. I’m not sure what else to say about it, but it was impressive to see.
I went to the Roman Forum next. I really, really wish I had had a tour guide, because I had no idea what I was looking at. There were no signs that I could see. I wasn’t even sure if I was in the right place. It was a bunch of broken down stone buildings, and while it was cool to look at, I didn’t actually know what it was. Tour guides are expensive though, and considering all the extra money I spent while I was later trapped there, I’m glad I didn’t waste any more money on a guide. (Overall, you don’t need a guide for the Coliseum, or necessarily Palatine Hill, but I’d definitely recommend one for the
Forum.)
I was very tired after the Forum, but the day wasn’t done yet. I tried to go to the Pantheon and somehow ended up at Trevi Fountain. I’m laughing as I write this because that’s completely ridiculous. I have no idea how I ended up there…I thought I was following the map. Fail.
I bought some souvenirs and sat down and got a picture and through a coin in…you know, all the touristy stuff. I
checked the time on my phone and decided to get some gelato too—fragola, or strawberry in English. It was good but to be honest nothing special. I decided to sit down again right before searching for the Pantheon, just to
rest a bit more. After a few minutes I got up and tried going to the Pantheon. Five minutes later I want to check the time again. But I couldn’t. Why? Because my phone was gone.
Yeah, that second time I sat down is when it happened. I got up and the phone fell out of my pocket. I know, because I remember thinking something felt odd, but figured I was just being paranoid. Good job me.
So I immediately turned around to go back to the Trevi Fountain. After all, there was still a chance it was there, right? Only not really, because it’s probably the biggest tourist trap in Rome, and there’s a gagillion people sitting and standing around there. And what made it worse is that I SUCK AT DIRECTIONS, so even though I’d just come from there, when I tried to go back I ended up lost, and it took maybe 15 minutes to find it again. Of course, the phone wasn’t there anymore.
Really irritated, I decided to just go to the Pantheon, and thanked my lucky stars I had brought a spare phone just in case. It ended up being extremely useful, what with the volcano and all.
You know, I feel really bad for contributing to the whole “women are horrible at directions” stereotype, but I really am horrible at it. Sigh.
And the Pantheon wasn’t even that impressive. There was this massive scaffold covering half of it, and there wasn’t really anything inside. I made my way back to the hostel for the day.
Even though it kind of sounds like I had a bad day, I actually really enjoyed it, and I talked to some nice girls when I got back, so it was a decent day. It sounds kind of negative reading it back, but it really wasn’t. I guess I just figured I only have 2 more months in England anyway, so losing the phone wasn’t that big of a deal. I mean, in 5 years when I look back at my life, I seriously doubt losing that phone will even matter in the grand scheme of things.
It’s all about perspective people. That’s my bit of optimism for the day—enjoy it, it’s rare.
This is getting really long actually so I’ll continue this another day. I’ve used the word “really” a lot in this entry, sorry about that. I’m really, really sorry about that ;)
