February 28: Rome to Florence

I got a decent sleep last night-I think I only woke up twice. The alarm went off at 6:30 and we got ready and said good bye to our wonderful roommates by 7. We waited in the help line at Termini for awhile, just to make sure our tickets were right and we knew what to do. The train we wanted was leaving at 8:45. We waited till 8 for the grocery store to open to buy bread and cheese for lunch, and an apple for me. Then we tried to find our train, but it was really confusing! Thank goodness we stopped a nice-looking fellow with a bit of English for directions, or we would have been entirely wrong. Thanks to him, we found our train just in time. We had booked the "slow train" that makes lots of stops, but I loved watching the countryside roll by, especially the pretty valley and hilltop villages, the sheep, cows and chickens roaming and scratching away in fields. I even saw one small sheep herd guarded by the big, fluffy white dogs they raise with the herds to think they're a toothy sheep. The morning was a bit damp, with some light rain, but it had cleared up nicely. I read through my wonderful new Frommer's guide to Florence, planning our visit. We ate our bread and "Edamer" cheese and got to Florence's Santa Maria Novella Stazione right at 12:45. We found our hostel easily, but I can't say I'm at all impressed. Amanda had specifically emailed them about using credit cards to pay (he'd said of course) but now the machine is mysteriously "broken" for this week. BS. He just doesn't want to pay the merchant fee, but what can we do? Good thing we got more cash yesterday. The bathrooms here are communal and gross. The one communal computer he'd advertised online is, of course, broken. Our room is barely serviceable, and our view is of a very sketchy-looking grafittied no-man's land. The curtains on the window are see-through, and the door is not at all sound-proof. I'm actually pretty sure it magnifies noise. Darn. I have to spend 3 nights here! Nothing I can do now, though. We haven't met our roommate yet, but at least their suitcase and shoes are here, and the shoes are pink pumps, so hopefully it's a girl!

After dumping our bags in our room, we thought we'd explore a little. We walked past the big Santa Maria Novella Church to the really famous Florentinian church, the Duomo. From the outside it sort of looks like a giant white, green, and pink wedding cake. It's quite pretty, in a very unique way. I've never seen anything like it. Outlined against the bright blue sky and fluffy clouds, it was even more impressive. Inside, though, it's pretty bare. My book calls it the "inside-out" church. The interior is really just plaster with a few statues and frescoes. The inside of the dome is nice, though, brightly painted with a scene of Heaven.

The Duomo

Inside the Duomo

Palazzo Vecchio

Inside the Palazzo Vecchio

Next, we decided to find Santa Croce, to the south of the city. On the way, we stumbled across some pretty sculptures in the Piazza della Signoria, outside the Palazzo Vecchio (a sort of "town hall" building, where the David originally stood). Now it's an outdoor statue gallery, with quite a few sculptures of classical and Biblical stories displayed under a roof. We decided to walk along the river to find Santa Croce, which was a good decision, partly because our maps aren't nearly as detailed as our Roman ones were (we had stopped by the Tourist office by the Duomo on a tip from my guide so at least we had maps, since the hostel had none). The sun was out, it was warm, and the birds were singing, so the walk along the river was a nice one. I saw entire rooftops literally lined with pigeons sunning themselves. We found the Santa Croce church, which is a very famous one, and paid for our tickets into the museum attached (5 Euro-ouch). Inside, we saw the tombs of Galileo Galili (Where his bones were moved after he was un-excommunicated after his death), Michelangelo, Dante Alighieri, and a monument to Niccolo Machiavelli, as well as lots of other famous tombs. Many of the paintings and statues were done by famous artists (Gaddi, Giotto, Michelozzo and Donatello), which was fun to see, but honestly, I'm all church-ed out at this point. I have seen so many religious scenes in the past week and now they're all blurring together!

Tomb of da Vinci

Galileo Galili

 

Michelangelo

Dante

Cimabue's famous cross that was damaged in the horrible flood of 1966

By then it was 4:30 but we were dying of starvation, so we went to the Piazza del Signoria and found a good-looking place where we each got a Margarita pizza for 4 Euro. They were heavenly, hand-tossed and baked in a wood fire oven in front of us. It was just what we needed to make it home, with a stop at a grocery store on the way for bread, blood oranges and nutella for breakfast. It got really cold here as soon as the sun went down. Now the plan is to just relax and turn in early in the hopes that it will be quiet enough here for sleep.

PIZZA!!!

Oh wow! Just as I finished this, I heard a sound like a zillion chirping crickets, so I opened the rickety window and there were literally thousands of little birds flying overhead! Really! I could never even imagine something like that! THey were flying in little rivers or waves with the wind currents. The whole sky was balck and the air was filled with chirping and flapping. There's a pine tree out our window that lots of them landed on, I don't know why. There were so many, the tree (kind of looked like a cedar or juniper, with upward-facing limbs) creaked and groaned. They looked like bunches of moving grapes hanging off the branches. The whole tree wiggled and writhed. Every once in awhile a bunch would fly off an the flapping sounded like roaring waves on the ocean. It was so much fun to watch them! They stayed at least 20 minutes, as the dusk got darker, then all of a sudden the last batch flew off and they were gone. Such and amazing sight! That alone made this trip worthwhile!

February 27: Rome Day 3

The Capitoline Museum

Part of the Colossus of Constantine

Had a decent but not great sleep and got up at 6:45 to get ready for church. I have blisters on my sides where my purse hits (go figure) so I had to use bandage tape but it still hurts. Dang. Dressed warmer than usual (tank top, zip-up extra warm longjohns, Northface fleece and scarf) because we'd heard it might be cool and wet. So glad I did. It was very chilly and damp out. Walked to Santa Maria Maggiore nearby for Mass. It's a big church and one of the two really important ones to the city (St. Peter's doesn't count because it's in the Vatican). It was amazingly beautiful even after the wonders of yesterday. It's got several chapels off the main area, where most services are held. I think the one we went to was the Cappella Paolina. It was very sumptuous, with gold everywhere, especially on the altar and decorations. Behind the altar was a wall made of blue lapis lazuli with gold decorations. The ceiling was painted with Biblical scenes and figures and there was a very high painted dome with windows letting in light. There were marble statues of saints and popes all over the place. There were probably about 50 people at Mass, including lots of nuns. I don't know where they all come from, but they appear to be from different orders. The music was by two nuns, one singing and one at a smallish organ. The priest wore a green and gold embroidered garment over a very intricate lace floral robe. He had a very pleasant voice, though of course I had basically no clue what he was saying. After the service, Amanda went to look for a street market to explore, and I went to the Museo Capitolini. I got there right as they opened at 9 which was great because for the first hour and a half I was completely and totally alone. I got to see the pieces of the colossal statue of Constantine, Marforio Fountain, the Equestiran Statue of Marcus Aurelias, the Capitoline Venus, the Discobolos, the statue of the young girl with a dove, the Drunken Faun, the Dying Gaul and of course, the infamous Capitoline She-Wolf, and I got to see most of them without anyone else around! The Dying Gaul was really worth seeing. I'd studied all these famous ones, but that was really powerful. Seeing the She-Wolf was amazing and so surreal. I just love that statue!

The Dying Gaul

The Capitoline Venus

Mosaic of Drinking Doves

View of the Forum from the Capitoline

Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius

Bernini's "Medusa"

Capitoline She-Wolf. Amazing.

Confetti from Carnivale

Amanda and I met at noon at Trajen's Column, or new favorite lunch spot and ate our peanut butter and m&m sandwiches (I can't find chocolate chips here in Europe for some strange reason), then took off for the north of the city to a place on our map that looked kind of interesting, the Piazza del Popolo. We got there just as a Carnivale celebration was ending. It was lots of fun. We could feel the lighter, happier atmosphere, in spite of the rain. There were actors and fire breathers and jesters on stilts and horses and every little kid was dressed in a costume. I saw tons of princesses, a unicorn, a ladybug, lots of super heroes, a cowboy and and Indian and even a fairy dumping glitter confetti on a pink bunny. Then we meandered south  toward the Ara Pacis. Unfortunately, the monument is now enclosed in a horrendously ugly modern building and they charge 8 Euro for entry, which is outrageous so we just walked outside and peeked through windows. We also walked around the nearby Mausoleo de Augosto, which looked interesting on the map but we can't get any real information about what it actually is. Looked to me like a big brick, round fortification of some sort, but they don't seem to be very much into labelling things here.

Someone lost a Pooh Bear balloon

Then we walked across the river to check out the Castel de Sant'Angelo over near the Vatican, but the entrance fee (15 Euro) seemed way too high for what is now another museum, so we just walked around it. By then it was cold and rainy, but we were hungry, so we decided to stop by the Fridgidarium again. Just as the nice English-speaking lady handed me my chocolate-dipped cherry cheesecake/white chocolate nutella split dish, we heard our names being called by our friend Mandy and Leigh, who just so happened to be going to the same tiny gelateria! We had a lovely reunion before splitting up again, and Amanda and I continued to the market at the Piazza Navona, but it started genuinely raining just as we got there so most keepers were closing shop. We headed to the Campo de Fiori, where they were also closing. We figured we may as well just go buy our train tickets for tomorrow at Termini, which should have been a very easy task. Long story short: it wasn't. We got unlucky and got 3 very horrible people at the desk to "help" us 3 separate times after the first guy messed up our tickets "accidentally." I don't even want to repeat the story here, it made me so mad. I have never been so angry. The last lady was just indescribably horrible to us, literally forcing us to pay 45 Euro for tickets that were supposed to cost 17 Euro. Horrible!!! Finally we found a man who would actually help us (and report the bad lady to her manager) and we were able to easily buy the tickets we needed. This was such a bad experience, we were both extremely angry and stressed, but at least it's been our first (and hopefully our only) bad experience thus far in Italy. The good news: I found an iinternational book store with an English language Frommer's guide to Florence (yay!) and a nice American young adult novel to read (also yay!). Then we went to a restaurant that we'd passed earlier near Santa Maria Maggiore, called "Le 2 Colonne Pizzeria." Wow, did that place turn the bad evening upside-right! First, they spoke good English and even had English menus, which was a miracle. We ordered sparkling water, which Amanda wanted me to try but I have to say, yuck. I had a fettuccine pasta in creamy white wine sauce with incredible bacon sausages and basil. It was HEAVENLY. Amanda had some sort of tomato-eggplant pasta dish that was also amazing. It was a lovely little sit-down place and the food was good, plentiful and cheap. Now, bed time. Tomorrow: Florence!

February 25: The Vatican!



Sunrise over Trajen's Forum 



Vittorio Emanuele II Monument



Early Morning St. Peter's

Alarm went off at 6 and we were out the door by 6:35. Last night was better than the one before, thank goodness. Still sick, though. We walked to Trajen's Column to eat breakfast (a nutella sandwich) on the steps and watch the sunrise over Rome and the distant Colosseum. Got turned around somehow near the Vittorio Emanuele Memorial but figured out the right path and walked straight to the Vatican. Very pretty bridge crossing the river (Ponte Vittorio Emanule II) with nice statues and seagulls sitting on top of every statue. The Basilica is BEAUTIFUL! There was no one around when we got there at 7:45, so we were able to wander and take pictures basically alone. We then made our way to the museum entrance to stand in line for early entry (it opens at 9), which I am very glad we did, since the line was huge by the time it actually opened and we were 10th or so. We went straight to the Sistine Chapel before the crowd. I was pretty amazed at how huge the place is. I was actually surprised at the chapel's rectangular shape. I guess I'd always assumed it was roundish since I'd really only ever seen close-ups of the God-Adam scene. The place is absolutely huge and covered in paintings. Every inch shows different scenes from the Bible, by Michelangelo and other artists. No pictures were allowed, unfortunately. I really liked the scenes on the wall of Biblical moments, especially the one where Christ gives St. Peter the keys of Heaven with Constantine's Arch in the background. I was there yesterday. I'm glad we went early, because the place filled up quickly and got extremely crowded.

The line

Raphael's "Transfiguration"

Skyline of Rome from the Vatican

A vase I was once tested on

Raphael's "School of Athens"

We wandered through the museum's different halls for hours. That place is VAST. There's just so much to take in! I most remember the Egyptian area, the Etruscan jewellery, a black and red Greek pot I once studied in Art History and several statues that I had studied as well. I didn't know how big the place was, or that it displayed treasures amassed by Popes over centuries. Every room was covered with beautiful paintings on the walls and ceilings but the rooms were so full of objects that it was hard to remember to look up. There was just way too much to see. I got Erin and I St. Francis and St. George medals. I think it's kind of funny that our favorite saints are the patron of critters and the guy with his sword stuck in a dragon. We'll have to fight over who gets who later.



Michelangelo's "Pieta"



Then we went to St. Peter's Basilica. It's a really, really BIG church. The scale is just phenomenal. Inside are huge marble statues of Popes and other important figures and lots of beautiful marble and stone work. I loved all the marble doves that were everywhere in the walls with green sprigs in their mouths. I miss Maggie. Michelangelo's "Pieta" statue is incredible. The Baldacchino, a big black and gold twisty canopy where the Pope says Mass is very impressive. It was fun to see St. Peter's grave, especially since recent excavations have discovered and actual early Christian burial there, so maybe there's truth to the legends after all? We touched bronze St. Peter's worn feet for indulgence. We spent some time in a side chapel, just sitting. There were nuns everywhere, all seeming to be from different countries and different orders. I loved the gold stained glass window with a dove. Every church should have something that pretty! I could have spent days just looking around the church.

The Baldacchino, with the amber-colored dove window behind

Not a great picture, but it shows how big the church is



Gelato!



Just as we were leaving and wondering what to do next, we heard our names and behind us were two good friends from London, Mandy and Leigh! So nice to see them where we least expected to! The four of us went to get gelato at a place recommended by a London friend who had studied in Rome, the "Fridgidarium," where we all got two flavors dipped in chocolate. I got the "cookies" (on our friend's recommendation) and "chocolate chip" and wow. It was SO amazing! Honestly the best gelato ever. The chocolate chip was creamy and delicious with good dark chocolate and the cookie flavor was perfect and sweet with a real cookie stuck on top. We ate it on the steps of Piazza Chiesa Nuova in the beautiful warm sunshine. Then we walked through the super-touristy Piazza Navona to the Pantheon. The Pantheon was impressive, a big domed building with a hole in the roof. It was crawling with tourists but still fun to see in person. Then we headed to some piazzas in Leigh's detailed guide book, just for fun. We went to Palazzo Monte Citorio, where the Parliament meets and saw the big obelisk out front (Rome is full of ancient Egyptian obelisks re-outfitted as Christian monuments with saints or Jesus up top. I don't know why they think they're fooling anyone) and then the Marcus Aurelius Column which was modeled after Trajen's and displayed much more dramatically. Then we split up, hoping to meet back up somewhere in Florence. Amanda and I went home via the Spanish Steps, dodging the huge crowds. There must have been some Carnivale celebrations earlier, because there was confetti everywhere in the streets. We stopped at the same little dive as last night and got take-away lasagna, served warmed up in tinfoil pans. It was very cheesy and good. New roommates tonight, a Texan teaching English in Barcelona and a girl from Singapore just starting a 41-day European adventure. They seem really nice. Hopefully they don't snore! Going to be early to get up for Mass tomorrow morning at Santa Maria Maggiore.

Me and Amanda outside the Pantheon

Pigeon on a fountain outside the Pantheon

Crowds at the Spanish Steps in the afternoon

February 25: Rome Day 1!

Last night was pretty awful. Amanda and I are both horribly sick, so we went to bed at 8 hoping for at least 10 hrs of sleep, but then our roommates, two LOUD Italians, came in at 10. They left the light on and didn't even pretend to whisper though we were clearly trying to sleep. Thank goodness they left by 10:30. Had a very hard time sleeping because of sinuses and fever, which left me hot and cold and hot again. I think I fell back to sleep around 12. My pillow is foam and huge like a rock, not at all good for a plugged and draining nose. The roommates came back at 2, and left the light on, were loud, and took forever to settle then kept talking! Horrible! My fever was back with a vengeance and I was way too hot. Fell back to sleep at 3. At 4, woken up by snoring Italian girl! She's like my uncles at deer season! So bad! We would slam the tables and she would stop for awhile but start again. Finally she shut up around 5. Alarm went off at 6:45. Ugh.

The Colosseum



We dressed and got ready, probably not as quietly as we could have. Oops. Ate pb&j and packed more for lunch. I had 2 apples from London, too. Were out the door by 8, headed to the Colosseum. We got there after just 20 minutes of strolling and had even stopped to find our other hosted on the way (and got turned around and circled a block). We took pictures in the lovely, warm sunlight, marvelled a bit, then bought tickets inside (combined Colosseum, Roman Forum and Palatine Hill for €12 each). The Colosseum was incredible!!! So interesting to see in person. I was amazed by how many layers there were. Thankfully, I found a good English guidebook in a gift shop there, so we don't feel quite so lost.



Somewhere in the Forum



Went to the Forum next. Very pretty ruins. Lots of little white asters with purple backs blooming in the sun. We wandered for a long time, ate lunch on some steps and fed pigeons. Lots of fun. Very warm in the sun, cool in the shade. Next we went to Trajen's Column. Again, we were surprised at how close it was. It's as intricate as I thought it would be from studying it, but I was surprised to see it sunken and with lots of buildings around it. We were intrigued by some statues, so we went and explored and discovered the giant monument to Emmanuel II. Weren't real sure what it was exactly, but eventually figured it out. Lovely views from the top, but blinding sun. My stupid fever came back around then, but the statues were just amazing. Very gaudy, but impressive. Seems like they stuck literally every style of statue on top of a giant wedding cake. Sat back on the steps by Trajen's Column for sandwich #2 and fed a very nice and polite pigeon hen. Bid her farewell and found the Trevi Fountain. So beautiful!!! Was surprised it wasn't in its own square or something. I threw in my coins.

Pretty little asters

My favorite colored pigeon

I have no clue what this was, but it was big, somewhere in the Forum

Trajen's Column

Trajen's Column

Tito's Arch (Arch of Titus), near the Forum

Trevi Fountain

Since it was only 1pm, we had lots of time to kill, so we went and found the Treinto Fountain with a merman and fish. Then we waltzed over to the Spanish Steps. There are a LOT of steps! We decided to get gelato, so we picked a side-street and wandered but somehow we picked the one Roman street without a gelateria!We circled back and found some. Amanda had lemon and I had wonderful dark chocolate, which we ate on the steps while ignoring the obnoxious street vendors. By then were were both very tired and I was feverish so we started home, passing the Quattro Fontanas. Got home by 3:30 but had such a full day in so little time! I can't believe we saw so much. Amanda napped while I read the guide-book. We went out for groceries at Termini and found a little takeaway place for pizza run by an old man and his son that looked surprisingly clean and friendly in this dirty and shady part of town. We brought it home to eat and it was very good. The crust was bready, with cheese and zucchini in olive oil sauce.

Tomorrow: wake up at 6, do the Vatican. Tonight is shower, make lunch, take sleeping pill and hopefully not kill roommates.

February 24: London to Rome

Woke up today at 5:45 am, sick. I don't think I slept more than 2 hrs straight last night, between me being feverish and sniffley and my roommates running in and out. Oh well. Ate a heel of bread with nutella for breakfast and made the rest of my bread into sandwiches. I brought my trusty old blue backpack and my purse and was ready to go. We took the tube to Heathrow and checked in for our 9:35 flight on Alitalia to Milan. Got there early, around 12:30. Breathtaking views of the Alps from the plane. Went through customs no problem, ate a cheese sandwich (which I did NOT declare at customs. Oops) and took some sudafed. The flight to Rome was pretty too, with more mountains and the beautiful blue-green sea. Could see pretty misty islands off the coast. Got to Rome about 3, took awhile to get ourselves out of the airport because it's huge and confusing and we were pretty darn sick.


We bought train tickets to Termini Station for €14. Had a very nice train ride, with a box all to ourselves (and one Japanese guy who napped) and felt like we were going to Hogwarts. Lots of graffiti all around the train tracks, but interesting views of lean-tos with cacti or palms growing and chickens scratching about.

We thought finding our hostel would be easy. Ha. Our directions said walk out of Terminin, cross street and it will be 100 yds left, called "Coconuts Hostel." We walked back and forth for over an hour. Must have walked miles with super heavy backpack, purse, and bread bag filled with sandwiches and fruit. Just when we were ready to panic, I spotted the #137 Via Giolitti, which was on a beat-up, shady-looking dark green metal door. To the right was a list of tenants, and yep, "Coconuts" was hand-scribbled on a tiny slip of plastic. We got buzzed in to a very scary-looking stairwell with an old cage-like elevator. An Italian woman came down the elevator and greeted us. She took us to Floor 7 (we were praying all the way up so the elevator wouldn't snap), where we went into another door. To our great surprise, the inside was new and beautifully decorated, with tiled walls and floors and new furniture. Our room is comfortable and clean, and very very nice. So far it's just us but there are 2 more beds. We got sandwiches at Termini for supper. Good bread with weird thin, flat, bacon and smushy cheese and basil. Bland but good. Now it's time for an early bedtime (it's 8pm). Tomorrow we're planning on going to the Colosseum. Thank goodness our hostel has maps for us that look clear and easy to use. We have no idea what we will be doing on this trip. I wanted to buy a guidebook at Heathrow but there were no good ones, so I guess I just hope I find one eventually.

The portal to "Coconuts Female Hostel"

Coconuts

View from our window of Termini Station

Foam shrimp attacking the Colosseum. By this point we were

tired and feverish and apparently very, very silly.