Rome Wasn't Built In a Day

Disclaimer: This post dates for the events on June 16th.
Last day in Rome. Sigh, it's come a little too soon. But here goes.

I'm going to start out with something that happened yesterday and last night.

So there was this guy named Brian who slept in the bed next to me in the hostel. Apparently he was traveling by himself. Anyways, so from time to time, we would talk briefly. He always had a great interest on what we would be doing from day to day. Anyways so at dinner last night he had approached me and asked me if I had an alarm clock. I said yes, and he followed by asking me if I could wake him up tomorrow so that he could catch his 7:30 train. I should have asked him why he didn’t have an alarm especially because he was traveling alone, but I was like whatever, sure. He was going to go out pub crawling with some people he had met last night. So when he came back, he would most likely be drunk, and I would probably have to punch him in order to wake him up. I told him I would do my best.

So then last night at around 4:30, he gets back and wakes me up. I’m kinda irritated, but it was fine. When 6:45 rolls around, I woke up and began the waking process. This is where it gets ridiculous. I started out by poking him from my bed (because I could reach him). If you have ever had any experience trying to wake a sleeping drunk person, you would probably know that this method is highly ineffective. He didn’t even feel it. Ok then. So I sat up and started shaking his arm. Nothing. I shook harder. Now he started to feel it. Except he didn’t really wake up. Instead, he started shouting, “STOP.” Really loudly. As I kept shaking, he kept shouting. “STOP STOP STOP STOP,” over and over again. Once I actually did stop, he didn’t. He kept yelling, “STOP.” Maybe it became part of his dream or something. At this point, the random older stranger and Kacie both woke up. I was like, “Sorry, I have to wake him or he will miss his flight.” Now I’m starting to get really ticked. I grabbed both of his shoulders and started slamming him into the bed, hard. Eventually he open his eyes and looked at me. I was like, “Wake up now,” then I laid back in bed. After about 5 minutes, he was still in his bed. I started to get out of bed again, but he saw me and jumped out of bed saying, “I’m up, I’m up.” Then he got up and left. GOOD.

Not done yet. Time for the random older person in our room. Now the age limit in this hostel is about 35 years of age. This guy was definitely 45 or 50 years old. Weird random person. But he didn’t seem to bother me before I went to bed, so I paid him no attention. Now this whole drunken fiasco woke this older guy up. He proceeds to get up and change, which was fine. THEN he basically took everything out of his bag along with all his souvenirs and starts putting them in plastic bags. This was extremely noisy. He did this for literally 30 minutes. I got so irritated that I just sat up in bed and stared at him. I didn’t look away, just right at him like “are you serious?” I think he got the picture because he stopped, then laid back in his bed fully dressed. Victory? Nope, he just got back up and did it for another 30 minutes. When I he left and I thought he was finally done, he just came back with more plastic bags. Unbelievable. Eventually he left and I got a couple winks of sleep before I had to wake up. I didn’t sleep very well.
So the first thing we did this morning after breakfast was checking out. Luckily, we were able to store our bags there for the day. You have no idea how happy we were to be able to do this.

Then we made our way over to the Pantheon via the underground. Random event of the day. So as we were walking we got stopped at an intersection because of a Ferrari caravan. Turns out it was some Ferrari race. There were so many nice cars. I am poor.

So Pantheon. Not to be confused with the Parthenon in Greece, the Pantheon was constructed by the emperor Hadrian in 125 A.D. It’s a huge building with a dome for a ceiling. Inside there are monuments dedicated King Victor Emmanuel II and his son.

Me in front. Also, the body of Raphael, the Renaissance artist who was commissioned to paint a lot in the Vatican is buried here as well. Except if weren’t paying close attention, you would miss it because his tomb is less than par for someone of his grandeur. There is a large circular opening at the top of the dome, exposing the Pantheon to the open air.

So this light moves to shine on a grave of someone then moves across the floor and points to something else on the opposite wall.

You must be thinking, what happens when it rains? Excellent question. Answer: The rain falls straight down onto the dome floor. The ground is slightly sloped so that the rain will drain into holes made into the marble floor. At around 11, the “Royal Guardians” or as Rebecca called them, the Priory of Scion, came in and did a march. Very Da Vinci Code-esque. I forgot we couldn’t drink in the temple, (even though rain dirty rain water falls straight on the floor) and I was asked to leave. This was my bad. I waited outside.

I really enjoyed the Pantheon for a couple of reasons. One, the walk over to the Pantheon was through an area that seemingly had not been drastically influenced by tourists. The area wasn’t over run by tourists scurrying around. It was very peaceful. I also really enjoyed the quaint shops dedicated to specific items. There was this one woodshop selling everything made from wood, some toy horses and other things, but mainly clocks.

Clair and her good friend pinocchioThere was also a small pasta and deli shop that the girls all bought pasta to bring home. At the cashier’s register was this small elderly woman who was very kind to us. Here comes the sketchiness. Pasta shops have all sorts of pasta. Ok, fine. But there was this pasta that was shaped as male genitalia. I figure we are all adults here, but just in case, the following is rated PG-13+.
This was awkward. My view of the nice old lady at the register is now somewhat skewed.

Then we walked back to the station, to catch a different train to our next destination, Ostia.
Ostia Antica was a military stronghold/town of the Ancient Roman empire, built in the early 7th century B.C. It was also built as a port city. This was hard to imagine because the used to be near the mouth of the Tiber river, which no longer runs through the area. At first appearance, Ostia did not so impressive. Now of course after seeing the Colosseum and other ruins at Palatine hill, we were somewhat desensitized to the ruins we saw at Ostia. But you know what they say about a book and its cover.

Here is a dog outside where we ate. They were actually everywhere. There were signs saying not to pet them, but I did anyways.Before we started though, lunch. And gelato. Clair and Jennifer
So back to the ruins. What I loved the most about this place was that we were free to pretty much go anywhere we wanted.

Clair the tour guide.

Ruins from a view above.

Ruins

There were no designated pathways to take and no one regulating where you could and couldn’t go. It was like being a kid again. I was jumping from roof top to roof top and climbing on things. We almost thought about playing hide and go seek. But we would have gotten really lost I imagine. Actually, paintball would be even better.

RuinsSo I walked around inside old houses, up old staircases, and everything in between.

Girls: Jennifer, Clair, Laura, and Kacie

Ruins. Look how fun to run around.

The highlight was this huge amphitheatre in the middle of the ruins. It was well preserved with relatively little damage. There are also murals randomly made of marble on the walls and on the ground. Excavation of this old ghost town is still underway. At one point I wandered off and uncovered a mural that had no yet been excavated yet. I’m an archeologist. There was also a well preserved amphitheater in Ostia where I imagine plays where held. Very cool.

Again.

Girls up top.

Girls sitting on what appears to look like old Roman toilets. Nice.

After we left Ostia, we got back on the train and rode it to the Mediterranean sea. As soon as I could smell the ocean air, I started to get excited. Except the ony problem was, we couldn’t get down to the beach. Apparently, everyone charges you to go down there. So we walked all along, looking for a way in. At one point I just walked randomly into what I think was a Post Office under construction and found a way in. The beach was gorgeous. I can’t remember the last time I was at the beach. 

I really regretted not bringing my swimsuit, otherwise I would have jumped in. So we stayed there for about an hour just walking, buying random drinks from vendors with stands, and making sand castles. It was a great success.

Next we caught the next train back to Rome to meet up with the rest of our group for a last hurrah in Rome. We met at Plaza Del Popolo for some supper and dessert. 

Supposedly, Popolo is famous for their sunsets, but we sat inside and couldn’t see. The restaurant was surprisingly very classy for a affordable price. I was quite please. Again I had seafood risotto, and it was delicious. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food very much, which doesn’t exactly happen all the time. 

For dessert, tiramisu. Good.
Once dinner was over, we headed back to the Freestyle hostel to grab our stuff and get ready to make our way back home. We get to the train station right about 9:50, bought some snacks at a local grocery store, then headed to the platform. I had no idea what I had in store in front of me. The travel adventures will be in the next post. Please check back.

Molto bueno


-James