You know, the one that Google maps said would take "2 hours walking"?
Yeah, that was a fail.
I ended up leaving around 4 p.m. Roma-time and came back a little after 9, so roughly about five hours, which is actually about what I predicted.
And even though I did collapse in my bed after that epic walk and not get up until 8:00 the next morning, and then only to sit in my bed until noon, it was worth every second, because historical Rome is sooooo cool.
As I left the hostel, it was already starting to show signs of night time coming on. The sun was fading on the horizon, so that each building was tinged with the soft touch of the last evening glow. I walked through this beautiful scene gleefully, eagerly awaiting my first real taste of what Rome had to offer, since I hadn't ventured far from the hostel on my first day.
My first stop was only a short, four-minute walk from my hostel and the Termini train station - the Piazza della Repubblica. The Piazza is notable because it used to be the location of many of the Diocletian baths in Rome and also is the site of a pretty nifty fountain area, where each of four naiads are portrayed with water gushing out of them. They are the Nymph of the Lakes, the Nymph of the Rivers, the Nymph of the Oceans and the Nymph of the Underground Waters.
Next up was a stroll down one of the main "Via"'s of Rome, Via Nazionale. Nazionale was built in honor of Pius IX and was finished at the end of the 19th century, in order to connect the main Termini station to the most populous areas of the city. This walkway was dotted with Christmas decorations and lights and as it just began to get dark, I got to see the lights in full array.
The street leads to Piazza Venezia, which is probably one of the coolest areas in Rome. On the right side of the street is a beautiful church and on the left of it, a fenced in enclave which holds the bare skeleton of the old remains of Rome.
Up ahead is the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II, a garganteun building designed to commemorate the successes of the "first unified King of Italy" Victor Emmanuel. The monument is also known as the Altara della Patria (Altar of the Motherland). The inside houses the museum of Italian Reunification.
Next I took a strolll down the Via del Fori Imperiali, which leads to the Coloseum, but the walk itself was really interesting because I could see into the Roman Forum (or at least, I think it was the Roman Forum), which was closed because of the time and because it was Christmas. This part of Rome is so unique because unlike any other place that I have seen in my journeys, this city is almost like a giant excavation site in the middle of a modern-day, urban sprawl. You literally see history, flaking away with each marble slab, right in front of you.
And then of course, there was the Coliseum. I'll be visiting it during the daylight tomorrow, but here are some of the highlights from that amazing experience:
I walked around the Roman Forum from there, down the Via di S. Gergorio and then across to the Piazza S. Maria in Cosmedin, a beautiful old cathedral. I got a little lost here - I was supposed to go straight up, tracing the Forum some more before turning left back at the Monument to Vittorio Emannuel II (while last time I went the opposite direction of course).
Instead, I started walking the wrong way down the Tiber River...but it gave me some great pictures!
From there, I cut my way West, blazing forward to a very interesting site - Campo de Fiori, where Caesar was cut down by his bff Brutus. Et tu Brute, indeed...et tu, Brute? Of course, in the middle of the "Campo" is a statue of Brutus and the whole area is lined with restaraunts, each lit by flames captured in glass, which was pretty cool. Enticed by the grand history, the great view and the beautiful lights (not to mention my rumbling stomach) I took a seat and enjoyed some of the Italian life while dining at a nice restaurant.
The thing about Italian dinners is that they are the exact opposite of what we Americans pride ourselves on - what we admire in a meal is speed, efficiency and local dishes, while the Italian meal is a process that moves at a snail's pace. Everything comes in a set arrangement - bread, then antipasto, then "primo" or first course, "secondo" or second course and then if you ordered a salad, that comes last. It means that you must sit down and enjoy the moment, savoring each detail - your waiter won't speed it up for you unless you really ask for it, because the meal itself is the experience.
Next on the menu for this grubby Roman-loving traveler was a very entertaining side dish - the Piazza Navona, a marketplace of fun and entertaining proportions if I ever saw one. There was a clown performing to a crowd of at least thirty or forty people, speaking in the universal language of comedy. He didn't need to say a word, but he had everyone rolling around with laughter, including this American pig ;)
There was also a pretty cool fountain, some typical festival shops and a man dressed up as a "Santa-in-a-box"?
As if all these amazing sights hadn't been enough, I now got to see a place that I had heard about many a time without ever getting the opportunity to see.
The Pantheon was bigger and smaller than I expected - smaller because my imagination had made it into this colossal mammoth of a thing and bigger because once I got closer and looked up at the freakin' doors, I realized it was a colossal mammoth of a thing.
What made the experience even cooler was that the whole moment was being played out to a Led Zeppelin-esque guitar solo. No, I wasn't listening to an IPOD - lol, that was stolen a long time ago - but actually, there was an old man totally rocking it out in front of the Pantheon, electric guitar and synthesizer and everything. It was sweet! He was actually really good and though there have been many poor singers, violinists and other artists in my journey, he was the only one I actually gave money too - he was as good as seeing someone perform in concert!
Two final stops on my journey - a pair of fountains.
The first, the fountain of Triton, was pretty cool but kind of underwhelming compared to the rest of the sights I had seen.
The next though was totally impressive, much more than what I was expecting. The Trevi fountain, according to the ever accurate Wikipedia, is the largest Baroque fountain in the world and was made to show off Rome's extensive aqueduct system. Pretty impressive, if you ask me!
The final stop was to the Spanish embassy, which is only made cool because it is the pinnacle of the "Spanish Steps" which are a series of steps that are really long and lead to the top before reaching the Embassy ,which has a pretty good view of the whole city.
Today (the 26th) I didn't do much but rest, which is why I combined these posts. I did get a couple of good pictures though, so I'll post some of them here at the end. Tomorrow is my last day in Rome, I take the 7:05 train to Munich and will arrive around 6:00 in the morning. Since I still have yet to tour the inside of the Coliseum, the Palatine Hill and the Forum (though I did walk by them on my route) I will go ahead and do that tomorrow, as well as hopefully stop by St. Peter's Basilica and climb it really quickly (if the upper part is open this time).
Should be a fun final day and then I will be off to meet Paul Kirschenbauer's family in Munich! If there anything like the best roommate in the world, then we should get along famously - language barrier, smanguage wearier (I know that makes no sense - shhh...)
Did you or did you not throw a coin in Trevi fountain? Do not tempt fate!
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