Roman Holiday, Starring Amanda Hess as Herself

Dear People,

I'm hoping over the next few days to have a major blogfest and get everything posted up until this point, since I've been very busy and I don't want to forget anything. But if I do, please just add a comment, and I'll remember to add it to the final copy when I get home.

Friday March 30, 2007

When I had last left off, I just arrived in Rome. Now let me tell you, Rome is dirty. There is garbage and graffiti everywhere. And pigeons galore. After a couple of days, I got used to it, but it was quite a shock after living in Vienna for a few months because they literally wash the streets here twice a day. As I was walking down the platform, I called Dad because he made me promise I would. Since the train got in a bit later than I thought it would, he had been laying awake between the landline and his cellphone waiting for the call. After I assured him that I had made it to Rome in one piece and I'd survive for a few days on my own, I ventured into the station and bought my week-long bus pass so I'd be able to get between Camping Fabulous and the center of Rome.

And then there I was, all alone in this very big city with just a backpack and a map. It was a bit humbling, especially since I got a little lost right off the bat. But I've heard that that's common, so I'm not too worried about it anymore. Once I got myself headed in the right direction, I made my way to Santa Maria Maggiore. This was where I was going to meet Meghan in a few hours so I spent some time in the church and used their bathroom to freshen up and brush my teeth since the water on the train wasn't potable. It was a really pretty church, and in one of the little alcove things, there was a Mass or something going on. I also thought it was interesting that they had confessionals in English, Italian, French, and Spanish. So I people watched and took some pictures, and then I went outside and sat near the fountain.

The square in front of Santa Maria Maggiore was pretty busy. People were everywhere and there were about a bazillion pigeons. After sitting there for a while, I noticed a strong correlation between the number of pigeons and the number of people present who were eating. It seemed like as the number of sandwiches increased, so did the number of the winged scavengers. So I made sure when I pulled out my food that I guarded it. Of course, there were a few kids present who took after my own heart and chased them away. But then I got to thinking, after seeing people throw crusts and such to the birds, if they fed them to feed them or fed them to watch the riot that ensued. Maybe a bit of both.

A few hours later, I met up with Meghan, who had made it to Rome safe and sound. We decided to go to the hostel right away to put our bags down and relax for a while. Our journey started with a trip back to the Termini to buy Meghan a week pass and took Metro B to EUR Fermi. Rome only has two metros, and they're currently building a third, but because there are so many archeological finds below the surface, its almost impossible to dig. That's why over the past year the Italian government has decided to work together with a team of archeologists who will document the finds as they come across them in the process of digging the metro line. Then once things are documented and the items worth saving have been saved, the construction crew will continue work for all of three feet until the next shard of pottery is found. Metro B is the slightly shadier line in Rome, probably because it avoids the religious section of town, so it's covered in graffiti, some of which is actually pretty good.

After we had reached our stop, it was time to locate the bus that would take us directly to the hostel. This took a bit of time and stamina. Meghan wasn't happy. And that's an understatement. During our quest for Bus 070 or 709, one of the most useful phrase I got to use was "parla ingles?" which translates to "do you know English?" Eventually we stumbled across a stop for the 709 and hopped on. The bus ride lasted about fifteen minutes and we got dropped off right at the entrance for CFab, as I like to call it.

Our reservation was for Chalet C, which was a small cabin with its own bathroom and mini fridge. It had two bunk beds, and for most of our stay there, we had another roommate. Meghan was absolutely horrified about our accomodations, and she made her feelings well-known. But you don't get the Hilton for ten Euro per night, now do you? Had I known that her complaining about our hostel would continue for the rest of the week, I would have just told her to call a hotel right then and there. Her method of dealing with her disappointment was deciding to take a nap, which ended up lasting eighteen hours. That translated into a day in Rome lost and no dinner.

Right now, I just want to warn you all that I've been in Europe long enough to not bother pulling punches anymore. I really admire the Austrians who tell you exactly what they're thinking when they're thinking it, without worrying about being politically correct. And I intend to follow that example, starting in this blog. So if I sound bitter or upset about somethings that happened over my spring break, its because I was, and I don't feel like mincing words any more to try and make people not feel bad about themselves. So, continuing on...

Sometime that evening, we had a boy named Stephan join us. He was from Germany, and mentioned right off the bat that he had a cold and wasn't feeling well. That wasn't exactly what I wanted to hear, but at least we got a bit of warning.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

I was up and moving by 8:30 on Saturday, I mean, I can really take only so much sleeping, and this was really stretching it. It took until ten to get to the front desk because Meghan isn't a morning person, even after almost twenty hours of sleep. The woman at the desk was extremely helpful and gave us a bus schedule and a map of Rome. She also helped us find where the American Catholic contingent to Rome was based, so we could go pick up our tickets for the upcoming religious festivities.

The ride into Rome took about half an hour, and finding the Casa Santa Maria, where the contingent has their offices, seemed to take forever. But we got to walk past some amazing ruins and architecture. We even found Trevi Fountain. It wasn't until a few days later, but it hit me that that was what Rome was all about. You have to get lost and find these amazing places in order to really appreciate the city.

Once we found the Casa Santa Maria, we got our tickets for Palm Sunday Mass and then wandered around looking for a Spar, which is pretty much the European equivalent to Walmart. You can find them everywhere, and they're usually pretty well stocked with anything you'd need for a decent meal. I'm personally a fan of them because they carry nutella and I live across the street from one in Vienna. After we had our peanut butter and nutella on bread lunch, we eventually found our way to St Peter's Cathedral. This took some doing, since it felt like we walked the rest of Rome in order to find it. We were actually really close to it when we had had lunch, but in our wanderings, we ended up south of Vatican City. The area we were in was very interesting and the buildings were so pretty.

Finally, we made our way back to the Tiber River and walked along it to get to St Peter's. At one point, we saw a crowd of people coming toward us carrying sheets with large lumps in them, and as we made our way through them, at the other end of the crowd, there was a single police man. As soon as the cop turned around a walked the other direction, we were overtaken again by the crowd, this time coming back to set up temporary stands with their wares. Mostly men, but a few women too, were selling knock off purses, sunglasses, scarves, and paintings. Meghan called them tinkers, or tinks, and the name stuck. We walked through their little tink town, and sat in St Peter's Square for a while.

Then we took a gelato break -- one of the many to come -- and I got lemon. We ended up near Campo di Fiori to eat our gelato and people watch. I'm personally a fan of doing this. And I love taking pictures of people in their natural environments. You'll hear a lot about my gelato adventures in Rome, and at the end of my spring break blogs, I'll make up a list of all the flavors I tried, and which ones were my favorite.

We commenced wandering Rome again and stumbled across St Ignasius. The church, not the man -- I'm sure he's very dead. I can't particularly remember anything about this church, but I'm sure it was impressive. They all were, and I'm also sure I have pictures of it somewhere in my web albums. Because Matt has absolutely wonderful timing, I got a call from him while we were in the church and ran outside so I could talk to him for just a bit. It was really nice to hear from him, and it made me really happy.

I also can't remember where we ate for dinner that night, apparently it made a real big impression. The only thing I have in my notes about it is "TINY pasta." Yeah, I wasn't impressed.

After dinner, we hopped on the metro and made our way back to CFab and Chalet C, which, upon seeing, Meghan started her complaining again. How nice.