Rome

Hello,
So this is my first time trying to write a blog. I was requested to blog about my time during the seven weeks I will be out of the U.S. and studying/vacationing for the last part of summer. I have zero idea if anyone will even care to read this, but it should be good for chronicling what happens to me anyways. If you have any suggestions or comments on this blog, let me know.

So my week consisted of two parts: The first week of Rome with my lovely mother, and the last six weeks in London, taking classes from my university. I'll spend my first blog outlining my Rome trip. Although I cannot remember day-by-day what I did, I'll condense it all into one giant post with different paragraphs on each subject. Also, because I like history, I will often add condensed versions to any particular sites I enjoyed. The history is off the top of my head, so let me know if I make any mistakes.

So first off, we obviously had to fly there. We took a flight to Hat'lanta airport, and spent a few hours waiting for the next flight to Rome. During this time we spent lunch in a food court, with a self-playing piano. I suppose that international flights would go through this terminal, and oh boy, you could see people going nuts over this magical piano. I watched a kid take several pictures and videos of the piano playing itself, with just the most fascinated look on his face.

Anyways, back to the topic. The flight was about 9 hours and we landed in Rome early on Friday, exhausted from the little sleep we had gotten on the flight. After catching a train right before we left, we chugged along the Roman countryside. It was a pretty bizarre mix of agricultural and urban areas; you would find fields of sunflowers, and then just a town right next to it. You got the feeling that this place was kind of behind in the times though; rooftops would be littered with hundreds of tv antenna, rather than satellite dishes or anything else. However, after a half hour ride to the terminal station, we arrived in Rome, and hailed a taxi to our hotel.

My first thoughts of Rome:
This city is utterly mad.

Cars were everywhere on the road. With seemingly little to indicate lanes, cars and scooters would add or subtract lanes as they pleased. Pedestrians would dash between crowds of cars as mopeds flew around. It seemed like this place operated by no set of rules, at least no clear ones. After dropping us off at the hotel, our taxi driver promptly asked for a much higher fare than it actually was, didn't give us change, and left us in the middle of the road.

We checked into our hotel, located on the second level of a building off the side of Via Cavour. A little old lady greeted us in a nicely decorated greeting room. Unfortunately we had arrived as the previous guests were leaving, and we would have to wait an hour for it to be clean. We decided to have our first proper italian meal.

The streets of Rome have tons of tiny side roads that branch off, leading to more tiny alleys crammed between streets. But in this tiny streets and roads, businesses flourished, advertising nearly everything under the sun. Bright signs would sit outside the doors of tiny shops advertising their wares, and oftentimes you could pass restaurants with tiny tables sitting outside, close to small shrubs and vines. It was fairly picturesque, and we stopped at a close one to order some lunch. The menu was in complete italian, and I found myself dredging the depths of my two semesters of Italian to explain to my mom just what everything was. But we worked through the menu and ordered some food. Unfortuanately, the food itself was not as nice as the view, and ended up being pretty bland. But we were so exhausted we paid the bill and left, returning to our hotel for a few blissful hours of sleep.

We woke up to our first evening in Rome. Having nothing planned, we decided to travel to the north side of Rome and walk through some places. We hopped aboard the nearby metro (subway.) Although it was quick, efficient, and cheap (a euro will buy you a ticket anywhere for the next 75 minutes,) it could also be crowded and dirty. I would guess the metro had weathered several decades, and it showed it; graffiti popped up on everything you could see. But after one train going the wrong way, we ended up in the Piazza del Popolo.

This expansive area is ringed by churches and two fountains oversee it on the western and eastern side, with a Egyptian obelisk covered with hieroglyphs placed in the middle of a square. The Romans, after visiting Egypt, took several of these obelisks back with them, and placed them in important areas. This area was important because it served as one of the first points one could enter the proper city of Rome.

Piazza del Popolo. Notice the obelisk in the center. A tiny cross was added to the top of every obelisk at the order of a Pope.

After watching a wedding leave a nearby church, we decided to look inside. From the outside, it looked like nothing more than a hole in the wall, but the inside was amazing. There are tons of churches in Rome, and all manage to look impressive. Marble covers every column and wall, ancient paintings and frescos decorate the walls, and holy items are covered in gold. These churches usually aren't exactly as ancient as from the Roman times; the modern day churches you see are usually built atop the ruins of previous churches. After marvelling at the church, we continued south, stopping at the mausoleum of Augustus. You are probably aware of Julius Caesar, but you might not know of his nephew, Octavius. After Caesar was assissinated, Octavius fought and killed Marc Antony to take control of the Empire. Augustus was considered to be a great, kind, and wise emperor, and lived a humble life upon Palatine Hill. Therefore, he received a gigantic mauseloum at his death, though it could not be accessed.

We then headed to the Trevi Fountain. This fountain is monstrously huge. Being about 60 feet wide, it gushes fresh water from nearby hidden aqueducts, while the sculptures celebrate the God of Water, representing it in every form possible.

The Trevi Fountain. Apparently 3,000 euros a day are thrown in here.

After learning about the tradition of throwing a coin into the fountain in the superstition that you will return to Rome again, we tossed some pennies into the water and headed to the Piazza del Spagna, or the Spanish Steps. This huge staircase leads up to the ancient Spanish embassy, one of the oldest embassies in Rome. At the step's feet was another fountain, but with access points to drink out of it. The Romans were originally inspired by the Greeks in their design of public buildings, but they additionally made them functional as well; thats why many fountains dot the area for free drinking. It's all safe water, brought in by some of the same aqueducts built ages ago.

The Spanish Steps, somehow not covered in tourists. Note the small platform in the fountain, right below the edge. This can be used to drink the water flowing out of the hole along the side.

After this, we left to go back to the hotel and get some well needed sleep.

This ended up being longer than I expected, so I'll post this now, and add the rest of the days later.