Shannon is currently studying abroad in Bilbao, Spain. She is currently on her Spring Break and is touring Italy with her mom. They arrived in Rome on Wednesday; however since I had class, I didn't get to Rome until Friday afternoon. I looked into flights, but they were all expensive and at inconvenient times so, with the help of my Italian roommate, I booked trains instead.
My first train from St Gallen to Lugano left at 6:05am on Friday. I figured that my train would go directly to Lugano, but instead I ended up having to transfer twice (so three trains total). The third train I was on continued to Milan, but I had a ticket for a train that went between Lugano and Milan about an hour later, so I had to get off and transfer trains again. Once I got to Milan, I again transferred trains. Also, I really shouldn't have been surprised to see the mini mall that was the Milan train station...but I digress. The train between Milan and Rome was the coolest train I've been on. It was obvious that the train was relatively new; it was very spacious and we all had big, leather seats. It also went up to 300km/hour, so it only took 3 hours to travel between Milan and Rome. It was on this train that I decided I was going to love Italy. Unlike every other train I've been on, three men immediately reached to help me put my luggage in the overhead storage. There was also wifi on the train, a first for me.
I met Shannon and her mom at the hostel. We went out to explore some piazzas and fountains and eventually stopped to eat at this fabulous restaurant. Maybe it was because it was the first food I ate in Italy, but that was my favorite pizza of the weekend. Employees stand outside the restaurants and try to get people to come in. We had two different restaurants, right next to each other, fighting for our business. One man said that the other restaurant's pizza was frozen, which made the lady from the other restaurant angry (understandably).
After dinner, we headed to the Pantheon. It was very cool seeing it all lit up at night.
We then went to the Trevi Fountain. You can hear the fountain before you get to it. There were so many people there! I went back to the Trevi Fountain a few more times just to see it again and again. We flipped coins into the fountain, meaning I will return to Rome eventually.
The next day, we went to the Colosseum and the Roman Forum. It rained on and off all day, but that certainly didn't stop us from exploring. Ancient Roman buildings and structures are interspersed all throughout Rome, and it's odd to see the juxtaposition of the modern buildings with structures dating back to the first century. For example, as soon as you get off the metro, you see the Colosseum. Casual.
We went to the Roman Forum next. This is Ancient Rome. The city burned a few times throughout history and was rebuilt on top of the previous structures, so you can see in the ruins the different time periods based on how the structure is built. Some of the ruins date back to B.C.
Not quite sure what exactly this says, except that it's about Caesar
After lunch, we saw the Spanish Steps and the Vatican. I wasn't able to go into St Peter's Basilica or the Sistine Chapel since they were closed on Easter and Easter Monday. Simply being in Vatican City, however, was amazing enough.
Spanish Steps
St Peter's Basilica
Easter morning, we left the hostel at 6:50am because we went to Easter mass at the Vatican! This was quite possibly the coolest thing I have ever done in my entire life. The mass didn't officially start until 10:15, but at about 10, they began to say the rosary (in Latin). I expected the mass to be in either Italian or Latin, but they actually gave it in many different languages. The first reading, for example, was in Spanish, the second was in English, and the gospel reading was in different languages, including German, Chinese, Japanese, and many more. Pope Francis blessed the host in Latin. The songs were in Latin too.
After the mass, Pope Francis rode through the crowd, waving to everyone, which is how I got this fantastic picture.
He then went up into his balcony and spoke to the crowd. I couldn't tell you what he said since he read it in Italian and Latin, neither of which I understand. It was still cool though.
Shannon and her mom had to leave about halfway through the mass for their train. We had a mixup and I didn't realize that they were leaving Sunday instead of Monday like I was. However, some of Shannon's friends from Bilbao happened to be in Rome too. One of them hung out with us on Saturday, so we made plans to hang out. Although I wouldn't recommend traveling alone, in my opinion, this is the best way to randomly meet cool people from all over. We walked around Sunday night, and while at the Colosseum, we met David, a 25-year-old Korean who is traveling Europe by himself for 2 1/2 months. We talked to him for a long time about both of our trips, and I believe they planned to meet up with him again Monday night after I left.
We hung out again Monday, just exploring the city. We stumbled upon a parade, filled with people dressed like gladiators. We're not sure what exactly it was for, but it was cool. I left them after lunch because I had to catch my train back to St Gallen.
I left Rome at 3:20pm and didn't get back to St Gallen until 1:25am. On the train from Milan to Zurich, I sat with three people about my age, two Chinese PhD candidates studying biology in Zurich and an Italian PhD candidate studying control engineering in Zurich. We chatted the entire trip about movies, school, Italy, and anything else we could think of.
I had an absolute blast in Rome. Even though I was nervous about being in the city by myself, it turned out to be a wonderful experience and I have learned so much about myself. Although I certainly prefer traveling with others, I feel like a much stronger and more confident person knowing that I can travel and survive in a foreign city, without even speaking the language, all by myself.
No comments:
Post a Comment