Roma!

Well I can't believe that it has been three months since I left the States. And it was finally time for me to say goodbye to Vela Luka and all the amazing people I met there. I know in the past posts that I have sounded like I didn't like it there, but that was the stress talking and really the last month was fun and very educational. Well, my last day was officially August 2nd and I was going to leave on the 3rd. I could have taken the early morning ferry to Split on the 3rd but decided not to since Bobby wanted me to help on that morning and also because I didn't want to spent a full day lugging my three bags around a city. I was going to take the 1:30 ferry and get there 4 hours before my ferry to Ancona left. By about 11:30 that morning I still had not packed fully and I was running around like mad. I made the ferry though, along with my three bags, which must have weighed what I think 40kgs would weigh (I would say 70 lbs). It was not fun lugging them around and I was not looking forward to navigating Rome with them to find my hostel.
The ferry to Split was uneventful, but I was paranoid about my bags, and I would start to nod off and then jolt awake thinking someone was going to be rifling through my stuff. By the time I reached Rome though, I was over this thought and leaving my bags in random places whenever. In Split I immediately went to buy my ticket to Ancona, and managed to do this with some difficulty. I still hadn't managed much Croatian and was mostly using my hands and simple words to communicate. The teller was agitated but she got me the right ticket. I then sat down and waited for the time to board.
After some time, we were able to board even thought we still had two hours until launch time. The ferry was huge and tons of people where going on it. Customs was no problem and they only slightly paused at my photo, laughed and then said “bambino” or something to that degree. The picture was only 6 years ago, but I do not look the same. Anyway, I showed them my ticket on board and it turns out that I only had a deck ticket. This meant that I could either sit in the bar and spent money or go outside. Now this ferry went all night and there was no way I was going to sleep out on the deck. It was looking a little stormy so I waited on the very top deck until everyone disappeared into the bowels of the ship. I then quickly took my belongings and snuck into one of the seating rooms. I found a back row of chairs unoccupied, and quickly settled in to look like I belonged there. I watched TV on my laptop and then tried to get some rest. I finally realized the most comfortable position was on the floor in front of the seats. Not the best place to sleep but at least I managed to fall asleep. I woke up at about 5 in the morning and it was another 2 hours until we reached Ancona. It was raining of course, but it stopped as soon as we got off. I went through customs, and no problems, just another lady murmuring “bambino”, I then had to make my way to the train station, which according to my map was within walking distance. Of course it was a bit longer and by the time I made it there my shoulders were about to fall off due to the weight of my bags. The next train to Rome was in 5 minutes, and they would not let me on it, but I didn't care because I was in not rush. The next train was in three hours or 11 in the morning, meaning I would still get there with plenty of daylight to find my hostel and way around. I spent my time watching the trains come and go, while snacking on some croissants. The train finally came and I quickly found the perfect seat, with the best window view. As luck would have it though, we had assigned seats and it turned out that my seat was the only one in the car that didn't have a window at all. I refused to move, and luckily no one tried to make me. Everytime we came into a new town and people got on, I pretended to be sleeping just to make people think twice about making me evacuate their seat. The Italian countryside was beautiful, and enjoyed riding through all the little towns. We even went through the town of Spoleto, which made me think back fondly on Charleston. It was smaller than I thought, and you can see why Charleston's festival is bigger than theirs now.
The train arrived in Rome, in a huge train terminal. I was a bit intimidated about finding my way around, but I quickly pulled my shoulders back, and marched out of the train acting like I knew exactly where I was heading. That was my plan this whole trip, never allow anyone to think that you don't know where you are or that you aren't sure you are supposed to be there. So far it has worked wonders. Within 10 minutes I found the address my hostel was supposed to be at, but there was no sign, and the names on the apartment numbers were nothing that I thought could be the hostel. There was another hostel by a different name and I tried it but there was no answer. I tried to ask this one resident of the apartments but they quickly dismissed me. I was starting to get a little worried because I was certain that I was in the right place, but nothing was working the way the internet said it would work in to check in. I thankfully had printed out all the information beforehand, and I quickly made my way to a pay phone and called up the number. It turned out that I was in the right place and everything, but they used the hostel owner's name and not the hostel's name for the call button. I was quickly sorted out and I was shown my room. It was an apartment with four bedrooms, two baths, a kitchen and a small eating area. I had one of the rooms, three Italian girls had another, a small Spanish family had another, and some guy was in the other room. Hardly anyone is ever in, because it is Rome, and there is so much better things to do than stay in your room.
I settled in and then went out to explore. The first thing I hit up was the Coliseum, which was amazing. I spent some time walking around there taking pictures and then walked all around the perimeter of the Roman Forum. I then just walked around with no purpose, ended up crossing the river and then making it all the way to St. Peter's square. I then walked back into the heart of Rome, saw the Pantheon along with the Trevi Fountain. I then decided to try and get a decent meal and went to the closet place that looked good. The food where I ate was great but the service was lacking. My waiter was not to happy with just one person taking up one of his tables. Also, halfway through my meal, I realized that the strange smell I kept getting wafts of was not of the city streets, but the dirty diaper beneath my table. Oh well, I got it sorted out, and then went on to enjoy my food. I had a white sauce lasagna, with porcini mushrooms and black truffles. It was amazing. I then walked around a bit more and then realized I had 7 nights to explore everything in Rome. I didn't have to do it all in one night.
The next day went out with the idea of going to some museums. On my way I decided to stop in on this one church. It was massive and ornately decorated. I moved to the front of the church and then I realized how crowded it was. It was then I realized that they were having some sort of ritual (for lack of better word) which was a pretty big deal. With all the crowds and cameras (there were several TV station cameras set up) I thought the Pope was about to walk in. He didn't though, but some guy dressed like he was the pope's apprentice walked by and everyone was looking at him for direction. After a little while I decided to head out and get out of the way.
Back to the museums......So I decided to start with the one further away from the city which was the Modern Art Museum. They listed that they had Degas, Monet, and Van Gogh there, so I was thinking modern, in Rome, was a bit older than my interpretation of modern. Turns out I was wrong, and they only had one painting of each of the artists I wanted to see. The rest was modern art, which in some ways I can appreciate but after a while......you know. I did get to see the signed urinal I learned about in my college sculpture class though. That museum was a long walk out of the center of Rome, and as I made my way back I got lost in Rome's version of Central Park. I finally made my way out, got my bearings together, and then headed for the next tourist spot I wanted see.
I was excited about this next one, because I had heard of it a while ago, but then forgot about it. Luckily one of the tourist sites I had looked at a week ago mentioned it and so I quickly added it to my plans. It was the crypt of the monks. I don't know the real name, but the crypt was filled with the bones of the monks and the walls were decorated with there bones. It was a bit different, and a bit morbid, but I enjoyed it. It turned out to be not as big of a deal as I thought it would be but it was definitely worth seeing. They even had some mummified monks that were still in their robes just standing around....which was a bit creepy.

I then headed to this gelato place that I had read had the best gelato. Turns out the book was right and it was amazing. The first two flavors I had were fig and then honey. I had them together and it was good. After spending some time at Trevi fountain, I went back for some more and had ginger with cinnamon. That is so far my favorite flavor. I kept exploring and then wound up back at the hostel. After a short break I went out to grab dinner at a small place I had read about. The service was so much better than the last place, but the food was not as good. I had just regular lasagna, and I guess I should have ordered better. I then went to try a different gelato place, which was know for it truffle ice cream. It was a scoop of their dark chocolate ice cream, rolled in chocolate chips, then frozen hard and served with whipped cream. Inside there was a cherry. It was really nice, but I thought the previous ice cream shop had them beat. I went back to the hostel and decided to try and get a good nights sleep for the next day.
The next morning I tried to get an early start. I got out of the room by 9 and went to the corner cafe for my pastry and cappuccino. Afterwards I decided to hit the Roman Forum and Coliseum. I spent about 6 hours at both these sites and went over every inch of them. I made sure not to miss anything, and I throughly enjoyed it all. In the gardens of the Roman Forum, I found a pear tree that had fruit and I of quickly had a free snack, making sure no one was around to yell at me. It was the typical tourist thing and nothing much to report about these two sites. They truly are amazing, and it blows my mind to think how old they are, and yet they are still in goo enough condition for me to walk under, over, and all around them. Also to think about all the history they have seen. It was simply mind boggling.
The rest of the day I decided I had to go shopping. I was on a mission to find pants since the next day I was to got to the Vatican and you can't enter without all of your legs being covered. It was quite fun to shop around, and I found a great shop with neat clothes that was closing down. They had all these really nice European designers at 80 percent off and I found a great pair of pants but of course they were to big. I then found this other store that was having a good sale. They had several pairs I liked, but they were only 20 percent off. They had a pair of red jeans/ pants I liked at 50 percent off, but I wasn't so sure about the red. I ended up just getting them since they were so much cheaper, and also because they were quite comfortable. Also I could be like my Mom in the fact that when she snuck into the Vatican she was in a bright orange dress. It would be hard to lose me in these red pants just like my mom in her orange dress. I forgot to mention that at this other store that was banging out Euro dance music, this one salesgirl was trying to help me choose, but she was having a hard time, since she was mostly dancing around me holding some jeans in my face. That was quite interesting. I didn't spent much time there. The shopping streets I was on was a lot of fun to walk around on. You see so many different people, from everywhere.
It is fun just to stop and look at all of the people around you. Of course they had shops for everything, and I had to stop in on some of the sunglass stores. They had some great sunnies and I had a hard time putting them back on the shelf. Haha.....if only. I then went for a late lunch/early dinner. I went to this one place that was cheap and it turned out to be pretty good. I had pizza (which pales in comparison to Pizza Alfa) along with this amazing bread and olive oil. Afterwards, I was about to ask for the check when this large, round Italian guys comes over with a huge slice of watermelon. He just put his hand on my head, ruffled my hair, and placed the melon in front of me. I wasn't sure what to do. It turned out he was the owner of the place, and he really enjoys American college students. He was super nice to me and chatted with me. He also gave me a glass, not a shot, of really good lemoncello. I left there only 7 euros poorer and my stomach was bloated. I was going to call it a day, but on my way back I noticed a wine bar with free wifi, so I stopped in and had a glass of wine, just so I could use the internet. Internet in Rome is really hard to come by and I have been having a hard time finding it. So I know these posts are long, but it is only because I can't post everyday. So I apologize now.

By the way......Congratulations are in order for my sister and brother-in-law! They added their third boy to their family on August 6th. Luke Samek......I can't wait to meet you!