Strap on your hiking boots, grab your litre of Evian, a good stick and a snack and get ready for another adventure.
I wonder where I went this time :-)
2 December 2007: Forums, fountains, food, and friends
So, I hope you remember from the last Europe post that I am in Rome at the moment, saw the Colosseum (almost cried, twice), and had a wonderful relaxing evening. Today is no different. Let us begin!
We woke up late (for us at least - 9:30) because we didnt have to be out of the hostel until 11. Praise the Lord we can sleep! Anyway, got ready (that was a nice ordeal...*ahem*) and left. Walked towards the Colosseum (because everything is that way), which takes about 15 or 20 minutes. But a nice walk all the same. Went through the park there right in front of the Colosseum and continued on our way. As we were walking towards our next destination, we got stopped by a Roman Gladiator. Well, Jordan did. Apparently, the Italian guy thought it would be funny to tell Jordan that he was Jesus. How anyone can mistake Jordan for Jesus completely bewilders me. Jordan has red hair and does not look in the least bit Middle Eastern. But whatever he said made us laugh (though it probably shouldn't have) and we ignored him because that's what you do in Europe - ignore anyone who comes up to you. After our laugh, we passed the Arc that is right in front of the Colosseum and headed to the Roman Forum. I didn't know anything about it (and, I must be honest, I don't know much more now) but it was interesting and filled with all kinds of old stone remains, etc. Sanctuaries were the most common things that had been put there. But we also explored an ENORMOUS house on the hilltop, which our Colosseum ticket got us into. We didn't have much time to look around since the audio guide was due back in two hours, but what we did see was pretty cool. I finally saw a Roman Bath (since I missed the ones in Bath, England) and what looked like an arena. Other than that, one can only guess what had been there. When something Roman decides it doesn't want to stand anymore, it takes a big fall, so it's hard to really be able to look at something and guess what it was for unless one had documented evidence, which I was very short on. But I had fun exploring the gardens and walking around the ruins and trying to guess what they had been in centuries past. It was awesome.
Since we only had the audio guide for a short time, we decided that it would be a good idea to use it. We had to pick and choose what we wanted to see, but I think we picked some good ones. Not that I'm an expert in ANYTHING we saw, but it was interesting at the time. I have never seen more stone ruins in one place than I saw here. Most things only had maybe a pillar or two standing, some had a foundation left and that was it, some things were still intact pretty well. If I remember correctly, the buildings in the forum spanned several hundred years, and many emperors, including Nero. I walked down a HUGE stone walkway that was put in place by Nero (and when I say huge, I mean, the stones were as big as I am). I think it used to be blue, but you really couldn't tell very well, unless you were an expert and I am VERY far from that.
See how it's falling apart? I thought it was cool that the brick was still standing
A bridge and a tree right in the middle of this house on the hill thing
These bronze doors are older than the birth of Jesus. Wow - and they are the ORIGINAL doors. Talk about sturdy
This was a cool santuary thing that I don't remember anything about except that invaders tried to tear down the pillars. Well, they didn't succeed but you can still see where they put the chains at the top to try and bring it down.
See? Besides the previous picture, this was just about the only other thing that was still intact...sort of.
Yeah, that was the Roman Forum. After that, we left and found a Scottish pub to eat at. It was really good. Then we explored some of the stores before continuing to our next location. I KNOW you will recognize it as soon as I put a picture of it up here. You ready?
Guess away!
If you don't recognize this, you better study up on your Roman tourist sites. Now, exactly WHY this fountain is so significant, I haven't the slightest idea. But it's pretty, isn't it? Oh, and it's even better at night when it's all lit up. Ok, if you don't recognize it, I shall enlighten you - Trevi Fountain. I will never understand the significance of a "famous fountain" unless it was somewhere Jesus was baptized at, but that was in the Jordan River. No fountains... So, like I said, I don't know why this fountain is signficant, except for the fact that the Romans built it, but it is. And it's pretty. We spent a bit of time here,
Throwing coins over our shoulders and making wishes...
Taking pictures (look how excited Kaity is to see Trevi Fountain!)...
Running our fingers in the water...
And studying the intricate stone carvings of this magnificent waterhole.
I can't tell you how many times workers came up and asked to take my picture. CLEARLY they didn't see that I had my own camera and was taking pictures for myself... *sigh* anything to make a Euro I suppose. After exploring and taking pictures to our hearts content, we went back up the little street we had come down and got Gelati. For those of you who don't know what that is, it's basically Italian ice cream - gooey, and MUCH sweeter than American Ice Cream, but AH-Mazing!
My gelati, a little on the bright side
Me and Kaity sharing gelati, a little on the blurry side
And don't forget the 35 Euro jar of Nutella - I wonder how long that would have fed us....
Yeah...I never want to eat that much Nutella...EVER! I got pretty sick of it after a whole week of eating just that, crackers, and bread. Thank goodness we were saved! But more on that later...
Yes, gelati was amazing but as we ate, we continued to our next destination. Someplace I had never heard of, but had seen it in movies. Anyone recognize these?
Something called the Spanish Steps perhaps? Yeah. Cool, huh? My pictures are being stupid at the moment, so this is one off the internet, but it's by far better than any one that I have. Like them? Me too. But there were lots of people there - found two couples making out on the steps. They were really funny to watch - but that didn't happen for very long.
So the fountain at the Steps
was pretty awesome.
I drank out of it. Don't believe me? Check it out...
See? And for those of you who think the water in Rome is bad - you would be terribly wrong. It's better (MUCH better) than Searcy water and almost as good as Memphis water. Best water I had had to drink since before I left for Europe. It was delightful - just rolled over your tongue like a soft cloth. Oh it was heaven...for about 5 seconds because there were other people waiting. The two pictures are two different incidences, so yeah. I drank TWICE. Wahoo!
After that, we climbed back up the steps (because we had come out on the top) and went back to the hostel. It took 30 minutes to get back, but we made it in time for dinner that night (remember the free dinner? Mmmm, pasta!) which was awesome. I also met Ruth who was on a 6 month travel and was finishing up in Rome. She was 9 days away from being home in Belgium (but she's an American) and she was so excited. She had a 13 year old daughter that she hadn't seen for 6 months, so I know she was ready to get home. But we talked all through dinner. I told her where we were going the next day and she asked if she could come along. Of course it was ok. She had been tagging along with people since she started her journey and the three of us were more than happy to have her accompany us on our next excursion. Where is that?
You will have to find out next time.
Until then,
Ciao!
Aimee
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