Here we are. Another post on my recent travels. This one about the gorgeous city of Rome. The ''Eternal city''. Do you know where does the name come from? From the Roman times. Ancient Romans believed that no matter what happens, no matter how many empires should rise and fall, Rome will be there forever. I suppose in a way they were right no? I mean ancient Roman empire did fall but there still is a Rome today.
Right from the get go, Rome is beautiful, impressive and everything is made in a large scale. There's nothing small about Rome. The stadiums, the streets, the buildings, everything is huge. And everything is beautiful, the Roman remains, the Vatican and the more recent buildings such as the monument built for Vittorio Emanuele II. Holy shit. That thing is massive. But first things first. Those of you who follow me for a longer time know I am obsessed with Berlin. That it's my absolute favourite place in the whole wide world and that there is nothing that could change that. Except perhaps Donald Trump moving to Berlin, but I think I don't have to fear that happening. Lol. Anyways if you know that then you probably also know that Italy is also one of my favourite places. That I love all of Italy, especially Tuscany, their history, their culture, their art, their food and even their crappy driving. Italy is amazing, there aint another place on this earth as amazing as Italy is. And Italians are very special people, very kind, very helpful, very loud. Gotta love them.
I've been all over Italy even down south on the island of Sicily, but the closest I got to Rome was a far away view from the highway where I could just catch a glimpse of the dome of San Pietro. It's been a long standing wish to see Rome actually. Even if my heart was pulling me back to Berlin this year. I have to admit, I was rather disappointed with how filthy the city is. It's one of the most beautiful cities in the world and it's so filthy. Trash everywhere. Really rather gross. Italians really just don't care but to me, it's a bit off putting. I get super annoyed at home when there's pieces of plastic wrappers laying around, now I see that I get my panties twisted for no reason. Comparing to Rome my home is spotless. What also bothers me immensly is that I live in Slovenia, which is right NEXT to Italy and yet to get there I have to take a train to Austria and then from Austria to Rome. What the hell? Shouldn't all European capitol cities be connected?
Starting with the hotel. It was a cute, nice, family owned place. Not that much of a hotel but more of a bed and breakfast kinda thing with a shared bathroom, mostly meant for people that stayed a day or two, so us staying that long was a bit unusual but you know why not. It had a great location, right next to the subway stop, very clean, good price, and the nicest and kindest staff. The owner was super sweet, very helpful, and bonus she had a sweet dog that came to our room each night and morning to play. You know me, if there's a dog I'm game. In case anyone is interested, the place is called ''B&B Royal'' you can easily find it on ''Booking.com''. Really, if I go back to Rome and I'm not rich enough for the Hassler hotel (don't ask) I'm for sure coming back to this place.
We did the whole drop your bags and go out exploring thing the very same moment we came. I literally changed clothes (I was over dressed and Rome was hot as hell) and bolted out. Technically only to hunt down the Hard Rock Cafe. It was the last day of ''Freddie Mercury week'' and obviously I would just die if I didn't try the Freddie milkshake which may I add was amazing and due to my Freddie shirt I was wearing actual Freddie with a cape came to talk to us and joke around and take pictures it was super awesome and by the way, just like everything else, their Hard Rock is amazing. Not only saying because they have Bruce Springsteens guitar (oh my god!) but also because of their ceiling with angel paintings. Beautiful. Did I mention btw that the HRC staff is always the nicest staff out there? Just the same in Vienna I love them all just saying, if any of y'all is reading this, you guys are doing a great job.
The other thing that I saw the very first day was the Trevi fountain and honestly I have to admit I nearly fell over backwards. No other fountain in the world compares to this one, well it couldn't because Trevi is the biggest one. It's a clever name ''Trevi'' comes from ''tre vie'' which means the junction of three roads which is where it stands. Also another missed conception that the fountain is made by Bernini. It's in fact not true. Bernini was supposed to ''fix it up'' because one of the popes found the original insufficiently dramatic, but because the pope died before the construction even began the project was abandoned. There are several touches based on Bernini's sketches that were used later on however. It was actually Pannini not Bernini who did most of the work on the Trevi fountain. The legend goes that if you throw a coin with your right hand over your left shoulder, you'll come back to Rome, or if you make a wish that wish will come true. It's silly I know but yet aparently there's about 3000 euro worth of coins thrown in the fountain daily so obviously I had to do it as well.
Walking around the very first day took us around some of the most important landmarks, Trevi fountain, Castel Sant' Angelo and the Spanish steps. All flooding with tourists. And the Spanish steps are far less interesting than they used to be. They used to be a meeting point for people all over the world. They'd sit down on the steps and chat, these days sitting down is forbidden and punished with a fine, all you hear is the police whistling all the damn time. I don't really understand it to be fair. How is sitting down more damaging than walking up and down. If they fear damage they should just close them down all together. And you do know what's right across right? The famous and most expensive shopping district in the world. Via Condotti. HOLY.SHIT.
Besides the filth I gotta complain about the prices. Everything and I do mean everything is expensive in Rome. And nothing is free except water in fountains placed all over the city. You will pay even walking around the ruins in the Circo Massimo which is supposed to be a public park. Which it is but a part of is where the ruins are is fenced and payable. Deep sigh. And another thing that bothers me more than anything. I mean I can suck up the filth and the prices but this is too much. Humans. Humans and their selfie mania. I swear the god they can't make 5 steps without a fucking selfie. It's unbearable. It's like Rome is no longer a beautiful, historical city but just a backdrop for idiotic selfies. Can you imagine what their phone galleries must look like? And there's like no respect, they climb all over the ruins, hanging from Pompeii pillar remains, grinning dumbly in front of graves at the cemetary…my god. Really I can't take it no more. I'd bitch slap all of them to punch some sense into them. Btw. No offence but most of them were Americans. Yet again. Sigh.
So another thing that we went to see was the Zoo. Or the so called Bioparco di Roma. My feelings about zoos are conflicted. Sometimes I feel it's cruel to keep animals in ''cages'' or enclosures for human entertainment and sometimes I feel all animals in the world should be locked up just to keep them safe from humans. Bioparco is supposed to be a smaller zoo (Yeah sure. As if anything in Rome is small) and it's located in the massive estate of the Villa Borghese gardens. Just how rich were these people really?? The gardens alone are spectacular and a great place to walk, parrots flying freely around and nice shade from huge trees. Beautiful. The gardens of course house the Villa Borghese with amazing art works, which I didn't see due to it being all sold out and I didn't know that that is one other thing that needs to be booked online to see. Sigh. But the zoo was a nice alternative. Today they have 222 different species of animals which may I add were very lazy because it was very hot on the day of our visit. Not that I don't understand them. At this point another word of advice, bring bug spray and bathe yourself in it especially if you're prone to bug bites. Mosquitos are everywhere and they nearly ate me alive. Not pleasant. So the zoo. It's very old, it was opened in 1911 and I think what I like most is that instead of bars there's ditches, pits and in some cases glass. It makes it look less like a prison and more like a park. One very notable animal (aside from all the cute but deadly coloured frogs) is the Kleinmann's tortoise or the Egyptian tortoise, it's nearly extinct in the wild (humans eh?) and in Bioparco they successfully bred them in 2007, crazy story but the group in the zoo are actually animals that they confiscated from a smugglers suitcase in 2005. Again humans huh? Awful. This animal smugglery makes me so sick and so angry I can't even find the proper words for it. I'm glad these guys got their happy end but most animals don't.
Another huge and fascinating thing is the Piazza Navona. To be fair so is Piazza del Popolo and many others. They have a lot of piazza's and all of them are impressive. This one though is built on the site of the Domitian stadium where the ancient Romans went to see the games aka ''agones'', aparently the name went from Circus Agonalis (competition arena) to in avone to navone and lastly to navona. Of course Piazza Navona is important because of Bernini's famous ''Fontana del Quattro Fiumi'' the fountain of the four rivers, which was an inspiration for our artist Robb who created a fountain simmilar to this one with also a simmilar name. Copy cat huh? Haha. Equally beautiful to the fountain is a church right next to it called Sint' Agnese in Agone. You can have a good look at the piazza and the fountain in Dan Browns movie ''Angels and demons'' where one of the 4 preferiti is attempted to be killed by drowning in said fountain. What a way to go huh? Drowning in one of the most beautiful fountains in the world. There's a lot of beautiful and historic landmarks in the Angels and demons movie such as Piazza del popolo, Santa Maria del popolo church, the Pantheon,…I believe those are real on site locations in the movie, while all of the Vatican is fake. Obviously, I don't expect Vatican allowing something as contraversial as Angels and demons to be filmed there. Never mind allowing accsess to the Vatican archives. Honestly I would kill to be able to have a glimpse of those. The knowlege and the secrets they may be hiding down there…I always thought it's unfair you know. Why should the church have the power to know all these things and the power to hide them from us? Aren't we allowed to know as well? I don't get it, really. No, wait actually I do. Rumours say that what the Vatican is hiding amongst other things is the original ''bible'' that would blow the Christianity myth wide open and expose it as a lie. I wouldn't want that coming out either.
Fascination never ends in Rome so there's also the Pantheon which comes from the word ''pantheum'' meaning ''temple of all the gods'' and it's the oldest church in rome. It used to he a Roman temple and now it's a church. It was built in 113 / 125 AD so you know this thing has seen some things already. And just like everything else the Pantheon as well is beautiful. Of course you know how it goes, you have to be there precisely at noon because of the light pouring from the circle window on the ceiling. Well I wasn't, but to be fair even without it the building is fascinating. Of course people were driving me crazy with their daft selfies in here as well. I mean it's a church! A church! A sacred place! You're supposed to be quiet inside never mind taking selfies. Humans. We ran into some ceremony the second time around, not sure what it was about but it was highly interesting. What's interesting about the Pantheon is that besides Umberto I and his wife, Vittorio Emanuele II is buried there, strikes me as odd, with that monstrous monument I'd assume Vittorio would be burried somewhere inside the monument. Besides them also buried inside the Pantheon is the great artist Raphael, he requested to be buried there and his wish was granted, which means he's the first artist to be given such an honor.
After vising Pantheon there was a break for more important things and by that I mean pizza and Aperol. Hah. I can't for the life of me remember which tiny narrow street we turned into to find a restaurant off the main square (less expensive), it was a small thing with the basics, pizza, pasta and drinks, suggested by Trip Advisor and can I just say that their Margherita was literally the best pizza I ever tried. Topped off with olive oil which is something that normally disgusts me and yet the best thing I tried. Italians never ask if you even like olive oil, they make you like it, or at least respect it. And hell great for them.
Aperol happened in a different place. Another Trip Advisor restaurant. Let me point out that two glasses of Aperol are the price of a good lunch, and possibly a lunch with three corses back home, but it would be ridiculous not to try at least one while in Rome. It's another thing I am not a big fan of at home, it's a little bitter and watery which is why I didn't like it. But hey, in Rome? They are incredibly generous with the alcohol and it's very very very good. With it they serve black olives with olive oil and citrus skins and fried pizza dough in several flavours, which is to die for good. Top notch service also. The waiters are super nice and friendly and one of them taught me basic Italian. Or so he thought, not knowing I already spoke Italian. I did enjoy all the Italian pet names and the fact that he renamed me into Giulia.
Speaking of flirting and such. Another guy stopped me because of my Jurrasic park tshirt, asking me if I'd rather be a raptor or a trex. Obviously a trex even if a raptor is deadlier. Anyways a short exchange later, he asks me if I'd like an Italian boyfriend and I tell him I already have one at home, he's not Italian but still and he goes ''ouch, you just broke my heart''. I died. It was really way too cute.
In order to keep this from turning into a massive novel I'm only writing down the things that I feel are most important. Like the Colloseum. I think when people think Rome, that is one of the things they think of straight from the get go. The amphitheathre from 70 / 80 AD. Another massive thing. What else is new. It would aparently hold up to 80 000 people. Imagine a rock concert in there. Like say Metallica. Hell. That would be amazing. It is of course impossible, the heavy, loud music could damage the ancient building, which is already in bad shape. You know time, earthquakes and of course people stealing stone, made it come to the shape it is in today. Stone thieves. Is there nothing sacred no more? Actually…why do I bother. We wisited the catacombs and I was overly excited you know the creepy, gory side of me, a hallway made of skulls and bones, on the floor, on the walls, everywhere. How amazing is that? Well I won't find out, that is now closed to public due to people stealing bones. Yep you read that right. People were stealing fucking bones. I mean. What? WHAT?! I can't even process that. By the way while we're at the catacombs, we actually saw two of them. First ones were called the Catacombs of St. Calixtus. Road to those nearly killed us, Italian bus drivers? Jesus Christ. Yes, if you are suicidal. I don't know if they ever heard of slow driving instead of pedal to the metal and breaks but okay. Literally driving over all potholes with that speed felt like it will tear apart the bus which already looked like it's falling apart, everything was shaking, rattling…a nightmare. But at the catacombs we had the best tour guide. He was super funny, joking with the Americans (of course guided English tour means, we have to be the only non English speaking people in the group) that to be careful that nothing grabs them while walking down the narrow corridors. People believed him too. Lol. He also said to keep close because he's famous for loosing people and if we see someone with a long white beard, it's someone he lost last year. And he made me his assistant, to help him explain about the wall paintings. Lol. Eric, you were awesome, I hadn't laughed that hard in a year so thank you for making my day.
The second catacombs were the Capuchin Crypts and museum. It's a cute little museum, showing some of the ''holy relics'', interesting to see. AND the Crypt where you guys I got to see my bones. No pictures allowed, which obviously I understand but it also annoys me, because I had a new (old) Pentax with a black and white roll of film in that would make spectacular shots of the Crypt. Assuming I wouldn't fuck something up which is very well possible, given the fact that it's been like 15 years since I held one of these in my hands…while we're here, can I post a public thank you note to the person that gave the Pentax to me? He's reading this, and he knows who he is, and he also knew how badly I wanted one of these beasts. So thank you, for being such a great friend, I really appreciate all you do for me. (P.S. actual Pentax photos - coming soon)
Now back to the Colosseum. Except it being guarded by the army and police, which is everywhere. Every fucking where, I get it but I also don't get it. I'm from such a small country / city that all this maximum security makes me feel not safe but rather uncomfortable. Anyways point, like everything else Colosseum needs skip the line tickets. A ton of tourists are waiting each day to get inside. To be honest I didn't even want to go in. I was not that impressed by this Colosseum. Yes sure it's huge and nice but half of it is not even original because it was falling apart and had to be rebuilt. Props for getting it done and preserving it but personally, I really like another smaller version that stands in Pula Croatia. I've been inside that one, on a concert even and hell it was a lot nicer. Matter of taste I suppose.
What also made an impact on me was the Protestant cemetery. A cemetery and a market are a must for me no matter what city I'm in. And this one is especially special because it's the home of the ''Angel of grief''. I have a special obssesion with angels. Angel human love stories is my favourite type of fiction and angel sculptures on cemetaries are the most beautiful things to me on this planet. Sadly I don't have any at home so knowing Rome has not only an angel but THE angel it was obvious it's a must. This one is super special because literally you see all devastation and sadness, because the angel is pretty much life sized and the way it's collapsed, weeping, draped over the grave…it will tug on your heart strings, that much more if you've ever lost someone, you'll understand the pain, if not, then you'll appreciate the art. It's absolutely beautiful. The sculpture itself though was made by William Wetmore Story dedicated to his wife. As well as the beautiful angel this cemetery is also the final resting place several important and famous people, two of them being John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, whos grave reads ''Nothing of him that doth fade, but doth suffer a sea change, into something rich and strange''.
What you will also find at the cemetery are cats. There's a ''cat colony'' the ''cats of Rome'' that live near by and the employees of the cemetery take care of them and feed them. You can help with donations that upkeep the cemetery and buy cat food. Of course I did. Such noble cause, they could take the easy way and ''get rid of them'' as humans so love to do but these people embrace them and keep them happy and fed, makes me feel there's a bit of hope for humanity left.
It is absolutely impossible to write down everything that I'd want to or this would be insanely long, so in short some of the other highlights. There are beautiful museums of Leonardo Da Vinci in Rome and I recommend you see at least one. We went to a great one that allows you to try out his devices. Nothing short of a pure genius and years ahead of his time. Also really nice was the Napoleon museum which is guess what free, now that is a miracle. It's a small but nice place. Also free and great is the museum at the Vittorio Emanuele monument where on our 5th or 6th day we caught the German president. Huge HUGE drama. Suddenly there were over 20 police cars rushing with lights and sirens, followed by fire department and ambulances, the press and also a police helicopter…let me tell you something if you live in Europe that usually means nothing good. But luckily it was ''just'' the president with a wild escort of Maseratti's and police on Harleys. I don't know exactly what was going on might of been some anniversary or something like that but there were the army, the police, the navy, all in their special suits. Quite a view not going to lie.
One more of the very impressive things is the Doria Pamphilj gallery. They call it the smaller Villa Borghese. And holy hell it's amazing. Impressive. As everything is. This had to be some extremly wealthy family (still is today) because this gallery houses their private collection and the rooms itself aside, it has Raphael and Caravaggio and also Tizian.
And are you really in Rome if you don't go stick your hand in the ''Mouth of truth''? of course not. The security man over there is also the best. He will take pictures of you and when you put your hand in he'll scream just to scare you, you should see the Japanese tourists jumping. It was too funny.
What I noticed is a huge huge difference from say our capital is the fact that this city is alive. Musicians, preformers, artists, everywhere on all streets. And I love that. Some were really good. Two singers that I was listening to. Man, not many ''professional'' artists come near their voices. Absolute perfection.
After all the walking and sights we took a day off at the beach in Ostia. You guys, it's like what 30 km from Rome and you can easily get there by public transport with a one way / 100 min valid ticket for just 1.50 EU. Of course most beaches there are private which means expensive, renting an umbrella alone will set you back between 10 or 15 euros but seriously my suggestion is go ahead and do it, the sun is scorching, the public beach offers no relaxation because it's crowded and to be fair private beach is safe, no need to fear your things will go missing. It was a great experience for me because I didn't even know how badly I missed the ocean and sand till I saw it again. It was rather cold at this time of the year but that didn't stop me from diving right in (well, counting to ten a few times first to gather the courage) but it felt so great. I do miss the sea side. And this side of Italy and this ocean is crystal clear and super clean. You won't see one single piece of trash anywhere, lets not even start with the sand (rougher sand) and the sea shells. Beautiful. I loved it and it's the perfect relaxation after a long day / days of walking around.
Alright, there was so much more of this, great memories, unforgettable stories, beauty and amazing places but if I'd write it all word by word this would soon turn into a 300 plus pages novel. You know me I can't keep it ''short and sweet''. I guess all I really can say is that if you ever get the chance to visit Rome, do it, it's amazing, it's beautiful, it's enchanting and it leaves a spectacular impression. You'll love it just as much as I did I promise. So I guess next time a post on Pompeii to conclude my travels. So many memories though and I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I enjoy writing about them.
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