Rome

My heart sank a bit when the train pulled out of Monterosso and headed for Rome. It was difficult to imagine spending four days in a city of 2.7 million people after spending five days with Matteo, Carla, Marco, Anna, Fausto and all the lovely people we met in Cinque Terre. I felt almost disoriented the first night as we walked to Piazza Novona for dinner at a local Roman hang-out. Feeling energized after an authentic Italian dinner, I felt better prepared to welcome Rome and open myself up to the next few days of travel. Our little flat was located right across the way from the Vatican City and I swear I could hear the Pope singing in the shower the next morning.

We decided to spend our first day making the train trip to Pompeii to visit the city ruins. We were all astounded by how much of the city is still intact and the vast area of ground it covers. With Mt. Vesuvius looming in the background, it’s easy to imagine the fear and chaos that must have ensued on that day in 79AD when the volcano erupted. There were very few tourists on the grounds that day and many of the streets and building we walked around were completely empty, except for us. I was able to take some great shots of empty streets, which I have to believe is a rare sight at Pompeii. We were all impressed by the order and sophistication by which these people lived so long ago. The houses were spacious, the baths were decadent and the main area of town offered most of the goods and services we have in today’s modern world. The most impressive thing to me was the rich color that remained on the walls as decoration. I wouldn’t say Pompeii was filled with great painters, but it was obvious that color and décor were an important aspect of their aesthetic world. The cast moldings of bodies frozen in time, the forum, theaters and college, the countless numbers of preserved statues, vases and pottery, the patchwork marble countertops are just some of the gifts Pompeii has to offer. It was a full day, but we were really happy we made the effort because Pompeii is captivating.

The next day, our driver, Alberto, picked us up at 9:00am for a breezy tour of Rome! This was a great call, on Matt’s part, because we were able to efficiently see many of the important sites of Rome with out all the fuss. Alberto took us to The Forum, The Colosseum, The Circus Maximus, The Palatine, Trevi Fountain, The Domus Area, and of course, The Pantheon (the most impressive to me). In addition, Alberto drove us through old neighborhoods and pointed out the few chunks of the original city walls that still remain and gave us some great insight into modern Italian history, from his family’s perspective. It was a day well-spent because we were able to decide which monuments we wanted to re-visit on our own.

The next two days were spent in The Vatican and The Colosseum, both equally impressive in their own ways. I loved, loved, loved walking around The Colosseum. I thought it was fascinating. As I climbed the stairs to the second level of this giant, I could just imagine myself in the days of the Romans. My leather sandals would pad lightly under by loose linen frock as I carried my Big Gulp-size carbonated olive oil drink, my paper cone filled with fried muskrat noses and my poached possum on a stick, to the commoners section to watch the gladiator fights!

I would return to Rome in a heartbeat. There is so much to see and I really like the city!