Rome: Day Zero - When in Roam...

You read the title correctly.  Roam.  That's what I am doing on the weekends; roaming Europe and taking in as much as I possibly can.  I am learning that a weekend is not enough time to spend in these incredible places, but it sure does provide stories.

It's not the destination, but the journey, that counts.  My destination was Rome, so I think it counted in this situation, but the journey there was nothing short of entertaining, and definitely not one I will soon forget.  I went to class as usual on Thursday morning, and this week's topic was immigration and racism with the UK.  Deep stuff here.  It's one of those topics that need to be talked about, but it weighs on you after the conversation has ended.  So I was slightly emotionally drained by the time that class ended and I was heading back to Vandon.  I completely forgot that it was our day for our room to be cleaned, and when that happens, you're not supposed to go in, so as luck would have it, they were cleaning my room at Noon, and on top of that, they started construction on our kitchen so I couldn't really make food.  My travel partner, Jess, and myself were hoping to head to Victoria around 1 PM to catch our train.  They weren't done cleaning my room at 1, so I had to sneak in, hastily pack the finishing touches and take off.  I was a bit flustered at this point, but luckily a sandwich from my favorite baguette shop kept me going.

We made it to Gatwick just fine, found our terminal and went through security.  Guess whose bag had to be checked because of suspicious items?  That's right, MINE.  Jess was being searched because her phone set off the metal detector and I was waiting for my bag to be picked up by an officer.  Luckily the guy who picked it up was really awesome.  He asked what we were studying and we told him British Politics (which is more or less true) and he got very excited.  There was a button on his shirt of a tree that he pointed to and asked if we knew what it was.  I had no idea.  He told us it was the conservative party symbol (Tories for the old-schoolers out there).  He continued to say that he was a George Bush man and hated Barack Obama.  This was a shocker, because I was told everyone in Britain was an Obama supporter.  I liked this guy.  He was just peppy and enthusiastic.  No matter what your political beliefs he was just a nice guy.  O, and we found my "suspicious" object.  In my race to pack I forgot to take out my Harry Potter wand and back a facial primer.  I told him about it and he picked it up, waved it around, and said "Oh, this wand?"  I was slightly mortified, and yet proud all at the same time.

Gatwick is a good airport; clean, easily navigated, friendly staff, but they do have a downfall.  They tend to not show your gate until a few minutes before boarding, causing a mad rush to the gate.  Flying EasyJet.com is great, as long as your luggage is small enough.  Mine was, but barely.  Assigned seating cost extra so it's basically a free-for-all for seating, which I liked because that means more window seats! Our crew was so awesome.  They were surprisingly all attractive males (presumably homosexual, bummer for me) and funny as hell.  I felt very at ease, and let them know at the end of the flight how great they were.  I like EasyJet.

We landed in Rome, navigated towards the Leonardo Express and were at the Termini train station by 10.  All that was left to do was find out hostel.  I need to mention that everything looks sketchier at night.  Leaving the train station I wasn't getting the best of vibes from Rome.  Graffiti everywhere, bums on the street, a drunk enraged man, a female giving an "oral examination" to a man on a very public street corner, amongst a dark cityscape were all very welcoming.  The cobblestone streets and my rolling suitcase got along quite nicely (insert sarcasm here). Every time a wheel bounced off a stone I felt like it was shouting to the people around me, "HEY!  I'm a tourist, at night, with luggage.  Look this way!"  Note to self: use backpack option at night.

When we finally made it our hostel we were a little taken aback to say the least.  Our Hostel, The Mona Lisa, is less of a hostel and more of a guy's flat that included his room, two dorm rooms with bunk beds, two bathrooms, and a combined kitchen/living room area.  Yes, we read reviews before staying here and most were positive, but one review did mention something like this, and it flooded my memory at that moment.  Now before everyone goes into shock, let me say that all the guests and the staff were amazing and friendly.  Besides those first few moments, I never felt uneasy, and the overall experience was a good one.  Our room was an eight-bed girls only dorm, and that helped a lot.

We dropped our stuff, locked it up, and hit the town to see some sights at night.  We passed the Quattro Fountane on our way to the Triton Fountain.  While walking form the Triton Fountain to the Trevi Fountain a man leaned out his car window and declared his love for us.  That was a fun pick-me-up.  At the Trevi Fountain we ate our first gelato.  It was delicious and the fountain is amazing.  Even thought it was 11PM it was still packed with people and street venders trying to sell everything from pictures, tripods and flowers.  The flower guys are the worst!  Story on that later.

This museum is literally right around the corner from where we stayed.

Entrance to Via Nationale

Fountain at Piazza del Repubblica

Triton Fountain

Trevi Fountain

At the Trevi Fountain, there is a tradition to throw in coins, and there is a special way to do this.  It goes as follows: 1) stand with back towards fountain 2) take coin in right hand 3) Kiss coin (optional, but I always do) 4) Make a wish 5) throw coin over left shoulder 6) Don't reveal wish or it will never come true.  I like to think that you throw the coin over your left shoulder to signify crossing your heart and therefore sealing your wish.

Water level view of the fountain.

After our wish making ritual, we headed back towards the hostel taking this awesome tunnel with great echo acoustics.  If you are wondering if I gave a wolf howl, I did, and it was awesome.  We were in bed by midnight with hopes of starting Friday off bright and early.  Rome Day 1 will be my next post.

Pip Pip Cheerio!