To Rome, Trajan's Column, Colosseum Sighting, Horrid Yet Cheap Hostel

Wednesday 8.9.2010

Got up, ate breakfast, which was nice and free, and headed to the train station to head to Rome. Took a few pictures on the way, but don’t think anything interesting happened. When I asked for a timetable (I guessed correctly that the German for timetable was Fahrplan! I hadn’t ever learned this word. I’m proud of myself!) the ÖBB (Austrian national rail company) lady told me I’d have to make a reservation in Bologna for the train to Rome. While waiting for the Rome train I read a copy of Süddeutsche Zeitung that I’d bought in Munich, and I was sitting next to this black guy, who was talking on a cell phone and gesturing with his hands the entire time. It was really amusing, because obviously whomever he was talking to couldn’t see him, but he kept waving his hands around for emphasis during the entire conversation. Fortunately I arrived in Bologna early and had no problems. From Florence to Rome I had this fast train that didn’t stop anywhere, went pretty fast, had a screen that showed where on your route you were, and was in general pretty nice, which must have been why the reservation was €10. The only other person in my car was this nice older guy that confirmed that posti was the Italian for seat. I had a table, and there was a working electrical outlet, so I worked on my paper.

Arrived in Rome and pulled out my map of Rome which I’d purchased in Olomouc. It was in Czech, but all the street names were in Italian, so it wasn’t really a hindrance, most of the Czech words were similar enough to English that I could tell where the Vatican was, Trajan’s Column, &c. Also it was really cool and was this folded pop out map, so it fit in your pocket and was like a book, and you pulled it out and it popped open and showed Rome, then you closed it and it folded back together automatically. By the end of my stay in Rome it was pretty battered and didn’t do the folding/popout thing properly anymore, but it was still super cool. Also how many English speaker can say that they’ve explored an Italian city with a Czech map? Anyway I was walking, looking at the map and this guy asked if he could see it. He had also just arrived by train and was wearing a big backpack, and was having trouble finding his hostel. He turned out to be from Toronto. I let him see my map and we kind of got along because we were both native English speakers. He couldn’t find the street his hostel was on, but he thanked me for the use of my map and we parted ways in good standing.

Walked to my hostel, which turned out to be kind of sketchy. It was like, in an apartment. Originally the guy was going to put me in another building in which the electricity was down and have me come to the original one to shower. I didn’t get a key to my room. Determined to find a better hostel the next day, I deposited my stuff and headed out to explore a bit of Rome. I went to the old Roman part, with a bunch of ruins preserved. The Vittoriano was amazing. I’m not certain it was built by ancient Romans, since I later learned the big equestrian statue was of Italy’s first kind and the place was named after him, but in any case it was gigantic and in the classical style. Glorious all lit up at night. It really gave me a sense of being in the old capital of Europe’s greatest empire. I also saw Trajan’s Column, and walked by a bunch of ruins to the Colosseum. It was closed but it was cool to be there. I kept thinking, “I’m standing in front of the Colosseum! I’m actually standing in front of Colosseum!” There were a bunch of people selling wares and busking and begging around there. In general, I found Rome to be FULL of people. There were just so many people. Lots and lots of tourists, even though peak tourist season was over. I get the feeling Rome is full of tourists all year long. The city also smelled. I’m glad I went there, and as just mentioned it really feels you with a sense of being in a really ancient place, the capital of an old empire, and it’s super cool. There’s also a hell of a lot to see in Rome, and I could have used more time there. But I would never ever want to live there. I like cities, but Rome had way, way too many people, and it was dirty and it stank. The public transit is horrible. You get on an (un-air-conditioned) bus and wait like 10 minutes for it to start moving from Termini (the central train station). The subway only has two lines, so you can’t take it everywhere like in Vienna. And the subway cars are always crammed with people, so that you’re always rubbing shoulders with four other people and you can seldom find a place to sit down. There were also far more beggars there than anywhere else I’ve been.

Trajan's Column!

The Vittoriano.

THE COLOSSEUM! With something being projected onto its side from somewhere.

I passed by the Fountain di Trevi, which is completely huge and amazing. It’s all these sculptures, and it’s a fountain, and there’s just massive amounts of water flowing out of it with a big pool at the bottom and it’s completely beautiful, especially at night. I loved it. There were these two boys and two girls, I think younger than me, and they had these signs inviting people to come kiss them and take a picture with them. I’m not sure if they were asking for money or what, but they had a good thing going, those blonde little Italian guys! I’ve got to hand it to them. They were sitting in front of the gorgeous Fountain di Trevi, and there was a huge crowd looking at them and every so often a girl their age or a bit old you come down they’d kiss on the cheeks and get some pictures. And if they were getting paid, too? I’m not sure they were, but even if not, damn. They had it going on.

Anyway, so after seeing a bit of historic Rome at night I headed back, stopping at a grocery store along the way. I got to a place near the hostel that I think was some sort of museum. Reluctant to return to my sketchy hostel, I sat down on some steps and drank an Italian beer I’d picked up at the super market and smoked another cigar. A lot of the beers in Italy come in 66 centilitre sizes, which is interesting because in Germany and Austria (definitely more renowned as beer countries, Germany at least) beer comes in half litre bottles. For those of you who suck at math, that’s 50 centilitres. So I found it slightly odd that in Italy the beer sizes were larger. However when I got a beer at a restaurant a couple days later it was 0,4 litres (40 centilitres) and it would have been half a litre in Austria or Germany. Also at Italian supermarkets, the little price tags are all little screens that display the price, I guess so they can be changed. They also display another price, which I think may have been price per litre or per kilogram or something so you can prepare the values of different size products. Anyway I thought that was innovative. So I smoked and drank for a bit. The people who passed me kind of looked at me like, “What’s this kid doing here smoking and drinking on these museum steps?” but there weren’t many passersby so I didn’t get uncomfortable.

Finally headed back to the hostel and the guy gave me a bed in the building with electricity (yay!). The bed had no sheets though (boo!) so I used my towel and jacket to keep warm. The one redeeming quality of the place was that it was insanely cheap for Rome, less than €11 per night.