chapter 9 : rome.

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hey guys. not really much news to be told this time round. except that it has been snowing non-stop for days over here, but i know someone would be very happy about it. i’m gonna stop working soon, but my last week on the job will be really tough. and i am still learning german on the side. it’s really strange, i found that i can speak much better and more fluently if i speak to other non-native speakers, but it’s not the case once i try to speak with the swiss or germans. maybe one reason why is the fact that i am actually trying to speak the swiss german dialect at work, which might really be useful in my interactions with the locals in the long run, but i always find it difficult to change from speaking one language to another, it appears like my brain needs to reboot every time i do that. it doesn’t help that my english competency gradually gets worse, as my german improves.

it was a long train ride along the coast of france and italy that brought us from nice to rome. but the mediterranean sea was always so beautiful every time it is in sight. we arrived late in the afternoon at the roma termini, and we were instantly faced with an irony. the hostel in rome was supposed to be the closest away from the train station, but it was not the easisest to find. what was supposed to be a 10 minutes walk became an hour process. we then (finally) arrived in the hostel in which we were supposed to stay, but due to some plumbing problems we could not sleep there for the first night. luckily, the owner was responsible enough to find us another room to sleep in. but it wasn’t that simple, the owner actually gave us a scribbled note in bad english which was supposed to explain the situation, but only made it worse. the note was so convincing, that when i first saw it and did not understand shit, i thought it was my english that has already gone down the drain. but i was relieved when i saw the same expression on dee’s face when she tried to read it. and the fact that i have an italian name did not help either, cos then he tried to explain the problem in italian, wtf, non parlo italiano! okay, after we (finally) figured what the problem was, we were escorted to the room we were gonna sleep in, it was not that far away, and the room was quite decent, so no complain there. but we were so freakin hungry at that point in time that we decided to head straight out to find something to eat, pasta preferably. we then walked out, until we saw a really big group of people around a corner of a street who were amassed around a large square in front of a church. we then thought, let’s check it out. we went there, battled against the crowd to find a decent standing place, then asked around what was happening. and the answer, and i shit you not, was that the pope was coming to that church. shit, then we had a dilemma, eat or see the pope? we then decided to wait, but the whole procession took ages, there were definitely numerous times that i almost gave up. when the pope finally arrived, he was standing on an elevated moving stage, waving around to the people around the square, and after a 5 minutes appearance, he was gone. finally, dinner time.

rome is such an antique place. everything seems so old, the buildings, the streets, and just about everything else. the scale of the monuments are also just ridiculously huge. not only the ones from the past, but also the newer ones, check out the monumento a vittorio emanuele II, at first sight, you might think that it was build centuries past, but it is rather new, but the size of it is just unbelievable. it is my favourite monument in the whole city just because of that. the trevi fountain was also really beautiful, was rather difficult to find, but the clear water, an oasis in the heat of rome’s summer, and the promise that it would grant your wish if you throw a coin over your back to the fountain, were really worth it. then there was of course the pantheon, with the huge gaping hole in the ceiling, i would really want to see it when it rains, just to see where the water actually goes, and the piazza navona was something to behold, the fountain in the middle of the square keeps a deeper meaning and history that one must find out. and the collection of street artist was also pleasing on the eye.

i guess it was on our last day in rome that we went to the vatican. the vatican museum was just ridiculous, in there you can see all of the “presents” that the popes received for centuries. i am sure that most of the stuffs on show were once plundered or stolen from conquered areas, and given to the pope as a thank you for his support in all of these campaigns. after seeing all that, i am not so sure now if louvre actually has more art pieces than the vatican museum. and just like what happened in paris, i got sick of art pretty quickly after entering this museum. the large amount of people going through the museum also slowed our pace to that of a snail. but then we finally arrived at the pope’s study, where the school of athens is painted on the wall. i’ve always imagined it to be much larger, but seeing it with your own eye was quite an experience. then we needed to again walk in crawling speed until we reached the sistine chapel. we were supposed to maintain silence in that room, but with at least 500 tourists inside, it was rather impossible. being in a room from which you have heard numerous stories and tales was also quite unreal. then we went to the st. peter’s basilica, it was huge, and what i didn’t know was that you can attend a mass in it, but i did not. next on the list was to go up to the top of the basilica, there was two option, take the stairs all the way which is cheaper, or take a lift up to a mid point and then the stairs all the way up. well, i am not cheap, so i decided to pay more, and what a good investment that was, i would have really passed out, having to climb all the way, even from the mid point, i was already exhausted at times, and it did not help that at some parts, the stairs are actually slanted following the curve of the ceiling of the basilica, i felt like a ninja. but i must say, the view from up there might be the best one can get of the city of rome.

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i wouldn’t say that this was the highlight of my trip, but it was certainly a great fun roaming around this city. maybe our itinerary was just too packed and we tried to see too much in too little time, which made us really tired in this leg of the trip. but all in all, it was worth it and we really got to see some amazing stuffs.

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