Day 2: 4-5 hours of nothing but Rome!

Well, I'm glad I packed some comfy shoes.
But regardless of that my feet and legs still hurt.  Whether it is the still getting acclimated to being six hours ahead of the east coast or how much time I spent perusing the streets of Rome, I'm glad that I am actually getting tired around an appropriate time.

Today I figured out how to use the metrobus system!  Now I know that figuring out the public transit system might not seem like a big deal, but in Rome it is a bit more complicated than back in the states.  The metrebus system is comprised of both buses and metro trains.  Here it isn't free and you have to buy tickets which vary in type depending on what you plan to do, and you have to validate the ticket when you get on the bus.  Well, I say have to, but the ticket validation part works on the honor system.  Lemme esplain.

So to buy a ticket you have to visit the tobacco shops and purchase one in there.  You can also find tickets at a ticket machine, but I don't know what those look like, and can't read the Italian anyways.  Luckily there is a tabacchi right across the street from where I'm staying, so that made things easy.  You have a couple of choices.  From what I understand, one option is a single-trip ticket, another is a daily ticket.  The first costs €1,50 and the other costs €6,00 euro.  There are also other tickets available for purchase which last a few days, a week and a month, but I wasn't interested in these, as soon I will be traveling with my study abroad group.  Although the single-trip ticket sounds pretty straightforward, you can get multiple uses out of this type of ticket.  Once you validate this ticket on the bus you are cleared to use the metrebus for the next 100 minutes, regardless of how many transfers to other buses you make.  However, it is only good for one metro trip only.  So to get the most out of your ticket, it is best to use the buses first to get to a metro that will take you to your destination, after which you ticket is invalid.  Stefano was very helpful explaining this system to me, but I still had to look up some of this stuff online.  The daily ticket lets you ride the bus or metro up until midnight of the date you purchased it on.  Since I planned on going into Rome and back again, I saved €3,00 and just bought two single-trip tickets.

The whole thing works on the honor system.  The driver doesn't check to make sure your ticket is valid or that you even have one.  Rome is much too busy and so many people use the metrebus that checking every single person is impractical and wastes too much time.  However, from reading about this online, there are ticket checkers which sometimes will be on the bus and if they suspect that you haven't the proper validation will demand to see you ticket.  The fine is either €50,00 on the spot or about €100,00 if you chose to pay later.  I think I stand out being American, so I wasn't going to risk it.  Once on the bus you pop your ticket into the validation machine, which are bright yellow and located in two places on most buses, and it time stamps it and spits it back to you.  From there the clock is ticking.

But single-trip tickets do usually work for a single trip.  To get into Rome it took me nearly 15-20 minutes, but leaving at around 5:00 it took upwards to 30-40 minutes.  Rome is a bustling city and tourist center, so traffic does slow things down.

After I arrived at Piazza Venezia, a huge piazza where most all buses passed through one way or another, as it is pretty much in the heart of Rome, I went into to shutter-bug mode.  The first thing I shot getting off the bus was the obvious one, the Altare della Patria, or Alter of the Fatherland.  It is a huge, monumentally enormous, beautiful pure white marble structure which was built in 40 years (1885-1925) to honor King Victor Emmanuel II, who was unified Italy's first king.  It is 440' across and 230' high, not including the statues atop it, which are also beautiful.  After I was down gawking in awe and taking photos, I ventured around the beast and walked south along Via dei Fori Imperiali, along a route that Stefano suggested I take.  The Colosseum lies along this route, but I wasn't interested in visiting it quite yet, as I know it is very, very, very packed with tourists pretty much all the time and I know my study abroad group will be making an excursion there at some point.  Instead I ventured around Foro Romano and Piazza del Campidoglio and took photos of all the old Roman architecture and structures.

Alteare della Patria "The Wedding Cake," Piazza Venezia.

Statues on Alteare della Patria.

Panorama of Foro Romano (Roman Forum).

I was more interested in simply walking around and seeing everything I could, and I didn't realize that I was standing in Piazza del Campidoglio when I was today.  In fact, I didn't even notice the huge plaza with it's symmetrical design and only got photos of some of the sculptures in front of one of the Palazzo Senatorio.  I realize where I was now that I am looking up info on all these places, and am sad I missed out on truly appreciating where I was standing.  Tomorrow I will have to plan better and do research beforehand, but today was a great day just wandering around, the only thing to guide me being a crudely drawn path. After about 45-60 minutes of walking around I finally found where I was on the map near Cicro Massimo and continued my route to someplace near Piazza Cavalieri di Malta, which Stefano had marked on my map.  He told me that in that spot I could see clear over Rome to St. Peter's Basilica.  The path led away from the bustling part of Rome and soon it was very quiet.  It was a nice contrast from how many people were in central Rome.  I don't think I quite found the place Stefano marked though, but I was able to see St. Peter's Basilica from wherever I ended up, so I considered it a success.  I'm sure had I found Piazza Cavalieri di Malta, or if I noticed it as I most likely walked right by it, I would have gotten a better view.

A sculpture outside Palazzo Senatorio in Piazza del Campidoglio.

The view of St. Peter's Basilica from where I was standing.

And here I got lost again, trying to find a bridge called Ponte Sublicio to cross the river which runs right through Rome, the Fuime Tevere.  Since I was on higher ground to see the Basilica, I had to walk quite a distance before I found the water and then I followed that to the bridge.  After I crossed, I got lost again... and wandered in what I thought was the way to Ponte Garibaldi.  I eventually recognized an intersection on my map and was back on track to the next bridge to bring me back to the heart of Rome.

Fuime Tevere.

It was when I found my way again I began to pass a great many people as the sidewalks I traversed turned into streets of their own which no cars drove on. This was near Piazza Sidney Sonnino, but not quite there.  I stopped here for lunch at a small pizza parlor.  It's simplicity and small size lured me in, a contrast to mostly restaurants or busy cafes I had passed up to this point.  Lucky for me the clerk, server, I don't know what to call them, spoke English well, and I chose a pizza which I thought only had tomatoes and olives on it.  I began eating to discover that there was a distinct fishy taste and smell, which I assumed was anchovies.  It wasn't half bad, however I chose not to keep them on for what pizza I had left.  It was too strong of a taste for me to keep them on.  I have never had anchovies on pizza before, but if there was any place in the world to try it for the first time, I would think it would be Italy.

Afterwards I continued across Ponte Garibaldi.  As I looked at my map I noticed that the Pantheon was nearby and decided I wanted to go there.  Yet somehow I managed to get lost again, and before I knew it I was staring at Piazza Venezia again.  From here the Pantheon seemed much too far to travel after the four hours I spent walking and getting lost again and again, I simply didn't have it in me to make the journey or figure out the metrebus to get there more quickly.  I decided to call it for today.

I went to the place the bus originally dropped me off in the piazza.  After waiting about 10 minutes it arrived, and I traveled a whole 50 yards before it stopped and everyone got off.  What I thought was a bus that ran a single route in circles all day wasn't so.  Turns out that when this bus finishes it route at the piazza, you have to board another bus, with the same number, to run the route back the way I came.  Heheh, I feel like such an idiot, I sat in a seat near the back for a good 15 seconds with the bus driver looking at me the whole time before he motioned for me to get off the bus.  Good thing I'm a tourist.  I waited at that stop and waited for the next #60 bus to come around.

This bus got packed, fast.  I chose not to take a seat, which was a horrid mistake.  After the first two stop I didn't think we could fit any more people on it.  People were so close to the door that they were moving just barely out of the way for it to close before pressing themselves up against it.  We were shoulder to shoulder the whole ride back, and I was paranoid that someone would pickpocket me and I kept checking my pockets to make sure everything was where it should be.  I didn't carry my money in my wallet, but I still had my ID in it and was not looking forward to having that replaced later.  When what I thought was my stop arrived (turned out to be 2 stops too early, my aching legs!) I didn't think I would make it to the door before they shut again, but somehow I managed to squeeze on out.  I carried my tired self to my room, began the photo transfer, and then passed out for a hour.

So today was a good, busy, wonderful, wandering adventure of a day!
If I made it sound like I didn't enjoy it in the text above, it is probably just because I am recounting this now at 12:16 AM and am very tired and want to finish typing this.  In all honesty it was truly a wonderful day, I must have had a stupid grin on my face 90% of the time today.  The weather was perfect, the air was cool, the sun was behind a mild overcast and it didn't rain too!  This city has so much history and the culture is so rich.  I love it here.

I have finished uploading the photos from day 1, and will probably work on the ones from today tomorrow morning before venturing out again.  I want to return to Piazza del Campidoglio and see and photograph it fully tomorrow, as well as visit the Pantheon.  From where I go then I will either figure out tomorrow morning or just venture off like I did today.  It will be another adventure.

Alright, good night everyone.  Once again I am exhausted, but it is a wonderful feeling to finally have again NOT at 3:00 in the morning (as is usually the case back in Florida).

Buonanotte everyone.