Italy is addictive; every time I return from there I suffer from withdraw. I have visited Cinque Terra and Bologna, but I have barely seen the country. Must-sees include Caprice, Florence, Milan, Naples, Pisa, Rome, Turin, Venice, and Verona. The list is ambitious, and I probably can’t visit all these places thoroughly during my stay in Europe, but at least I can now cross off Rome from the list.
Rome. Roma. Amor. Rome mirrors love, and I love Rome. The eternal city was unlike other cities I visited; in fact, it was a world of its own. I had only three and a half days in Rome, and every second of the trip was a moment treasured.
Thursday, July 21, 2005
Day 1: Introduction to Pub-Crawling
I traveled with Jacqui, Richard, Tommy, Vance, Charles (Luxembourger), and Ed (Englander). We departed with EasyJet from the Basel EuroAirport and arrived at the Rome Ciampino Airport. (There are two main airports in Rome. The Ciampino serves chartered flights, like the ones offered by EasyJet, and the Leonardo di Vinci serves scheduled flights, like the ones offered by Swiss.)
Once we left the plane, the Roman summer heat was evident. From the airport, we took a bus to a subway station (forgot its name), and from there we went to the Termini Station where our hostel Guy’s Paradise was located nearby. The Roman public transportation system was chaotic; it was inferior to the Swiss system by all measures.
Before I describe Rome, I have to describe the hostel.
There are many definitions of the word "paradise," but I am certain filthy, smoky, tight rooms don’t fit any of them. As soon as we stepped into the hostel for check-in, we were greeted with a "Want a beer?" (Our not so cheaply priced accommodation included cheap beer, cheap wine, cheap breakfast, and cheap dinner.) If alcohol makes ugly people pretty, then the same can be applied to buildings, right? At least the hostel thought so. By the way, I got sick from eating the hostel food. Perhaps the alcohol was meant to cleanse the food. Instead of getting food poisoning, I could get alcohol poisoning…great. I avoided being at the hostel, which might as well because there were so many things I planned to see in Rome.
It was late by the time we checked-in. We joined a pub-crawl. It was my first pub-crawl, but it wouldn’t be my last. The pub-crawl included a short walking tour, and the most memorable sights were the Triton Fountain, the Spanish Steps, and the Trevi Fountain. We then visited four clubs and pubs. On our way to the last pub we passed by the grandiose Victor Emmanuel II monument (that was fondly nicknamed the Typewriter or the Wedding Cake.) I couldn’t enjoy the night as much as I should because I was poisoned by the hostel. We finished the night sometime between 3 and 4am.
Friday, July 22, 2005
Day 2: Vatican
I was wakened by the chaotic Roman traffic at around 6 or 7. (In Rome, the word "chaotic" often recalled itself.)
Today we joined the Vatican tour. The Vatican, as we all should know, is its own country. (Now, do you know the other country inside Italy?) Interestingly, the Vatican uses the Swiss Post, which is a good choice considered how chaotic most Italian systems are. (See, I used "chaotic" again.) Also, the Vatican guards are Swiss Guards, which are elite soldiers of the Swiss Army.
We crossed the Bridge of Angels (with each angle depicting the passion, or the suffering, of Christ) into the Vatican, and we visited the St. Peter’s Basilica. Architecturally, St. Peter’s Basilica is astonishing. Its balanced proportion masks its formidable size, and one has to pay attention to the smaller details like the man-height letters and door-handles to be truly astonished by the shear magnitude. The Dome, designed by Michelangelo himself, is epic and takes its place in the Roman sky; it is the crown of St. Peter’s tomb and the Catholic faith. The interior is meticulously decorated with mosaics and sculptures, and houses the lavish tombs of past popes. These treasures are the masterpieces of some of the West’s most revered artists. The most amazing item was the Bernini-designed bronze Papal Alter and Baldacchino that was built above St. Peter’s tomb and beneath the Dome. All minute details of the basilica have a meaning behind it, even the aforementioned door handles. A proper guide to the St. Peter’s Basilica can be found here.
http://www.stpetersbasilica.org/
The Vatican Museum houses a collection so enormous that it is impossible to see everything in one year, let alone one hour or so. We passed by some of the more important exhibits and visited the Sistine Chapel. Being inside and seeing masterpieces like the Creation and the Last Judgement by Michelangelo and the Handing over of the Keys by Perugino for the first time in person was a divine experience. Naturally, there were guards hushing the tourists who could not control their enthusiasm. It was unfortunate that I had so little time in the museum, and now I regret very much that I didn’t abandon the group to see more of the museum. Joining a tour is educational, but it is also very condensed. After looking at the Vatican Museum website, I can safely say that I saw less than one percent of the collection. I will probably return, and I will spend a day there. By the way, a good virtual guide of the museum can be found here. (The photos do not have pesky tourists like me in them too!)
http://mv.vatican.va/3_EN/pages/MV_Home.html
After dinner, we went on to the same pub-crawl as the previous night. (Yay! I didn’t get sick, so I must have developed immunity to the hostel food.) This time, however, there were much more people, and the fun factor correspondingly increased. We partied until 4 or 5am, and the details near the end of that night were hazy, but I was told by the tour guide and Vance that I had "a lot of fun"…great.
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Day 3: Ancient Rome
I managed to get up early at around seven, so probably I had less than three hours of sleep. I guess I couldn’t sleep in those hostel beds. I didn’t even want to think about all the body fluids soaked up by the mattress over its decades of service, and how I was only protected by one thin bed sheet that was not mine.
Today we joined the Ancient Roman tour. The tour began in the afternoon, so Charles, Ed, Jacqui, and I visited the shopping districts. Both Charles and Ed got shirts that were made in Italy, naturally. Before the tour we had lunch. For six euros I got a whole pizza that could feed three people! At first, I thought I was getting a slice, and finishing it was a poor decision. (I shouldn’t have celebrated not-getting-sick-from-food so soon.)
We rendezvoused with Richard, Tommy, and Vance at Palatine. Despite in ruins, Ancient Rome still impresses. We began at the Circus Maximus, which was a horseracing ground. There is nothing much to see now, but in the past it was decorated with fountains, statues, and obelisks, and there were two temples – one with seven dolphins and one with seven eggs. With the completion of each lap, a dolphin and an egg would be removed to indicate the number of laps remaining. Many ancient Roman buildings and monuments were destroyed by looting. It was eerie to stand before the barren land that was once the Circus Maximus; I found it hard to fathom how civilizations that took so much hardship to build can be eradicated so casually. (Of course, the Romans built their civilization by eradicating other civilizations; that was/is how the world worked.) Across Circus Maximus was Palatine where Roman emperors lived. We also passed by the Jewish Quarter, the Pantheon, the Pompey's Theater where Julius Caesar was murdered (the spot directly under a bus stop), the Forum, and, finally, the Coliseum.
After dinner, everyone went pub-crawling for the third time, but I didn’t go because my liver and wallet could no longer handle alcohol. Earlier today I met a girl from Hong Kong, and we walked around Rome in the night. I brought her to all the places I saw to on the first pub-crawl and walked past some prestigious stores. At the Trevi Fountain, I threw in two coins. It is said that with the first coin you will return to Rome safety, with the second you will find love in Rome, and with the third coin you will get married in Rome. I made up my own wishes, however, which is allowed according to Encarta. The night was relaxing and non-liver-damaging. It was too bad, however, that I missed Tommy getting sired by an English vampire.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Day 4: Last Day
On our last day in Rome, we visited the Palatine and the inside of the Coliseum. We lost Richard and Vance once we exited from the subway station. The lineup for buying the tickets to get inside the Coliseum was very long at the Coliseum entry, so we brought the tickets at the Palatine entry. We first toured the Palatine, and had lunch in a restaurant called Massenzio. I had very good pasta. (I didn’t order pizza like everyone else because of my pizza incident yesterday.) We continued into the Coliseum, which was smaller than I imagined but still very impressive nonetheless.
Despite my determination of not loosing the group, I lost everyone near the exit. I am blaming it on my Asian-camera-happy way. I walked around the grounds of Coliseum, and visited the Arch of Constantine, a nearby church, and the Forum. The three or four hours disappeared quickly, and unwillingly I hurried back to the hostel only to find out nobody was there as planned. (We decided beforehand to go to the airport together.) I went to the Termini Station to get an orange juice, and when I returned, Richard and Vance were there.
From here on, a series of disasters unfolded. The group that lost me and went swimming had not returned yet. When they returned, it was quite late. We took the subway to the bus station where we could catch a bus to the airport, but the bus never came. (Each of the buses has a dolphine emblem that probably refers to the dolphines at the Circus Maximus.) We were getting very desperate as our check-in time drew closer, and we were willing to take a taxi, which would be expensive. Later, we were told there was a bomb threat at the airport, and so no one could enter or leave the area. I was told that an airplane destined to Leonardo di Vinci carried a bomb, and it was diverted to Ciampino – the ghetto airport. Moments later, however, the bus arrived, which signaled all was clear. (The bomb threat was apparently a prank call.)
The airport was in chaos. There were policemen and soldiers everywhere, and many passengers were stranded. Hours later, however, many flights departed, but ours was cancelled. EasyJet was going to assign the passengers on the cancelled flight onto later flights, so it was unknown when we could go home. There were two EasyJet girls standing in front of a small staircase frantically receiving and reorganizing flight plans. I felt bad for them because everyone was frustrated, and it looked like their boss sent them to the wolves. We were waiting in the food court, but we were expelled because it was closing hour…great. The airport and EasyJet were unprepared for crisis like this, and they didn’t even try to provide any assistance. We were debating on methods of getting home, which included car rental and train. The train was more realistic, so we got on the airport bus and returned to the Termini station.
Monday, July 25, 2005
Day 5: Journey Home
We knew that there was no way we could make it to work on Monday. It was past midnight already. Amidst of all the anger, frustration, and despondency, we were delighted that there was a train to Milan, and from there we could cross the border onto Swiss soil. Everyone bought the tickets, but unfortunately it was not that easy. The train did not depart from the Termini Station, but from another smaller station in Rome, so we had to wait for another city bus to get there. By now, I really appreciate how good the Swiss public transport is; unlike the Italian buses that come whenever they want, the Swiss buses have a schedule. Anyway, we arrived to the correct train station, jumped onto the train, and our eight-hour journey to Milan via Bologna began. The journey home is never too long.
Italian trains vary in quality. Some are quite comfortable; they have air condition and spacious seats. Other ones are ghettos in rolling tin boxes filled with very interesting people that fit the stereotypes of greasy Italians whose hobby and work are both petty crimes. Ours was the latter. The cars had only six-person carbines; yet, none of them had six people. Each person took up more than one sit by putting feet onto the opposite chair. We couldn’t find seats, so we had to stay in the hallway. Luckily, there were small seats that could be unfolded from the wall, but they were very small and uncomfortable. There were constantly people passing us by, so it was impossible to sleep. It was safer not to sleep; the interesting people on the train were interested in us too, but they were probably more interested in our belongings. I took care to ensure everything of mine was secured.
When the train stopped at Bologna, many passengers got off. Two Italian men swiftly unscrewed the windowsills, removed the curtains, and dashed off. We were amused and dumbfounded, and we agreed staying up to guard our belongings was worth the fatigue.
A few more hours later, we arrived at Milan being dirty and sweaty like all other passengers. At Milan, we bought tickets to Lugano. We decided that there would be trains from Lugano to Zurich, and from Zurich we could get on a train to home. Once in Lugano, however, Richard and I decided to stay. The ticket to Zurich, even with the Half Price card, was too expensive. We decided to wait until 7pm when we can travel free with our Gleis7 card, and until then, we would be doing some sightseeing. Indeed, we were tired, but we were also running out of money. Furthermore, because we were going to miss a day of work anyway, we might as well do more stuff.
Lugano is a city in Ticino, which is the Italian-speaking canton of Switzerland. The city is built on a slope around a lake, and the view was mesmerizing. After all the bewilderment of Rome, the city provided a nice break. It is fun to partying with abandon across the borders sometimes, but I pick living in serenity any day.
After having dinner at a Manora restaurant, we caught a train to Zurich, and from there we returned home at last. My Rome trip was by far the most fun and memorable, and looking back it was the misfortunes that made this trip so exciting.
