Starts at St. Peter's and ends in a pub crawl.
My first day in Rome I had the joy of experiencing the Roman summer, and sweltering doesn't half describe it. Since I couldn't check into my hostel til 3, I had 6 hours to blow. So just to get it out of the way, I decided to do the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. I meant to only look at St. Peter's and get some more time in for the museum, but I was duped by the Catholic church into paying to go up to the Cupola of St. Peter's Basilica. If the heat wasn't enough, I had to walk up 500 plus steps to go see the dagnammed cupola. Not to say I don't have some great shots of the view of all around Rome from up there, but I would have liked to not sweat like an ogre my first day there. I was also hoping to shower after a night train ride, so you can imagine how nasty ass nasty I felt.
After that it was a one kilometer walk from there to the Vatican museum to see Michelangelo's work of art. On the way I stopped off for a panini and cool down, but the winds were not happy that day, so even the shade was disturbingly warm. I was walking along the road and two big tourist groups suddenly stopped in front of me, so I decided to walk around them, seeing as they were regrouping or something. As I walked forward on though, I began to see my error in that they were stopping for the line. So I begrudgingly walked back to further behind as the line had grown a bit by then. The wait wasn't bad as I met some folks from Missouri and had a somewhat intelligent conversation that restored my faith in the other Missourians that had condemned my 'Asian sense of humour.'
After getting inside, the first thought was how great the a/c was. The next thing seemed like some kind of cruel joke from the Vatican, two statues from the first century AD were placed along the way to the bathrooms inside. Is this to show how powerful they are?! :p I should be careful, they might send one of the colorful Swiss guards after me since I'm still in Rome. The art and relics inside were interesting, but I didn't splurge for the audio tour, which meant I just looked at untitled pieces of art that could be god knows who, but I eavesdropped on some tour guide explanations so it all works out I guess. My main goal was to see the Sistine Chapel so eventually I worked my way around the big groups and crowds there. I almost missed the Stanze di Rafaello, but luckily I asked and was surprised when the guard pointed around the room. It really is a fleeting gallery, but I looked and saw.
After that I felt it was time to work my way back home and clean up since by then I was probably one really nastified sweat ball. I got back at 2, checked in, took a shower, and slept...until 9! I got up and one of my roommates asked if I wanted to go drinking, so I was like why not? We met two other girls and they were headed to a pub crawl which apparently is a great way to meet people. So I paid 20 euros and got a t-shirt, two small juiced up shots, and two beers and a pizza, I had to pay for other beers I had along the way, I couldn't drink fast enough when they were free :P I was walking along with the crowd and couldn't help thinking that it really wasn't the best way for me to spend the night. At the last stop, a club, I briefly danced and then took my leave. I thought I remembered where I could catch a bus back to Termini, but I guess not so I walked along trying to figure my way through the streets of Rome at 3/4 in the morning. After stumbling along, I figured out finally that I was walking along the Fora Romano where I ran into some others who had been in on the crawl. I asked if I might walk with them since they had a better map. We reached the Colosseum and sat under it, to our right was the Arch of Constantine.
Apparently, in the next major earthquake the rest of it will collapse, so come see while you still can. They people I walked with were going to sit there and take it in some more, but I was tired so I split off and continued to find my way. I asked a Bengali guy selling fruit for the way, and ended up in quite a long conversation that I couldn't navigate myself out of until I finally said I needed to move on. Got home at 4 am, and slept well.
The next morning I woke at 8:45 to put my stuff in the luggage room before 10 because I am so used to one night stop overs. I had breakfast and found out I could stay in my room since I wasn't checking out til the next day. Needless to say I'm a fool, but I'm a happy one nonetheless :P Then I went back up and slept until 1 in the afternoon.
My first day in Rome I had the joy of experiencing the Roman summer, and sweltering doesn't half describe it. Since I couldn't check into my hostel til 3, I had 6 hours to blow. So just to get it out of the way, I decided to do the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica. I meant to only look at St. Peter's and get some more time in for the museum, but I was duped by the Catholic church into paying to go up to the Cupola of St. Peter's Basilica. If the heat wasn't enough, I had to walk up 500 plus steps to go see the dagnammed cupola. Not to say I don't have some great shots of the view of all around Rome from up there, but I would have liked to not sweat like an ogre my first day there. I was also hoping to shower after a night train ride, so you can imagine how nasty ass nasty I felt.
After that it was a one kilometer walk from there to the Vatican museum to see Michelangelo's work of art. On the way I stopped off for a panini and cool down, but the winds were not happy that day, so even the shade was disturbingly warm. I was walking along the road and two big tourist groups suddenly stopped in front of me, so I decided to walk around them, seeing as they were regrouping or something. As I walked forward on though, I began to see my error in that they were stopping for the line. So I begrudgingly walked back to further behind as the line had grown a bit by then. The wait wasn't bad as I met some folks from Missouri and had a somewhat intelligent conversation that restored my faith in the other Missourians that had condemned my 'Asian sense of humour.'
After getting inside, the first thought was how great the a/c was. The next thing seemed like some kind of cruel joke from the Vatican, two statues from the first century AD were placed along the way to the bathrooms inside. Is this to show how powerful they are?! :p I should be careful, they might send one of the colorful Swiss guards after me since I'm still in Rome. The art and relics inside were interesting, but I didn't splurge for the audio tour, which meant I just looked at untitled pieces of art that could be god knows who, but I eavesdropped on some tour guide explanations so it all works out I guess. My main goal was to see the Sistine Chapel so eventually I worked my way around the big groups and crowds there. I almost missed the Stanze di Rafaello, but luckily I asked and was surprised when the guard pointed around the room. It really is a fleeting gallery, but I looked and saw.
After that I felt it was time to work my way back home and clean up since by then I was probably one really nastified sweat ball. I got back at 2, checked in, took a shower, and slept...until 9! I got up and one of my roommates asked if I wanted to go drinking, so I was like why not? We met two other girls and they were headed to a pub crawl which apparently is a great way to meet people. So I paid 20 euros and got a t-shirt, two small juiced up shots, and two beers and a pizza, I had to pay for other beers I had along the way, I couldn't drink fast enough when they were free :P I was walking along with the crowd and couldn't help thinking that it really wasn't the best way for me to spend the night. At the last stop, a club, I briefly danced and then took my leave. I thought I remembered where I could catch a bus back to Termini, but I guess not so I walked along trying to figure my way through the streets of Rome at 3/4 in the morning. After stumbling along, I figured out finally that I was walking along the Fora Romano where I ran into some others who had been in on the crawl. I asked if I might walk with them since they had a better map. We reached the Colosseum and sat under it, to our right was the Arch of Constantine.
Apparently, in the next major earthquake the rest of it will collapse, so come see while you still can. They people I walked with were going to sit there and take it in some more, but I was tired so I split off and continued to find my way. I asked a Bengali guy selling fruit for the way, and ended up in quite a long conversation that I couldn't navigate myself out of until I finally said I needed to move on. Got home at 4 am, and slept well.
The next morning I woke at 8:45 to put my stuff in the luggage room before 10 because I am so used to one night stop overs. I had breakfast and found out I could stay in my room since I wasn't checking out til the next day. Needless to say I'm a fool, but I'm a happy one nonetheless :P Then I went back up and slept until 1 in the afternoon.
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