A visit to Rome

Rome. What can I say?

I headed up to the Eternal City for the weekend to visit my friend and fellow Buckman Scholar Michelle. After successfully navigating airports and trains, I made it into Rome late Friday night with enough time to briefly meet up with Michelle to plan for the next day's adventures and then crash in my hostel room. After field trips on both Thursday and Friday and a busy day in Rome ahead, I really needed some sleep! An extra bonus, the hostel manager gave me a private single room with attached bathroom instead of the shared double I had booked. This was especially nice because people were coming in at all hours of the night and early morning.

The Forum

Another view of the Forum

Saturday I woke up early and explored the city. Because we saw so much, I'm not quite sure in which order we saw everything, but I will try my best.














First we headed to the Roman Forum. 












We wandered around there for a while and saw so many things!







 

The huts of Romulus, many temples, triumphal arches, the navel of Rome, a really We also wandered around the Palatine and saw some awesome views of the city. big sewer, the ancient rostrum, a monument to Julius Caesar, and all sorts of other columns, stones, and inscriptions.

















We also wandered around the Palatine and saw some awesome views of the city.

Trajan's Column in the back

After that I saw Trajan's Column (definitely not where I expected it to be!) and we passed by the massive monument to Victor Emmanuel II topped with large sculptures of horses (later we also saw his tomb).

Temple to Portunus

Round Temple (really?)

We climbed up and down the Capitoline hill then made it to the Forum Boarium to see the Round Temple by the Tiber and the Temple to Portunus and then wandered around the Tiber Island to visit the remains of the Temple of Aesculapius.

Piazza Navona

We walked over to the Piazza Navona, a square that still has the shape of the preceding ancient stadium, and saw Bernini's fountain of the four rivers (with a giant obelisk on top!).

The Pantheon

Inside the Pantheon

Then we saw the Pantheon! Though this whole trip was very awesome in that I was able to visit so many sites I had previously studied in classes, this one was one of my favorites.

Because we were doing so well in time, we then decided to walk past the Castel Sant'Angelo and briefly explored the Vatican.


Our last stop Saturday was an incredible overlook of Rome, gelato, and then dinner (it was a bit backwards, yes).

The Colosseum

On Sunday morning we saw the Colosseum (you were waiting for it!), the Arch of Constantine, and a very ruined bath complex.

the Arch of Constantine

I discovered the panoramic setting on my camera somewhere around the Pantheon and took many pictures of the structure - it was perfect for panoramas (see below)!

 

I had to dash back to the train station to catch the train for my flight back home. The timing was less than ideal, and after running through the airport like you see in the movies I made it to my check in with 5 minutes to spare. The rest flight was uneventful, however, the bus ride back was not. I bought an interbus ticket with plenty of time to catch it but when the bus finally arrived, it promptly went right on by without even  stopping! The next one was two hours later! So for two hours I chatted with a French family who were also trying to catch the bus to Syracuse until the bus came again. It turns out they were staying on Ortigia, so I showed them where to find their hotel and then staggered into my apartment, quite worn out, and not quite ready for classes again the next day.


The rest of the week flew by. Monday was mostly devoted to writing a paper, and Tuesday was spent recovering from the paper and all the trips, and we had Pizza at MCAS that night. Wednesday night I watched a Soccer game  in the American Bar (Inter Milan vs. Bayern Munich - Munich won with a truly last minute goal!), and Thursday night I ate Ethiopian food with a friend. Yesterday I cooked an awesome bowl of potato soup for lunch and at night I made awesome homemade ravioli (stuffed with spinach, tomatoes, and cheese) with a friend. Then, stuffed, we went to a social gathering at MCAS where I found room for my first taste of real Italian homemade tiramisu (divine!) and I got to know a man from Algeria after conversing for an hour or so in a mix of English, Italian, and Arabic.

Michelle and I in the Colosseum

Midterms are next week so I will have my study hat on for the rest of the weekend. Then Malta and Spring Break! However, there is much more to see in Rome, so I hope to return later this semester.