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Published On: May 23, 2007 06:19 PM
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Published On: May 23, 2007 06:19 PM
Rome, as viewed from Pompei
Well, I survived Rome, somehow. I'm still not
sure exactly how I managed to do it, because the place was exhausting. I'm now
in Pompei, but more on that later.
As expected, I didn't make it to my Crypts and Catacombs tour on Sunday afternoon. No big deal. I took a taxi from the train station to the hotel, checked in and took a short nap, and then began exploring the neighborhood and searching for a likely candidate for food.
I got lost.
I wasn't REALLY lost; after all, I always knew exactly where I was. I just wasn't so sure about the relative position of anything outside of my immediate surroundings. Since it was beginning to get dark, my first priority became locating the hotel -- after that I could return to a ristorante, pizzeria, or trattoria and get some grub. After walking for about an hour and a half, I rounded a corner and literally heard my mind "click" as something looked familiar (please understand I am not utilizing a misuse of the word "literally" here; rather, I truly did hear a "click" inside my skull as the map pieces in there fell together). I looked back over my shoulder, and found myself looking down the street to the hotel.
The problem, you see, is that the streets in Rome often jut out at acute angles from each other. If you are on the opposite side of the street from the one you went down originally, then the street may branch without you even realizing it, and you're gradually moving away from your original location. Once I finally found a familiar corner, it was no problem to get back.
I grabbed wonderful pizza at a small pizzaria, and took it back to the hotel. I'd had quite enough adventure for one night.
The next morning I again began exploring, and this time found a huge, beautiful cemetery. I wandered around in there, and at first was amazed by the number of stray cats in there. Later I found that people put food -- cat food and pasta in plates for them inside the mausoleums, so that mystery was solved. At one point I turned a corner and came across two felines en flagrante; they looked at me with that look only cats can truly master of true disdain, and I walked off in another direction.
After leaving the cemetery, I continued exploring my temporary neighborhood, and did some shopping. I had pizza again for lunch. I stopped by this little place with a menu posted outside, and decided on Menu #1 -- Margherita pizza and a coke for 3.50 euros (about 4 dollars-ish). I assumed incorrectly that this meant a slice of pizza, and after paying my 3.50 I ended up leaving with a whole pizza and a canned coke. I know people always talk about Europe being expensive, but it certainly doesn't have to be.
That afternoon and the next morning I went on two tours run by the Appian line's Gray Line. I don't really have much to say about them that's positive. Certainly if you go to Rome you should go on tours, but don't let them be the sum total of your visit. Our tour guide (I had the same one both days) took us from place to place, and many of these places we either didn't enter, or were given a very short period of time to explore. If you go on a tour, remember that a) you can leave the tour at any time (I left one of mine at the Roman Forum, after all we did was look down on that amazing location from the side of the Palatine Hill); and b) you can later return to the places that weren't adequately explored (why on earth would you lead a tour group past the Coloseum and not take them inside?). Remember also that many tours are subsidized by the gift shops at which they stop, and those may not be the best places to buy souvenirs. On my morning tour of the Vatican, we stopped at one of the official Vatican gift shops. There was no way in Hel I was going to by anything at those horribly inflated prices, when the street vendors were selling the same things (at, as one vendor proudly proclaimed, "prices cheaper than K-Mart").
Anyway, enough soapboxing about those tours. After a Metro trip back to my hotel (Rome has a very nice Metro system, but there are not convenient stops to everywhere in town) to drop off some souvenirs and take a quick nap, I headed back to the Coloseum, and then on to my night tour of "The Dark Heart of Rome." This one examined some of the more sinister aspects of Rome, including ghost stories and victims of the church. It was much more interesting than the other two tours.
Then, on Wednesday morning, I hopped on the train and headed to Pompei. And here I am now. In the morning I'll be checking out the ancient ruins here, before traveling on to Pisa.
Photo albums which are now up:
Florence
Torre del Tartufo
Tuscan Cheesemaking
Enjoy!
As expected, I didn't make it to my Crypts and Catacombs tour on Sunday afternoon. No big deal. I took a taxi from the train station to the hotel, checked in and took a short nap, and then began exploring the neighborhood and searching for a likely candidate for food.
I got lost.
I wasn't REALLY lost; after all, I always knew exactly where I was. I just wasn't so sure about the relative position of anything outside of my immediate surroundings. Since it was beginning to get dark, my first priority became locating the hotel -- after that I could return to a ristorante, pizzeria, or trattoria and get some grub. After walking for about an hour and a half, I rounded a corner and literally heard my mind "click" as something looked familiar (please understand I am not utilizing a misuse of the word "literally" here; rather, I truly did hear a "click" inside my skull as the map pieces in there fell together). I looked back over my shoulder, and found myself looking down the street to the hotel.
The problem, you see, is that the streets in Rome often jut out at acute angles from each other. If you are on the opposite side of the street from the one you went down originally, then the street may branch without you even realizing it, and you're gradually moving away from your original location. Once I finally found a familiar corner, it was no problem to get back.
I grabbed wonderful pizza at a small pizzaria, and took it back to the hotel. I'd had quite enough adventure for one night.
The next morning I again began exploring, and this time found a huge, beautiful cemetery. I wandered around in there, and at first was amazed by the number of stray cats in there. Later I found that people put food -- cat food and pasta in plates for them inside the mausoleums, so that mystery was solved. At one point I turned a corner and came across two felines en flagrante; they looked at me with that look only cats can truly master of true disdain, and I walked off in another direction.
After leaving the cemetery, I continued exploring my temporary neighborhood, and did some shopping. I had pizza again for lunch. I stopped by this little place with a menu posted outside, and decided on Menu #1 -- Margherita pizza and a coke for 3.50 euros (about 4 dollars-ish). I assumed incorrectly that this meant a slice of pizza, and after paying my 3.50 I ended up leaving with a whole pizza and a canned coke. I know people always talk about Europe being expensive, but it certainly doesn't have to be.
That afternoon and the next morning I went on two tours run by the Appian line's Gray Line. I don't really have much to say about them that's positive. Certainly if you go to Rome you should go on tours, but don't let them be the sum total of your visit. Our tour guide (I had the same one both days) took us from place to place, and many of these places we either didn't enter, or were given a very short period of time to explore. If you go on a tour, remember that a) you can leave the tour at any time (I left one of mine at the Roman Forum, after all we did was look down on that amazing location from the side of the Palatine Hill); and b) you can later return to the places that weren't adequately explored (why on earth would you lead a tour group past the Coloseum and not take them inside?). Remember also that many tours are subsidized by the gift shops at which they stop, and those may not be the best places to buy souvenirs. On my morning tour of the Vatican, we stopped at one of the official Vatican gift shops. There was no way in Hel I was going to by anything at those horribly inflated prices, when the street vendors were selling the same things (at, as one vendor proudly proclaimed, "prices cheaper than K-Mart").
Anyway, enough soapboxing about those tours. After a Metro trip back to my hotel (Rome has a very nice Metro system, but there are not convenient stops to everywhere in town) to drop off some souvenirs and take a quick nap, I headed back to the Coloseum, and then on to my night tour of "The Dark Heart of Rome." This one examined some of the more sinister aspects of Rome, including ghost stories and victims of the church. It was much more interesting than the other two tours.
Then, on Wednesday morning, I hopped on the train and headed to Pompei. And here I am now. In the morning I'll be checking out the ancient ruins here, before traveling on to Pisa.
Photo albums which are now up:
Florence
Torre del Tartufo
Tuscan Cheesemaking
Enjoy!
Posted: Wed - May 16, 2007 at 12:29 AM |
