It's time to do me!: Off to Roma we go!

February 25, 2011

This morning we had to be at the train station at 7:45 to get on our 8:20ish train to Roma! We were taking the fast train to Rome which meant instead of it taking 3 hours to get there, it would only take 1 ½ hours. We had reserved seating, so once we all arrived at the station Petra and Erika Bianchi (my Roman Achievement teacher…aka Miss Frizzle) led us to our train and got us all situated. On the train I had taken my Roman Achievement material to study and read because our midterm in that class is on Thursday, but I sat diagonally from our teacher and I felt highly intimidated by her and didn’t want her to see that I had barely done any of my study guide yet, so I decided to plug in my iPod, and after a short nap we were in Rome!

Once out of the train we had to walk right outside of the station and hop on a bus which would take us near our hotel. We got on a bus (fitting all of us with other locals was pretty crowded) but after a while of it not moving we realized it was not running, so we had to pack ourselves into this other bus like sardines. At the different stops along the way people were so insistent that they were getting on the bus and they would just SHOVE until their whole body was on the bus. There was this one guy who leaned on top of me, mostly on my bookbag, and he was putting so much weight on my bookbag that I swore my straps were going to break right off. And on top of being smushed we all had luggage and bookbags, and those items on a bus are a prime pick-pocketing item. There was this one woman who got on the bus breastfeeding her child which makes you want to look away which is the type of decoy she is looking for because she can sneak into your back pockets or bookbag, which is exactly what she did to one of the boys in our group, Chris. He said she like stuck her hand in his pocket for his wallet and he just turned around and said no. I was so nervous when I got off the bus because my bookbag was unzipped about 4 inches, but as I rummaged through everything I realized it was all there..thank goodness!

We made our way to the hotel to discover that we couldn’t check in yet, so we had to leave all of our luggage in this dusty storage room which none of us trusted, but none of us were willing to haul all of our belongings around all day because we had a full schedule ahead of us! Once everything was situated Miss Frizzle took us off in one direction to start seeing the city. As we walked she would explain things along the way which made our viewing even more pleasurable because instead of looking at a gorgeous building we were able to learn that the first idea of a shopping mall was in Rome, and the building on the left was the original. It was just so nice to have a walking encyclopedia exploring Rome with us! On our way to the Colosseum we past these pictures sculpted in stone on the side of this one building which showed the Mediterranean area and in each picture you could see more and more land being conquered by Rome. Of course Erika asked her Roman Achievement students (the 6 of us) about the one picture and asked us what caused the expansion of land in the particular picture, but none of us knew the answer and she shook her head almost in disgust telling us that that was not and that she was concerned about our upcoming midterm…great.

However, as we continued to walk on the Colosseum began getting bigger and bigger and before we knew it we were right in front of the massive structure and I was getting antsy pants because I couldn’t wait to go inside! I discovered that one really nice thing about going on school field trips was that the school had already bought our tickets for all the museums/trains/bus rides/etc. so we were able to cut right up to the front of the line at the Colosseum while others waited quite a while to get in. Once inside Erika told us a lot of history about the structure (which we had already talked about in class), and some of the things I find most interesting was that:
-The ruler Nero was evil and had built down a large portion of the city, but was so greedy that he built a Golden House and lake in which to have fake battles for himself. Once Nero died the Flavian Empire took over and decided to destroy the Golden House and fill in the lake, and they built the Colosseum on top of the lake for the people. Once the structure was finished in 80 A.D. they had 100 days of non-stop gladiatorial games and vacation for all of the people in Rome.
-The maze-looking walls on the bottom floor were used as holding cells for the beasts that were used in the gladiatorial games and the maze was actually fully covered by a stage/platform and the platform would be covered with sand to soak up all of the blood and sweat from the people and animals that were fighting.

We walked around the Colosseum in amazement for a while longer and took quite a few pictures before Marissa, Danielle, Chris, and I realized how hungry we were. We had free time to walk around and get lunch and were given a time to meet back up with the rest of the group to continue our tour around the city. The four of us found a cute little restaurant that we decided to eat at, and once we were ushered into the little outside seating area we found a few of the communications girls already there. After looking over the menu (which took a long time because everything sounded so good), I decided on this one pasta dish called Bucatini Amatriciana which said it had chili, cheese, and bacon on it. When Marissa and I saw “chili, cheese, bacon” we were thinking of chili cheese fries with bacon or something, but when my dish came I realized we couldn’t have been more wrong. The noodles were thick spaghetti-looking noodles that had a hole in the center like straws and there was a red sauce over the top with little pieces of ham and cheese in the sauce. I didn’t understand the “chili” part of the dish until I took my first bite and realized the sauce was spicy, but boy was it DELICIOUS! The four of us ordered foccaccia to share, which was this huge, thin, flaky piece of bread with olive oil and herbs and cheese on it. I couldn’t have been more satisfied with my first meal in Rome, especially since I got a 2 liter bottle of water and a small gelato cone to wash it all down afterwards at a little convenience shop.

We started to walk back to our meeting place and enjoyed the bright, warm sunshine along the way. Once there we saw Petra and Erika who asked us what we had eaten for lunch. When I told them the pasta dish that I ordered Erika said “Brava!!” because supposively Bucatini Amatriciana is a classic Roman dish! I love when I randomly select the best choices! Once everyone had arrived we walked over to the Roman Forum which was another subject we had talked about in our Roman Achievement class. I realized that it is such a different experience to learn about something in the classroom because once I walked into the Roman Forum and Miss Frizzle pointed out the different buildings everything seemed to click now that I had a visual of everything and was able to experience it for myself. Some people might go into the Roman Forum and wonder what is so great about all of these broken buildings and rocks laying everywhere, but each rock and broken building has so much history and so much knowledge and meaning behind it! It’s so astonishing and impressive to walk among Roman ruins that were present in the years before Christ!

Highlights in the Roman Forum were:
-Via Sacra (or the Sacred Way) is the path connecting the Capitol and Palatine Hills which are the two hills that the Roman Forum is built inbetween.
-The Curia is the House of the Roman Senate.
-The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina was originally a Pagan structure, but a cross was placed on top of the building and was transformed into a Catholic Church during the spread of Christianity.
-The Temple Vesta looks like just a few columns now, but back in the day was a round building in which a fire was kept always burning by the Vestal Virgin, signifying the state of Rome; it was said that if the fire was distinguished the city would be in a state of corruption.
-The House of the Vestal Virgins was located right beside the Temple Vesta and had two large pools outside of the building, which would have originally had a structure built around the pools.
-The Basilica of Constantine is this enormous structure that looks like three huge arches, but originally the arches would have been duplicated on the opposite side and be an enclosed structure, functioning as a courthouse. There was also a statue of Constantine located at the building, but today only his head, a finger, and a foot have been found, but with the remnants they have it is estimated that the sculpture stood around 30 meters tall and was able to fit inside the arch (which should help explain how enormous the arches really are).
-The Arch of Titus is an arch built in triumph of the Jewish war and inside the arch are reliefs depicting a menorah and other Jewish symbols which easy signs to help understand the meaning of the structure.
We basically walked through the entire Forum seeing all of these buildings and structures and having them explained to us by the highly intelligent Erika who, like I said, is a walking encyclopedia of Rome. We ended up making our way to the top of the hills and snapped a few pictures and enjoyed the amazing view.

Once everyone was done in the Roman Forum it was then time to make our way to the Pantheon before we were set loose on the city of Rome. The Pantheon is this beautiful round building with a dome on the top and it is said that perfect sphere would fit inside of the structure because it was built with harmonious proportion. The Pantheon is actually a functioning church and as you walk inside you see a bunch of religious statues and paintings along the walls, as well as a beautiful altar and crucifix. However, the most intriguing part of the Pantheon is the giant hole in the center of the dome which is said to hold architectural significance since it distributes the weight of the dome better than a closed dome. If you look down at the marble floor that is in all sorts of colors (different colored marble signifies wealth), you notice different holes cut into the floor which allows water to drain. Erika said that it is a pretty cool sight to see when it is raining outside and a tunnel of water comes through the hole in the top of the Pantheon…although it would have been sweet to see what she was talking about, I was content having nice weather!

After the Pantheon we were free to go, but had to retrieve our stuff from the dusty storage room first and check into our hotel rooms. The girls were told that we actually weren’t staying at the hotel where we put our stuff, but that it was a place not too far of a walk from where we were. Petra led the way to our hotel and when we walked in I was thinking “wow, thank you Kent State!” It was pretty fancy-looking hotel and Marissa, Danielle, and I were able to snag a 3 person room. We walked into our room #4 after using an old-fashioned skeleton key to get inside to discover silk bed spreads, a HAIR DRYER in the bathroom with a bigger shower, fresh towels….basically heaven! After all of us girls had put our stuff away we met the boys at this fountain/piazza between our two hotels because we all were interested in going to see the Trevi Fountain. But my part of the group decided to make a pit stop at this coffee place that Petra and Erika pointed out to us because they said it was the best coffee shop in Rome. I ended up not getting anything, but everyone who did said their drink was AMAZING! I went across the street with Tessa who got a gelato cone with a few different flavors of gelato, one of them being Bailey’s.

Once everyone had satisfied their cravings we made our way to the Trevi fountain which was BEAUTIFUL! It had started to get dark outside so the fountain was all lit up which made the whole experience even more grand than what we all had already expected. Just a little side note, if you have ever watched the Lizzie McGuire movie where her class takes a field trip to Rome, the Trevi Fountain is featured in that movie and plays a semi-large role in the events that take place. But after admiring the falling water and beauty of the sculptures inside the fountain for a little while it was picture time and we all took each other’s pictures as we made our wishes and threw coins behind our backs into the fountain. The first time I threw a coin into the fountain I was so concerned about someone catching the picture that I forgot to make a wish, so I re-did my wish with Marissa who also forgot to wish the first time. We got a couple group photos in front of the fountain before it started to get crowded and we all agreed anyway that it was food time!

We walked down the nearby streets and popped into this church real quick to admire the paintings and altar inside before we saw this green neon sign that I told Isabelle was calling our names. We went to the sign and looked at the menu outside of this cute little trattoria and we all agreed it sounded delicious! I ended up ordering ravioli filled with spinach and cheese, and split a liter of the house white wine with Marissa and Danielle. The meal was beyond fabulous not only because the food was so rich and tasty, but also because we were having a really nice time hanging out with some of the communications girls and getting to know them! After spending quite a while at the restaurant we all decided to head back and go to bed because we were worn out from a long day full of fun and exploration, and we knew another full day was ahead of us!

Just walking through the city to get to the Colosseum we saw
gorgeous buildings like this one!

Roman ruins.

The first idea of a shopping mall was here in Rome, and this is the original and very first mall.

These maps on the side of a building showed the expansion of Rome.

On our way to the Colosseum!

We made it!

These men dressed up in soldier uniforms were all over the place, but beware:
if you take your picture with them, they expect money!

Sights near the Colosseum.

Waiting the fast-line to get inside the Colosseum.

There were cool fossils and different old collections in glass cases inside the Colosseum.

Miss Frizzle explains the different parts of the Colosseum.

Notice the maze of the lower part which were actually the holding cells for the beasts,
which were completely covered by the stage that you see at the far end.

The view from the middle level of the Colosseum.

At the restaurant that we ate at for lunch this girl had this purse...I claim
that she loves peanut butter just as much as I do!

Bucatini Amatriciciana...a classic Roman dish

Part of the gang, making our way into the Roman Forum
(L to R: Ryan, Danielle, Chris, NIck, Meghan B., Isabelle, Me)

Ruins inside of the Roman Forum

The stone plaque marking Julius Caesar's grave.

The grave of Julius Caesar

The Temple Vesta (or rather part of it...in the ancient Roman times it
used to be a full circular building containing the flame of the Vestal Virgins)

Snapping pictures of EVERYTHING in the Roman Forum.

The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, the building that was made a Catholic
Church because a cross was placed on the top of the building.

The sun shining so bright!

The House of the Vestal Virgins. The big rectangular thing in the foreground was a huge pool back then.

Basilica of Constantine, also called Basilica Nuova. This was the building that had
the enormous statue of Constantine standing around 30 meters high in front of it.

Cute white daisies in the grass!

The Roman Forum at a distance.

The Arch of Titus which was constructed due to the victory in the Jewish War.

Rome has nice, fresh water coming out of fountains all over the city!

Chris passing through the "roundy-rounds"

The statue of Romulus and Remus with the she-wolf, the founders of Rome.

On top of the Capitol Hill looking over the entire Roman Forum.

So we came across an outdoor cat facility that is owned by the city,
so there were clean cats wandering all around it and everyone was so excited to pet them.