The metro is very reasonably priced in Rome- €1.50 for one trip one way- so we took that to the site. I had looked ahead and found out that tickets would be €16/person, but it also seemed to e free on Friday from what the website said. We were pleased to discover no line and completely free tickets for the Global Day of Prayer, which was awesome!!
The first thing we did was wander through the museum for a bit, admiring the gardens, ancient Egypt exhibit, and huge art collection. Here are just some examples of what we saw.
So after going through all of that incredible, palace-like museum awesomeness, we came to a series of rooms painted by Raphael and his followers. The coolest painting to see, which I didn't even know was here, was this one:
Then, before arriving at the famous Sistine Chapel (part of the Vatican museum), we walked through a modem art display.
And then we finally arrived at the Sistine Chapel! Only catch- no pictures allowed. So I turned to google again to show you, just in case you didn't know what it was.
So then we got some lunch in the museum- just sandwiches- and headed next door to St. Peter's Basilica.
This was really amazing.
St. Peter's is the largest cathedral in Europe. It's actually the largest church in the world by volume, according to Wikipedia anyway. It's easily one of the biggest buildings I've ever been inside, rivaling shopping malls and airports. This thing is seriously huge.
Here are some pictures for you (of course).
We left the Basilica and got a few pictures ofte square before leaving this tiny country.
It was beautiful just before sunset.
The three of us got gelato before heading out back in the direction of the hostel. Our day at the Vatican had been a huge success.
We walked back along the river, and saw the outside of the famous Castel St. Angelo on the way. This building dates from 123 AD, when the Roman emperor Hadrian commissioned its building as a mausoleum for him and his family. It was later used by popes, via an underground passage, as a hiding place and fortress. It's now a museum. We didn't go in though- just admired from outside on the bridge lined with angels.
We kept walking back along the river. I love cities at this time of day.
We got to Piazza del Popolo and saw the famous Obelisk stolen from Egypt by the Roman emperor Augustus in 10 BC. Pretty cool!
We climbed the stairs up to the park and watched the sunset from there.
The hostel was a short walk back from the park, and we were so hungry. So we got dinner at the little Italian "trattoria" next door. The three of us became friends with the girl sitting by herself next to us, Amparo from Chile. We all talked and drank wine for hours until the placed closed, even getting a discount and some free wine from our awesome waiter Ali. It was a great night.
But Saturday we were pretty tired! I slept way in and when I woke up I had all the symptoms of an oncoming cold. So I loaded up on vitamins and took it easy. We had breakfast and then planned our visit to Pompei for Sunday. I spent some time on the phone, blogging, and balancing my bank accounts. Lunch was just pizza down the street when I was feeling a little better. Our afternoon was spent relaxing and going to a park nearby after getting our train reservations for Sunday. Actually this park was used by Mousellini during his dictatorship as a residence. It was a peaceful local place full of families. It was nice.
I don't think I mentioned this yet, but we don't like this Rome hostel. It's not as bad as Milan but it's not good at all. The showers are the worst part I would say. Very small and dirty. So we are trying to take as few showers here as possible. Meaning we STINK. I'm pretty sure this is the worst I've smelled the whole trip. And probably ever in my life. So be glad you're not here for that.
So Saturday was an easy day.
Sunday we went to Pompei. In case you didn't learn about this in middle school (shame on your teachers!), this is an archaeological site just south of Naples, Italy. Mount Vesuvius erupted during the Roman Empire in 79 AD, covering the surrounding area in ash and preserving entire cities. Eventually many areas were reopened and cleaned up, but Pompei and Herculaneum were completely preserved and are still under excavation and restoration work today. The coolest finds were in the 1800s, when archaeologists found strange holes in the ash they were removing and filled them with plaster before removing the surrounding ash. Plaster molds of people and animals, and even plants and clothing, were uncovered. The bodies had decayed over time, but left something like a fossil behind. So we can see copies today of their bodies when they died during the eruption. Entire buildings are preserved and the result is really cool to see. So we thought we should check it out while we're sorta close by.
So Sunday we got up early and had cereal and headed to the train station. Our 10:10 train got us into Naples at 11:20, where we got some pizza for lunch and bought a suburban train ticket to Pompei Scavi (meaning excavation).
This was where the day started to get interesting. We knew Naples was a little dangerous but we thought we would be totally fine. Well right off the bat we were sorta hustled into buying a day pass train ticket instead of just a round-trip ticket, so we paid about twice as much. We were approached by many homeless guys and vendors, and it was just generally really dirty and uncomfortable in the station. On the suburban train there were no seats, so we stood for the 45 minute-long journey.
We got to the site, which was a very easy walk from the train, and I had to pee. I waited and waited but the line didn't move, so I thought I'd just wait and go inside the site. So we got our tickets (€11 each) and walked up the huge hill to the site.
We walked and walked, looking for a bathroom. Finally we found it, but the line was about 3x as long as the one at the entrance. I waited for a few minutes until giving up and deciding I just wanted to wash my hands. So I went around and got some soap and pushed the sink button. Nothing happened. Some Americans chuckled and told me the water was off in the whole bathroom. Hence the line. The women were filling a bucket from a spicket in the wall to flush the toilet. And only one toilet was open.
On my way out I saw two female bathroom attendants sitting and chatting, apparently totally ok with how the bathroom was functioning.
Jeremy poured some water from his bottle for me to wash my hands. We were getting pretty grumpy at this point.
We quickly figured out that there were no signs or explanations anywhere and that being here would be pretty pointless without a guide of some kind.
Fed up, we went back to the entrance. I used the bathroom and we got audio guides. €5 each but absolutely necessary. So that's the catch.
We went back into the site and started exploring a little.
And now several pictures from a very nice house (missing its original roof)
So that was the site. It was made slightly more complicated by the stray dogs...
Around 5 we left the site, got the worst gelato of the trip at the train station, and caught the train back to Naples. We were back in Rome around 8:30, when it started raining. We got some pasta next door and called it a night.
Pompei was amazing to see, and I really enjoyed the commentary and the attitude of the place. It's not a sad place so much as a preserved look into ancient Roman life, which is amazing to see. The facilities were awful, but we thoroughly enjoyed our walk back in time.
So that was our last weekend in Rome! Full of sites and amazing things.
<3
