A Roman Holiday

I was fortunate enough a few weeks ago to meet up with some old friends from Ashland in Rome, Italy. The group was wrapping up their spring break trip with a weekend in the Eternal City and I was happy to make my first trip to Italy to explore a bit with them. Seeing friends from home and enjoying the beautiful sunshine was absolutely wonderful.

Rome was lovely. I did not know what to expect really, as I have heard some strong opinions on the place expressed by my grandparents and by other study abroad students who've been there. I found it quite nice, but I was there at a time that was not the height of the tourist season (less crowds) and not the summer (less heat). It wasn't as clean or as efficient as London, but Rome has its charm and the pace of city life seemed relatively relaxed.

I should also mention that I didn't visit all the major sites in Rome and instead choose to tag along with the Ashland group and see some particular things that are a bit off of the beaten path. I'm glad I'll have some different stories to tell, but this does mean I'll have to make a trip back someday to see the Sistine Chapel and the Mouth of Truth and things like that. The places I did go where very interesting though, and I probably wouldn't have thought to go to them on my own.

I arrived in Rome on Thursday, 8 March and met friends (Conner, Marc, Dan, Joe) at their hotel, which was about a five-minute walk from my hostel. Their hotel had a lovely little terrace and we were able to just sit and catch-up. Friday morning we headed to Ostia Antica, the ancient port city of Rome that was buried in a flood/mud-slide ages and ages ago. Miles of this place have been uncovered and the AU group had a wonderful tour guide that took us through the different areas of the city.

The amphitheatre

Mosaics - Suggesting the ivory trade

Cisterns that held olive oil

Ruins of the Holy of Holies in the Jewish synagogue outside of Ostia Antica

From Ostia, we took the train a little further outside of the city to the coast. The Mediterranean Sea is gorgeous, a clear bright blue. We spent some time at the beach, laughing and taking photos and, in my case, restoring the Vitamin C deficiency that cloudy London had caused.

Conner and I

Epic shot of Dan and I

After our time at the coast, it was back into Rome for some sight-seeing and dinner. We went to Vatican City, which was a lot smaller than I expected. I suppose films always distort the size of locations, but I really did expect the plaza to be much larger than it actually was. We went into St. Peter's Basilica, where the marble and height of the columns are made to awe. The interior of the basilica was very impressive, but I found that I much prefer the old Gothic cathedrals in England. I love the stone-work, the fact that they were built by generations of craftsmen, and the imperfections - St. Peter's was just too show-y somehow, too much gold and marble, and you get lost in it instead of finding something to connect with. From the Vatican area, we headed to the Parthenon and then to a little pizzeria for my first Italian pizza. Said pizza did not disappoint - the cheese, oh golly, it was delicious. And then... gelato. I've never had gelato like this. By this point we were stuffed, but fortunately the metro had closed and we had a long walk back to the hotel. I didn't mind, though others in the group did - it was a lovely night, I listened to some Dean Martin as we walked, and I loved seeing the Colosseum all lit up at night.

Vatican

St. Peter's

Gelato! Stracciatella and Chocolate.

The Colosseum

Saturday morning we again had an early start and headed to the Catacombs at St. Callisto. These catacombs were burial places for the Christian martyrs and other Christians for hundreds of years and there are miles and miles of tombs underground. A portion has been cleared for visiting and a priest took us through the labyrinth of passageways. The AU group leader then gave a short message in one of the chapels and had us sing 'O Come All Ye Faithful' - a good memory that I'll treasure. After the catacombs, I  split off from the group for a few hours to go see the Spanish Steps and do a bit of exploring in that area of the city. I then met up with Conner to go through the Keats Museum, which is in the house that Keats died in, and then make a pilgrimage out to Keats's grave. The Protestant Cemetery in Rome was just about to close, but we begged the groundskeeper to let us run in to see Keats's resting place. We re-joined the group in time for dinner, which was emotional since it was the AU people's last night in Italy. For dinner, we had wine and a delicious risotto dish.

Catacombs

Marc and I

Up the Spanish Steps

Streets of Rome

Keats House - Room where Keats died

Keats House - the Museum area and Library

Keats's grave

'Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water.'

My Ashland friends left very early Sunday morning, so we all said our good-byes on Saturday night. Sunday I slept in a bit, grabbed some breakfast at the hostel, then headed out. The Vatican museum and Sistine chapel were closed, so instead I walked around the area near the Trevi Fountain. I sat in the sun and read for a bit, had some pizza for lunch, and found a lovely little bookshop that sold vintage posters. I took the coach back to the airport and had the lovely experience of having a flight get in two hours late. 

At the crowded Trevi Fountain

And that was my 'Roman Holiday.' No Gregory Peck came along, but it was still very nice. I'm not kidding though when I say the best part was seeing Ashland friends and being in the sunshine. I didn't realize how much I missed those two things in my life. I was glad to share the experience with them.