Roma in a Day (5 Euro... each!)

We met up with Ate Khols first and then Kheli at Torino’s Parta Nuova station after his evening classes to catch our train to Rome. Travelling time is 8 hours. There were two other passengers in our cabin but because there were more of us than them, it wasn’t that awkward for us. Well, it would have been (not ‘would of been’ – Joia gets terribly annoyed when native English speakers make this very common grammatical error!) a perfectly pleasant train ride… for even at night, the silhouettes of the Riviera, and the Tuscan hills are delightfully serene…

ate khols inside trenitalia

the only thing is that the train’s heating system turned out to be faulty. It was scorching! We had already switched our woolens with cottons. It was still super hot. We could have kept the windows open except it meant we had to listen to the train’s terrible rumbles all night. Both heat and noise were unbearable! We tried distracting ourselves by playing UNO. Finally, we reached our stop: Roma Ostense at 6:30 am. This meant ½ hour of waiting for the ‘bigliatteria’ to open. There was a distinct smell inside the terminal - similar to the smell of New York’s trains in the early mornings. We don’t really know how to say this in a politically appropriate manner… all we know is that along the corners of the terminal walls, there were several souls sleeping in dirty blankets with their bundles of belongings close to them. By now, we’re no longer as naïve as to think that people in such living conditions only exist in the 3rd world. We’d seen them in San Francisco, in New York, in London, in Milan…

The weather was threatening to turn bad, so we hurried down to the underground metro station. Well, Roma’s underground transportation was not a very pleasant experience. It’s covered in graffiti inside and out. The carriages smell. It’s a harsh contrast to Torino’s brand new (and yet unfinished) English-speaking underground metro. Our first stop was the Colosseo, except we got lost, so we didn’t really get there.

Triton of the Trevi

It was raining but still so neat, to be ‘Roaming Roma’ in the early morning when there aren’t any crowds and we had the city all to ourselves. Piazza del Campidoglio was our very first scenic stop, and although the Musei Capitollini’s facade was all covered up for renovation, it was still worth bringing our cameras out (in the rain). We were walking pass Piazza Venezia when our phone rang. It’s our Roman host, Samantha (Kuya Veingie’s cousin). We agreed to meet up with her by the Fontana di Trevi. Again, it was so pleasant to be there and not have to fight the crowds for a decent view of one of the most famous and artistically significant fountains in the world. Ever ‘mapamahiin’ (superstitious), Ate Kholeen threw a coin in – although this was already her 2nd visit to Rome.

Fontana di Trevi

As a tour guide, Samantha walks like someone from NZ – FAST! Soon, we found ourselves in the middle of Piazza di Spagna where one finds the famous Spanish steps. Although it didn’t seem to be such a big climb, the gigantic Mercedes Benz poster at the very top was more than enough commercialism to put us off the climb. And anyway, we couldn’t wait to get away from all those umbrella vendors who kept nagging us despite seeing that we already had umbrellas and were even wearing rain coats!

Spanish Steps

tapetta rosso: red carpet

fountain in piazza spagna

more @ piazza del popolo

Then, Samantha led us to Piazza del Popolo. By now, our tummies were rumbling, so we didn’t really get to appreciate the piazza as much as we ought to. We did take some photos but we were already

fountain @ piazza del popolo

thinking ‘pizza, pizza, pizza’. Samantha ignored our rants and instead got us to climb up the Pincio Hill beside the piazza. When we got to the top, we realized that no slab of pizza could ever compete with the 270-degree ‘bella vista’ of Rome.

Bella Vista: Piazza del Popolo

From there, we walked for another hour – in search of McDonald’s! We found one – smack in front of the Pantheon, no less! By now, Rome is starting to get crowded. It didn’t help that there was only 1 functioning toilet in McDonald’s and you have to cue down a skinny spiral stair case. But when you gotta go, you know you gotta go! After our well-deserved burgers and patatini (fries), we tried to get inside the Pantheon. We reached as far as the doorway and got a shot of the domed light-dispersing ceiling when we agreed that the thickness of the crowd was way beyond us.

fountain @ pantheon

Samantha @ McDo Pantheon

Pantheon dome

We then headed for the Colosseo, and this time, we made sure we got there. We stopped at the stalls for a bit to buy ourselves some souvenir. If you’re thinking that the ‘5 Euro… each’ title is about the souvenirs, well, you’re wrong. It’s about this photograph with these costumed posers in front of the ancient stadium built in 72 AD. After failing to entice us by words, they took Kanootz & Kheli by the hand, and Joia – forgetting that she’d been warned about this on the Lonely Planet website – also joined them. Then they suggested that the boys also took photos of Kholeen and Samantha with them.

eheh! this one has a story

Posing in the middle of a main road, only in Roma!

other side of Colosseo

Colosseo, Rome

After that, the woman said ‘5 Euro… each’. What???!!! Kanootz and Kheli were so angry… in fact, Kheli was fuming. For one who was born and raised in Rome, Samantha seems very shocked. She’s obviously not very familiar with tourist traps. We ended up giving them 9 Euro in total instead of 25. It was all we had. They were still harassing us with the payments and the man was already trying to catch another group to victimize. Joia yelled out ‘Don’t, they charge 5 Euro each!’ in front of the woman. She didn’t say anything. We’re glad the other group listened. Kheli was still very irritated and unhappy. He said he’d never been robbed ever in his entire life – especially not in as silly manner as this. Well, oh well… it could have been worse.

colosseo tourists

Leathersmith in Rome

this guy must be tired too

From here we followed the path leading to the Roman Forum & Palatine Hill where one finds the remains of what was considered the political, religious, and social centre of the ancient Roman world. Kheli was still very upset but because he likes being photographed, he forces a smile each time we engage the camera in front of him.

Roman Forum

The walkway was muddy and tight, and by now, our feet and legs are throbbing. But we can’t just stop, there’s so much more to see and do. Just as well, there was a bus stop nearby for the ride to the Ponte Vittorio Emanuele which is our gateway to Piazza San Pietro and nearby Castel Sant’Angelo.

volare, oh0oh! Cantare, oh-oh-oh-oh...

been walking for 10 hours

At the bus stop, Samantha decided that we should first go to Castel Sant’Angelo. So we did. We took some photos along the River Tevere with the Castel right behind us… in front of Castel Sant’Angelo were more souvenir shops, and while Kholeen and Joia were busy choosing postcards...

Castel Sant'Angelo

Arrivaderci a Roma!

Samantha casually tells everyone ‘Guarda, di la’ (Look, there)… meters away from us was a very familiar sight – albeit we’d never actually seen before: Piazza San Pietro. The Vatican. The walk towards Basilica di San Pietro was longer than we thought. Still, one has to admit that Bernini did well in laying out these four rows of colonnades. Our feet were already blistered – Roma’s cobbled streets weren’t exactly the feet-friendliest. But we were there so we thought, a bit of cueing and we’ll get to see what’s in the walls of the smallest sovereign nation in the world. We weren’t going to pay for any entrance fees so it meant we only got as close as the Basilica’s giant doors. The place is actually smaller than we thought. It always looked so big on the TV. Even the fountain is average sized. There was a poorly-looking sort of giant Christmas tree in the middle of the piazza.

towards yet another basillica

Fountain in Piazza San Pietro

Finally, we headed for Roma Termini to meet up with Samantha’s dad, Mariano, who works in a pizzeria in Roma. He’d been waiting for us an hour. Glad he wasn’t a grumpy guy. After the introductions inside their 6-seater van, we’d fallen asleep and only woke up when we stopped to fetch Samantha’s much younger twin sisters from their babysitter. By now, there were 8 persons in the van. Of course, this was Roma. The children were, let’s say, lively, so no more sleeping. Then after an hour drive out of the city and uphill, we reached our host home. ‘Intayon!’ (Ilocano for ‘let’s go!’) says Mariano who is a native Roman. At their home, Kuya Veingie’s Aunt (Samantha’s Mom) and other younger sister were waiting to meet us. Mariano’s sister and nephew were also staying there temporarily. It was a very full house, but a happy one.

(More memories of Rome:)

kheli!

Roman Cavallo

autumn leaves... in winter

fruit vendor

mobile vendor

FOR SALE -BIKE- FUTURISTIC, Belonging to PICASSO... c",)

Signor Mariano

After dinner, we brought out our UNO cards, for one round – we thought. But everyone, even Signor Mariano wanted turns so the game went on and on. Samantha’s mom must have noticed how tired we were (we haven’t slept since 40 hours ago!) and told her family to let us go to bed already. Kanootz & Joia shared the top bunk, then kheli underneath us, then ate khols on the other one while Samantha's bed was on the far end of the room. This one wasn't a forced sleep at all... we really were tired and sleep-deprived. and wake up time was 5am to catch a lift w/ signor mariano to Roma Termini...

Roma in a Day (5 Euro... each!)

Rome, Italy