After a snowy few days in Dublin where everyone speaks English and the biscuits and tea are very good, I got on a flight (luckily, some weren't getting out on account of the snow) out to Rome just a couple days before Chistmas.The first thing I noticed as I got off the flight was how warm it was compared to Dublin and Grenoble for that matter. I was on a different flight than Erin and Reva and got to the city late on the night of the 23rd. I basically had no plan of how I was to get to the hotel other than an address, a phone number, and knowing the general area of where the hotel was. After walking around the night city completely lost because I couldn't find any maps that were posted and the streets seemed like they went in crazy directions. All I could see was the dome of the St. Peter's Basilica lite up. I finally got a taxi who ended up needing to call the phone number. It turns out that the hotel room that Erin had booked was basically a room in an apartment flat that you had to go through three doors and take an elevator to get to, which I wasn't really expecting. I know I never would have found it without the help of the taxi driver.
Erin and Reva weren't there yet even though their flight was supposed to get in before mine. The owner of the hotel said I should wait outside on the street for them because I could tell he wasn't very interested in having them press the button outside that rings up to his room at 12:30 at night. We walked back outside to the first gate right on the street after he showed me a room with a balcony and and ferocious looking tiger picture on the wall. He said I looked worried, which was true. I didn't think that Reva and Erin would find the hotel easily, and I also felt kind of like I did when I first got to France. I can't speak a word of Italian and I had no idea about the layout of Rome. He pointed to the Dome of St. Peter's that was just a couple blocks away and said that the Pope was right there, so I was safe. I kind of gave him a look as I imagined the someone trying to mug me, but at the last second the Pope jumps out from a side street and stopping the whole affair. He reassuringly replayed with "No really, really, the Pope, he's right there."
And nothing did go wrong, and soon enough Erin and Reva got to the hotel by taxi and we spent our first night in Rome.
Our first day in Rome, we walked around near St. Peter's Square and saw a nativity that was set up outside. There really weren't that many people there considering how crowded it typically is with tourists. We also took the metro to the Colosseum, which was really beautiful.
St. Peter's, actually quite empty just before Christmas
Spiral stairs of the Vatican
The Forum near the Colosseum
In the evening, we met up with Willamette's art history professor Ricardo De Mambro Santos who was on sobatical in Rome for the semester. We got cappiccinos with him and he told us a bunch of cool places to go in Rome, such as a church near the Colosseum that has three layers under it, some dating a couple thousand years I think. It was super cool to talk to him about art, Italy, and Italians.
The rest of my time with Reva ans Erin was spent looking around the city, having some good pizza, and going to various museums. It is definitely a cool city, and although I saw a lot, I feel like there was so much I didn't get to see. On Christmas we went to mass in Italian at a church nearby and hung out around where we were staying because most places were closed.
Spiral stairs in the Vatican Museum
The hall done by Raphael
View of the city from the Vatican Museum
Dome in the Vatican. We went on Christmas eve, and there were various people walking around looking stressed about the evening events.
Tomb of the unknown soldier lit up at night
Me, Reva, and Erin in front of the Trevi fountain after throwing coins in. It had been pouring all day, but at least we were only 3 of about 15 people around the fountain, which is pretty rare.
On that note, I was really happy to go back to France because I missed Grenoble, despite how much colder I knew it would be.
The Trevi Fountain at night with a lot more people around
Square with a lit up Christmas Tree
The Spanish Steps
Shoes in a window on the other side of the street from the Spanish Steps. Carla and I couldn't figure out who could walk in these.
Carla and I next to a famous piece of art that I should probably know the name of.
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