Roma the I

I awake in Italy, feeling really isolated for the first time in my trip thus far. Sitting alone in my cabin built for 6, I worry about being a foreigner in a foreign land, not being able to mutter a single word in the local tongue. From here on out I'll be left to my own devices for survival. As I exit the train station in search of a grocery store to grab some breakfast (gatorade and an egg and prusciuttio filled sandwich), my language fears are eased. I had spent some time this morning trying to memorize some key italian phrases to help me cross the language divide. As I stood in the ever decreasing checkout line, my moment approaching the cashier took one look at me, and said in perfect english "that'll be 3.50".

From there its up to the hostel to check-in. I realize right away that I made a good choice this time around, and would equate this with the ritz-carleton of all hostels (its supposedly one of the top 5 in the world, and after my stay I wouldn't refute that). It's called Yellow, and the check-in area looks like a cross between an ikea showroom and a martini bar. The place is spotless, offers free internet, no curfew, no lockout and a free breakfast. They also run day tours intended for the younger traveller and a pub crawl/night tour every evening.

I sign up right away for their all around Rome tour, grab a quick shower, then hussle down to the meeting point (acclimitzing myself with the fairly simple to navigate 2-line Rome metro system along the way). I meet the 6 or 7 others signed up for the tour, and our guide approaches. He's about my age, from New Orleans, a history major, and also studied mythology so he's certainly got the background. He informs us he's lived here for almost 4 years, and came basically for the scenery. We start in circus maximus and I realize right away that this will be unlike any other guided tour I've been on before. "Alright check it out, in 753 bc, two bros Reamus and Romulus, reared by a she-wolf mother where pitted against each other by their godly father in an all-out fight to the death at this very place. So goes the mythological founding of Rome". Our guide goes onto explain the origins, rise, and eventual decline of the roman empire, as we walk and stop at several key locations along the way. He's got a razor sharp wit, and tongue-in-cheek sense of humour, and it keeps the factual information light and easy to digest. Walking up against fallen temples, with huge bleached-white marble columns in 4 and 5 large chunks just strewn off to the sides of streets and walkways is an awesome sight. Its tough to realize that this was the place where everything went down more than 2000 years ago. Being able to touch a carved piece of stone that is that old, surprisingly makes you (as a living breathing life form) a little bit inconsequential next to an inanimate chunk of rock.






The tour takes us past the site where Julius Ceaser was stabbed 17 times and muttered the immortal "Es tu Brute" line. An interesting tidbit is that the place is now basically a bus stop. The ruins are excavated and lie about 15 feet below the street. Pearing inside where 3 temples used to lie, are tons of stray cats. Apparently these cats have long been fed by nuns who would give every last cent they had to ensure their survival. These cats have all now been made honorary citizens, and have a full time staff that ensure they are fed. It's definitely la dolce vita for them!

From there we make our way inside one of the most famous, and best preserved relics from ancient Rome, the Pantheon. Buried inside are several former Italian Kings and the painter Raphael. Looking up and out the perfectly circular hole in the roof, carved from a single (monolithic) piece of granite that stands about 100 feet in the air is definitely an amazing accomplishment, its coolness magnified by the fact that the ancient romans figured out a way to cut, hoist and perfectly position this huge piece of rock in 27 bc. The hole is not covered even to this day, so when it rains, it pours right into the marble building, the sloped holed floor collecting the water. The light cast from the hole also illumnates a particular point of the building and was used to help tell the time long before the Rolex hit the scene.

We stop for gelati and pizza, then the tour continues on to the ruins of the old roman forum, and what was probably the worlds earliest shopping mall (3 stories no less!). Then in the background we see an image of the most symbolic of all roman treasures, the colosseum. Our guide tells us about the type of events they had (man vs beast, beast vs beast, man vs man), how they even sold tickets (again remember this was done in ancient times), and some of the women there setup tents and practiced the worlds oldest profession out front of the arches.

The tour ends, and I walk back to the hostel just drenched in sweat. To combat the constant heat, there's an underground spring water system, and on many of Rome's streets you can find these taps distributing potable and very palatable water out of things the italians call "noses" because of their shape. I rehydrate myself constantly to keep with the cyclic evaporation of water from my pores, even at night its still quite muggy and hot (no air conditioniza in the hostel is about its only fault, if you can call it that). I'm still pretty exhausted from the lack of sleep the day before, so I just chat with some of my new single-serve friends for a bit, meet a brother and sister from Richmond Hill, an Aussie who's just freshly arrived in a foreign season and hemisphere, and a Seattle-ite who's already been here a few days. I hit the sack early, and make plans with my new Scottish and Seattle friends to go see the Vatican city (the world's smallest country the following day).