An American in Rome



The Spanish Steps

 As promised, here's the third and final installment of my spring break saga. We left Florence on a Saturday morning and arrived in Rome later that afternoon. I spent the rest of the day playing the role of tour guide, taking my group to see the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, Pantheon, Trevi Fountain and Piazza Navona. I must say, it felt good to be able to navigate my way through the city without the help of a map. It also felt good to leisurely stroll through the city without worrying about having to check monuments and museums off my list. That's not to say I've seen everything worth seeing in Rome, but it's always nice to return to a familiar place (I can't believe I can say I'm familiar with Rome!).

Procession of the Palms

The next day just happened to be Palm Sunday, so we decided to go chill with the Pope Benedict for a while. The service that day was given in the Piazza just outside of St. Peter's to accomodate the sizeable crowd. Although I am not Catholic, I still found it an interesting experience. While the majority of the service was given in Latin and Italian, the Pope gave a short message in serveral languages including English, French, German, Spanish and Portuguese. Cheers rang through the crowd as he greeted each nation in their own language and it was apparent how much his presence meant to people standing around me, waving their palm fronds enthousiastically. I can only imagine how the crowd must have looked a week later at Easter.

I spent the next day by myself, enjoying the Roman air while my friends waited in the horrendous line to get into the Vatican Musuem. I was overly impressed with their willingness to stand in a line several hours long that ended in a building full of art. Bravissimo! Of course, none of them went into the Colosseum or the Roman Forum...I don't actually know how to respond to that. While they were exploring their museum, I discovered this little pizzeria right next to our hostel where I had some of the best pizza of the trip. They sold all sorts of crazy pizzas, but I played it a little safe with a Caprese style pizza-- a thin crust topped with tomato sauce, alternating slices of fresh mozzerella and tomato, finished off with some olive oil and basil. Deliziosa! Squisita! Magnifica!

Tuesday, we took a train down to Naples where we caught a ferry to the island of Capri. Before the trip I wasn't totally convinced that it was worth spending our last few days in Italy on this small, touristy island, but I'm glad we went. It definitely didn't have the beaches the rest of my group wanted (I knew it wouldn't, but I'm pretty sure in their heads "island" equated "long sandy beaches."), so they were perhaps a little disappointed on that front, but I was pleasently surprised with what the island did have. Our hotel was in Anacapri on the western side of the island, which meant that we had take a bus from the Marina Grande up the mountain. Imagine a small orange bus, with only about eight seats that leave most of its users standing. Now imagine a road with only enough room to accomodate said bus, which must weave its way around sharp twists and turns up the small mountain. My advice: use both hands unless you want to end up in the lap of the old Italian lady sitting next to you. After we checked into our hotel we explored the historic center of Anacapri, which admittedly is very touristy, but cute. The architecture is kind of how I imagine buildings in Greece must look, with simple, stuccoed walls whose bright white color provides a clean background for the lilacs and the lemon trees.



Augustus, what are you
doing all the way out here?

 The next day we braved the bus ride to go back to Capri. There, we walked through the Gardens of Augustus where you can find some amazing panoramic views, then down Via Krupp. Some of my friends decided to climb down some rocks in search of the cold sea, despite all the danger signs (literally). Maria and I chose a more sane activity and walked up to Villa Jovis. If I gave you the choice between bruises, scrapes and cold water or the view from a Roman villa situated on a hill at the edge of the island what would you do? I admit, it's a little bit of a walk to the villa, but it's more than worth it. On the way we walked by many of the island's inhabitants and I realized that Capri must be a very close community-- all the Italians stop and greet each other with a certain sense of familiarity. It's like Cheers, but on an island off the South of Italy (Sometimes you want to go where everybody knows your naaame). Okay, back to the Roman ruins. The villa itself was constructed for the Roman Emperor Tiberius, though there is also a 16th century church built on top of it. From the top you can make out the coast of Sorrento and Naples. You can also make friends with the local goats (See, aren't you glad you came with me?). After the villa, Maria and I went in search of the natural arch, which is basically what it sounds like-- a giant arch which formed naturally from rock (this is one of those cases where a picture is better than words). We met up with our freshly tanned friends for dinner, gelato, and the ride back to Anacapri.


Via Krupp



Santa Maria del Soccorso at the top of Villa Jovis



The Natural Arch

On our last day in Capri, we went to the Blue Grotto. What an experience! The grotto is famous for, wait for it...it's blue color. I know I'm making fun of the name, but it really is beautiful. Something about the way the light passes through the small opening and reflects off the water gives the cave a neon blue hue. You have to be a little brave to go in though, because although the cavern itself is quite large, the entrance is miniscule. You must get in a small rowboat, three people max, and just before you enter, the oarsman tells you to lay down (so hopefully you know the people you're with, because you're about to get a little comfortable with them) and then he ducks as low as he can while tugging on a chain that runs along the opening, allowing the boat to enter. If you're lucky enough, once inside he'll serenade you, but otherwise just sit back and enjoy the light show.

Entrance to the Blue Grotto

Watch your head!

It's difficult to photograph.



The rest of the day was spent exploring the island a little more, then one last meal and, of course, one last gelato. The next day was dedicated solely to travel, so there's not much to tell except for bus, ferry, bus, train, bus, plane, bus, metro, home. The only real adventure of the day was, yes I haven't forgotten, the angry Italian women. So here's how it went down: We were waiting for our train in Naples, with about an hour to kill, and three of us had gone to get some food. That left me and Steph behind to guard our stuff, and as it so happens the other two chairs (There were only ever four chairs for the five of us, it's not that I'm bad at math). This older Italian woman approaches us and asks, in Italian, if one of the chairs is free. I respond, in Italian, that our friends just left for a second to get some food. She nods politely and then turns around as if she's about to leave. A second later, she turns back around and starts peering around the station. Then she says to me that she doesn't see our friends and thinks we're lying. I repeat what I said earlier, but that only brings on an explosion of reprimands from this woman. Apparently, we are extremely rude for saving the seats, and saving seats is not something people do in Italy, and we need to move our stuff out of the way. I admittedly cracked a small smile, because let's be honest it was sort of a funny and unexpected situation. She then points her finger at me and yells "Non ridi! Non ridi!"- Don't laugh! Finally, Steph moves her bookbag off the chair next to her, pats the seat and tells the woman to sit down. The woman responds by repeating after Steph in English, "Sit down! No, Sit down!" and then with a frustrated sigh she turns and marches off, where she finds an empty seat not 20ft away. I'm pretty sure she was staring holes into the back of our heads.



Marina Grande as seen from Anacapri



Anyway, thus concludes the epic saga that was spring break 2011! Hope you all had as much fun as I did!

À la prochaine fois!