To call our fifth day in Europe a damp squib would be rather harsh. But that was almost how it was. There was some excitement through the day, but it never matched any of the previous days' levels of activity. We woke up on a rather overcast day in Rome, and it wasn't even as cold as Venice. Or maybe we got used to the cold. Mom and I went to the nearest supermarket, which was a ten minute walk from the hotel, and got our regular 'European breakfast' of cheese, bread and mayonnaise (eggless, of course). As we were munching on our bread, my mom asked me what time our Colosseum ticket was scheduled for. I did a quick check on my phone and told her we had time till 11 AM.
We dressed warm, like we always did, expecting inclement weather and made our way out of the hotel at around 10. We planned to walk down to the Colosseum, which was a 25 minute walk, and then take a bus/ metro from there to wherever we needed to go. As I was gradually checking my ticket again, I noticed I had misread the entry time with my booking time.The ticket was for 9 30 AM and we were already late by 30 minutes! I got nasty glares from my parents, and tried to check on tripadvisor if they allowed late entries, and was grossly disappointed when I understood they didn't. As it was already too late, we took a metro from Roma Termini to Colosseo, the stop for the Colosseum. As we made it into the entry gates, I tried to be all nonchalant as I gave them the QR code for the verification for our entry. To my surprise, they didn't seem to care as much about the entry time - they were happy we had a valid ticket! As we quickly made our way into the Colosseum, our joy was rather short lived as the skies opened up on us. The rains poured down, making the Colosseum seem more beautiful that it actually was. It was a magnificent piece of architecture, no doubt about it, with a lot of history associated with it. I loved how they displayed short prose on specific time periods on the Colosseum, and the literature freak in me read everything, not bothered whether it got me drenched or not.
After running (literally!) through the Colosseum, we made our way to the exit as the rains got worse. There were a lot of hawkers of foreign heritage, mainly African and Middle Easter, who sold us raincoats that were literally blessings. These plastic coats could be worn on our clothing, and meant we did not have to abandon the day's plans and could go to our next spot in Rome - which was a short walk from the Colosseum as it was directly opposite it. The Roman Forum - the ancient marketplace or city center of Rome. The Pantheon was just around the corner, and the Forum itself was so big, we barely managed to scratch the surface considering we were running out of time. We entered the Forum at 12 PM and saw barely 30% of the entire place in the next hour or so. Oddly enough, the sun shined down bright when we entered the forum, before the rains again poured down on us as we tried to make our way from the forum to the Vatican City, a country within a country in Italy. The Vatican is also the only landlocked country in the world.
Almost the entire Vatican is locked within mainland Rome and is extremely pretty. A metro from Colosseo to Ottaviano, the Vatican stop was only 15 minutes. We hadn't eaten lunch yet so we got some snacks because we were running out of time. Loaded with Pringles and chocolates, we made our way into the Vatican walls. Due to the heavy rains we did a quick visit to St. Peters Basilica, and the balcony from which the Pope gives his sermons. The rains got worse, and we went to our next destination,the Trevi Fountain, a major landmark in the Italian Capital.
We took another metro from the Vatican to the station Barberini, which was the closest to both the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps were mom's favorite and something she has been wanting to see forever. Unfortunately, due to the heavy rains, our clothes as well as spirits were completely soaked. We had no mood to go in the opposite direction towards the Spanish Steps and decided to give it a miss. We did only the Trevi Fountain after wading through roads filled with water. We realized that on a rainy day, Rome is no different from T Nagar. En route to the Trevi, we got some salad in a salad bar. I refused to even go in there because of all the meat being adorned on the walls. After dropping our coins as is the custom in the Trevi Fountain, we took a bus and got home.
Our day was far from being over. We had a dinner date with Dad's friends who were from Ostea, which was about an hour from the city of Rome. Mr Giancarlo was a friend of Dad for over ten years from his marketing days, and they wanted to meet. He had booked us a table in a fancy restaurant in the city. Our shoes were soaked in water, jeans were far from being usable and we were in a dilemma as to what can be worn that was not either soaked, drenched or already used. After some carefully planned drying, using the table fan strategically, we got into our best clothes and made our way to the Rifugio Romano, one of the few cities in Rome that served vegan.
Mr Giancarlo was 60+, and his wife 50+, both artists and retired. Their son had drove them to Rome, and he was a vegan and full time animal conservationist running a LIPU (the PETA-equivalent in Italy) saving forest animals from poaching, and spreading the vegan way of life. I was amazed that a family in Europe had taken up veganism while vegetarians in India were still finding it difficult to make that transition. They helped us choose our food, which was our first proper meal of the day, and walked us through what each meal contained, why it was healthier, and how the Italians ate. And how the Italians ate! Eating in Italy was almost a religion. I say almost because the Italians love their food. And wine!
After thanking the Giancarlos for the wonderful meal, we made our way back to our hotel ont he rain soaked streets of Rome. Rome, to us, was largely a disappointment because of the weather. The city was extremely pretty and definitely warranted a second visit. In our entire trip, this was the first place I wanted to come back to!
We dressed warm, like we always did, expecting inclement weather and made our way out of the hotel at around 10. We planned to walk down to the Colosseum, which was a 25 minute walk, and then take a bus/ metro from there to wherever we needed to go. As I was gradually checking my ticket again, I noticed I had misread the entry time with my booking time.The ticket was for 9 30 AM and we were already late by 30 minutes! I got nasty glares from my parents, and tried to check on tripadvisor if they allowed late entries, and was grossly disappointed when I understood they didn't. As it was already too late, we took a metro from Roma Termini to Colosseo, the stop for the Colosseum. As we made it into the entry gates, I tried to be all nonchalant as I gave them the QR code for the verification for our entry. To my surprise, they didn't seem to care as much about the entry time - they were happy we had a valid ticket! As we quickly made our way into the Colosseum, our joy was rather short lived as the skies opened up on us. The rains poured down, making the Colosseum seem more beautiful that it actually was. It was a magnificent piece of architecture, no doubt about it, with a lot of history associated with it. I loved how they displayed short prose on specific time periods on the Colosseum, and the literature freak in me read everything, not bothered whether it got me drenched or not.
After running (literally!) through the Colosseum, we made our way to the exit as the rains got worse. There were a lot of hawkers of foreign heritage, mainly African and Middle Easter, who sold us raincoats that were literally blessings. These plastic coats could be worn on our clothing, and meant we did not have to abandon the day's plans and could go to our next spot in Rome - which was a short walk from the Colosseum as it was directly opposite it. The Roman Forum - the ancient marketplace or city center of Rome. The Pantheon was just around the corner, and the Forum itself was so big, we barely managed to scratch the surface considering we were running out of time. We entered the Forum at 12 PM and saw barely 30% of the entire place in the next hour or so. Oddly enough, the sun shined down bright when we entered the forum, before the rains again poured down on us as we tried to make our way from the forum to the Vatican City, a country within a country in Italy. The Vatican is also the only landlocked country in the world.
Almost the entire Vatican is locked within mainland Rome and is extremely pretty. A metro from Colosseo to Ottaviano, the Vatican stop was only 15 minutes. We hadn't eaten lunch yet so we got some snacks because we were running out of time. Loaded with Pringles and chocolates, we made our way into the Vatican walls. Due to the heavy rains we did a quick visit to St. Peters Basilica, and the balcony from which the Pope gives his sermons. The rains got worse, and we went to our next destination,the Trevi Fountain, a major landmark in the Italian Capital.
We took another metro from the Vatican to the station Barberini, which was the closest to both the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. The Spanish Steps were mom's favorite and something she has been wanting to see forever. Unfortunately, due to the heavy rains, our clothes as well as spirits were completely soaked. We had no mood to go in the opposite direction towards the Spanish Steps and decided to give it a miss. We did only the Trevi Fountain after wading through roads filled with water. We realized that on a rainy day, Rome is no different from T Nagar. En route to the Trevi, we got some salad in a salad bar. I refused to even go in there because of all the meat being adorned on the walls. After dropping our coins as is the custom in the Trevi Fountain, we took a bus and got home.
Our day was far from being over. We had a dinner date with Dad's friends who were from Ostea, which was about an hour from the city of Rome. Mr Giancarlo was a friend of Dad for over ten years from his marketing days, and they wanted to meet. He had booked us a table in a fancy restaurant in the city. Our shoes were soaked in water, jeans were far from being usable and we were in a dilemma as to what can be worn that was not either soaked, drenched or already used. After some carefully planned drying, using the table fan strategically, we got into our best clothes and made our way to the Rifugio Romano, one of the few cities in Rome that served vegan.
Mr Giancarlo was 60+, and his wife 50+, both artists and retired. Their son had drove them to Rome, and he was a vegan and full time animal conservationist running a LIPU (the PETA-equivalent in Italy) saving forest animals from poaching, and spreading the vegan way of life. I was amazed that a family in Europe had taken up veganism while vegetarians in India were still finding it difficult to make that transition. They helped us choose our food, which was our first proper meal of the day, and walked us through what each meal contained, why it was healthier, and how the Italians ate. And how the Italians ate! Eating in Italy was almost a religion. I say almost because the Italians love their food. And wine!
After thanking the Giancarlos for the wonderful meal, we made our way back to our hotel ont he rain soaked streets of Rome. Rome, to us, was largely a disappointment because of the weather. The city was extremely pretty and definitely warranted a second visit. In our entire trip, this was the first place I wanted to come back to!
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