Fourth of July weekend was a four-day weekend for us, so we decided to take a trip. After reviewing a few different options, our best bet was a trip to Rome, Italy.
After seeing Greece, Rome wasn't exactly top of our list to visit. I did want to make it there eventually, but after our time in Venice, I just don't really like Italy. Unfortunately, Rome mostly only helped to enforce this feeling.
For whatever reason, Rome was extremely cheap this time of year. Our flights round-trip cost less than $150 total and our hotel was one of the cheapest we've stayed in since living in Germany. Based on the prices, I just couldn't pass up a weekend in Rome. Of course, every other tourist also had this inclination.Where do I start? We flew RyanAir, a budget airline in Europe. RyanAir has it's own airport near our city, so you don't have to arrive super early to go through security because there are usually only about 2 flights taking off per hour, so there aren't very long lines. However, you are extremely limited in your ability to bring luggage and it is probably the most uncomfortable flight of your life in closely packed, entirely plastic seats which don't recline. I strongly dislike RyanAir, but their prices are so good that if you really want to get the most out of seeing Europe without being extremely wealthy, you really have to resort to RyanAir. We also flew RyanAir to London. I would never recommend them for a flight over an hour and a half long.
Once in Rome, we had to take a bus to the city center from the airport. This is where the disorganization and insanity that is Italy began. Living in Germany has spoiled me when it comes to timeliness and organization. Everything in Italy feels like a giant mess. This was evident with the bus situation. Two bus companies have a bus that leaves the airport every hour. TWO buses per hour. So, even if we were the only plane to land in an hour time period, everyone in the plane could not fit on those two buses. This created a hugely long line of angry travelers which spiraled through the parking lot. Even though our tickets had a specific time printed on them for which bus to take, this wasn't honored. It was based off of how long you had waited in line in the 100 degree weather. It was the most poorly organized thing I have experienced in my entire life. The alternative is a 100 euro taxi ride. No thanks.
Once we finally made it to Rome, our hotel was not available for check-in. Surprisingly, our hotel was extremely nice, which I didn't expect for the price we payed. Unfortunately, the staff were not so friendly and kept making very strange jokes and walking away from us to go laugh with their coworkers instead of helping. At least there was air conditioning.
We took a nap in our room before venturing out to walk to the Colosseum. It didn't take long for us to realize why we don't usually travel in summer- tourists were EVERYWHERE!
I know this shouldn't be surprising, but again, we've gotten kind of spoiled by Germany. We're usually able to travel on off season times when the sites aren't as swarming with people. Even more irritatingly, most of the tourists were Americans on family vacation.
This is going to sound unpopular and completely inappropriate, but American tourists can be really, really rude. At dinner, we overheard a man telling his school-aged daughter that he was going to tip the waiter in American dollars because it is rude not to tip, but he forgot he needed to get Euros before coming to Europe. I think I had to stop eating just to pick my jaw up off of the floor.
Before our trip to Rome, I booked for us to pick up these cards which allow for skip-the-line access to all sites at Vatican City and in Rome. You had to pick the cards up in front of Saint Peter's Square at Vatican City. This was, again, another poorly executed disaster. There were no clear directions as to where to pick up the tickets and once there, the place was completely packed full of people. There were lots of workers wondering around, but only one handing out the passes. This is when I turned pretty "rude American" on everyone in there. Once we finally got the passes, the woman informed us that the entry to the Vatican museum was only skip the line if we agreed to go with a tour group and we had to schedule in advance to do this. Also, we couldn't go into St. Peter's Basilica until Monday because there were "too many people" on Saturday and, for obvious reasons, it's closed on Sunday so we would have to come back Monday. I begrudgingly agreed to go on the "guided" tour, which I'll discuss more later.
One thing I haven't gotten to mention is the painfully pushy "selfy-stick" sales people who are swarming all over the Vatican and Colosseum. You can't walk a foot without having something you don't want to buy shoved in your face. Every other step, someone is screaming, "Hey, you speak English? I sell you tickets to Vatican!" We've never experienced this anywhere else we've been. After talking to friends, apparently this is unique to Rome.The whole walk, in our giant tour group, from St Peter's Square to the Vatican Museum consisted of sales people following the group begging them to buy things. Once we finally got to the museum, it turns out the "guided" tour isn't actually guided, but it does consist of one man standing around giving out tickets very, very slowly. So, even though we already had one ticket and were inside of the museum, we had to wait to pick up another ticket because... Italy. No one ever actually looked at either ticket.
We didn't get a audio guide, which was offered, because we didn't really care to stay all day. We were warned that if we just wanted to see the Sistine Chapel, we would still have to walk through the entire museum before getting there. My biggest oversight in this entire trip- I don't care about religious history. I don't care about Catholicism. I don't care about the Popes or the saints or the history of Christianity. I was hoping for much more Ancient Roman history than ancient Christian history. I don't know what I was thinking, because the Christians mostly destroyed the Roman history in the name of Catholicism. The Vatican Museum served as a great reminder of this.
I am really trying hard not to be too cynical. The museum was beautiful and we got to see some amazing and famous artwork from many different ages and famous artists. The place was packed, but so was the rest of Rome. I felt bad for Greg who was forming a literal puddle by the end of the afternoon. I also felt bad for my legs which got so chafed from sweating and walking that I was bleeding. But, I mostly felt sorry for the American children who were dragged along across the Atlantic with their parents to look at paintings of Popes which they obviously did not care about. Poor, bored, misbehaving kids.
After, we got some pizza and went back to the hotel room to relax in the AC for a little while. Unimpressed with Rome, we made a last minute choice to book a bus trip to Pompeii for the following day. Then, we spent the rest of the night wondering around Rome to see some of the other sites. Sadly, all of them were closed for renovations. During high tourist season. Because... Italy.
The Trevi Fountain was under construction. The Spanish Steps were under construction and not decorated with all of the beautiful flowers like we've seen in pictures. The highlight of the evening, however, occurred at the Pantheon where an extremely talented man with a guitar was filling the whole square with great music. We ate gelato and sat around listening. Food and music are a good pick-me-up no matter what country you're visiting.
The next day, we had to wake up pretty early to catch the bus to Pompeii. Thankfully, it's a bit of a long drive, so we were able to nap most of the way there. Our tour guides told stories about the invention of pizza and about the villages and monasteries destroyed during WWII. We learned about lemoncello made from a special, giant lemon grown in the Bay of Naples. Mostly, we learned about Mt Vesuvius and the town of Pompeii which existed as a legend under piles of ash underground for centuries before being discovered.
Our first stop was to hike up Mount Vesuvius. Mt Vesuvius is the volcano that erupted near the Bay of Naples in 79 AD and destroyed many villages in the area, including Pompeii. It is still active and considered to be one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the world due to its close proximity to many cities and villages. The last eruption was in 1944. The road up is extremely steep and our bus actually broke down attempting to get up to it. They had to call in another bus to pick us up. Luckily, it only put us slightly behind schedule.
Once to the drop off point, you have to hike the rest of the way to the top. Considering its popularity as a tourist destination, I mistakenly assumed that it would be more... developed. It wasn't. There is one toilet (which was actually just a hole in the ground) on the mountain at a store for which you have to buy something to use it. The hike up the side of the mountain is a very primitive path which they covered in about a foot of gravel. As you walk up hill, your feet dig into the gravel and you slide backward down the mountain. It is not an easy hike in 100 degree weather.
We made it to the first and second look-out points into the crater formed in 1944. It was pretty cool to see inside the volcano and to see the view of the Bay of Naples from the top. Greg really enjoyed it, despite the heat. The trip back down was not nearly as difficult as hiking up the mountain.
After a lunch of pizza, the next stop was the ruins of Pompeii, about 2/3 of which have been excavated. It's the biggest archaeological site in the world. We had a tour guide who pointed out each of the buildings and what they were used for. We saw a former gladiator training school, two large theaters, a bathhouse, several restaurants and stores and a brothel. As you walk through the streets, you can still see the tire marks from chariots dug into the stone street and the walking paths and crosswalks formed with large, heavy stone. There were fountains which were renovated and working, although, without the lead pipes which would have been used during this time to bring fresh water into homes. We walked through a house of a formerly rich family and a bakery which still had bread in the ovens when Mt Vesuvius erupted only to be discovered centuries later.
Pompeii was by far the highlight of our trip. It was a pretty awesome peak into the lives of the former Roman empire citizens years before much of these things would have been destroyed in order to facilitate the creation of the Catholic church. I mean, the streets of Pompeii were literally carved into penises to use as make-shift road signs. After the discovery of Pompeii, a lot of ancient historians believed the city was destroyed by God due to it's citizens sex-crazed behavior. In reality, the city was probably not much different than any other Roman city of the time, they just happened to use a lot of phallic shapes for decorating.
We returned that night and went right to sleep. The following morning, we got up early to tour inside the Colosseum. It would have been much more helpful if we had a tour guide for this, as nothing is marked and there are very few explanations of what you're seeing. Most of the tour guides we noticed were privately hired by families. As we exited, we did see one organized tour group. As usual, the place was totally packed and the sun was blazing down on us. We ended up spending less than an hour there. I really thought we would enjoy it, but it was just too hot and too crowded. Also, we had to venture back over to the Vatican to see St. Peter's Basilica at our scheduled time.I don't have much to say about St. Peter's. We've seen a lot of magnificent churches in Europe. I didn't find St. Peter's to be any more special than the others, personally. Greg thought the doms in Koln and Trier were more impressive. Again, we got to see some famous artwork but that's about all I can say about it. I know this may be shocking, but I don't really care about art either unless it's more contemporary. Even at the Lourve similar to the Vatican, most of the artwork is of naked babies or Jesus. I don't understand what is to be considered famous and what is just another painting of Jesus.
At the end of the tour, you can walk through where all the popes are buried which is fun. St. Peter is supposedly buried down there, too. You can also walk up to the top of the basilica but the line was insanely long and we were interested, so we left Vatican City and headed back toward the Colosseum to see the Roman Forum.
I'm glad we went to Rome, but I don't have any desire whatsoever to return to Italy. I am okay with not seeing Lake Como or Pisa or the Amafi Coast. No matter how hard I try, I don't like Italy. I am not a fan of the culture and I could do without eating pizza at every meal. I will, however, miss the coffee, which is undoubtedly the best in Europe.Our next trip is a cruise through the fjords of Norway, which I am extremely excited about. That will most likely be our last major trip, unless we are able to coordinate a trip to Israel in spring like we've discussed. We'd also like to take a tour through Northern England and Scotland, but I am also not sure if that will happen or not. I'm exhausted of traveling. I think Rome was a big part of that exhaustion. We'll probably take some shorter trips to neighboring countries like Belgium, Denmark and Poland, but I am mostly done with longer travel. We probably won't make it to Spain or Portugal, and I am okay with that. The only thing I think I will be a little sad about not visiting is inland Croatia (we only went to Dubrovnik) and Africa, because I would have loved to take a trip to Morocco or Egypt.
The next two weeks are the wine festival in our city and then we'll end the summer with our cruise of Norway. We're really enjoying our last year in Europe!
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