EuroTrip - Day 49

Rome Was Not Built In A Day

The bad thing about gambling is that you are bound to win in the first chance. The beginner's luck is a very strong force. The second attempt is your own luck. It is the third game where you actually face the real odds.

We had never faced any issue of trains running full till now in our trip. So the new rule of the game was to just board the train. If the reservation is asked for, we get it done on-board (it's possible in most of the European trains). Or if the TT is generous, we do some saving.
Our just-take-it-easy-train program has worked for us every time with an exception of the last night.

What a night it was! The early sunset meant that we had less things to do in evening except taking a good long walk along the canals and then take some rest. The train-train game killed another two hours before the mid night train.

The real pain started in the night train for Roma. To our bad luck the second class seating was almost full so me and TARDi were left in the corridors to spend the night. It was long and chilly night. With people entering and leaving the train at every hour or so, there was no sleep. The broken door didn't help either and kept the so called 'air-conditioned' coach a lot more chilled than the usual. The six hours that we spent sitting and standing were the longest in the recent history (that night in Oslo was another such night). What a respite it was when the train reached Roma Tributina. We were the most happy people in the town then. :-)

Outside India no city wakes up at 6am (heard this from a christian Benedict today - 'why should I get up at 6:30 when the God himself has not bothered to switch on the lights!'). So we had to play one more round of train-train game. This time the trick failed. The train we boarded lacked all the amenities and that meant we had to get down from it at the first possible chance. We did it at some random station with a plan to take the return train. The free WC at the station came out as a boon and we spent more than the intended time at the station. End of it, we were all set to roam in Roman roads.

Roma Termini station, like any other station in Italy, does not have left luggage lockers so only affordable option is to carry your bag with you everywhere you go. We decided to check in the hostel that we had booked for night and leave our luggage there. The hostel looked good. Hopefully we would have a long relaxing sleep end of the day.

The first few things that will come to your mind when you think of Roma will be the Colosseum And the Vatican city. Our itinerary for the day included both.

The Colosseum is as beautiful as you have seen in the pictures. Grand and magnificent - this building was kind of an entertainment place for Roman kings and the public. A must visit destination if you come to Roma. However I really did not find worth the money (it costed a full 16.5 euros for the entry ticket and the audio-guide). The audio-guide is rather short on descriptions and the directions inside are confusing. You can never be sure if you are standing at the right place that is being described on the audio-guide. A good watch of the movie Gladiator should be a better way to know about this place. So my suggestion is to take a picture outside and proceed to next place on the list.

Vatican City as you know is a country in itself. However you don't need to go through any passport check to enter here. Just walk in. The handsome Swiss guards (damn!! they can any day model for any fashion brand) won't bother you unless you are really off the track. The historical St. Peter's Basilica in the center of this Roman Catholic world is free for anyone to enter and is a good visit. They have put descriptions for the paintings and the statues and they serve as a good guide to understand the significance of the artifacts. The Sistine Chapel, the Dome, the Vatican Museum and couple more churches - there are too many things to do in The Vatican. Did I mention it's all about 'him'. And we already had enough so the troupe marched for our next destination.

Thanks to PooCh's 'initiative' we were to visit a pizzeria called Pizzeria da Baffetto that he had read about in LP. From the first look itself, the place looked like an old-timer's love. People came and were rested by a proud owner in his 'friendly' way. The highly cramped pizzeria was center of activities for rebels during the war time. Now it's a mecca for pizza lover who swear by its super thin crust charred from side pizzas. Mind you this was our first chance to dine in a restaurant so we were quite apprehensive. The menu had decent choice for vegetarians at affordable prices. So we placed our orders and waited to be served. Like other popular destination food joints, people come here to belong here (or to say they come here just for that been-there-done-that feeling) and of course for their food. The pizzas arrived in more than hour. The wait was a little longer to my comfort (I had not slept the previous night) but then I had chance to do my favorite pastime - watching people. Families on their dine out Saturday with kids for whom it might be their first visit. They will come again and again in future. Or the couple on their first or second dates who had to share the tables with other elderly couples. The elderly couples were surely reliving their old days. And there were many more like them. Amongst them were we five Indians. One of us said 'let's play cards.' Other the Yes-man guessed the single and family pizza size won't be a lot different because their price differed by only 0.5 euro. The third one liked the place as soon as we entered and the forth one was busy reading something from his mobile. And the last man sitting - me. I was sitting silently. You might have guessed it long back. :-)

Unarguably one of the best pizzas we have had so far. LP's promise holds on one more time. And then there was the feeling of having been there. The queue that had lined up outside the restaurant boosted our ego. We were there. The return journey was bound to be pleasant.

There is one thing we all have learnt by now. When the map is in HotTiii's hand, all the monuments in the city tend to fall on the shortest possible route to our destination. Tonight it was turn to see the best of Roma. We saw the Capitol, the Pantheon, the Castel Sant'Angelo and numerous other churches and historical Roman buildings 'on the way'. Keep walking - that's the mantra when HotTiii is leading your way. We cannot complain here because with his map skills, sense of direction and his never ending enthusiasm to do guide-giri has been a boon to our EuroTrip. Give him a map and he is all set to rock. The trick here is that the map also keeps him busy to an extent so you can have some quite moments around.

The hostel room matched the image that we had formed in the morning. With 2 bunker beds and one normal one, it was like a gift from the heaven. I did not bother to wasting anytime and slept off immediately. It's going to be a bathing day tomorrow. :-) I am so much looking forward to it.

Roma has been a good experience. A lot of firsts - first dine out in a restaurant with service, a night stay in hostel, authentic pizzas and a chance to visit the center of a religion. I am looking forward to date with some more of Roma tomorrow.