Tuesday
All Roads Lead to Rome


The most interesting city we visited turned out to be Rome. It had the oldest ruins and most plentiful. But first we had to drive into Rome. Our port was about an hour away from Rome. On the way there, we stopped at highway rest stop. In Canada, we usually have a fast food place, gas station and maybe a tourist information stand. Well in Italy (and probably the rest of Europe), this was what they had:


Beer and Naked Girls

Well, first of all, as a lot of you probably already know, things here are a bit more chaste than in Europe (although one could argue that we are catching up). This Italian magazine had a naked chick on the cover clearly showing some T & A. And this was on the middle rack, as opposed to the "top" rack. Ironically, they had National Geographic on the top rack. This is probably common throughout Europe.

But the more interesting part is the alcohol. Naked chicks don't kill, but drinking and driving do. Think about the irony here...a highway rest stop selling alcohol. That would be something totally unheard of over here (unless you count Duty Free when you cross the border...). I guess culturally, drinking and driving doesn't have the same stigma as it does over here. The whole attitude is different. I'm not breaking any new ground here, but this is something that I got to see first-hand. I suppose that over here, people are more inclined to binge drink as opposed to have it as part of their meal everyday as they do over in Europe. And binge drinking seems to cause the majority of the problems. I wonder if you're accustomed to having a drink as part of everday life, you'd be better able to judge your ability to drive or have a resistance to it. I don't have any statistics on drinking and driving mortality rates in Europe versus North America, but I honestly am not sure what to expect. Are they more naturally responsible about drinking and driving in Europe? So far as to make it that easy? Or do they have the same problems as we do, but nothing is done about it?

Rome is a city bristling with ruins. Everywhere you go, there are ruins. The old is mixed in with the new wherever you go. To the native Italians, ruins are probably more of an annoyance more than anything, but to me, it was amazing. Once again, I'll be comparing Europe to North America. Over here, everything is relatively new, spaced out, and modern. In Europe, you feel as if you are walking through history. It's a surreal feeling, as my tour guide put it, "This is not Disneyland - you are actually walking where the ancient Romans once walked." We first visited the Roman Baths on bus.


The Roman Baths

It's hard to imagine how large of a building this is. Apparently, the Romans cut down a 1/3 of the czech forests to heat the Roman baths - just because when the wood was burned, it polluted less than the local wood. The building is still being used. It doesn't have baths anymore, but several years ago, a concert for the three tenors was held there. It's getting a little bit dangerous to go inside now, so it's shut down to tourists.

Next stop was Circus Maximus, of Ben-Hur fame. We drove by there only once and very quickly, so I only managed a blurry shot. Some estimates say that they were able to hold 20, 000 people in there. Not bad!


Pretty empty now, but it looks like people were allowed to walk around.

One of the more subtle differences that I noticed was the way the city was organized. Over here, our cities are usually organized in a grid-like pattern. Over there, the streets tend to be narrower and not organized so artificially. And a nice side effect to that is that there are piazzas (plazas) at so many intersections. Just nice large open spaces for people to walk through, or for some fountains, monuments or statues. It just adds a nice feel for the city, which is sometimes lacking in our antiseptic cities.


We're going around the roundabout in a bus and there is a fountain in the center.

The coliseum in Tunisia was pretty cool, but the one in Rome just blows your mind. Once again, the sheer size of the structure is amazing. A lot of it preserved quite well, and it's amazing to think that it has been standing here for 2000 years. The lines to get in were outrageously long, so we only walked around the outside. Which reminds me of another peculiarity with travelling with a cruise ship. They bring you straight to the biggest tourist sites, one after another. You never seem to get a real feel for a place, because you are brought to tourist trap after tourist trap. Ever single place we visited sold tourist items. And when you visit these tourist places, it doesn't really feel like you're truly getting a good representation of the local culture. It really made feel like a tourist. And I mean, tourist in a bad way - in the same vein Fight Club uses it to describe Marla attending the testicular cancer support groups. But on the flip side, you get to see the highlights of the city that you are only spending a few hours in. I guess it's the only option if you want to see anything.


The little person in the middle is actually my sister. The coliseum is a huge structure.


A beautiful, but very hot day.

In and around the coliseum there were these guys dressed up as Roman Gladiators. You have to pay some money to get your picture taken with the fake gladiators waving their plastic swords. I sneakily took a picture while a gladiator was looking the other way.


This guy looks pretty angry. Maybe it's because he isn't getting paid for this picture!

I don't know if the pictures really show it, but practically right beside the coliseum are apartments. That'd be pretty cool to live in them and having the Coliseum right outside your window. A short walk away from the Coliseum was the Roman Forum. On the way there was a victory arch celebrating some Roman general's victory (I can't remember who's exactly, maybe Titus?)


The detail that went into this arch is unbelievable. I guess you have to be there to really see it.

The Roman forum was the political center of Rome. Most of it was in ruins, but it was still pretty impressive to see so many ruins. It's a very large area, and we didn't get to roam too much, but it was cool just knowing that past Roman Emperors probably walked the same paths.


People walking in, through, over and on the Roman ruins.

These columns are the leftovers of the Temple of Vesta. In this temple was a public fire that Romans could come and take with them to light their own fire. This fire was maintained year round by the Vestal Virgins, who held a sacred position in Roman society.


You can't tell, but this was a round building, with the fire in the center.

This is where Julius Caesar was cremated. A rose is placed there everyday. It's really hard to find, because it's small and tucked away behind a wall.


Something I definitely wouldn't have noticed without the tour guide.

As we were leaving the site, I saw a newspaper dispenser for a free subway newspaper. Look familiar?


The Metro

The next major stop was Trevi Fountain. Legend has it that a young girl showed some Roman soldiers the source of a spring. The Romans naturally built an aqueduct and this fountain is the end point of that aqueduct. It's pretty amazing to think that a 2000 year old aqueduct is still being used today. While we were in Rome, we saw the locals take water from the various fountain for drinking. In North America, you would never think of doing this. Apparantly all the fountains in Rome have drinkable water. Once the water exits from the fountain, it is drained into the sewers, so that none of the water is recycled (All the fountains I've seen in North America have pumps). My sister and I sat, and had our lunch here. We also refilled our water bottles at the fountain. I got to drink water from a Roman aqueduct.


This is a very crowded site.


To get this shot, I actually had to stand on top of a post to rise above the other people.

They say that if you toss a coin into the fountain while you face your back towards it, you will return to Rome one day. If you toss two coins, you'll get married. And if you toss three coins, you'll get divorced. There were also some officers there who were trying to keep people from sitting on the fountain. Not an envious job. Another thing that was very noticeable were the gypsies. There were a lof of them there, just begging for a handout. Apparantly, gypsies are a problem in a lot of European cities.

My sister and I wandered the city for a little bit. We came across the WWI memorial, which we had passed by quickly earlier in they day. It's a modern building, so I guess it's nothing special, but it's still pretty impressive.


Notice the roundabout?

Europe was undergoing a heat wave while we were visiting. It was really hot, but I prefer the heat, so I didn't mind too much. There were reports, that tens of thousands of people died in the heat wave. Most of the European buildings don't have air conditioning, so it must be especially tough on the older people. The guide said that Europe will eventually get air conditioning into most homes, but not for a while, because they lag the US in technology by several decades. What they don't know is the crazy power requirements that come with air conditioning.

We visited the Spanish steps next. I'm not sure what's so special about them, but this site draws a lot of tourists. They hold a yearly fashion show on the steps as well. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to climb the Spanish Steps, because we were just passing by.


They are called the spanish steps because this part of town was Spanish. Nearby was the Spanish embassy.

At the base, there was a sculpture of a boat overflowing with water. In the far past, the Tiber river constantly flooded. On one of these occasions, a boat was washed up to this level. From this area of the city, I couldn't even see the river.


People were lining up to refill their water bottles at the fountain.

We ended our tour at the People's square, or Piazza de Popolo. I also wanted to mention that the Italian language is quite beautiful. The guides were using as much English as possible, and I got to hear it from some of the locals. It's a very lyrical, bubbly language with a certain rythme to it.


This square is at the intersection point of three main streets in Rome, the Via Condotti, the Via del Babuino, and the Via Felice

After quite an exhausting day, we got back for dinner. I was hungry :)



Main Course: Roast Beef with yorkshire pudding. (8/10) A little too well done to my liking, but still good.

Main Course II: white fish with salsa sauce(7/10) Not the freshest, but the sauce was surprisingly good.

My sister tried the Jerk Pork.


Main Course: Jerk Pork

I tried a little bit and it tasted like a neutured dish. Well, what i mean is that there was only a hint of the jerk pork taste. I've had some authentic jamaican jerk pork and it's really hot. This dish was not. But it still tasted good.

Tonight's entertainment was some song & dance by the crew's entertainment crew. I got up and left within 5 minutes to go work out. I learned the night before that the gym closed pretty early, so if I didn't get out, I wouldn't get to use the gym. I don't think I missed much, but that's just me.

My parents went to see the Vatican that day, and unfortunately, I didn't get to see it. If you ever visit there, keep in mind that there is a dress code to get in. It was a really fun day. I got to actually see all that stuff I learned about in books on the Romans. Maybe that Trevi Fountain legend is true, and I'll someday return to Rome.