Just When You Wanted to Hear about Pisa and Cinque Terre I Finally Write about Rome

My field trip for Roman Empire to Rome was a very busy one. On the first day our teacher guided us through the Imperial Forums, the Republican Forum, the Coliseum, Palatine Hill (with Domitian’s house and Augustus’, which was unfortunately closed), and Caracalla’s bath. I wish we could have lingered at the places longer, as I find these things really interesting and would have liked to have examined them more closely, especially since we’ve learned so much about them. It was a gorgeous day, too, and the ruins looked so beautiful in the bright green grass dotted with daisies. Probably the most surprising thing was getting a sense of the size of the various places. The forums were so crowded, Augustus’ house seemed so small, and Caracalla’s baths were absolutely huge. I love that little bits of mosaics and pieces of the statues are still there and I really like trying to imagine what it would have been like throughout all of the years.

After finishing up at the baths, we were told we could take busses or a taxi back to the hotel. Chris and I chose to walk instead and ended up walking along the Tiber. It was beautiful with flowering trees creating a curtain above the stone walls and glimpses of the lovely bridges. We even stumbled across the Great Synagogue, which we were excited to see as we had just written a paper on Roman Jews.

A bit later we walked to the Vatican, just making it before sun down. Sadly, St. Peter’s was closed, I think because they were setting up for Palm Sunday. There were tons of chairs, huge TV screens, and the altar in the center. We sat there for a bit until the sun set and then walked back by way of Castel Sant’ Angelo (which was originally Hadrian’s mausoleum) and across Angel’s bridge. The reflections of the lights and the view of the Vatican were beautiful. While walking across I was really startled when a little bat flew extremely close to me.

We then got some chocolate gelato and walked to Piazza Navona (originally Domitian’s stadium), the one with the famous fountain by Bernini that represents the four major rivers. While we were there we watched this performance by a girl that danced with flames. She was talented but it was a bit creepy. We walked from there to the Pantheon, which looked really beautiful at night. The purpose of the original Pantheon was that you wouldn’t know there was the dome there until you walked in, so that you could get the sense of heaven, so from the outside it’s supposed to look like a conventional temple. Since it was dark it was easier to get a sense of this and there was something about it that felt so much more ancient.

From there we walked to Trevi fountain and then to the Spanish steps. Along the way we encountered this huge group of girls with nuns as their chaperones that were singing songs and chanting in Spanish “I am Spanish.” Later they walked passed the Spanish steps continuing to chant this and received cheers from Spanish people on the steps and mutters from Italians. At the Trevi fountain earlier I had also heard some girls singing Spanish songs about being Spanish. It seemed odd to me to display national pride in this way, as it wasn’t like it was a sporting event or some competition.

Anyways, the Trevi fountain and Spanish steps were very beautiful. I was really excited to discover that the poet Shelley had lived (and died, actually) in the apartment that is literally right next to the steps. I can’t imagine living flush to a huge tourist attraction. After sitting on the steps for a while we wearily headed back and I fell asleep immediately since so much had been packed into one day.

The next morning we all got up early only to find out that we had been misinformed by our chaperone and that the hotel did not actually serve free breakfast. I also discovered a cockroach in my bathroom, but that’s not related, and not something I care to elaborate on. So quite last minute we went out to try to find breakfast. Chris and I came across an outdoor market and bought these absolutely gigantic apples before heading to a café to get some croissants

Our class then walked to the Pantheon and Piazza Navona. We were also supposed to see a famous Renaissance painting inside a church nearby but it was unfortunately closed, as a lot of things on our trip seemed to be. After this we all got on the bus and headed to Ostia, which was about an hour away.

Ostia is a lot like Pompeii in that it’s an entire city of preserved ruins. It served as the port for Rome and this is where many grain warehouses and the like were maintained for the Roman citizens. It was another really beautiful day and it was fascinating to see the actual location of where the apartments, cafes, theaters, temples, houses, warehouses used to be. Some really interesting elements were a bar with an intact counter and a guild and a bar where the name of the respective places were preserved on mosaics on the floor. Later, when we had a bit of free time, Chris and I returned to the large stone theater and ate some bread on the steps that looked out in the distance onto a part of an old temple.

Our class then got back on the bus and our teacher brought us to the seaside to get our lunches. The beach was nice enough and I do miss the ocean but it had a bit of a feel of a rundown resort. It was nice to have gelato and get to see the ocean but at that point I was ready to head back to Perugia. An hour or so later we took the three or four hour bus ride back. Needless to say, I slept very soundly that night as well.

I tried posting pictures but the Internet is not cooperating well so I will try to do that soon!