Italy - Day Three

March 26th - Rome

At about 5 a.m., I took some benadryl to hopefully knock me out and give me some sleep. I was restless almost the entire night and when I woke up at about 6:30 a.m. to Joelle's blowdrying her jeans because basically none of her clothes had dried overnight after she hand-washed them the night before, I told her my situation and begged her to understand. Being Joelle, she immediately understood and sympathized, especially since her clothes were still wet and she was undergoing quite a bit of stress herself. Thus, I lent her some dry clothes and we did our best to be out of the hotel (and checked out) by about 7:15 a.m., which was enough time for us to get to the train station and buy our tickets.

Only, one big problem - my ticket said 17.50 euros and Joelle's said 32 euros. I told her that she should try and change the ticket by waiting in the queue again, so she did and I waited. But she came back and told me that the person at the counter doesn't really speak English. With literately 5 or so minutes until the 7:32 a.m. train (which we believed was ours) would leave for Rome, we decided that I would go and get on the train and she hopefully would catch up to me. I run up to the platform, and thankfully the train was late. I stood there fidgeting, hoping and praying that Joelle would make it in time. She came back, and seeing that the train was late, took my ticket with her and tried again to get the right ticket. When she came back, thankfully, the train still hadn't arrived and in fact she had her ticket exchanged to say 17.50 euros as well.

We both got on the 7:32 a.m. train and for the beginning of the ride, talked about how great it was that things worked out. Then, the train conductor came to us and looking at our tickets, told us very bluntly that we were on the wrong train - that in fact, we still got on the 32 euro per person train, the express train from Pisa to Rome. We would both have to pay about 27 euros in extra fees. We were both pretty devastated at the news, Joelle moreso than myself since she told me that she's spending more than 3K for all of her travels combined. We tried our best to enjoy the train ride, with the beach view out of our windows, but things just didn't work out the way we'd planned.

Once we arrived in Rome, we made it a point to get on the metro and find our hostel. We found it relatively easily since it was only one stop away and dropped our things off... I have to admit that in every aspect, I will take a hotel over a hostel ANY day if given the choice and the money. We decide to go to the Vatican museums first, then work our way to the Trevi Fountain and the Colosseum. We take the metro to the Vatican and after grabbing some food (my suggestion) and eating in a park-like area, we go to the Vatican. At this point, Joelle has lost it a bit, being so stressed out and wearing wet clothes, and since I'm sleep-deprived as well, we are pretty much making no sense in conversation but laughing quite a lot about it. Joelle keeps talking, and I keep commenting on her comments (which she always says, "why don't we just nit-pick on every detail of everything I say" in rebuttal), and I just continue to give her a hard time ;)

We get to the museums alas and it is beautifullll. The queues really weren't bad at all, especially for students, and from the moment we went up the escalator to the first exhibit of the museums, we found ourselves immersed in Roman architecture. Everywhere, everywhere there is detail and color and beauty, just the amount of intricacy, the amount of time and effort put into every painting on the walls, the ceilings, the tiles on the floors, I cannot describe. It is simply too beautiful, even for the complex dynamics of the English language.

That was my reaction to the Sistene Chapel. Nothing can compare. It is the most descriptive, telling, God-praising, awestriking piece of art piece I've ever come across. You see Adam's fingers so close to the Father, yet so, so far away, and the realms of Hell waiting for the doomed, that wretchedness that mankind hath caused by choosing to disobey God. It is the most tragic story ever told in art, and it brought tears to my eyes. How, how could we be so naive to think that we deserve salvation when it is so clear that we fall so very short from the glory of God? He is reaching for us, yet we give Him apathy, like rebellious adolescents, we turn away, yet He loves us, wants us by His side. By far, that was my favorite yet most heartwretching part of the entire Italy trip.

We walked around the museums for a bit more, which was great, and then we sought out how to get to the fountain and went for it. The Trevi Fountain was gorgeous, but I made a bit of a judgmental comment about the magnitude of tourists on the stairwell looking at the fountain - "They're like a rat pack, all cramped up like that" and Joelle very obviously disapproved. Thing was, there were so many tourists all packed staring at the fountain that all the glamor of seeing the sight was taking away for me, so I just snapped a few photos and we went on our way to the Colosseum.

The Colosseum is beautiful, especially with the Italian sunlight shining upon its rock. We took lots of pictures and walked around it. Joelle suggested gelato, so we took some small streets and found this excellent place for gelato. We walked to a park across from the Colosseum and sat looking at the view. It was beautiful, and we enjoyed the sunlight while it still lasted, just relaxing and enjoying the moment. We took more photos as time went on, and I just savored being in Rome for my last few hours of being a tourist before heading off to London the next morning.

We ate pizza for supper after dropping our things off at the hostel. Not the best pizza, but it was cheap supper. We went back after supper and Joelle wanted to try and find a laundramat so I went along... it was much harder than we expected and took us three times of asking different people who all told us it was about 50 meters away, to finally come upon it. Even then, the laundramat lady who clearly hates her job, gave Joelle a hard time and still after paying 3 euros to dry her clothes, her clothes still were not fully dry. We went back to the hostel, where Joelle dropped her clothes off and said she wants to go to an internet cafe to talk to her parents.

We went and she talked with her family for a little less than an hour, while I semi-napped on a chair nearby, mostly there because I care about her and I don't want her to be outside in the dark alone, especially since she wasn't in the best of moods. Then we headed back to the hostel, talked just briefly, but both of us were exhausted and soon enough, I took a shower, and fell asleep.