The Lygers » Spanish Steps http://www.ryanlyford.com/myblog Sun, 04 Dec 2011 06:32:01 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 Ryan Goes to Italy: Rome http://www.ryanlyford.com/myblog/2006/11/ryan-goes-to-italy-rome/ http://www.ryanlyford.com/myblog/2006/11/ryan-goes-to-italy-rome/#comments Sat, 04 Nov 2006 12:04:00 +0000 Ryan http://www.ryanlyford.com/myblog/?p=266 I finally arrived at Termini only 20 minutes or so later than I had originally expected. I had been to Rome in 2000 to visit my sister for a few days. At that time I also stayed near Termini station. I think the area has picked up a bit since then because it used to be a pretty sketchy area, but isn’t so bad anymore. My hostel, Yellow Hostel, was only a few blocks away from the station so it wasn’t too bad to lug my packs. Yellow Hostel has come up with a unique layout where the reception desk is also the bar. On Thursday evening when I arrived there was some kind of upcoming open bar so the reception area/lounge/TV room was packed. To check in I had to fight a herd of thirsty 20 year-olds ordering beers. Needless to say, it took a while to check in. One of the hostel workers showed me to my room – a typical hostel room with two bunk beds. I took one of the bunk beds and decided to just go to bed to be able to get up early the next morning and see the sights. I didn’t get much sleep. It sounded like there were about 30 parties going on all throughout the building for pretty much the whole night. The only time it was quiet was between the hours of 5 and 7am. Needless to say I didn’t get much sleep. I  got up – still groggy from not getting any sleep – and headed out to see the city. My first stop was the Colosseum. I had already been inside the Colosseum in 2000 so I didn’t feel the need to pay the 12 euro fee to go inside again. I then walked through the ruins of the old Roman Forum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_forum (which is still free). I then went to the Piazza Venezia and walked up the Monument of Victor Emmanuel II (well, halfway up – you couldn’t go to the top level). I then made my way over to the Pantheon. I continued my walk through the city across the river, past the Castel Sant’Angelo and to Saint Peter’s Basilica. At the Basilica I opted to fork out a few euro for the audio guide so I could learn about all the art and sculptures inside the massive structure. I took a bus back to the hostel and had a few drinks in the reception area/bar before headed off to sleep. Either this night was quieter or I was just so tired I didn’t hear the noise, but I slept much better. However, I did get up to use the restroom (which was down the hall) at 4:30am and there was a contingent of college kids just returning from the bars. I guess when you’re in you 30’s, coming in at 4:30am just isn’t a regular occurrence anymore. The one thing I didn’t get to see the last time I was in Rome, but really wanted to, were the Catacombs. So, on Saturday morning I went off in search of the catacombs. My hostel had their own “Yellow Hostel” maps showing some key sites, bus lines and how to get to various places. The catacombs were on the map and all it took was a few stops on the subway then a transfer to the 218 bus. The map showed where the bus stop was and the direction the bus left town but the map didn’t extend all the way to the catacombs, which are outside town a bit. Now, when I got to where the bus was supposed to leave from there were no 218 buses. I walked all over the area and still found no 218 buses. I walked down the street my map said the bus traveled down and still no 218 bus. I asked people on the street – they never heard of the 218 bus. They also didn’t know how to get to the catacombs. Eventually after about an hour of getting frustrated with my crappy Yellow Hostel map I broke down and paid 3 euro for a comprehensive map (plasticized, no less) with all the bus routes on it. I finally found the 218 bus which left from a completely different place than my map said and went off in a completely different direction (but did go to the catacombs so the Yellow Hostel map was right on one thing). I finally made it to the catacombs and bought my (5 euro) ticket. There are actually several catacombs in the same general area, but I went to the one closest to the bus stop which, as it turned out, was the biggest and best (well, according to my tour guide anyway). I say that because it originally had several popes buried there in addition to 500,000 people and over 22km of tunnel (of which I only saw a very small portion). All tours were led by a guide and separated by language. First they called for German speakers and a few people went, then Spanish and a few more went. Next came Italian and 4 or 5 went through the gates and finally they called English and about 60 people came forward – basically all Americans. My guide was Indian which I thought was interesting, but he gave a good tour. I’m glad I finally got to see the catacombs. The afternoon took me to the Spanish Steps and Trevi Fountain. Saturday night, being my last night in Italy, I decided to join the 20 year-olds for a pub crawl around Rome. With the exception of one 18 year-old the rest of my group wasn’t too young. A couple mid-20’s and I was the old man at 30. There was one guy who lived in Antarctica which I thought was interesting. The night was fun, but I were definitely slow getting up the next morning. I just wandered around near my hotel in the morning before catching the airport train from Termini. I don’t know why they do this, but they put the airport train on the furthest possible track from anything. The one train that everyone is guaranteed to be carrying all kinds of heavy luggage takes 15 minutes to talk to from the front of the station – even with the moving walkways. Well, it didn’t really matter to me because I forgot about daylight savings time so I got to the airport an hour earlier than I were expecting. I had plenty of time to take in all the duty free shops in Terminal C before my flight. Terminal C at Leonardo Da Vinci Airport is quite nice. There are ramps all around the terminal for the airplanes to dock at, but of course they put the flight to Bulgaria way out on the tarmac in the middle of nowhere. I had to take a bus out to my MD-80. There were two MD-80’s parked near each other on the tarmac (the other one was probably going to Albania or someplace like that). The bus pulled up to one of them and we all got off and headed to the plane. The bus driver all of a sudden decided he had taken us to the wrong plane so started yelling at us to stop. At this point we all figure, well, it must be the other plane out here on the tarmac so we all start walking towards this one. All of a sudden the driver changes his mind and yells at us to stop walking to the second plane. At this point all passengers independently start wandering in random directions on the tarmac looking for another plane. The bus driver is now about to have a heart attack. The pilot comes off the plane we originally parked at and sorted out the problems. This was in fact the correct plane. We all pile on and have an uneventful ride to Sofia. Both flights to and from Italy were packed so they Sofia-Milan/Rome routes must be making Alitalia some money.

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