Europe Part 17: FAST trains

[Hey, I added some pictures to Part 16. Yous should go check them out.]

We got up pretty darn early and hoofed it down to the train station. (Of course we packed the day before...we’re professionals.) We spent some of our franks on postcards and stamps to send some more letters home. The trains were all pretty normal until we got to Speitz. That train was fairly packed. But remember how we got some reservations before? Yep, this was one of those trains. We had to kick some fellow travelers out of our seats, but they got kicked out of several seats before the ticket-takers came around. She got it sorted out eventually, though. Anyway, we just holed up in our seats, read, and munched on chocolate and trail mix. I think we just ate out of our backpacks all day. At least until dinner. Good thing we stocked up.

I had read the travel guide for Rome and, what with the long passages about pickpockets and scams, I entered with a bad first impression and my hands in my pockets over the camera. Our transfer to the fast EuroStar train in...some city or another went off without a hitch, though. And that train is pretty darn fast. It cut a couple of hours off of our travel time, and that’s time we got to spend in rome. So, nice.

So our train pulls into Rome, and all paranoid about all the pickpockets, thieves, con men and bad singers the guidebook had told us to look out for, we locked down all our valuables and prepared to run the gauntlet. Of course, when we got out there, nothing. Just people, as it turns out. Not much more likely to rob you here as anywhere. Especially when you travel with a guy as determined-looking and bestowed with gristly strength as I am. *Flex*. *Flex*.


Would you pickpocket this man? I didn't think so.

We made our way to the nearby hostel on foot (crossing the street in Rome is always an adventure: walk with purpose, time your crossing with others, and don’t stop walking). Turns out we made a poetic transition from the best hostel we’ve ever stayed at...to the worst. We had been ‘upgraded’ to a better room, which mostly just meant we couldn’t pay by credit card, and it made me fear for the downgraded version. We still had one shared bathroom, the room had one light with an exposed bulb. There was a kitchen, but the fridge was broken and, oddly enough, no silverware. Plenty of plates, though. Ants in the hallway and a silverfish in the room. I didn’t tell jess until after we left. She hates silverfish almost as much as I hate things that give my girl the heeby-jeebies.

On the plus side, it’s cheap, near the train station, and we found four cats in the alley behind a window in our stairwell. But first, hunger. We wandered around to an Itallian restaurant (shock!) and ordered some foodstuffs. I had sort of a mission in mind that I wanted to find one of the old-school pizzas. Flat bread with tomatoes, basil, and fresh Mozz. cheese. Never did find it: their pizzas have gotten pretty Americanized, but who can blame them? American pizza is pretty great. I did try the Margherita Pizza which was pretty good. Jess got some pasta. Not bad for a first meal, all told.

It started to rain, and we had our coats, but the city sprouted this army of clearly-not-from-itally-but-I’m-not-sure-what-country-they’re-from guys who would be glad to sell you an umbrella for a euro or two. I wonder what they do when it’s not raining? Anyway, having a little extra time before we had to turn in, we started to just walk around the city some. Rome is a joy to walk around. There’s some thousand-year-old building or gorgeous architectual masterwork around pretty much every corner. I stopped and gawked at a lot of buildings that may or may not have had any important historical significance.


I'm not sure what this building is. It's probably important.

We walked by the Palace of Exposition, the Colonna Tralana, and the Parthenon. The Parthenon was the most impressive, even though part of the outside was under construction. The inside had been under construction when Jess had come before so she got to see some new stuff.


The newly renovated interior of the Parthenon. And us.

Then we got some Gelato (I think I like Amy’s better. Don’t shoot me!) and wandered over to Trevi Fountain, where everyone had their picture taken last time Jess came to Italy. We got our picture taken in the exact same spot. Also, behind Trevi fountain is just some building or another. Probably someone’s house. Imagine the HOA on that building.

Oh, also, we had this exchange, which I liked:

Jess: Do we have any coins to throw in the fountain?
Noel: Not really. Just some big coins from the Gelato.
Jess: Oh, okay.
Noel: ...
Jess: ...
Noel:
Jess: No, it’s okay.
Noel: You know, you don’t think I can read your mind. But I can.


Same Picture Jess got the last time she was here. I like being included this time.

We scoped out the fountain (us and about three different school trips. They were all over. What’s with Europe and school trips?) and sort of meandered our way back home through Plaza De La Republica. Apologies for not describing more of these landmarks in detail, but we saw so many that If I describe each one we’ll be here all year. We got some food at a market (always good to stock up) and came back to the hostel to sleep.

-N