Journal de la Journée: The Eternal City of Rome (Part 1)

Since fourth grade, I was always fascinated in Rome. Thanks to The Lizzie McGuire Movie that is set in the eternal city, I fell in love with the Roman architecture and its history, as well as a fun idea of having my own Paolo Valissari (one that hopefully doesn’t turn out to be incredibly vicious and petty). In my mind, when I was planning my stay in Europe I have two things in mind. First, I have to travel to Paris. Second, I have to travel to Rome. I wanted to see for myself the remembrance of one of the most notable civilization to ever exist and how it developed today. Without a proper itinerary, I set on a flight to Rome from Amsterdam —even willing to sleep for a night at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport since I booked the earliest flight in the morning and had to sleep on the floor since I came late at night to the Airport; I did plan to stay up at the airport though, but at the green couches but not on the floor. It’s both sad and funny experience, now that I am reminiscing it. I thought Airport operates for 24 hours, tho?! Turns out at around 10 p.m. every gate and desks closed with only several shops open.

I arrive at Roma Fiumicino airport around 10 a.m. in the morning. I decided to go to my hotel first, one which located nearby to the central terminal, the Roma Termini. I took a shuttle bus to Roma Termini that is priced at EUR 8 from Terravision -- there are a couple of brands that offer their bus tickets around the airport, you just got to pick one that suits your time best. Many travel sites recommend taking the bus as the most viable public transportation getting from and to the airport as the train is a tad more expensive and using metro won't et you directly to the city center. Extra point for using the bus is the extra view you'll get along the way.

Right after my bus arrives at the main terminal, I immediately look for my hotel (yes, this time I’m staying in a hotel instead of a hostel!) that is located 300 meters away from the metro, bus and train hub. I am glad to have chosen this hotel; with a pretty affordable price (just a couple euro extras in comparison to other hostels I looked up online that is located in the vicinity) and that I can have queen size bed all to myself. After living in a bed that’s pretty much just styrofoam in the last four months (and going back and forth with thin mattresses in a hotel), I am very happy to get a fluffy bed and pillows made for me. Also: the personal bedroom. After sharing an apartment with a roommate, this is a short luxury getaway where I can just be me in my own personal room and not a shared bathroom in a hostel. I got a bit too comfortable that I decided to spend the first couple of hours in Rome laying in bed with the windows open in the mild winter days.

After getting a couple hour nap, I walked to the central terminal and bought a three-day public transportation pass that allows me to take unlimited trips using metro and buses inside the city of Rome. I bought a 72-hour pass, a public transportation ticket that allows you take unlimited bus, tram, and Metro access for the package you're buying. The 72-hour or the 3-day ticket costs me around 18 EUR. I started the day going to the Colosseum building and took a metro going there from Termini to Colosseo. Once I arrived I was greeted by a lot of tour guides offering me packages to look around the Colosseum building and its surrounding. The number of guides was absolutely overwhelming, I’m pretty sure that there are more tour guides than actual tourists themselves! Honestly, it makes strolling around so uncomfortable as some of the guides looked extremely shady. I refused to take any packages and knowing that the queue lines to enter the Colosseum can get a little rowdy, I just decided to walk around by myself, no map included. Mind you that I do not have my mobile data on during my Europe trip — my number was limited only to the Netherlands and roaming charges are pretty hefty. That’s why most of my travels are highly dependant on paper maps, saved direction from Google Maps, screenshot of transportation routes saved in my phone gallery, and a little bit of bravery, gut and pure luck; also to free WiFi I can find at several public places (especially ones around universities — that Eduroam WiFi really is one of a great perk of being an exchange students in an EU country) or coincidentally, in many places I had my lunch.

Colosseum reminded me a lot of Gelora Bung Karno, you know, with people going around the cylindrical building and its open space (but with a much more iconic architecture and history). The surrounding area has similar architecture styles that are maintained and salvaged in ways to look like how it was in the historical Ancient Rome.The area around Colosseum is especially more pedestrian friendly with fewer cars and large pavements particularly the road leading to the Fori Imperiali. Right next to the Colosseum there's also the Palatine (Palatino) Hill that can give you a direct look throughout some of the established monuments and archeological sites around the area, one clearly looking to the Roman Forum and the other to the chariot-racing stadium, Circus Maximus on the other side. The hill itself hosted a palace and several other temples if you're interested to take a little bit of a ~40m hike in the biggest hills amongst all Seven Hills of Rome.

I was pretty stoked to be able to closely see the ruins of the Roman Forum, and its remaining structures of remaining temples, basilica, and gardens although some already in ruins. Good thing that I am at least somewhat familiar with the Roman mythology, reading the history inscribed along the ruins give me a good amount of knowledge and interesting stories. I continued walking to Piazza Venezia and take some time around Altare della Patria, a monument to honor the first king of Italy, Victor Emmanuele II. After a couple pictures, I decided to walk a bit more and take a moment for myself.

By the Piazza Venezia, there was a small park where I feel one of the most serene moment in my last couple of weeks in Europe. It was a small park with a couple bushes of flowers numerous chairs made of stones. not a lot of people were gathering and most of them were quiet. As I sat down to take a couple of rest and take my time breathe fresh air, a string guitarist began to play a couple music that is familiar to my ears but I cannot recall the title which — must be of Italian composer, I believe. The scene felt like it was made straight out of the movie. The scene and the vibe were compliment one another. It’s good that despite it is around winter holiday but my arrival in Rome was very near Christmas so that there weren’t as many people as I expected because the days I spend around Europe were filled with any other tourists and it was so packed. So getting some more space in touristic places makes it easier to actually enjoy the city as a tourist myself hehe.

I continued to take the bus and arrived at Fontana di Trevi or the Trevi Fountain. The sculpture is all white and clean and the water blue and clear. I was initially planning to toss a coin into the fountain hoping for my own Paolo Valissari but it was so weird that there’s no one else tossing their coins in and that there were no visible coins that were sunk inside the pond. So I didn’t get to toss the coin but instead spend the coin on a scoop of vanilla gelato which is one is seriously so good (like every other gelati I had in Rome!)

I continued to stroll the road and took random corners following the direction to the Spanish Steps. I was lost at the time when I freaking took a walk downhill whereas the Spanish Steps is actually level with the roads. That walk uphill tho… the struggle was real. After reaching the Piazza Navona and witnessing the Spanish Steps I didn’t even bother walking up the steps since I got a bit too tired. I decided to then take a random bus and see where it gets me.