Rome: Day One PHOTOS

Here is the first batch of photos. Enjoy! (Also, I wrote the files to a CD without putting them in the correct direction, so some are oriented sideways. Sorry about that. I'd fix it, but I don't know how to do so on blogspot.)

The girls I went with. First train to Italy. (there were two, I think)

The night train! Very cold and uncomfortable!!!! I didn't sleep at all. Or I dozed only occasionally and fitfully. Oh, and also, we were trying to sleep without dinner.

So, we get to the Rome train station at seven thirty in the morning (7h30). We are tired, cold, and hungry. Our plans are to find the hostel and drop our stuff off, eating breakfast, and then figuring out what to do with the rest of the day. We have the map given to us by the hostel. We have the written directions from the hostel. We're good to go! Only, we weren't really good to go. Why, you ask? Because we weren't in the right station. But we didn't know that yet. We wandered around the outside of the station, looking for street names on the map to match the street names where we were. We went back inside and I asked (in badly accented Italian) where to find a certain street. And the person responded. In Italian. What a shock: Italians speaking Italian! Well, the only thing I understood was Metro. But he dien't speak English so he was no help. Well we wandered over to the Metro, but we didn't have tickets and nobody helped us. We were completly overwhelmed and our ears were shocked, I think, because we couldn't understand anything. Well; we went outside and decided to wander in the other direction where there was a big road. We wanted to find the street name so we could figure out where on the map we were! The five of us stood clustered together around the map very lost and nervous. Finally; I took the map and walked up to a woman and said Dove se trouve ("where is" probably spelled incorrectly) such and such street and pointed where we wanted on the map. She said something in Itailian and I shook my head and said 'no italiano." She asked me if I spoke English. YES! She explained where to go (FYI: The written directions neglect to mention that, once you have arrived at the train station, you must buy a metro ticket to get to the Termini station. Directions only help when you're starting from the same place.) and then just said we could follow her because she was going the same direction as we were. She led us back down the hill to the train station. Just outside there was a booth for Metro tickets. She suggested we each get a day pass so we could ride the metro again and again without paying. 4 euro for one day is a good deal. She helped us buy the tickets and then led us into the train station and down to the basement Metro. She told us which stop to get off at, too! Wonderful woman. And whadduyaknow: the directions were correct and we found the hostel just fine after that!


Fountain with obelisk that you can't see. Too tall to be in the picture. All the public fountains have drinkable water. We walked by this on the way to the hostel. After we dropped our stuff off at the hostel we had to go back tot he Metro to get to the Vatican. So we stopped to take pictures.

Church. The fountain was right behind me as I took this picture. This church (and the fountain, of course) is on an island/median.

The same church.

Me at the church.

St. Peter's Basilica. Look at that line! Later on we will be in it! But first: to the Vaticain City!

fountain in Saint Peter's Square.

The wall surrounding the vatican with an arch entrance to the Vatican Museum. I don't have a picture, but it's like an airport in there. We put our day packs and coats and cameras on the converyer belt and walke dthrough metal detectors.

There's the dome of the Sistine Chapel.

Me and the Sistine Chapel

A fountain with drinkable water. I didn't have a water bottle so I just used my hand. 'holy' water.

Next are a bunch of pictures from inside the museum leading up to the Sistine chapel--of which, of course, there are no pictures. Sorry, I couldn't sneak one; there were very vigilant guards.

Paintings were EVERYWHERE. I won't show you them all, because, after a while, everything starts to look the same. All magnificent, but it runs together.

Look, 'Neth, Aristotle and Socrates, just like your Senior Prank! Onl, the original version! I was tickled pink to see this. It is one of my favorite masterpieces. Brilliant.

Here's the ouside of the Sistine Chapel again. I leaned out a window to take it.

The Pope has Palm trees in his back yard. Or rather; the Sistine chapel does.


I don't know what this is. Once again, I leaned out a window to get this picture. I love the sculpture. When have a house, I'm going to have sculptures all over ti. And a dome.

What the outside of the Vatican Museum looks like. Part of it, at least.

Sign that says Sistine Chapel this way.

Pine cone and peacocks and a lion fountain!

Me and Constantine. We're good buddies.

Thesus slays Medusa.

Qnother statue.

A giant bathtub. I want one of these for my house. Bruce could stretch ut comfortably in it. It might even be a bit big for HIM!

Spiral stair case leading to the exit of the museum.

Back in Saint Peter's square.

Monks!

Swiss Guards!!!! Did you know, you have to be 6 feet tall to be a Swiss Monk?


A choral group and two cardinals going into the Basilica at the same time we were. Hyper-super-Chuette!

fuzzy picture of one of my all time favorite statues. Michaelangelo's Pieta

Demon Cait and the Pieta

A picture of the interior of the basilica.

A better picture of Swiss Guards. Aparently, you're not supposed to take pictures from them. Ooops. Too late. And I was too far away.

So ends the excursion for the day. We got back on the metro and headed for our Hostel, stopping for dinner.
Yucky tasting Italian wine. I took a photo for Bruce.

My first real meal in Italy. Rigatone Carbanara. It's not as good as Cait's Pasta Carbanara Deliciousnes, but it was OK. Expensive.

Tiramasu. Looks yummy. Unfortunately, no one told me that it had coffee in it. I figured that out REALLY quick. And gave mine away.

We returned to the hostel, showered, and fell into bed. We were asleep by ten.

Thus ends Day One in Rome.
Voyage To Be Continued.