Day 3: Th. Sept. 15th -- ROME
Rome photos with titles and some captionsRome photos in slideshow format
Morning on the train was nice -- for me (Elissa was still feeling somewhat fragile). I journaled and watched the changing Italian countryside out the window. Ah, Italy!
Our train got in two hours late, which was somewhat of a problem for the other Italian guy in our couchette, who was a young art critic(!) with an appointment for just after when we were supposed to arrive. Oops!
We arrived at the Termini Station and, as with all our destinations, we first searched out our hostel, which, as with all our destinations, proved more difficult to find than we had thought. And, as with most of our destinations, we had to wait to check in, though they did let us clean up a little. (Yeah, we felt kinda gross.)
With no where to crash and Elissa still not feeling great (and me somewhat fatigued, as well), we went to the square/plaza-thing across the way and sat. After regrouping, we (I) decided we’d go to a restaurant and get a little something.
We went to a nearby pizzeria. I didn’t want much because we planned to have dinner later and it was the middle of the afternoon. We both ordered salads. Hers looked like a regular salad. Fancy that. Mine, however, was composed of several raw vegetables strewn across a plate with oil and pepper sauce. Yum. I ate half of it though, and then broke down and ordered penne al gorgonzola (cheesy pasta): something I knew I’d like. Boy, did I!
To continue our all-too-thrilling day, we returned to The Sunshine 2 Hostel (which I can’t help but associate with the Happiness Hotel: “If that’s the Happiness Hotel, I’d hate to see what the sad one looks like!”) and we checked in. (It was actually a very good hostel.) Elissa promptly took a nap, and I journaled some more. Then I got tired and slept some as well.
We woke up at 8pm and decided that we wouldn’t go out after all; that we‘d conquer Rome tomorrow. Way to do it up in Italy, girls! :o)
While we were getting ready for bed (heh, heh) we met a couple of Hungarian sisters, who were our roomies. They were very nice and chatty, pulling out their big map of Rome and telling us what they’d done so far.
And then we went to bed.
Sorry it wasn’t more exciting, but thus was our first day in Rome.
posted by Kate @ 3:34 PM
2 Comments:
Did you communicate with others mostly in English? French? Or were the Hungarians speaking their native language and you just smiled a lot?
Good point! Yeah, they all spoke English and we lazy Americans had it very easy. Actually, I got the idea that most people enjoyed using their English (kind of for pride's sake/having a one-up on the Americans). In France, of course, I always began conversations in French, though they usually changed it to English once they figured out that that's what we spoke. Huh!
When we were speaking with people who didn't know English we tried French and Spanish both, since people usually know one of the three over there. Italy seems very used to tourists, and therefore usually ready to speak English -- at least what little they know. We also regularly used our extremely limited Italian vocabulary (like five words). It all worked out!
Post a Comment
<< Home