L'ultima giornata

Saturday was my last day in Rome and I still can't believe it. I keep thinking this is just another trip and I'll be going back. I will be going back, but only to the airport and then straight on to Toronto and the exotic land of New Jersey. I had to leave my huge beautiful apartment at 7 AM to catch a shuttle with my roommate to Fiumicino. While they were all catching planes back to Stati Uniti, I was looking for luggage storage, which I was told was going to cost me €3.50 per bag per day. Liars. It is €6 per bag per day, so in essence I am putting my suitcases up in a fancy hostel for the week. But that doesn't even matter because the point is Rome is over and I cannot accept that. After the extortionists at the airport took my bags I caught the train back to my ancient city and had a pasta breakfast with Lindsey while she packed. We met up with Vivi and Danielle and even though it was pouring down rain we decided to go back to Piazza Navona and enjoy Bernini's fountain one last time. Wouldn't you know there was a nice little tratoria with heaters nearby where we were able to eat our weight in pizza.

After lunch we walked to the Pantheon and had a little photo shoot out front since there were barely any people out in the bad weather. This is where Danielle and I tried to drink from a fountain and we both underestimated the power of the flow of the water and it shot up both our noses and all over my forehead, all of which was captured in the most embarrassing of pictures.
The Trevi Fountain is not far from there so we headed in that direction and stumbled across a store that sold nothing but various versions of Pinocchio. They had a life-sized Pinocchio sitting on a bench and we obviously could not pass up an opportunity to have a picture with him which led to some awkward faces. The Trevi Fountain is beautiful by the way. It is set back in this tiny piazza and it so huge in comparison that ts overwhelming but in a good way. Salvi really knew what he was doing. In fact he placed a marble vase on the side because rumor has it that his critics used to sit in a cafe on that side so he wanted to block their view of his progress. There are over 25 different species of fauna and 30 different pumps for water. But decide for yourself.

We were on a roll with the whole hitting up all the iconic tourist sites so we walked to Piazza Venezia and caught the 44 to La Bocca della Verita and in the style of Gregory Peck I pretended to have my hand bitten off, but no one bought it. I guess they've seen that trick. As a bonus, inside the church was the skull of St. Valentine which hadn't been on display since his feast day in February. It's amazing what we humans venerate. Across the street is the ancient temple of Hercules so I had this song stuck in my head as we caught the 44 for the last time back to Trastevere.
Somehow we made it to Ciampino Airport where Vivi miraculously dropped her suitcase from 29kg to 15.5kg so that she would not have to pay €20 per kg for everyone over 15 (the extortionists are everywhere!). We are now safely in London with Bethany, posts to follow.

My Mind is Missing

AHHHHHHHH! Ok, I had to get that out of the way really quickly. The American University of Rome is a precious school filled with beautiful people, but they have a flawed system. We all get kicked out of housing the day after exams end. The day after! How am I supposed to study? When am I supposed to pack? My room is in shambles. I have a headache from thinking about how I will be stranded in Europe if the ash cloud decides to go berserk.

So instead of studying, packing, and stressing, I went shopping with my roommate Emily and had a delightful biscotti gelato and it worked like a charm.

Piazza Navona

The Romans must know that I'm leaving soon, because they took down the boards that have been covering Bernini's Four Rivers fountain in Piazza Navona. Those boards have been there as long as I can remember, which is at least 3 years because they were there in 2007 when I was here last. So of course I had a mini photoshoot:



Did you know that this fountain gets its water from the Aqua Vergine, which is an aqueduct that has been supplying water to Rome since Agrippa built it in 19BC? (Thank you architecture term paper on the Trevi Fountain, which also gets its water from the Aqua Vergine. In fact if Bernini had not been so consumed with building Four Rivers, he probably would have completed his plan for the Trevi Fountain and it would look nothing like what it does today.)See Pops? I did learn some stuff over here.

Museo Vaticano, Finalmente!

Today I met up with Vivi and her family and we ventured on over to the Vatican Museum. This has been a long time coming because this place has been destination number one since I got here and it has taken me 3 months to finally accomplish a visit. So we waited in line for about 20 minutes and headed up the stairs to the beginning of the place. We saw Christian tombs, Egyptian mummies, saint relics, frescoes, maps, Raphael Rooms, Bernini's plaster models, and the Sistine Chapel. In essence I was in heaven. And since Vivi's son was in his stroller the whole time we got to take short cuts around the stairs and all the people. The only hiccup was convincing the guards that I was part of the family so they would let me in the short cuts as well. I tried to switch places with Damian so that I was the one in the stroller, but he didn't go for this plan.

Impazienza

I just got back to my apartment from my Easter weekend in Budapest and I'm exhausted and need to go to sleep, but before I go to bed, I have to describe to you what happened on the plane.

What you must understand is that Italians know no rules. Instead of lines, they cluster and every man is out for himself. For instance, you must be very assertive and stand your ground when it comes to lines or else without realizing it you'll be in front and in an instant 50 people have somehow squeezed in front of you and your place is then at all the way at the back. Anyway, patience is not really valued here. So when we landed in Rome the plane was still taxiing and as soon as it slowed down to a crawl all of the people ignored the seat belt sign and got up and started to get their carry on bags. As the plane was still moving, the head stewardess yelled at them all over the loudspeaker to not ignore the seat belt sign in future. 2 minutes later we were still moving and she decided to make them all sit back down, and as soon as she gave this direction the pilot had to stop so suddenly so that everyone still sitting had to grab the seats in front of them and every impatient person in the aisle fell down. It was hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing because a man near us basically face-planted into his own suitcase. At this moment true and pure justice had been served. They ignored the seat belt sign and they suffered the consequences. After this happened all but 2 of them sat back down and the stewardess continued to try to get them to sit in English and Hungarian. Finally she admitted that she didn't speak Italian (because of course they were Italian) but it was clear that they needed to sit down. Only after the plane jolted again did they finally sit. Ridiculous, but this is why I love Italy.

La Notte

Last night I met Lindsey and her brother Josh for some drinks, little did we know that a psychic Italian was going to sit down at our table and read our palms. (But that's Italy for you, keep up.)

My palm said I was a crazy girl who is selfless and unappreciated. He said I have been in an accident, but that's technically not true because I've had a lot of accidents. I am also a bit of a wanderlust. Supposedly a problem is going to arise in my family and I will be the one to resolve it, so watch out! Also I'm going to be very rich, but I won't care about the money. Sounds pretty good, right? I asked him if he could see in my palm whether or not I would get to go to a zombie bar in my lifetime -since I never got to go to this one in Prague: and he said "no", but I'm going to take that as a "maybe" because I don't think he really understood what a zombie was.

Josh was next and his palm said he was never going to be rich but he would be happy, which is true because he's a teacher. He said Josh liked to fly without a plane. I don't know what that means but I'm in. He loves his parents, I don't know what kind of revelation that is but we accepted it. I can't really remember what else he said.

Then it was Lindsey's turn. She likes stars, although he could have seen her tattoo of a star on her foot. She's very emotional and likes to share with people. He said she is very rich, but he didn't know in what, so it could be money, friendships, happiness, or whatever.

So if you ever want a free palm reading and you happen to be in Italy I can point you in the right direction. Also, who of you knows where a girl can find a good zombie bar?