First Impressions of Rome

I left Vienna on June 28^th to fly to Rome. The temperature in Rome was much much warmer than in Vienna. The temperature difference was extremely noticeable walking with my enormous backpack, as I was suffering pretty intensely with sweat and heat.
I had booked a single room (with an ensuite bathroom) at the Hostel Pink Floyd, and I set out to find it. The directions on HostelWorld.com told me that check-in was at Hotel Hollywood. I arrived there (sweaty and gross from carrying my backpack plus a purse plus a 2^nd, smaller backpack which I was carrying across my front) and the man at the front desk gave me 5 keys. One for the outside gate, another for the door of the building, another for the elevator, one for the apartment and the last one for my single room. It turns out that this Hostel Pink Floyd isn’t really a hostel, it’s a room in an apartment within an apartment building.
My room was really nice, queen size bed, big bathroom, TV, personal fridge and AC (the last two I still haven’t figured out how to get working…). The only downside (apart from the broken AC) is the lack of internet. Luckily I found an internet café down the street that offers internet for 1 Euro per hour (which is super cheap considering the Amsterdam airport was charging 3.50 Euros per 15 minutes).
The next day, June 29^th, I decided to go exploring the city to see the amazing sights. I first got lost in Termini Station (the main train station, similar to Union Station in Toronto, which connects the trains with the metro lines and the buses). Luckily a nice male police officer helped me out and pointed me in the right direction.
My first stop was the Spanish Steps. These steps have a combination of curved areas and straight areas, giving it a very unique look.

I then made my way over to the Piazza Del Popolo:

From there I wanted to see the Trevi Fountain, on my way over I walked past the Piazza Colonna, and finally found the famous fountain. This fountain is one of the more recent additions to the city, as it was built in 1762. Even though this doesn’t really sound too recent, it is when comparing it to the Colosseum, which was built in AD 72.


It was absolutely packed full of people!! Everywhere I went in Rome was packed with tourists!! I was a bit surprised, only because in Vienna there were significantly fewer tourists than I had predicted and I never waited in line at any of the major tourists spots. This led me to conclude that maybe because of the poor economic situation around the world people were traveling less. I still think this is true, but clearly Rome is a more popular destination than Vienna, and thus no matter what the economic situation is, there will always be tons of tourists in Rome.
I then wandered over to the Pantheon. I was really disappointed because it was closed!! I didn’t know this, but today is a religious holiday, and therefore the Pantheon was not open to tourists. There was a huge line at the front doors, which at first totally confused me. I finally asked someone what the lineup was for, and they explained that there is a small crack in the door where you can see the inside. People were lining up for their turn looking through the crack! I decided not to join the line, and I promised myself that I would return a few days later to see the inside of this famous landmark.
While I was there I took a photo of the outside:

Piazza Navona was my next stop. It consists of a church, a palace and 3 fountains. Unfortunately part of the piazza was under construction.


From there I went to the Monumento a Vittorio Emanuele II. I’m not sure exactly what it is used for, but it is a beautiful, enormous and impressive building!

From there I walked past the Roman Forum (I didn’t enter it as I am doing a guided tour of it later this week) and found the Colosseum!!
It is such an amazing sight!! It is so large, and spectacular!! It’s incredible to believe that it was built in 72 AD and it still stands today!! This is where deadly gladiator combats and wild animal fights were staged (it reminded me of the movie “Gladiator”). I did not enter the Colosseum as it is also part of my guided tour for later this week.

My first day in Rome was a huge change from my week long stay in Vienna. The very friendly and forward Italian men are very different from the reserved Austrian men! My long day of walking had reminded me all about the ways of the Italian men, and I spent most of the day trying to ignore their forward comments and open invitations.
I was exhausted from walking all day in the heat!! I decided to call it a day and go back to my hostel to rest.