Friday 7.2: Roses on the Spanish Steps

So begins the four day weekend of a lifetime. I arrive in Rome at around 5 PM and, via the Leonardo Express, arrive at Termini Station, like Union Station in LA or Grand Central in NY. It's a huge area and a longer walk than I expected from the platform to the main train hub, but luckily our hostel was rather close to the train station. Still the sun was shining strong in the midafternoon, and I could feel the beads of sweat starting to form on my face and chest as I walked toward Via Napoleon III. We stayed at the Astro Hostel, a small family-run place, and we had intended on living in a 6-person dorm for three nights. Unfortunately, the beds weren't all prepared yet, so they moved us to the hostel across the street and we got a private room with our own bathroom, which was pretty awesome. The room itself was small, and the bathroom didn't seem to have hot water, although by the end of the night, that didn't matter because we were so warm from walking around.

A couple blocks away from the hostel was the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, the largest major church in Rome dedicated to the Virgin Mary. As with all the churches in the area, I was soon to discover, this one was much bigger than I expected, heightwise, widthwise, and ornamentationwise. Roman Catholic churches are big on ornamentation and there is so much going on that I did not know where to look first. On just the front of the church, for instance, there are at least 10 statues and brightly painted frescoes on the ceiling. The interior is decorated with gold, stained glass, and marble, and was absolutely gorgeous.

When entering a holy place, it is important to keep your knees and shoulders covered, so it was a good thing I had grabbed my "church skirt" as we went out the door. Also lucky was that the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore had free shoulder coverings, a sort of gauzy piece of cloth [in most other churches, you have to buy a scarf to cover your shoulders and sometimes, your knees]. Because it was so hot most of the time, I opted to put on the skirt only when I entered a church. Church look for Day 1:

From the church, we almost immediately ran into the Fountain of the Naiads on the Piazza della Republica on our way to the Spanish Steps. There are so many fountains and piazzas that I'm going to start numbering them.

(1) Piazza della Republica (Fountain of the Naiads)

Walking further, we hit Via delle Quattro Fontane (2), and wouldn't you know it, just at that corner, there were the four fountains, one at each street corner. *Happy feeling that some streets have names that make sense*

The walk down the street was nice because it was shady, but the warmth of the day had not yet subsided and so everything was still a little sticky, but the sights we saw as we walked was worth it, like something out of a painting, full of reds and yellows and greens. And when we reached the Spanish Steps, suddenly, and explosion of tourists wearing all pinks and oranges and bright blues. The Piazza del Spagna (2) and its fountain, the Fontana della Barcacci (the Fountain of the Old Boat) [3] were swarming with folks taking pictures, sitting on the steps, drinking coffees, and enjoying the shade of the evening.

This was the most number of tourists I had ever seen crowding in one place, up until that time. It was a a surprise considering the seemingly emptiness of the rest of the city. This would become a recurring theme as we wandered the city, reveling the peace until we hit a landmark and were hit with crowds and crowds of tourists.

As we climbed the 138 Spanish steps, I was struck that what was purported to be the longest and widest staircase in Europe seemed not to be so long. It may be because we had been walking around that afternoon, but it wasn't long before we were at the top. Incidentally, around the middle of the steps, one of the many rose peddlers offered us roses. We said no, but he insisted and pushed the roses into our hands, then proceeded to ask if we wanted a picture. We were confused and tried to give the roses back, but he insisted on taking a picture of us. Luckily, through our confusion, I managed to get my camera back and he got his roses back. High five for not getting tricked into buying roses and for awkward picture moment.

From the top of the Spanish steps, we walked back down another road to the Piazza del Popolo (3), what was apparently the first thing visitors from the north saw of Rome back in the old days. Though there wasn't much action going on in the piazza itself, this remains one of my favorites just because when we came across it, it was the first time we really paused and I legitely felt like I was in Rome and it blew my mind. I got to process everything that I had just seen and the streets I walked down and my mind finally caught up to my eyes. That and the fact there was a guy playing sax that gave the piazza some atmosphere. And I got to sit on a lion. :D

We wandered around the piazza for awhile and came across this cute pizzaria, and because it was approaching 9 PM by this time, we decided to eat. Man were those some great pizzas. Pizzas we ordered: hot salami and some epic pizza that had arugula, mushrooms, and something else yummy. I think the thing that made it was the cheese though. Mmmmm.....

As we wandered around, intending to eventually make our way back to the hostel, we wandered our way over to the Trevi Fountain (4), one of the most famous fountains in Rome. And everybody and their mother seemed to know about it because everybody was there. It was a lot bigger than I had expected, certainly wider. The fountain doesn't spew water upwards, but instead it pours water down in streams. While the fountain is surely impressive in the daytime (we never saw it in the daytime, though), it was beautifully lit at night. Photographs cannot really capture this site, as it was really too big for my screen, but I'll try.

At last, when we had gotten our fill of the water and the people, we made our way back to the hostel, and came across what were to be our good friends in the days to come: The Statue of Vittorio Emannuel II and Trajan's column. These would be our guideposts; whenever we got lost, if we could get to the Piazza Venezia (4), we would know how to get back to our hostel. Exhausted, yet rejuvenated by the city at night, we headed back to our room, took cold showers, and slept with the fan on and the sheets off. And we realized we had walked approximately a quarter of the city. Not bad for a first evening. :)