2006-11-07 - 7:56 p.m.
The more things change, the more they stay the same. Jesse keeps fiddling with our itinerary, trying to find a way to see as much as Greece as possible, in the time we have, without breaking the bank. So, as it turns out, we will leave Rome, stop for a bit at Pompeii, then catch a night ferry to Greece. This will be an adventure, since the ferry is something like a twenty hour ride. Yeah, that'll be fun. Then we have four days in Athens, followed by three weeks on the island of Ithica. Yep, that's right, three weeks. We found a little place that will give us a room, with a kitchenette and a bathroom for fifteen euros a night. For both of us. By way of comparison, the cheapest we've stayed so far is ten euros each. So, it's almost unimaginably cheap. I can't wait. The fact that we will be stuck for three weeks is greatly overshadowed by the fact that it's a Greek island that we will be on.
Rome is great. We left Florence quite early, as we wanted to stop at Assisi on the way to Rome. We managed this, getting to Assisi around noon. Assisi is, of course, the home and final resting place of St. Francis, famous for his communications with the animals. It's also the final resting place of St. Clare, who founded an order of nuns. The town is way up on the hill side, and you have to take the bus up. We managed to miss the first bus, which gave us just enough time to find lunch.
The town is beautiful. You have an amazing view of the country side, and it was sunny, and just gorgeous. We got lots of pictures.
We saw St. Clare's tomb first, which is in the crypt of an ancient and beautiful church. The church looked like it used to be decorated with frescoes, but they were mostly gone, giving the place a very agreeable austere feeling.
St. Francis is buried farther up the hill, in an absolutely gorgeous church. There was a large basilica, and then a smaller basilica, with the crypt underneath. It was very moving.
We continued on to Rome, getting about four thirty. This was the first hostel in some time that we had booked a head, so for once we didn't have to worry about the call from the train station. With only one false start we made it to the hostel, which turned out to be a small house. We walked up to the house, looking vainly for a sign marking reception. Not finding anything, we went in the door. We were not sure if this was right, since we could see bunks through the door, and thought it might be a bedroom. Turns out that it was a bedroom, but the common room was just past. The living room of the house has been pressed in to service as a bedroom, holding four bunkbeds. The dining room and kitchen serve as the common areas, and there are a few more rooms upstairs. This was a little odd, as most of the places we stay have walls in the bedroom. This one has a sheet. I was hoping against hope that we would not have to stay in this room, but, of course we did. We soon met the proprietor of the place, a exuberant, friendly Italian named Ivano.
We spent that night wandering around the area near the hostel. We found out that it was very near the Vatican, which cheered us to no end. Then we found that it was also near a very cheap gelatto place, and that made it even better.
That night was interesting. Since there is no wall between us and the kitchen, there is no sound barrier. I slept through it all, but Jesse kept being woken up by people coming home.
The first full day in Rome we had planned to go see the Vatican and St. Peter's basilica. When we got there, about 11, the line was two or three kilometers long, we so decided to wait for a better day. We took a good look at the outside of the basilica, and then went and had a sit. They had barricades up all along the road, and we were vaguely curious as to why. About fifteen minutes later, we noticed a motorcade coming along. We stood up to see who it was, and we see the Pope, happily waving out the window of a car, along our side of the street. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I was so shocked that I even waved at him like a little kid.
That was definitely the high point of the day, but that's not to say the rest of the day was no good. We took a walk along the Tiber, which is beautiful, and sat for a while on an island in the river. We ended up at the Colosseum, and the Roman ruins around there. Just walked around a corner, and there it was. I love this city.
The place we are in has a kitchen, with is awesome, and that night we were going to make good use of it. We stopped and bought food, and when we walked in the door Ivano says "hey guys! I'm planning a party tonight!" Turns out he regularly takes his client out for supper at a restaurant he knows. It was 20 euros, so we passed for that night. Still, I was impressed that the owner of the hostel does cool things like that.
