Day 18 - When in Rome

Night Tour

We woke up and went back to the train station. No train strike, not as far as we could tell. So we reserved for 10:06 on the train to Rome. Then we ate the free breakfast at the hotel. It was delicious. Then we headed out to look for snacks for the train, and a toothbrush and some toothpaste for me. I got a really cute children’s toothbrush with dolphins on it! We got on the train and it was a good, uneventful ride. Near the end we were playing speed, and we had to stop because we were nearing the stop. We counted the cards to see who won and they were exactly half and half. So I guess it was a tie. Haha. Once in Rome we stopped at a tourist office, where we got directions to the nearest Youth Hostel, called the Yellow. It was 30 euros each for one night. So we booked in, checked our email and searched for the next three nights online, we made reservations at Hostel Roma Inn 2000 for Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Then I took a nap. It felt great. We ate dinner at the restaurant around the corner. Bread, pasta and Sorbetto al Limone, which, as it turns out, has alcohol in it. Pretty sure it was just Limone gelato soaked in...vodka maybe. Afterwards we found a bank machine; yesterday really put a dent in my funds. Then we walked to the meeting place of the night walking tour we had signed up for. Tad, the tour guide, didn’t get there till after us because we were there super early. Tad seemed like a pretty good guy. He is from Iowa and he studied Ancient Roman History in college. Then he moved to Rome and started this tour 4 years ago. He gave us interesting and factual information while joking around. We started the tour in the Piazza della Replubica, where there is a church that used to be a bathhouse. It was built by an emperor who hated Christians and killed as many as he could. The pope, 1000 years later, who turned it into a church, hired Michaelangelo to redo it. He knew both of these things would’ve pissed off the emperor who originally built it. Also in this piazza is a fountain which Tad referred to as part of fountains gone wild, because of the naked woman lying provocatively on it. Next, we walked to the Fontana del Tritone, done by Bernini, commissioned by his best friend, the Pope. The Pope also asked him to build a smaller fountain for drinking water with his family crest on it. He did this to knock Bernini off his high horse. But Bernini used this to make fun of the Pope, because Bernini is a wise-ass. The fountain is shaped like a very big clam, but the bottom is shaped to resemble a woman’s spread legs with the Pope’s family crest (a bee) as her clitoris. This is where the drinking water comes out. Bernini chose this idea when he heard about the Pope’s niece, who was very promiscuous. So the Romans call this Slut Fountain. Up the street live the Cappucine Monks. Next we walked to the Spanish steps, where you shouldn’t look when people make weird noises, because they’ll follow you all night. These steps were a gift to the Spanish, paid for by the French, built by the Italians, and it’s where all the German highschool students hangout. It’s also where Casanova used to hang out. Then we walked down to the Trevi Fountain. The only reason it was built was because the rich family living there wanted to show off and the Pope could see it from his house. So they built a fountain into the side of their house. When it was still being built, someone threw their son out of his bedroom window. It was obviously murder, he had all sorts of defence wounds, but the Pope said suicide, so no more questions were asked. But people kept seeing the son’s ghost come flying out the window, and never any more bodies. The family sealed the room to prevent further apparitions. People continued to see the ghost, so the family knocked out the window, bricked it over and painted the outside to look as if the window was still there. On the way to Piazza Navona, we saw a column depicting a battle. The piazza was cool too, lots of ancient drama with the Pope and Bernini (but not the same one who was his friend), and also Bernini’s rival. Very intense stuff with Bernini using his wit to kick butt again! The tour now ended and we walked back to The Yellow. We met the two new people in our dorm (a brother/sister pair) and then got ready for bed; we were so beat.