We also walked through the other rooms to see the other works of art. There are rooms with frescoes done by Raphael who is well known, but not to this uneducated art person.
The walk ended about 4:30 when the place was closing. Laurie and I tried to make our way back to the M & J hostel where we were staying for the night. We had a little difficulty. We asked someone what bus to take. They said 492. We hopped on 492, but it didn't bring us any where we wanted. It actually brought us back to where we were earlier, but near the subway. Well we decided maybe we could get the subway. We hopped on and then missed our stop. So we got off and then hopped on one going the other way. We finally made it to the place we wanted. It probably would have been quicker walking.
We checked into the hostel. We got our room. It seemed nicer than the Freedom Hostel. The only thing it was a busy street so the noise would be loud.
We sat out on a small porch and wrote our notes. It was about 8:30 when we decided to go to eat. That is normal for the Italians, but not me. We went to this restaurant that the hostel gave us a card for. It had three courses plus wine for only 10 euros. The restaurant looked nice. We sat next to a table where there was a man sitting by himself. We started talking to him. He was from Scotland and was there originally for work and took time off to also sight see.
The service was very slow, so it was nice to have someone to talk to. After he left we talked to other surrounding tables that had single people. The tables are so close to one another it was easy to do. There was a young fellow from Japan, a woman from Australia, and a man from Italy who was in Rome for business. It was fun chatting with them all. It wasn't until about 11:00 that Laurie and I finished our meal and left the others.
September 27, 2003
I was up about 7:00. The hostel offered free internet so I was hoping to use it. I had to wait a little bit so I got my breakfast.
Laurie and I left the hostel about 10:30. We decided to go back to a few places that we had walked before. When we were on the tour, we didn't have a lot of time to explore.
We walked down in the old Rome forum, Caesar's grave was there. Daniel told us that someone has left flowers there everyday since Caesar was buried. There were flowers there, but I don't know if I really believe everyday and for over 2,000 years.
A weird thing happened today. There was a car that pulled along side of us and it looked like they were going to ask for help. I told them I couldn't speak Italian. Laurie and I walked towards the car. There was a woman driving, a young boy in the front and two young men in the back. They had a book and were pointing to something and then he coughed in my face. He excused himself and did it again. Laurie and I walked away. It gave me a really weird feeling. It reminded me of what Daniel had told us the other day in one of the squares. First of all, I have heard of a lot more people getting pick pocketed in Italy and read that you needed to be careful. Daniel told us a story about girls being hassled by a group of men and they would tie on a strap to the girls wrist and ask for money. I was wondering if the people in the car were trying to play some kind of scam. No harm done. I just wish I knew what they were up to.
We continued our walk and then took the subway back to the hostel. We plan to leave Rome tomorrow. It is a great city to sight see all of the old sights and learn about art and history. A lot of the streets are cobblestone. There is a lot of traffic with a lot of people riding motor scooters. There are water fountains all over and you can actually drink the water from them. I was surprised to see palm trees and also pine trees.
September 28, 2003
Today ended up being a wasted day. It was a day of waiting and I am still waiting.
Last night Rome had a big Tourism Day. It didn't start till 9:00 at night. There was music venues throughout the city, the buses and transportation was free, and the shopping district was open late. Most of the music didn't start till 10:00 at night and events were going till 6:00 this morning.
A few of the people from the room went out and I noticed when the last one came in that the bathroom light was out. I didn't realize till I checked out of the hostel that the lights were out in the whole hostel. It didn't stop there. I heard it was out from Rome to Milan. Then I heard it included France. Who knows, with no electricity, that means no TV and no radio.
Laurie and I checked out of the hostel, still hoping to catch a train. The train station had people all over. They were laying on the floors and there bottles all over. I couldn't tell if people were still there because of the music events that took place there till 6:00 am or because of the trains not running. Laurie and I just settled ourselves on a bench at the train station. I took my fleece blanket out and layed down on the bench. I felt like a homeless person, but I knew I was not alone there. Several people were stranded. We eventually moved ourselves to the seats in the train that were just sitting there.
I saw a flicker of light go on about 3 1/2 hours later and I heard cheering. The electricity was back! Now the question was, when will the trains start to run and what would the schedule be. We went inside to check things out. The trains weren't going to be running for awhile. I think there were still places that didn't have electricity. Laurie and I sat on the floor in the station with hundreds of other people.
We thought that there might be a train leaving to go to Pisa. We thought we would take it, just to get out of Rome. We got on and so did a whole bunch of others. The problem was, the train wasn't going anywhere, After waiting for almost a half hour we left and decided to find a place to stay for the night. We decided to check out a different hostel that we saw a sign for.
It was called the Stargate and there were rooms available. We checked in and then decided to check out the movies. There was a cinema not too far away. We had noticed yesterday that there was one movie playing in English. It wasn't a movie that I really cared about seeing. It was called "The Calendar Girls". The movie was terrific and I was so happy that I went. It was funny and it was sad, but I left with a good feeling.
