Roaming in Rome, Italy

Rome is called as Roma in Italian. Flip the word over, Amor, and it carries the meaning of love.

R.O.M.A. | A.M.O.R.

I went to Rome during my days off. (I was still volunteering in Naples at that time!)

It was 6.45AM when I reached Napoli Garibaldi Station. I walked to the ticket machine and got a 7AM ticket to Rome for 12 Euro. It was my first time taking the regional train and I was rather excited.

10 minutes to 7AM.

I checked the big giant screen at the station, searching for the train leaving at 7am to Rome. But I couldn’t find it. I panicked.

I ran to the lady at the ticket office, asking her if she knows which platform I should be waiting on to Rome. She told me that the first train to Rome was 8AM. It was impossible as I had already gotten a ticket for 7AM train. I asked another lady and she told me the same thing.

I was rather confused but I couldn’t figure it out. Guess I’ll just wait for an hour, I thought to myself.

5 minutes to 7AM.

I checked my ticket again and there was a line that said ‘*via Formia’. I looked at the big screen again.

THERE WAS A FUCKING TRAIN TO FORMIA AT 7AM ON PLATFORM 6.

4 minutes left.

I searched for Platform 6.

Found it.

The light on the platform was blinking.

IT WAS ABOUT TO LEAVE SOON.

RUN!

RUN WITH YOUR LIFE!

3 minutes.

FASTER, FASTER, FASTER!

2 minutes.

REACHED THE FIRST DOOR AND HOPPED RIGHT ONTO THE TRAIN.

1 minute.

The doors were closed.

0 minute.

It left.

And I made it.

I swear to God, I almost had a heart attack.

I searched for the train route online and learned that I had to switch to another train at a station called Minturno-Scauri.

I sat on the train, praying with all my heart that nobody will check my ticket as I just realized that I did not stamp it before I hopped onto the train. Goodness, I didn’t have the time to figure out how to stamp it.

(Weeks later, a traveler told me that he was fined for 70 Euros in Germany because he didn’t know he had to stamp the ticket. Phew, lucky me!)

Make sure you get your train ticket validated before you hop on the train.

Guess the odds were really in my favor because nobody checked my ticket on that ride. (My tickets were all checked on every other train I took later on.) As I reached the station and wandered, a train operator at the station approached me and showed me the platform for the train to Rome and its arriving time. I swear I was so glad that I put some effort in learning basic Italian or else I wouldn’t have understood. After stamping my ticket on a tiny machine attached to the wall, I finally got onto the train and headed to Rome excitedly.

After arriving in Roma Termini, I walked straight to the Colosseum. I was in awe when I saw the massive Roman theatre. After waiting in line for less than 2 hours, I made my way in. The Colosseum was rather impressive. However, it was rather sad to think about how this theatre was built on cheers and laughter of people for shed of blood and humiliation of the weak.

I then walked to the Roman Forum and the Palatine Hills. I loved every single part of it I ended up staying for more than 3 hours there. The Roman Forum is a must to visit as it felt like everything started from there.

I met up with Sol (my previous colleague from the hostel) in Rome and we walked around together. We had dinner at Transvere and walked around the city centre. As she knew Rome very well, she led me to all the sites that I needed to see without a map.

And she took me to the Trevi Fountain without telling me beforehand.

And I was totally in love with it.

We were lucky because it was sprinkling and the fountain was not as crowded as it usually is.

“Now you’ll have to toss a coin from your right hand over your left shoulder,” she said.

And I did. I tossed MYR0.05 because I was petty but I still wanted to make a wish. I hope my wish still counts.

I am not going to tell you what I wished for. Or else it will not come true. Hah!

Sol walked me back to my hostel and left for another city on the next day. It was really nice to meet her up even only for a few hours.

I guess that’s what temporary friendships taught me – you simply stop living your life on screen and you start to enjoy every single moment to be together in person as you know it won’t last for long.

On the next day, I joined a free walking tour that Sol told me about. The tour started from Spanish Steps and ended in the entrance of Vatican City State. It was around 3 hours, covering almost all of the highlights of the city.

I was fascinated by the fact that the Spanish Steps was not built by the Spanish but the French. It was named after the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See. The Fountain of the Four Rivers (Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi) in Piazza Navona was my favourite too. It was designed with four river gods representing four major rivers of the four continents which were Africa, Asia, Europe and Americas.

If you ever come to Italy, just search for the free walking tour online. You can find them in many of the major cities such as Rome, Florence and Venice. However, you are expected to tip the guide by the end of the tour. It is entirely up to you to decide how much you wish to tip. I usually tip 3 to 5 Euros depending my budget for that day and the experience of the tour.

Or, you can search for audio tour online. Plug in your headphones and tour around the city on your own. It’s free. Plus, you can pause the audio whenever you want and stop for a coffee.

Here’s my favourite: Rome Travel Guide by Rick Steves

At the end of my journey, I stopped going for all the walking tours because I was bored of history. Heh.

Anyway, I met Nico from Seattle during the free walking tour. It was very nice to meet him as we were both nineteen and we were out there traveling alone across continents. We went around the area to look for cheap places to eat after the tour.

We came to this restaurant called Pastasciutta. It was highly ranked on TripAdvisor which explained the crowd sitting on the porch of the restaurant. I got some pasta carbonara from the restaurant and he got a pizza from a tiny pizzeria nearby. Having nowhere to sit in both of the restaurants, he suggested to sit on a wall that was nearly 1.5 metres tall.

And I was just 1.58 meters tall.

“There is no way I could get up there,” I said to him.

“Don’t worry, you can do this.” Off he hopped, grabbed the edge of the wall and pulled himself up there.

“Wow. Okay, fine. Grab my bag.” I tossed my backpack to him. Holding the edge of the wall, I hopped and tried to lift myself up by pushing my legs against the wall.

And I made it.

Dang, I had never done anything like that in my entire life. All my life I had always been a nice girl getting straight As, reading books, playing piano and behaving like a lady. It actually felt great to climb walls and look clumsy.

We had a good conversation sharing our feelings while we were up there having our lunch.

“Do you miss home?” He asked.

I thought about it for a moment and said, “yeah, kinda.”

“Me too. What do you miss about home?”

“Spicy food I guess. Hah. I miss the people. I feel like I am the odd one out here. Feels like most people don’t treat me as who I am but rather what I am. You know, like, my skin colour and my eyes. Everything is so different from back home. Sometimes I feel like I can’t fit in here.” I paused and sighed, “what about you?”

“Oh wow, I am sorry to hear that. It must have been hard for you,” he said. “I miss my bed and my dog the most. It is tiring to be on the road sometimes.”

“It’s alright, I am doing better now. And yeah, I do miss my bed too,” I said. “But still, it’s amazing that we are out here doing this.”

“Totally.”

After we finished our lunch and chilled around for a bit, he hopped off the wall swiftly. “I got you, just jump.” And he reached his arms to me.

And I did. Thank goodness I was not wearing my sandals. Could have hurt my ankles with the pressure.

We went back to the entrance of Vatican City. We waited in line for 2 hours to go through the security check and head into the basilica.

If you ever visit Rome, do not miss that out.

Saint Peter’s Basilica was beyond magnificent. I was stunned by every single corner of the basilica. I tried to record videos of how it looked like on the inside – the sculptures, the mosaic, the floorings, the ceilings, the paintings, etc. – but I don’t think any camera lens on earth could capture how impressive the basilica really was.

“I’m so glad you made me do this. I wouldn’t be patient enough to wait for that long if I was alone. Geez, what could I have missed!” Nico gasped in awe.

I smiled, “you’re the most welcome.”

We climbed all the way up to the dorm and had a panoramic view of the city of Rome and the Vatican City State.

Being the smallest country on earth with a population of about 1,000, it is crazy how Vatican City has its own government structure with its own police force and its own bank. The Pope of Vatican City, which is also the King of Vatican City, has the absolute power in ruling the country. It is one of the reasons why Vatican City is not in the European Union as only democracies are allowed.

We strolled around the area and walked back to our hostel. Coincidence much, we were both staying at the same place. We caught up with the ‘Happy Hour’ session where wine and chips were served for free at the hostel’s common area.

There were many other travellers sitting there and having conversations. I met two Russians there and I just had to ask them this.

“Do you drink vodka for breakfast?”

They were laughing so hard in Russian that they scared me.

That night, Nico asked me if I wanted to join him to do pub crawl as the saying goes “when in Rome”. Nope, I promised myself to not drink in Rome because I had too much in Naples. I had to stick with it.

And I had a non-Roman stuff to do on my list – to watch The Avengers.

I wanted to watch the original version of it because the cinemas in Naples were only showing the Italian version of it. Ugh! I did not realize that this can be an issue because we never dub Hollywood movies in Malaysia. I mean, in Malaysia people use a mix of two or more languages, it would be ridiculous to dub the movies.

But it is Italy and majority of the Italians use only Italian on a daily basis.

I headed to one of the cinemas where the original version was being played, bought a ticket and sat in the warm cinema.

Can you imagine feeling warm in a cinema? It was actually very comfortable!

As Malaysia is such a warm country, we use air-conditioning whenever we can – in shopping malls, in public trains, etc. And the cinemas in Malaysia are always like winter-cold. I always have to bring a thick jacket with me when I go out for a movie in Malaysia.

Anyway, I enjoyed the movie and I loved the atmosphere in the cinema.

Whenever a hero showed up to rescue, all the Italians were clapping and cheering out loud, as if it was a football game.

I was so proud of myself that I turned down alcohol for this. Haha sorry Nico!

It was 12AM when I finished the movie. I walked all the way to Trevi Fountain again. It was a romantic me-time. I was sitting there alone, writing while listening to the sound of water and admiring the fountain from time to time. It was midnight and there was no crowd at all. I felt at peace.

P/s: I felt safe but I wouldn’t recommend you to do this alone guys.

I miss home, I wrote in my journal.

I sobbed a little as I was writing a postcard to my family. “It definitely hasn’t been an easy journey. There are laughter and there are tears. Don’t you worry about me, I am doing great and I will come back in whole. I love you all.”

“Can you please take a photo of us?” Somebody interrupted me.

It was a group of girls. I took a lot of photos of them and also a Boomerang of them tossing coins into the fountain on one of the girls’ Instagram.

“Do you wanna see if the pictures are okay?” I asked.

“Oh yes they are perfect. Are you from the United States?”

“No, I’m from Malaysia.”

“Oh wow, you speak very good English!” Right, for the hundredth times, haha. I really appreciated it though.

And we started talking. Turns out, two of them were from the United States and one of them were from Naples. They were all my age, which gave me a sense of familiarity as it had been a long time since I met any girls my age.

The girls were very friendly and nice. We hanged around for a while, sharing a bottle of red wine and chitchatting on the streets. They were surprised to learn that I was traveling around Italy on my own and I find it cool that they completed a whole school year studying in Rome. One of the girls even got an internship with the U.S. Embassy there. Brava!

It was the American girls’ last night in Rome before they left for the U.S. on the following day. They wanted to stay up all night long going up a hill to watch the sunrise. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to join them as I was way too tired.

We parted goodbyes an hour later. It was lovely to meet them even though it was short.

That is the one thing I love and hate about traveling alone. You get to meet awesome people on the road but most of them don’t stay long. Those who care enough will of course keep in touch with you, even if you are miles apart. But for those who don’t, it’s totally fine, you don’t have to be sad about it. It’s life.

I went back to the hostel at almost 3AM. I woke up early the next morning and decided to walk to every single part of the city center of Rome again.

I ended up walking 25 kilometres that day. I refused to take the metro in Rome because it was way too crowded. I took it once the day before and that was, and will be, the last time I took it. The cabin was like a canned sardine. I had to push people a little bit so I could manage to hop on with the doors closing just right behind me and I didn’t have to walk to get out of the metro because people from the inside literally pushed me out.

When I was about to leave Rome, I wandered around Roma Termini, searching for a restaurant to eat in. A stranger, who seem to be homeless and having mental issue, kissed me on my neck… He freaked me out. I did not do anything about it. Nobody did anything about it.

Anyway, I managed to see most of the impressive parts of Rome in three days. (Many said you need a week in Rome) Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hills, Saint Angelo Castle, the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona (one of my favourites), Piazza Venezia, Vittoriano… The Roman Empire was indeed beyond words could described.