Maybe I am more small town boy than I think I am. After our three hour romp through downtown Rome last night, I came away amazed at the size and scope of what humanity has created. I guess I have no imagination, or no organizing skills. How can this many people be crammed into this small an area and all their needs be met? Abundant and affordable food? Check. Pure drinking water? Check. Human waste and garbage properly handled? Check. It puts me in awe of the human ability to organize, manage and execute systems to meet the people’s needs. And it is done without central control, but as a collective of agencies, businesses, and individuals solving problems, designing and manufacturing devices and implementing systems to provide for the communities needs. In a way, it gives me hope that once we recognize a set of needs and problems we can solve them. Now we need to wade through the tidal wave of ignorance and misinformation, recognize global warming, bigotry, hate and our over consumption and put our ingenuity to work solving the problems obviously facing us.
Anyway, Rome again made an impression on me.
For some reason I slept well last night. 4 solid hours 8:30pm to 12:30am (while the rest of Rome is partying) then awake for 3 hours, then 4 more solid hours of sleep, 3:30am to 8:00am. It really put a dent in my fatigue caused by jet lag and no sleep.
We shared a peanut butter sandwich I had brought from home for breakfast, and a cracker and piece of cheese from the airplane flight while we did more plotting and planning for the days ahead. I called to reserve rooms in Trevi and Poreta. It is funny here. When you call to reserve a room, they don’t take your name. They just say okay, sounds good, then Ciao and hang up. We are assuming they can do this because they are not busy. We will know more once we start on our way.
Once out the door and down from the third floor (in the U.S. it would be the fourth floor. Here they don’t call the ground floor the first floor. Numbering starts with one on the floor above the main floor) we found a pastry shop two doors down. We bought something that was like a chocolate chip muffin that we split for breakfast, then headed off toward the railroad station for our train to Assisi.
We were very early for our train. At the north end of the station we stepped across the road to visit the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs, designed by Michelangelo and built on top of ancient Roman baths. We stepped inside and marveled at its vastness and opulence although the massive outside appearance was more impressive.
After our quick tour, we headed for the train station to learn what we could about which of the over thirty tracks our train would leave from. We wandered through the lobby reading the schedule boards and discovered we were so early our train’s departure had not been scheduled yet. We walked the breadth of the station, passing by platforms 29 to 1, then out to a ticketing machine to see how the price we paid buying them online from home compared to buying them here just before departure. No difference. Good to know.
As our departure time approached we saw our train was leaving from platform 2 east. We asked an attendant and she pointed us through the gates by Track One and told us to walk alongside that platform to find 2 east. It was good we were a little bit on the early side because it was a good ten minute walk down to the 2 east platform. We found our train, boarded and found forward facing seats. The train began to fill up and exactly at the 11:45am scheduled time the train departed.
A man in his mid forties sat opposite us in our “booth”. He had an electric scooter, helmet and backpack along with tons of tattoos on his arms and hands. He talked on the phone for the first 45 minutes of the ride and eventually fell asleep.
The train’s route paralleled the route we will follow walking back to Rome, although a bit north of it. From the windows we could see the nature of the countryside we would be traversing. As we neared Assisi, the train passed through four of the towns we would spend nights in, Spoleto, Trevi, Foligno and Spello. We detrained at Foligno, walked under the tracks and boarded a second train for the last 20 minutes to Assisi.
The train drops its Assisi passengers in the lower part of town that sits in the broad valley of the Fontanella River. To get to the hillside Assisi we are all familiar with one boards a bus for the 15-20 minute ride up the hill.
Rick Steves says to scoot across the road to the news stand to buy your tickets for €1.30 or pay €2.00 in exact change to the bus driver. The smallest denomination we had was a €5 bill. I walked across and paid €2.60 at the news stand (the savings was spent upon arrival at the top of the town on a Coke for Sally).
While waiting for the bus we met two ladies in the crowd that spoke English. One of them was planning to walk the Camino de Santiago in the spring. We started answering her questions about the Camino while in line and continued the conversation up the hill in the bus.
At the first stop of the bus the ladies started to get off. I explained that I thought we should wait as we were no where near the top of the road and the town center. I went to ask the driver. He only spoke Italian. What little Italian I had learned in my Italian classes from seven years ago have long since exited my brain. The only landmark that I could name that was near our apartment on top was San Rufino. I tried to ask if this bus would go there or should we get off here. He said something I didn’t understand but gestured I should stay here. Here as in here at this bus stop or here as in this bus? Couldn’t tell. Went back to report to the ladies my findings. They had reentered the bus. I explained I didn’t know. The cagy bus driver could see my confusion and to help us make the right decision closed the doors, barring our exit so we couldn’t get off and started driving.
10 minutes later he dropped us off where I wanted to be. As we were stepping off the bus he pointed at the San Rufino church and yelled “San Rufino”. I yelled back a big “Grazie” and we plotted our route to our apartment on Apple Maps. I had cruised over this site the day before in Google Earth extensively, so it felt like I had been here before. With a quick stop for a Coke for Sally we descended to our lodgings on Vin San Gabriella Dell Addolorata. We used the code the landlords had emailed us to enter the building, walked up two floors to the top and again used the code to enter our apartment.
Wow! What a beautiful place. Tastefully designed and furnished with a view out over the valley below, it was perfect. A great place to spend the next three nights as we explore Assisi and recover from jet lag.
We rested an hour, then I emptied my backpack and we walked the mile or so south to the town’s grocery store where we bought breakfast, lunch and dinner food for the next three days. It was nearly dark when we arrived and totally dark by the time we exited the store, my pack full of food. We had a pastry and coke at the bar next door, then walked back to our apartment in the dark, Sally using her headlamp to make sure she could see her footing well and mine to alert the drivers on this narrow road with skimpy sidewalks that we were there.
The walk was beautiful, the streets lined with trees and the sunset putting on a colorful display on the way to the store and the street lights casting a warm yellowy glow to everything on the way back. Again, I marveled at industriousness of my fellow human beings, marveling at the endless rock walls and stone buildings we passed by. If you consider every stone was cut and placed by human hands the scale of the endeavor is staggering. Truly a marvelous town.
We prepared Spinach Tortellini with vegetable stir fry for dinner and caught up on Steven Colbert via Andy’s VPN server located in Kirkland.
Anyway, Rome again made an impression on me.
For some reason I slept well last night. 4 solid hours 8:30pm to 12:30am (while the rest of Rome is partying) then awake for 3 hours, then 4 more solid hours of sleep, 3:30am to 8:00am. It really put a dent in my fatigue caused by jet lag and no sleep.
We shared a peanut butter sandwich I had brought from home for breakfast, and a cracker and piece of cheese from the airplane flight while we did more plotting and planning for the days ahead. I called to reserve rooms in Trevi and Poreta. It is funny here. When you call to reserve a room, they don’t take your name. They just say okay, sounds good, then Ciao and hang up. We are assuming they can do this because they are not busy. We will know more once we start on our way.
Once out the door and down from the third floor (in the U.S. it would be the fourth floor. Here they don’t call the ground floor the first floor. Numbering starts with one on the floor above the main floor) we found a pastry shop two doors down. We bought something that was like a chocolate chip muffin that we split for breakfast, then headed off toward the railroad station for our train to Assisi.
We were very early for our train. At the north end of the station we stepped across the road to visit the Basilica of Saint Mary of the Angels and the Martyrs, designed by Michelangelo and built on top of ancient Roman baths. We stepped inside and marveled at its vastness and opulence although the massive outside appearance was more impressive.
After our quick tour, we headed for the train station to learn what we could about which of the over thirty tracks our train would leave from. We wandered through the lobby reading the schedule boards and discovered we were so early our train’s departure had not been scheduled yet. We walked the breadth of the station, passing by platforms 29 to 1, then out to a ticketing machine to see how the price we paid buying them online from home compared to buying them here just before departure. No difference. Good to know.
As our departure time approached we saw our train was leaving from platform 2 east. We asked an attendant and she pointed us through the gates by Track One and told us to walk alongside that platform to find 2 east. It was good we were a little bit on the early side because it was a good ten minute walk down to the 2 east platform. We found our train, boarded and found forward facing seats. The train began to fill up and exactly at the 11:45am scheduled time the train departed.
A man in his mid forties sat opposite us in our “booth”. He had an electric scooter, helmet and backpack along with tons of tattoos on his arms and hands. He talked on the phone for the first 45 minutes of the ride and eventually fell asleep.
The train’s route paralleled the route we will follow walking back to Rome, although a bit north of it. From the windows we could see the nature of the countryside we would be traversing. As we neared Assisi, the train passed through four of the towns we would spend nights in, Spoleto, Trevi, Foligno and Spello. We detrained at Foligno, walked under the tracks and boarded a second train for the last 20 minutes to Assisi.
The train drops its Assisi passengers in the lower part of town that sits in the broad valley of the Fontanella River. To get to the hillside Assisi we are all familiar with one boards a bus for the 15-20 minute ride up the hill.
Rick Steves says to scoot across the road to the news stand to buy your tickets for €1.30 or pay €2.00 in exact change to the bus driver. The smallest denomination we had was a €5 bill. I walked across and paid €2.60 at the news stand (the savings was spent upon arrival at the top of the town on a Coke for Sally).
While waiting for the bus we met two ladies in the crowd that spoke English. One of them was planning to walk the Camino de Santiago in the spring. We started answering her questions about the Camino while in line and continued the conversation up the hill in the bus.
At the first stop of the bus the ladies started to get off. I explained that I thought we should wait as we were no where near the top of the road and the town center. I went to ask the driver. He only spoke Italian. What little Italian I had learned in my Italian classes from seven years ago have long since exited my brain. The only landmark that I could name that was near our apartment on top was San Rufino. I tried to ask if this bus would go there or should we get off here. He said something I didn’t understand but gestured I should stay here. Here as in here at this bus stop or here as in this bus? Couldn’t tell. Went back to report to the ladies my findings. They had reentered the bus. I explained I didn’t know. The cagy bus driver could see my confusion and to help us make the right decision closed the doors, barring our exit so we couldn’t get off and started driving.
10 minutes later he dropped us off where I wanted to be. As we were stepping off the bus he pointed at the San Rufino church and yelled “San Rufino”. I yelled back a big “Grazie” and we plotted our route to our apartment on Apple Maps. I had cruised over this site the day before in Google Earth extensively, so it felt like I had been here before. With a quick stop for a Coke for Sally we descended to our lodgings on Vin San Gabriella Dell Addolorata. We used the code the landlords had emailed us to enter the building, walked up two floors to the top and again used the code to enter our apartment.
Wow! What a beautiful place. Tastefully designed and furnished with a view out over the valley below, it was perfect. A great place to spend the next three nights as we explore Assisi and recover from jet lag.
We rested an hour, then I emptied my backpack and we walked the mile or so south to the town’s grocery store where we bought breakfast, lunch and dinner food for the next three days. It was nearly dark when we arrived and totally dark by the time we exited the store, my pack full of food. We had a pastry and coke at the bar next door, then walked back to our apartment in the dark, Sally using her headlamp to make sure she could see her footing well and mine to alert the drivers on this narrow road with skimpy sidewalks that we were there.
The walk was beautiful, the streets lined with trees and the sunset putting on a colorful display on the way to the store and the street lights casting a warm yellowy glow to everything on the way back. Again, I marveled at industriousness of my fellow human beings, marveling at the endless rock walls and stone buildings we passed by. If you consider every stone was cut and placed by human hands the scale of the endeavor is staggering. Truly a marvelous town.
We prepared Spinach Tortellini with vegetable stir fry for dinner and caught up on Steven Colbert via Andy’s VPN server located in Kirkland.
With that we headed to bed, hoping the jet lag gods would grant us sleep, for although our watches and phone proclaimed it to be 10:00pm, our internal clocks still said 1:00pm in the afternoon. Sally fell right asleep. I spent a wakeful hour writing this blog post hoping sleep would overtake me. It is now 11:45. Time to knock off and get some sleep.
Statues and impressive buildings of Rome
Statues and impressive buildings of Rome
Riding the train to AssisiHill top town of TreviRoads and stonework buildings in AssisiInside our apartmentInside our apartmentTree lined roads and rock wallsPaths and walls at night
Road and walls at night
Great start to your trip! Love the pics -wendy
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