Odyssey to Europe

Essay 10:
By now, you should know the drill. My dad shook me awake at 9:45, after which, I shook myself awake, brushed my teeth, and cleaned myself up. After eating some Croissants that my dad had bought for me, I was adequately filled up with food and drink, and able to function as a regular human. We headed out of the hotel, and walked to the bus stop, where we would then board the Bus to the famed Pantheon of Rome.

Views of the Pantheon. As accustom to our experience yesterday, the bus was violently turbulent; starting the bus was so sudden that everybody was suddenly thrown backwards, and then recovered. The bus stops were extremely hard to spot, and you had to press a button for the bus to stop, otherwise, the bus will continue going past the stop. However, this bus was much bigger than the 116 bus we took yesterday, so it was slightly roomier; yet there were also more people, so this was not much of a benefit. After being crammed in a tiny seat, with a mass of people being

thrown around and the violent shaking, you can understand why the two of us were so glad when we got off the bus, at our stop. After walking through several small streets and passing numerous small snack stands, restaurants, and Cafs, we emerged in a massive plaza, with a huge building set in the middle. The pantheon, is quite plain on the outside, consisting of a regular shaped base, with the dome set in the middle. A fountain and obelisk lies in the center of the Plaza, spewing blue water into a pool at the bottom. However, the focus of the Plaza was not the fountain, it was the colossal structure towering above all the other buildings. The interior was surprisingly small, according to my expectations. It was still quite big, but I suppose I was expecting it to be bigger, as the Pantheon seemed so massive from the outside. However, it was still amply spacious enough to accommodate crowds of people, dozens of seats, and several sculptures. The entire thing is just a massive dome, with a window at the top that lets in a slender beam of sunlight, illuminating one spot of the Pantheon. Surrounding the floor are statues, tombs, and several altars. As I soon discovered, the Pantheon also contains the tomb of Raphael, a very famous painter from the renaissance era. Furthermore, there was an all men/boys choir, which pervaded the entire interior with ricocheting cadences of song. The Pantheon had extremely good acoustics, so the song managed to reach everyone inside, far or near. After circling the Pantheon, and seeing all the sculptures and works of art that it had to offer, we left the sculpture, to go to our next stop in the day. Instead of going along the major streets, we traversed the less known, unmapped streets located in Rome. These streets, although extremely narrow, still have a plethora of cars driving through the narrow streets, squeezing through tiny gaps and barely getting through. The streets also form a labyrinth, a maze where we soon found ourselves lost in. Surrounded by roads that trail off into dozens of branching streets, and a myriad of restaurants, w were hopelessly lost until we asked several people and managed to find our way out of the streets. Finally, we managed to get to our destination, the Museo de Roma.

The streets of Rome. The Museum does charge money for entry, but since we had a Roma Pass, the guards let us through. The Roma Pass is a really good deal, if youre staying in Rome, and are planning to visit a lot of museums. All transportation, including subway and bus, are free, while the first two museums are also free, meaning you dont have to wait in line. The rest of the museums you visit are at a discount, so you also save some money. Anyways, after we got into the museum, we climbed the stairs to the entrance, and went in. The paintings on display in Rome are always extremely surreal, extremely realistic and life-like. The use of lighting on the paintings gives the subject a glow that sets the paintings in Rome apart from the crystal clear portraits of the French Museums. We walked along admiring the amazing paintings and works of art that are displayed at the museum. Admiring the paintings, we then climbed to the second level, which focused more on sculptures. The sculptures on display are also very beautiful, showcasing greek god-like proportions, with muscular bodies and striking faces. After admiring the sculptures and finishing our tour of the museum, we went downstairs to find something to eat. At the local caf, we ordered a club sandwich and a regular sandwich, and ate on the steps to a closed door, watching the plaza in front of the Museum. I realize now, that I have neglected to describe the plaza, so let me tell you about it. The plaza is a massive one, with a small fountain at the bottom, and a large fountain, complete with Egyptian obelisk in the center. Markets crowd the side, displaying a massive array of products. Many other people, just like us, sit on the curb or steps, eating their lunches on the streets. On the streets leading away from the plaza, restaurants fill every available space, advertising the best food in Italy. After eating, we stopped by a yogurt shop, and ate some good, delicious yogurt as the perfect dessert to our lunch. We wandered around, and stopped by the next destination, the Gallery Spada. The gallery also had an impressive supply of art, boasting a number of beautiful paintings, and several impressive sculptures. However, the Gallery only had a small number compared to the museo de Roma, so we were in there for a comparatively short time. However, in the

courtyard, the prize of the Gallery is unveiled; a structure built by Francisco Borrimini, it shows a 9 ft hallway, with the floor gradually rising and the roof gradually dropping, creating the illusion that the hallway is much longer than it actually is. Furthermore, there is a miniature sculpture placed there, although not by Borimini, that coincides with the perspective such that it seems to be a regular size, although it would be below my waist, were we to compare. So, that structure ends up being a very quirky and interesting addition to the Gallerie Spada.

The Gallery de Spada. After leaving the Gallery, we headed towards our final destination; another Museo de Roma. The Museo de Romas are spread out all over Rome, so each one has a different collection. We paid the hefty entrance fee (11 euros) to enter the museum, and hurriedly entered, expecting a great museum filled with great pieces of art. However, there were only about 30 watercolors in the museum, and that was it. There was nothing else to show! Tired and disappointed, we returned home, where we rested for a while, and then went out to eat. Once we finished our food, we washed our clothes, relaxed in the bed, and just prepared for our final full day in Rome, before we left for Florence. Day 2 As usual, my dad woke me up, had me wash up and get ready, and brought me a doughnut for breakfast. However, the doughnut was not very sugary, so it made a good breakfast for today. After finishing the breakfast and fully waking up, I went with my dad to walk to the metro, where we will then transfer by bus to Romes first road; the Appian Way. The subway ride went smoothly, with the subway arriving on time, and the ride getting us to the stop we wanted in a relatively short time. Then, after exiting the station, we rode the bus the entrance. After getting off, we began to walk down the path, just strolling along, and admiring the view. The place is very beautiful, with abundant numbers of grass and trees waving about in

the slight breeze, while several more plants, like yuccas and several flowers, dot the sheets of green with specks of purple, pink, and brown. Furthermore, there are multiple ruins amongst the beautiful scenery, towering buildings made out of crumbling stone, with their dilapidated foundations missing entire chunks of stone. Its a wonder how the ruins managed to stay upright, with their demolished walls and columns representing a structure that was once extremely impressive, but is only a shadow of what it was now.

The ruins of the structure that we visited. It was an interesting combination; beautiful gardens and ancient ruins, but it worked. The result was an extremely beautiful area that seemed to have a liquid silence in the air, with the only sound being crickets conducting a chorus of chirps in the air. Walking along, we soon came across another ruin, except we could enter this one. We paid the entrance fee, and walked in, admiring the shattered statues and the ancient architecture. This place also had some other quirky faces, like the massive hole located on the side of the building, which neither of us could find what it was used for, and a small amount of gravestones and ash pots. The rest of the ruins were quite typical, displaying demolished and ramshackle stone walls and pillars, with several instructional rooms scattered here and there. After touring the ruins and seeing the ancient structure and everything in it, we left to go to the entrance to the museum/park/road. However, the woman at the front desk told us

that the entrance was closed today, because it only opens at Monday and Sunday. Therefore, she directed us to another entrance which was much further away, but was sure to be open. However, once we reached the bus station, we decided to walk a little further, and explore some more. We entered this small museum, with a beautiful park, filled with green plants of all different species, and also stuffed with about 5 cats, all glaring at us with their luminescent eyes. Inside the building located in the heart of the garden, various works of art and paragraphs upon paragraphs of information that I was too lazy to read were on display. After seeing all the paintings, we left, to go back to the bus stop and arrive at our main destination.

The park surrounding the museum. After taking two lines, we stopped and got off, to transfer to a third line, which would take us to our destination. So, we waited. And waited. And waited. We waited for about 45 minutes, when we couldnt take it anymore, from being in the sun to the uncomfortable places to sit, so we were going to take the nearest bus available and go home. However, suddenly, line 118, the bus that we wanted, suddenly came into view, so we happily boarded the bus, and sat down; waiting until we reached the stop that was at the entrance to the Appian way. However, several massive tour groups, jabbering in German, crowded into the bus, and drowned everything in a sea of flesh. With all the people crammed into the bus, we lost track of all the stations. After a while, we noticed that we were going back, and had already passed the entrance. Frustrated, we quickly got off, and decided to just go home, and then decide what to do. After eating a quick lunch, we had decided. We were going to the baths de Caracalla, or the ancient roman baths. While there were many things that the Romans did badly or did wrongly, inventing the public baths was a genius move on their part. While it is mostly ruins now, the ancient baths were basically massive, massive swimming pools, interconnected and constantly being filled by

small waterfalls. These baths were available to everyone, and so it was a very popular place for men and women, a place to clean up and socialize.

The extremely striking baths. Even as ruins, the baths are extremely impressive. The ruins are mostly intact, so you can see the high walls, and the mosaics where pools were once located. We walked along the road, admiring the large and towering walls, and the wide variety of baths, ranging from the size of the Jacuzzi, to massive, Olympic sized baths. After we had seen everything, we left the baths, and went back outside.

Several parts of the baths were under maintenance, so we were treated to loud bangs and drilling sounds as we waited outside. We simply rested under the shade for a little while, content with doing nothing and unwilling to do something. After a long time, when our batteries were fully recharged, we got up, and decided to head back home. We bought something for my mother (no, I have not forgotten you, as you must have assumed, by your critical letters to me.), and then took the subway back to our hotel. However, as luck would have it, our subway suddenly broke down, so we were forced to wait in the crowded, hot terminal, until another subway arrived. After reaching the hotel, we simply relaxed, and lay sprawled out on the bed, until it was time to eat.

The crowd shoving its way into the subway. The picture is blurry because my arm kept on getting jostled around. After we returned, stuffed with food and filled with drink, there was nothing left to do, except write this essay and shower. So, we just kicked back, relaxed, and enjoyed our last day of Rome. Tomorrow, we will be leaving for Florence!