Market Day

Sunday morning was spent at the market. Poich, Ine, April and I got up and took the bus to Trastevere to check out the flea markets. It turned out to be huge. There were vendors set up on both sides of the street, and it went on for blocks and blocks. (For those of you who are familiar, it was at least three times the size of the Eastern Market in DC.) It was pretty typical flea market fare; lots of purses, cheap clothes, cds and shoes. The girls I was with were in heaven. They all are very fashion conscious and on strict budgets, so they loved digging through the bins of wares. We spent several hours, into the afternoon, browsing the market. I haggled with a merchant and got a good deal on a pair of scarves, and the other girls came away with clothes and a suitcase to transport all their new purchases on their plane.

After the market, we split up and I went to check out the Pantheon. Apparently in my head I had equated the Pantheon with the Parthenon. I knew that the Parthenon was in Greece, but for some reason I still thought they were similar. So, I was a little disappointed with the Pantheon. It was still very cool, especially when you consider that the Ancient Romans were able to erect such a massive dome. But it was incredibly crowded, because it was both free and I was visiting it on a Sunday, when many other attractions are closed. I quickly became irritated with the masses, and fled to Giolitti's for their famed gelato. Which, of course, was also packed. The scene there was arguably more chaotic than that of the Pantheon. I finally figured out, after staring at the crowd for a while, that you first paid at the register, then took your receipt to the counter, shoved your way to the front, and when the guy at the counter glanced your way, quickly blurted out the flavors you desire. This chaos, as well as a very poor understanding of Italian words for the flavors, led to me panicking when I ordered and doing a poor job. Mind you, it was still excellent gelato, but the flavors I got (Rice, Dark Chocolate, and Crema) did not do it for me. Ah well, so it goes. I also got way too much of it, and made a huge mess of myself.

Once I cleaned myself up a bit, I strolled over to Trevi Fountain, which was nice, but also packed. I tossed in my coin, then got out of there, as I was reaching my boiling point with pushy tourists. I strolled down Via Cavour and did some window shopping, then hopped on a bus, hoping it would take me to a stop where I could catch the bus back to the hostel. Instead, it took me to the bank of the Tiber. I decided to get off and walk around, and maybe get some photos of Saint Peter's at sunset. (This is when I began composing my last post. I decided to sit down for a while and write.) I snapped some photos and strolled around, checking out the street vendors and accidentally buying a Prada knockoff. (Once I picked it up, I couldn't put it back down!) That area is really beautiful and calm in the evening.

Eventually, I caught a bus back to Termini and made the hike back to the hostel. When I returned, two Argentinian men who were new to the hostel had made dinner for everyone, some sort of chicken dish and fried potatoes. I happily had two plates of it, and made my arrangements online for Florence.

As soon as I finished, we ran out the door to catch the night train to Ostia, a beach town outside the city. There was a bar there that the girls wanted to go to, and who am I to say no to a night trip to the beach? We took two metro trains out the night train, and then spent another half hour on the train. We met a German couple who were headed that way, and gave us directions to the bar (which turned out to be very bad directions). We got off the train, and began walking. It ended up being a 45 minute walk to the bar, because they had told us to get off at the wrong stop. It was quite an adventure, and I wish I could say that the bar ended up being awesome, but I cannot. The bar was not very crowded, the DJ was terrible, and the bartender was rude to us. We danced a bit, and then it closed half an hour after we had arrived. We caught the night bus back to the hostel, and I slept very, very well that night.