Go Rome, as Romans do

Rome is indeed a big city with culture quintessential and artistic themes, with their own unique way to write human history.

“Go Rome, as Romans do.” We all know this old saying. Unbelievably, I went to Rome in late November for a couple days, explored this historically glorious grand city, and practiced what this proverb told us. I bought 3-day transportation tickets to explore Rome, experience the breadth and depth of Italy’s capital city.

I arrived in Rome in the midafternoon. The central Rome train station – Roma Termini is perhaps one of the symbols of big Rome, spacious, dynamic with multiple halls, multiple floors, connecting with subway station and long distance train station; it is distributed with restaurants, department stores, the passengers all over Italy and the world come to dig into the anthropological root of big Roman Empire in the ancient time and abstract the quintessential of culture renaissance of centuries ago.

Go Rome, as Romans do: After I check in at the hotel which is not so far away from the train station, I walked around the nearby street, and went to do some shopping for dinner, like Roman locals do. The supermarket stores at the corner of the street sell raw food, snacks, drinks, and some cooked food. The Italian ladies reminded me to get the ticket with the number order and then line up. I ordered some seafood salad and Italy flavored dishes, so I had a good local meal that day.

Vatican/Borgo Museums, garden, and chapels: The second morning, I took the subway to Vatican, visiting its museum, garden and chapel. It is perhaps one of the greatest anthropological museums in the world, with an enriched collection of European sculptures, oil paintings, glass ceiling art, etc. It took me more than two hours to walk around dozens of halls, up and down, appreciating the diversity of art and European art quintessence. The Vatican garden is a midsize park with sculptures and green trees, and looks very elegant. The chapels are also very impressive, with sculptures and elegant decorations.

After visiting the Vatican, I headed back to the Rome city center, and went to greet the Fountain Travi. Lots of people, lots of voices, lots of laughs. Rome has more fountains and grandeur architectures than any other cities in the world.

I had a creamy chocolate pancake for brunch, and then I also followed the “what Romans do” mantra, took some local buses, and ran around the big Rome. I took off at Nationale, there are quite many fashion boutiques, with good design and reasonable prices; on the third day in Rome, I knew actually Nationale is not so far away from the train station. After getting tired, I jumped on the buses, running to the other part of big Rome, passing through residential area, and some city parks, I planned to visit the University of Rome, but their campus is not so easy to find, the nearby Verano monument has a very huge, impressive garden with sculptures and trees. Actually, my buses passed through there a couple of times. As nobody entered it, I just took some photos in front of the gate and headed back.

Eat as Romans eat: When I returned to the area where I lived, I went to the local restaurant, taste the typical Italian meal – Pasta with cheese, tomato sauce and basil on it. As the dinner time hasn’t come yet, I am the only customer there, the staff treat me very friendly, asked me how’s flavor of pasta, I said it’s truly delicious, ate like romans do, their best pasta. Their big pizza dinner usually starts at six pm. So I skipped it this time.

All roads walk through Rome: The third day, I visited Collosom, the forts and ancient architecture, and tried to get familiar with the downtown. It is the big city, walkable, but exhausting, the upward hills, the banks of the Tibe, the church towers, etc, you can discover scenery points all over the places.

I visited the Villa Borghese Gardens which are located on the Pincian Hill; it is a large garden with sculpture, forest-like surroundings, art galleries, zoos, etc. After that, I took the smaller size buses walking through many nice neighborhoods, at which you can visit more interesting places and understand deeper about this culture-enriched city with a long history.

Rome’s way is flexible: The interesting observation point is: the size of buses in Rome is not standardized, because some buses need to run through very narrow streets on which there are residential areas that need to be serviced. That means Rome’s way is considerably flexible, treating tourists and locals friendly.

Go Deep, explore further: On the last day in Rome, I walked into the deep alley, explored further, with the destination to get to the Orto Botanico. Few people are there, I guess because it is the winter season. But the weather is great, the air is so fresh, I feel comfortable to sit around for a while, smell the flower, and enjoy the peaceful environment.

So I still have sufficient time to stroll across the downtown, walk through the street with fashion boutiques. In fact, all roads are connected horizontally and vertically, there are sculptures, fountains, church towers everywhere, it just takes time to dig into its historical roots and appreciate the art and architecture there. Rome is indeed a big city with culture quintessential and artistic themes, with their own unique way to write human history.

Posted in: culture Master,Global Trips