Roma

The mid-Semester break, a result of Christi Himmelfahrt (literally: Christ's heaven-trip) , was approaching and we were to have a whole week without classes. After some discussion, some disagreement and some practical problems, a group of 6 of us decided to head to Rome for around half the week, driven by the incentive of €30 flights from Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden Airport.

Tuesday, June 6

We flew into Rome Ciampini, then spent two hours on bus-train-train-bus to get to our campsite accommodation near Prima Porta station, north of the city. Travel-weary and uninspired, we spent the first night at the campsite, eating in their restaurant before hitting the sack.

Wednesday, June 7

We woke to sunshine and what would be a 25+ degree day - a welcome change after 15 degrees and below for over a month! After a bit of time spent in and by the campsite pool we headed into the city to explore. We started our tour at Piazza del Popolo (Pope's Square) then headed to
Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps, ate lunch on Piazza Navona (New Square) and a strolled along the river Tiber to the Vatican, the heart of the Roman Catholic Church, where we went into St Peter's Basilica, after which we found a café for a hard-earned and quality Italian coffee.
Half of the group then decided to head back to the campsite to chill out and eat while the other three of us stayed and explored some more. After seeing the Pantheon and the Fontana di Trevi, we headed back to Piazza Navona to eat and then headed back to get some sleep.

Thursday, June 8

Unfortunately the split group became a trend, and we continued exploring in our groups of three. Our group (Michelle, Caitlin and I) set off earlier to beat the crowds at the Vatican. We started off with a visit to the crypt under St Peter's, then climbed to the top (it's a long way
up!) for fantastic views of the Vatican, St Peter's Square and Rome.
Because of the crowds and the queues we missed the others as they went into the Vatican museums and the Sistine chapel right on closing time and we chose instead to lunch nearby and wait for them to come out.
From the Vatican we headed to the Roman Forum (ruins of Roman Empire buildings) via the Monumento Vittorio Emanuele II. We headed through the Roman Forum to the Colosseum then found somewhere to eat before heading back.

Friday, June 9

Caitlin, Michelle and I headed off early again to get into the Sistine Chapel. The queues were ridiculous! Seriously a 1km long queue is crazy - THIS IS NO EXAGGERATION!! Why would you travel to a foreign city only to spend your entire time there waiting in line???
We decided to walk instead and explored the hilly park to the south east of the Vatican. After great views of the rooftops of Rome we descended into the back streets.
It was incredible to be walking along cobbled streets between old, half-maintained and colourfully painted buildings with drying clothes hanging between them. A scooter would whiz past, a suit would be hurrying along chattering Italian into his mobile and a bunch of men would be collected at a doorway, chatting, watching, gossiping. It's a lively and bubbly culture that I'd like to see more of.
We were headed for the Bocca della Verità (mouth of truth), which we found after an extended search within 50 metres of it!
After this we thought we'd try our luck with the Sistine Chapel again, this time with success (it turns out the trick is to wait till just before closing time). However after so much walking, we were exhausted and made our visit relatively short. It was fantastic however, to see Michealangelo's /Creation /and /Last Judgement /in the flesh (well, so to speak).
We then ran back to Piazza del Popolo to meet the others and catch the train back to the campsite where we caught the last half of the opening World Cup match in which Germany beat Costa Rica 4-2! A shame we weren't in Freiburg to see it.

Saturday saw three of us (Andreas, Astrid and I) return to Freiburg. It was nice to be home!

Rome was fantastic and I'm looking forward to going back...
In terms of big cities with big reputations, it was a nice change to Prague... so much life, so much character. A city to recommend!