Mar 04, 2006 13:53
Yesterday was the first time I have ever "returned" to a city in Europe. I got up early to take my 7:53 Eurostar Italia train into the Roma Termini station. It felt so nice to be back.
I was in Rome for an "unofficial" class trip to the Cinecittà film studios. Since it was not originally on the syllabus, some students are not able to go on the official day, myself included. So I, my suitemate, Garrett, and another classmate, Amy, went to Rome to meet up with our professor to get a tour of Cinecittà. Our train was ten minutes late, and by the time we took the Rome Metro out to Cinecittà, we were about twenty minutes behind. We went to the gate we were to supposed to enter at, but it was deserted. After much confusion and staring at the random mall accross the street which makes the whole area look like Orlando, we finally decided to enter the administrative building hoping someone could help us out. Basically, we were just told to go in and catch up with our tour. And so we did.
We had missed the first third, but it was okay. It was so fucking cool to be standing where the likes of Fellini and Scorsese have filmed. I was able to see most of the backdrops for HBO's Rome (which was filming while we were there!), and we walked through a miniature 1860s Manhattan, which was built for Scorsese's Gangs of New York. We passed by the huge soundstage, "Teatro Cinque," where Fellini shot most his films. After the tour was over, we all had some coffee at the studio cafe, and, since we were such a tiny group, we "illegally" wandered around the studio grounds, with our prof. showing us multiple props and locations, and soundstages and editing rooms, including the one where he edited his latest film. On our way out, he introduced us to an actor friend of his who was just arriving at the studios to audition for the Rome miniseries. Everything was so surreal (like a Fellini movie!). I had wanted to visit Cinecittà since the first time I came to Italy, and now I've actually done it. This was totally one of the highlights of my time here in Italy.
After visiting Cinecittà, my professor went off to work, Garrett went off to meets some friends, and Amy and I decided to see some of the Roman sights. Stepping out of the Metro station onto the Piazza di Spagna, waves of nostalgia hit me. Six years later, I was back in Rome. And how beautiful it was. We actually did a good amount of sightseeing before Amy had to return back to Florence; we ate pizza on the Spanish Steps, walked through Piazza del Popolo, walked along the Tiber River, ate gelato at Giolitti (Supposedly the best gelateria in Rome; and it's cheaper than the shitty one's in Florence! Go figure.), sat beneath the Roman sun while staring at the Pantheon in Piazza della Rotonda, went inside the Vittorio Emmanuele monument, and threw coins in the Trevi Fountain. After we split up since she needed to catch her train, I took a lovely Fellini-inspired walk along the Via Veneto. Too bad I couldn't afford anything at any of the cafes there. By the time I was done with that, it was too late for espresso, but too early for dinner, so I thought I'd go have a drink.
I went back towards Piazza del Popolo, to Hotel Locarno, which is where my family and I stayed when we were in Rome six years ago. The hotel looked the same. The decorations were the same, the light, the smell; nothing had changed. I sat down at the same old little table in the hotel bar where we'd have our pre-dinner aperitífs, and ordered a Sanbitter rosso, the non-alcoholic bitter aperitíf soda I'd always get when I was here at age 13. Looking about, eating the cocktail peanuts and drinking my bitter, a flood of memories came over me. I realised that it was in this room six years ago that I first fell in love with Italy.
After leaving Hotel Locarno, I stopped and had a pizza dinner in the area, and took the Metro back to the Termini station. I got my return ticket and, seeing I had an all-day Metro pass and an hour to kill, and hopped back on the Metro and decided to go see the Colosseum at night. It was beautiful, and fifteen minutes was plenty. I bid Roma "arrivederci" and made my way back to the station, and then back to Florence.
Just when I thought my day was over, Irma and Angela bug me insisting that I go hang out with them at their apartment. After much whining, I obliged. To my surprise, I walk into Angela's room to find Aaron standing there. He had made a surprise visit to Florence from London for the weekend. We all just hung out, talking, and drinking sweet fizzy wine soda. A long but wonderful day.