Italian Travel Lesson #1: Learn to Improvise

PART I

My first full day in Italy was filled with gratitude, excitement, laughter, and ingenuity. We did our best to soak in the sights, sounds, and tastes of Rome and try to survive the inches of snow that piled up throughout the course of the weekend.

We started by visiting an art gallery our art professor at the institute recommended called the Galleria Borghese. The gallery is located in the Villa Borghese which is a huge park-like area that actually wasn't very far from our hostel. Under normal conditions, our trip to the gallery would have been perfect for exploring the city, but being students from a California university, we obviously were not prepared to deal with the cold weather. Try to picture 3 girls sharing two umbrellas, trying to read a map while avoiding the puddles, or should I say lakes, which began to build up around us. We were determined not to let a little (um, alot) of rain stop us.

This Galleria Borghese houses Cardinal Scipione Borghese’s private art collection from the 16^th and 17^th centuries. Some of the most famous works we saw included Caravaggio’s paintings and Bernini’s sculptures, but my favorite pieces by far were three of Bernini’s sculptures including

 El rapto de Persopina

David

And, Apollo and Daphne

 We all agree that visiting the Galleria Borghese was one of the best parts of this trip, it really was eye-opening to see the work of so many talented artists. While we were in the gallery, we saw the rain become sleet, and the sleet become snow. We tried to take a bus to the city center in order to avoid walking in the snow, but in Italy buses do not stop at the bus-stops. We arrived at the stop just in time... just in time to see the bus drive right past us. Apparently you have to wave the buses down, and by wave I mean step into the street and frantically flail your arms so they will pay attention to you.

After our failed bus attempt and buying a hat and gloves to keep us warm, we decided to head to a nearby site in the city to eat at a famous bruschetteria that our Rome travel guide suggested. At this point the snow was piling up fast.

The streets had become an odd cross between mushy puddles, fluffy snow, and slick ice, so making our way on foot meant constant vigilance of our path.. At one point, we peeked out behind a row of cars to gauge the traffic so we could cross the street. Immediately after leaning over, we hear a loud bang and realize the two cars nearest us had crashed and one car swerved towards us, ending up just a couple meters away from one of my friends. The driver nearest us looked out of his open window and yelled "Fiasco!" Yes, fiasco indeed. Two blocks later after we crossed the street another two cars crashed behind us. 

We walked and walked… and walked and walked and walked, trying to find the location of this bruschetteria we were so eager to try. I should start by saying I have an awful sense of direction. I generally try to avoid being the one responsible for getting a group around, and even when I think I have a grasp on where we are, I am notorious for leading us in the wrong direction. (Does anyone remember trying to get back to our hotel from Plaza Tutti Frutti in Nerja?)  We had ALOT of trouble finding this restaurant, and I'm pretty sure it wasn't just because of my navigation skills! We were hungry and discouraged when we stumbled upon an amazing sight: the Trevy fountain in all its glory. It was magnificent, even when it was covered in snow. We each made our two wishes tossing coins into the fountain: the first wish to return to Rome and the second wish for anything else.

The fountain was beautiful, but honestly all I could think about was the loss of sensation I was experiencing in my feet. After the first hour or so in the snow, I realized my boots indeed were not waterproof. As long as we kept walking I could generally keep good blood flow in my feet, but standing for any period of time was brutal. I probably would have died from frostbite if my friend hadn’t been there with a stroke of genius to save my life. We knew that changing our socks wouldn’t do any good if water could still get into our shoes. We also weren’t quite in a position to buy a new pair of shoes, so we did the next best thing to stay dry: we used plastic bags to keep the moisture away from our feet.

But first and foremost, we were determined to find the bruschetteria! We kept walking and searching our map, trying to find the right street but after asking several locals and searching for about 20 more minutes, bringing our search total to over an hour and a half, we finally accepted the fact that this bruschetteria in fact did not exist and we would not be able to eat there. We were heartbroken- especially since I had been willing to get frostbite on my feet in order to find this damn place- but we agreed to head into a nearby restaurant to have lunch and warm up. This is when we realized the snow and the walking was all worth it.

[to be continued…]