rome, day 4

castel sant angelo


it was so hot today. not that it hasnt been hot the previous days, but today it just hit us. to add to the heat, it was also perhaps the weirdest day of our trip so far.

we started a bit late (without any particular reason, really). right when we set out, i closed the door behind me, then asked paola if she had the key. she didnt, so we were locked out (the door is one without a knob, and only a keyhole, so the door cant be opened without a key). we didnt know what to do. we saw some people who were remodeling the building, and asked them if they had a screwdriver so that we might be able to take the lock apart. he didnt. when i finally got a screwdriver from a door down the street, it didnt help anyway; all we could do is push teh key out of the keyhole from the other side. actually, i thought that since the key was in the hole, we might be able to manipulate it in such a way as to open the door. so i took out a credit card that i dont really use, and tore it up, thinking that it would be good since it was both rigid and maleable. that didnt work either. then a girl walked down the stairs and we asked her if she knew who might have a spare key. some phone calls were made, and we finally got a spare key, and opened the door. all in all, it took up about an hour at the beginning of our day.

while we were locked out, paola and i looked around the windows, perhaps to find a way in, since we left all the windows opened, but there were bars that were basically part of the wall, so that wasnt going to happen. in any case, while looking at the windows, paola saw a hypodermic needle stuck into the window sill from the outside. this grossed her out, and she didnt like the fact that there was a needle in our window. afterr further investigation, we found needles in each of our windows. we immediately jumped to the conclusion that they must have come from the small village of homeless people from the other side of the building. they looked like they werer probably heroin addicts, so it fit. in any case, paola was very turned off by this, and didnt even want to touch them to get them out of the window despite the fact that it would be very easy for them to fall into the apartment that we are staying at. i remembered paola having said that this was one of the hippest parts of town, and certainly it gets hopping at night with several wine bars and restaurants around, but all the same, during the day, there is a little gang of homeless people right next to our apartment. it seems like all of the homeless people here in rome all have dogs, maybe to make people more sympathetic to their cause (of getting money to buy heroin). the local gang looks like a bunch of circus performers; one twirls sticks, the other does something else, the girl wears a long bohemian dress to cover her skinny frame. i suppose that it is just a part of life, though, and should be accepted as such. that said, however, paola and i had to consider whether we would open the windows or not, seeing as how one might throw in dirty needles, or whatever. if we keep them closed, there is no chance of needles coming into our home, but we fry from the excessive heat and lack of air circulation. if we open the windows, the heat is more bearable, but we are scared of teh needles. we finally decided that although they might be heroin addicts, they werent out to hurt us (or at least that was my reasoning), so we opened the windows.

once we left the home, we decided we would go to castle sant’ angelo. it is basically a big fort in the shape of a circle. paola said that it was one of her favorite sites in italy. this was perhaps because of the fact that in his book ‘angels and demons,’ dan brown (who wrote the immensly famous ‘da vinci code’) describes lots of places around rome, and this castle, as being main points of a secret society. thus, the building should have all sorts of secrets, including underground tunnels linking the castle with the vatican (which is close by). in any case, we went, but because it was so hot, we couldnt really enjoy it much. i think that at certain times throughout this trip we are just going to get really exhausted and all the touring is going to catch up with us. this is what happened. so after walking around the castle (we didnt see any secret passages, but we did see a great view of the city from the terrrace of the castle), we just decided to go back home and rest. we figured that we were justified in not seeing anything today, and that we really had to relax. so thats all we did. in fact, when we went home, paola fell asleep, and i just read (i had just purchased ‘angels and demons’ on paola’s suggestion; it is an exciting book with all sorts of interesting tidbits of information about different sites throughout rome and the secret society, the illuminati). and we stayed in all day.

on our way to the castle, however, we encountered another interesting situation. a guy from his car asked for directions, and we said we didnt know. he told us to go to him anyways, as if we could actually help. he then began to speak english, and claimed that he was from france, and worked with some sort of clothing designer. after giving him the best directions we could, he offered us some jackets (that looked lame) and claimed they were worth a thousand dollars. seeing as how he was giving them to us, and he was in a car, and didnt have any physical advantage over us, i took the jackets (actually, i just thought he was being nice). then he asked for some money for petrol, claiming that in italy they wouldnt take any of his cards. we declined, and only then did i realize that this was some sort of scam. he then said, ‘please, whatever you can give me for gas, 100, 200 euros.’ i smiled and gave him back his jackets. then we walked away. i suppose that it isnt actually such a big deal, except that it did seem to take up a lot of time. he was very friendly, and i was gullible. paola said that she knew right away that i shouldnt have taken the jackets, but she didnt say anything! we didnt loose anything, but we were, perhaps, in a compromised and vulnerable position. something could have happened. i suppose that we just have to be a little more careful, and i have to stop having so much faith in humanity.

since we didnt do anything all day, we decided we would go out at night. we went to a place called campo fiori, which is a square where there are a lot of bars and such. we went thinking it would be cool. the first bar that we went to seemed to be filled with 15 year old girls (whom i would have taken advantage of had paola not been there) and guys (also whom i would have taken advantage of). i was completely turned off by the situation, seeing as how nobody in the bar was as cool as me and paola. we made the best of it, though, and walked around the square with our drinks. we were out for the whole night since the bars in rome close at 2. so at least we experienced some sort of nightlife in rome.