Walking and Hiking Everywhere

I don't even know the names of many streets around where I live in Georgia, but I am getting a pretty good sense of direction around some areas in Rome, especially in Prati, my neighborhood. Check this out.


Via Guilio Cesare
Via Pompeo Magno
Via Cicerone
Via Plinio
Via Ottaviano
Via Vespasiano
Via Vergilio
Via Ovidio
Via Tacito
Via Terenzio


Can you guess why? Because these street names are not made up, they are CRAZY AWESOME. Because not only am I walking around the streets of Rome, almost in a mesmerized daze, I'm like, whoa, I'm walking on the Via Vergilio right now. How cool! When I walk along the Tiber, I often see a boat named Rhea Silvia go by. 


Let's see, last weekend I went to Tivoli with John Cabot and hiked up Monte Catillo and around Villa Gregoriana. We hiked for 2.5 hours up the mountain, which was beautiful and exhilarating and steep. At some point up the mountain, there was a forest of cork trees, which was really neat- the air on the mountain smelled amazing and full of fall, and in the cork forest it almost smelled sweet! The experts are still trying to figure out why the cork trees are growing there. When we got to the top we had lunch, then hiked back down the mountain. We saw wild horses once on the way down, about four of them and a foal! Once we reached the base of the mountain, we headed to Villa Gregoriana. Several waterfalls and rocky grottoes made for some beautiful views, even though it was rainy. There were tons of stairs there- we were going in loops or something, so every time we went down stairs we knew we had to come back up! At the end of the long day (about 6 hours of hiking) we hopped on the bus and came back to Rome. 


Lately, I've been doing lots of wandering. Last Sunday Claudia and I wandered around and found a really neat flea market in a piazza by our apartment. After and between all my classes this week I've been walking around wherever my on-site classes end. My architecture teacher gave a list of places we should see, so I've been trying to get to those places and enjoying whatever I find on the way. On Monday I didn't have class and I did about 5 hours of walking! This weekend was also a wandering weekend with my roommates Claudia, Kate, and Catherine. On Saturday, we wanted to see the Bocca della Verita, so we decided to have a slow day and get to the Bocca della Verita, but take our time and find lots of places in between. On the way, we went to Piazza del Popolo and people-watched, visited the DaVinci museum (which was fascinating and very impressive), checked out many little shops, had lunch in a trattoria on a small side street, hung out by the Pantheon, and did some more people-watching by the Temple of Hercules while we sat in the grass. We all agreed it was a day well-spent! Sunday we went to a flea market in the morning and stopped and had lunch. When we got back I went for a run since the weather is incredible- high of 75 degrees Fahrenheit! As I was saying before, I'm getting to know my way around this area, so I didn't even have to run in big loops over and over like I have been. I just ran around every corner that looked pretty. It was a very good run! Observation: jogging scares pigeons. 


Blogger is giving me some trouble uploading my pictures into the post, but here are the links so my Italy albums thus far! :)


Rome
More Rome
Sperlonga 
Mt. Vesuvius, Sorrento, Capri, and Pompeii
Mt. Catillo and Villa Gregoriana