{"id":3262,"date":"2017-08-03T16:02:32","date_gmt":"2017-08-03T20:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/?p=3262"},"modified":"2017-08-07T16:15:18","modified_gmt":"2017-08-07T20:15:18","slug":"4-inizio-della-fine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/2017\/08\/03\/4-inizio-della-fine\/","title":{"rendered":"4-Inizio della Fine"},"content":{"rendered":"

This week marked the midpoint of my SLA, and I have to say I have the same feeling of dread about leaving Rome as I did last year at this time.<\/p>\n

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Gelato earlier this week with Huda<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Besides beginning the second half of the semester, not much went on during the week. I did, however, make it to Nemi on Saturday! Getting there and and back from Rome was pure hell. I had taken the train from Rome’s central train station to Albano Laziale, the place where I should have changed busses last weekend. Upon arriving in Albano, I was greeted with closed shops and restaurants due to the month of vacation that Italians take in August, the feria d’agosto<\/em>. I walked around the city for about 15 minutes and finally found an open bar to ask about the regional bus. When I entered, there were three men inside. I asked the barista where I could catch the bus, and then followed his directions to the bus stop outside. After about 5 minutes of waiting, someone drove up and waved to me to go into the car. I shook my head and he drove away. Five minutes later, he returned and asked if I was the girl from the bar trying to get to Nemi. I responded that I was, and he told me he was heading in that direction, so he would take me there.<\/p>\n

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Nemi!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Greeted by the frutti di bosco!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Skeptical as I was, no busses had been passing and the whole town seemed dead, so I got in. I ended up meeting Paolo, who was heading nearby Nemi to pick up a set of keys from his wife. He reassured me that I shouldn’t be skeptical, and that it was an off-day for the busses, so who knew if it would even pass. He dropped me off about 10 minutes later in Nemi. Once I got out and saw the cute, strawberry decked town, I shook of the stress of getting there and decided to walk around. The town, situated on a hill overlooking small Lake Nemi, was\u00a0very<\/em> local. I stopped first in a bar to have a lemon cake with\u00a0fragoline<\/em>, the sacred fruit that had driven me there in the first place. I sat outside and ate my cake in front of an unforgettable view of the lake.<\/p>\n

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Lago di Nemi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Lemon cake with fragoline!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Torta limone con le fragoline<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Having previously researched some of the town attractions, I set out to find the remains of an ancient temple. After exiting the town gate, I found a panorama. I walked five minutes down and found a hiking trail. Using trusty google maps, I descended into the trail. Thirty or so minutes later, without a water bottle and facing the stifling heat, I felt so dehydrated. I was minutes away from the temple, and decided I should go anyway because there would probably be a concession stand there. I found a gate with an inscription of the Temple of Diana, and walked through. At the end of the drive, I found what seemed to look like a park shelter. Outside, there was a woman playing with a dog, and when I came back out, she asked me what was wrong. I explained to her that I was looking for the temple remains. She informed me that I was on private property–the temple was in the other direction–and that it was actually closed. Disappointed and thirsty, I thanked her and turned back toward the hiking trail that would take me back to the town center.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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Nemi!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Lakeview from the hike down<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Sign for the Temple of Diana Remains<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Uphill was worse, and the angle of the sun made it impossible for me to get back up without taking multiple breaks. By the time I reached the center and the drinking fountain in the piazza, I felt sick. I took a long drink of water and sat down at the bench. After sitting there for about 20 minutes, I decided I should figure out a way to get back into Rome. I opened up a taxi app that I had and requested a taxi for the next half hour. After rehydrating and learning that the taxis could only be requested to leave\u00a0from<\/em> Rome when the drivers didn’t show up, I decided I needed to find a way to get back to Albano Laziale to get a train back to Rome.<\/p>\n

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A site on my hike downhill<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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City gate<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Fontana della Gorgone<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Church gardens in Nemi<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Google maps had a pretty clear walking route. After I bought a bottle of water and two containers of fragoline, I began the two hour walk back to Albano. In the end, I made it back to Albano and was able to catch a train back to Rome a half hour later (ironically, on the walk back, three regional busses passed by me when I wasn’t at a bus stop). Thankful to be home, I marveled at how strange the day had been and concluded that the universe really hadn’t wanted me to get to Nemi, and since I had arrived (against the universe’s wishes), it wasn’t going to be an easy trip. In the end, I can say that I got some nice photos and a lesson. If it’s too difficult to arrive, better to choose another destination! My fragoline ended up being smashed up by the time I reached my apartment, so I just made jam with them.<\/p>\n

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A fountain in Genzano di Roma<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Genzano di Roma, one of the towns on my walk back to Albano Laziale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Ariccia, on the way to Albano Laziale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week marked the midpoint of my SLA, and I have to say I have the same feeling of dread about leaving Rome as I did last year at this time. Besides beginning the second half of the semester, not much went on during the week. I did, however, make it to Nemi on Saturday! … Continue reading 4-Inizio della Fine<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2509,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3262","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-italy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2509"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3262"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3515,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3262\/revisions\/3515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.nd.edu\/sla2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}