A 7 Hour Train Ride from Turin to Rome

December 20th

I got up at 8:30am and stepped out on the balcony to be welcomed with an amazing view of the mountains that hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics.

An aspiring chef, Brad got up and made us a huge breakfast.  After showers and repacking the bags, we left the apartment and walked over to the train station.  I was happy to have a brand new copy of Lonely Planet's Italy, a gift from one of Brad's roommates with a disposable income.  The kid had left a ton of nice clothes and the Lonely Planet book as "he was done studying abroad and would never need them again."  Hooray for "closedmindeness."  We would end up using the Lonely Planet Italy book a considerable amount as we visited the other cities.

Turin during the day was quite beautiful and not very touristy.  The train station we went to was not the main one, and we had to take the metro to the central station.  Built for the Olympics, the metro was brand new and in pristine condition.

At the station we bought our tickets for the 1:00pm train to Rome.  It would arrive at 8:00pm.  That was a  lot later than I wanted our time in Rome to begin, but staying in Turin was fun and we would still have a total of three days in the Eternal City.

We went to a grocery store and bought the essentials for a picnic that we would have on the train.  Back at the train station we said goodbye to Brad and boarded the train for Rome.

I received a text fro Danilo Capuzi, the guy who we would be staying with in Rome, asking us when we would arrive.  I had tried calling him, but his phone had been off.

The train ride lived up to my romantic vision of what a train ride in Europe should be, as Blake and I had our own "table" with 4 seats facing one another.  The 7 hour ride was actually quite in enjoyable as we had a great picnic lunch.  The Italian country side was beautiful and the tracks followed the Mediterranean sea.  I spent a long time reading up on the history of Rome and trying to plan some way to see most of the amazing sites.  

Our train pulled into Roma Termini and I gave our couch surfing host Danilo Capuzi a phone call and he gave us directions to his gym.  Rome's metro was not as nice as Turin's was quite busy.  Getting off, we walked a long the quiet street until we reached his karate gym.  I should take a second to explain "Couch Surfing."  Its a facebook-like, social networking site that allows people to offer their couch/floor for other travelers to sleep for free.  It obviously involves some risk as apart from communication through internet there is no way to actually know the person.  I had talked to Danilo the month before and although sleeping in his karate gym would appear strange to most people, he seemed like a cool guy.  This would be our first couchsurfing experience.

To be honest, it was "sketchy as hell" as we walked down the dark, sloping driveway of the semi-basement building.  We called him and he said he would be out in a few minutes.  Blake and I joked about what we were about to do and were already ready to run or fight our way out if it turned out to be bad.  

We had definitely seen to many horror movies as Danilo Capuzi turned out to be one of the nicest, most hospitable people I have ever met.  A 6'4" martial arts teacher, he is into playing chess and skydiving.  He lives in his gym as rent is expensive in Rome.  The gym itself was very big, clean, with red mats covering the floor.  On the walls were all of his bokkens, katanas, nunchucks, and other martial arts weapons. The gym was equipped with its own lockerroom, shower, bathroom, and cooking facilities.  Sitting down at his little table in his trophy decorated office, we presented him with a bottle of wine.  He doesn't drink, but he was still happy that we had brought him something.  Danilo wrote down a list of places where we should visit on our first night.  He was going to stay in and play chess and then go over to his girl friend's house where he would stay for the weekend.  He gave us the keys to his gym and told us to have fun exploring the city.

We took the metro to "Spagna"where we began our night time exploring.  We saw the famous Spanish steps.   We got a map from a hotel and meandered through the truly sublime city.  Stopping by the Trevi Fountain lit up by lights and truly magical, we threw in coins to ensure a return visit to Rome. I hadn't even seen the city yet, but I knew that I would want to come back.  We kept walking, passing the incredible Pantheon and pausing to enjoy the sights in Piazza Navona.  We had dinner in a quintessential Italian Restaurant with excellent pasta and red wine.  We then walked up the river to Piazza del Popolo.  We were too late to catch the metro so we had to take an expensive taxi back. 

Laying out my sleeping bag on gym mat, I was so excited to get up early and have a full day exploring the city.