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Day 35 (7/9/11):
Andrew and I met up to go to Tivoli for the day today! We arrived at the train station and had no problem buying our tickets… but then we couldn't find our train! We only had a few minutes, so we went with my gut feeling on the train and luckily hopped on the right one. We didn't realize we had to switch trains at a different station, though, and were very lucky to sit with some off-duty train workers who helped us out!
Eventually, we arrived in Tivoli and had to ask around to find our way from the train station to the town center. Everything was closed for the afternoon, and the city had an almost Arizona-like feel to it. How strange! As we made our way through the town, it almost seemed like people were watching us from their apartment windows, wondering who the two intruders to their neighborhood were…
We ended up catching a bus part of the way to Villa Adriana (Hadrian's Villa), but must have been mis-informed about either the stop or the bus line because we continued walking for at least 30-40 minutes before actually reaching the gates to the villa. What an adventure already!
We went right inside and started exploring the massive area. I was surprised at how big it was! There are acres and acres of land with tons of large buildings that were baths, ponds, or places to relax. Most of all of this is now in ruins. We walked around for a long time, and were also able to enter a museum in the villa with the original statues from various parts of the area.
After some time, we left and caught a bus back to town (phew! My legs were tired from all that walking) to get some dinner before going to see Villa d'Este in the town center. We both got the specialty of fettuccine with pork cheek, which sounds really gross but was actually pretty good. It was super, super salty, though!
After dinner, we went straight to Villa d'Este since it opened for the evening at 8:30 p.m. and we also needed to make our train back to Rome soon afterwards. This villa was beautiful!!! We saw it right at the start of sunset, and the light made all the gardens and fountains absolutely gorgeous! The gardens were huge and ornate, and the man-made fountains were fascinating and gorgeous with the lights. The best was the giant waterfall and fountain on one side of the garden, though. I think it also make musical sounds sometimes from the force of the water coming through the pipes! Very cool.
We spent a decent amount of time there, loving the beauty of it all. Eventually, we forced ourselves to head out and make the 30-minute walk back to the train station. Once there, we realized we not only missed our train, but it was also the last train of the night! It took some figuring out, and some walking around, but eventually we got on a night bus to head back to Rome. It was another adventure to add to our travels!
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