How To Use The Metro, Rome's Subway System

Before I moved to Rome, I always wondered if there were How-To documents out there so I could have SOME idea of what I was getting myself into.  It's easy to get lost if you come from place where you don't use public transportation.  So today, I thought I'd make all your lives a little bit easier if you are headed to the Eternal City.

How to Use the Metro,  Rome's Subway System:

It's quite simple, really.  Currently, there are two lines, the A line and the B line.  A third one, the C line is being built as I type this.  The city is diligently working on this additional line and it's said to be open sometime in 2013 though I won't be surprised if a delay occurs.  After all, they are digging through ancient grounds and if they come upon something truly special all processes are on hold until it can be excavated, preserved, etc.

First things first: buy your ticket! Un biglietto per favore. One ticket please. Pretty much every single subway station has an automated machine to purchase a ticket. If you are in town for longer than a day or two, you'll be better off going to a Tabacchi store (the store on every major street with a big T on it's sign outside) to buy weekly passes (16 Euro) or even a monthly pass (30 Euro).  If I recall, there's a 3 day pass for 11 Euro too.  All passes are good for Metro, bus, and even local train travel within the city limits of Rome.

NO, YOUR PASS IS NOT VALID FOR GETTING TO AND FROM THE AIRPORTS IN ROME. In the future, I will provide specific instructions on how to get to Rome from the airports.

Second, insert your pass into the scanner.  It's like a vending machine slot you put money bills into, except only public transportation passes fit into it.  Normal tickets from the automated machines as well as most passes bought from tabacchi stores work this way.

If you bought one of those all-encompassing tourist passes such as the ROMA PASS, you just swipe the card in front of the reader (above the scanner slot) until the light turns from red to green (usually it takes 3 to 5 swipes until it FINALLY recognizes that your pass is valid). Regardless of which pass you use, you'll know if it worked because the glass panels blocking your way will open allowing you to go through.

Third, choose your direction! Sometimes you have to choose your direction BEFORE you go through the entrance panels.  But most times, my experiences tell me you will perform this step next.  You choose your direction based on the last stop on the line.  The end points.  Not sure what your end point is?  There is always a map somewhere in the station for you to look at if you are desperate.

Metro A Line end points: Battistini (Left side) and Anagnina (Right side)

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Metro B Line end points: Laurentina (Left side) and Rebibbia (Right side)

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Termini Station is where the two lines intersect.  If you are ever in Termini trying to transfer from one line to the next, just follow the large signs with arrows that point down stairs or up stairs with the words LINEA A ---->, or LINEA B ----->.  Generally, a crowd of people are doing exactly what you are trying to do so stay alert and they might just be the guide you were hoping to follow.

Fourth, and once you've chosen which direction to go, you wait behind the yellow line on the platform.  A train arrives and you get on the train in that narrow window of time while the doors are open.  10 seconds total maybe? 15 seconds possibly?  The more people at the station, the longer the conductor will keep the doors open. It's not very much though so be quick! But don't forget to be courteous.  Let the people off the train first!  Too many tourists and locals forget this.

Fifth, know which stop exit the train.  Every car has a map of the A Line or B Line in it depending on which line you are on, which are usually located above the car doors.  Also, some of the transports used are newer than others meaning out of the car's speakers come first an Italian voice telling which stop is next and which side to exit, then in English.  But you don't always get a new car.  When you arrive at each stop, look through the windows and pay attention to the walls of the station so you have a clue which one you are at. There is always text letting you know which station is which.

APPLY THIS KNOWLEDGE: For example when I am at Termini Station and I want to go to the Piramide stop to get some great food in the Testaccio neighborhood, or to go home since that's where I live, I have to get on the Metro B line going in the direction of Laurentina.  Then I have to take it four stops (From Termini, it goes Cavour, Colosseo, Circo Massimo, and finally Piramide).

Don't forget to exit the vehicle and good luck!

Current hours for both the Metro A and B lines are as follows and of course, subject to change:
Sunday - Thursday: 05:30 - 23:30
Fridays and Saturdays: 05:30 - 01:30

Need more info?  I recommend this site.  http://www.atac.roma.it/index.asp?lingua=ENG

The Rome Marathon

For the past 18 years Rome has held a marathon for the running-inclined anxious to stay healthy, run for a cause or for the ultra-competitive, win money. Even for those with disabilities, there are various purses one can win depending on your choice transportation.

Having visitors in town on a recent Sunday, I feared most public transportation would be shut down due to the winding and somewhat erratic course through 42.195 kilometers (26.219 miles) of Roman streets.

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During the 7-hour time limit, my fear was true.  Travelling by bus wasn't possible.  Traveling by Metro (subway) was.  But watch out for those crowds!  I hadn't seen the Metro this crowded since New Years Eve at 11pm... which happens to be when the buses are shut down for the night.

It seems holidays and festivals aren't ideal days to travel but being forced to walk made us see what was going on in the streets. Pure fun.  Tents and stages were set up, people were all over the streets closed to automobiles, street vendors without licenses had nowhere to hawk their wares because of the abundance of law enforcement.  It was a tourist's dream!

The city transformed itself into an ancient/modern concoction.  It felt strange seeing the huge inflatable kilometer marker clearly sponsored with Lipton advertising dollars right next to the ancient 2000 year old Pyramid of Cestius.

This year, a Kenyan man finished first in 2:08:04 and the first woman, also a Kenyan, finished at 2:31:11.   If they had surpassed earlier times, 2:07:30 and 2:23:30 respectively, each would have been awarded 40,000 EURO.  Instead, each pot was reduced by 30%. First through tenth place won portions of the total purse.

The first runner to cross the finish line,  KANDA LUKA LOKOBE  from Kenya. 

VASGO Turns 25,000

Dear Readers Around The World,

You rock my socks off.  Even during those weeks when I go without a post, you still check up on me.  You put up with my terrible self-editing and my typically poor grammar.  You email me and ask me when I will post next if I've gone too long.  You help feed me the desire to write about my international experiences.

Thank you, dear readers, for coming to my blog 25,000 times in the last 6 months!

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There have been many people from many countries who have kept up with VASGO.  The question is - is yours in the top 10?

Honorable Mention goes to Romania who held #10 until this past weekend.

#10 - France
#9 - Greece
#8 - Australia
#7 - Germany
#6 - Switzerland
#5 - Netherlands
#4 - Canada
#3 - United Kingdom
#2 - Italy
#1 - United States

Grazie! Thank you!
Baci a tutti! Kisses to all!

Antwerp, Belgium - City of Diamonds

Stop number one of the Belgian Beer Tour was at Belgium's second largest city if my facts are correct.  Antwerp had a decent number of excellent beer bars according to one of our research sources, www.beeradvocate.com. In addition to bars, it has quite a few attractions including a booming diamond-dealing district.  We thought this city would make an excellent first day to our trip because it was closest to Amsterdam, from which we traveled via train.

It took just 90 minutes on a high speed train, in first class I might add (Tip: Watch for some of those online deals on Thalys' website.  Our first class ticket was less expensive than a second class ticket because we traveled in the middle of the day.)  The free snacks and drinks made the time go by even faster. And the free entrance into the First Class lounge while waiting for the train in Amsterdam's Centraal Station made it even more rewarding.

We arrived on a dreary Sunday.  The clouds hung low threatening to rain.  We were pretty sure rain was headed our way.  Better get out the right shoes.  In my case, the only ones I owned that don't leak or have perforations in them that would allow my feet to get wet were my nice black suit shoes. They were the ones I "pounded the pavement" with, as some would say in the sales industry.  They were purchased for maximum comfort, looked nice with a suit and yet were highly functional in inclement weather. Since I haven't had need for cold calling businesses in quite some time, they would at least get some good use on rainy days during my journey.  And Antwerp offered just that.

Once we dropped off our packs in prison, I mean the hostel, it was time for the first bar of the day.

Time to try some authentic, craft Belgian beer which we had never heard of.

So we explained the Belgium Beer Tour to our waitress.

"Hello.  We are from America.  We are on a mission to try the best beers Belgium has to offer."

"Very good," she said. "What kind of beer do you like?"

"Every kind."

"Oh."

And then to be helpful instead of sassy we went into the styles of beers, colors preferred, tastes, amount of bitter or hoppiness preferred, etc., to help them find their idea of what we are looking for.

And she did great! Two new beers neither of us had tried before!

Luckily, we snacked on a waffle before we had that beer.  True Belgian waffles have sugar pockets mixed into the batter so when you bite into it, ooohhhhhh man are you rewarded with ooey gooey deliciousness. We tried one with chocolate also.  It was too rich for my tongue.

Time to go see the old part of the city.  The section with the large town square.  Maybe a church or two.

The rain came just as we thought.  It encouraged dryer activities such as going to other bars on our list. We showed our list of 100 Belgian beers that were the highest rated to the bartenders.  They were always interested in what we were looking for.  Some even recommended we go to their competitors.

They took their beer just as seriously as we did.  That is when we knew we made the right choice in trips.

Here's what we tasted that day:

1. Grimbergen Blonde
2. Jessenhofke Biere de Garde
3. Noir de Dottignies
4. Trappistes Rochefort 8
5. De Koninck
6. St. Bernardus Abbey Ale ABT 12
7. Duchesse de Bourgogne
8. Boon Oude Geuze
9. Bourgogne des Flanders

Belgium + 1 Week = Beer Lover's Dream

Last week, a good friend of mine who I have known since I was 13 years old met up with me for a planned week away from our families.  For what purpose? To enjoy the fruits of a Belgian monk's labor, so to speak.

Really, that statement is too limited in scope.  Never, ever in our wildest beer geek dreams would we limit a week's worth of beer testing to only the Trappist Abbeys so popularly known for their liquid money-maker all over the world.  Instead, this trip was a specially designed mission to learn about the culture, the history and the people of Belgium... through one glorious week of brewery tours and bar hopping.

You see, my friend is the reason I got into brewing. I remember vividly the first time we brewed a batch in his old St. Louis home.  The art was foreign to me.  It was like an initiation into a sacred ritual, one I came to respect and honor.

I believe to a certain degree my friend views brewing in a similar fashion.  There is something eerily satisfying about watching your yeast swirl around in a 5-gallon carboy (19 Liters) while it eats every available microscopic molecule of sugar, converting it to a much prized alcohol.  Its reaction creates a foam head that slowly bubbles through a safety lock to keep out contaminants.  I believe home brewers gain something from their hard work besides excellent beer.  It's a feeling of content, of happiness that you hand crafted something that can so easily go wrong.

Through their own trials and tribulations at home, home brewers learn that excellent beer is something to be respected and since myself and my buddy had never done one of those "post high-school international trips" to see the world and learn valuable life lessons, we thought, "Why not commemorate our 30th birthdays this year by engaging in a beer tour of Belgium?"

And so we did just that.  Sleeping in hostels, walking several miles around each city each day, brewery tours, sight seeing tours, cathedrals, museums, bars and restaurants.

Amsterdam, Netherlands first.

Then a train ride into Belgium to see Antwerp.

Ghent.

Brugge.

And finally Brussels.

Some days we were victorious.  Others, we were conquered.  That week, we lived a beer lover's dream.