Hadrian's villa

Yesterday morning we got up and caught a train to a Tivoli train stop about 15 miles outside of town. The day before I had asked the desk guys how one gets to Hadrians Villa. This was clearly an unprecedented request, as only the native italian had any idea of what I was talking about. I got off the rail stop and found a deserted station that didnt even sell tickets. I asked a shopkeeper and he told me to catch a bus down the street. We eventually found the bus, and took it to Hadrians Villa (villa adriana). The area was an ancient roman resort town and Hadrian was an emporer who built himself a villa there. Its out in the countryside, very picturesque and rural. The villa is ruins, but very interesting and expansive. Many of the arcades dome and arches still stand. I really wish I could have seen it at its full glory. After that, we ate at a pizzaria and I tried to find Villa D'Este, a renaissance villa world renowned for its fountains and gardens. We caught the bus again and took it up to a hill town I had seen in the distance, Tivoli. The villa was nothing spectacular, but the waterworks were amazing. There were grottos everwhere, water everywhere, fountains of all fantastic shapes, even a line of 100 faces spewing watter from a mossy wall. Caught the bus home to roma for gnocci for dinner. Dissapointingly it tasted like chef-boy-r-dee.