Slept fairly well last night. I woke up around 3 am, which still felt like 8pm to me, but was able to get back to sleep until around 6:45. I was about to pee myself, I was so excited about what the day would bring.
Took a shower in the smallest shower ever. EVER. Seriously, do they think that tourists are midgets? Every time I would try to move or scrub my hair, I would invariably jab my elbow into the faucet knob and be bombarded with scalding hot water. The next 10 minutes were spent switching back from the hot and cold water I kept hitting. I eventually just opted to turn the water off while I was sudsing up and then turn back on to rinse. Worked out much better that way.
Our buffet breakfast was all carbs and dairy. Which is pretty much how it would be for the whole trip. But, at least it was free and very tasty! At this hotel, we got a big puffy roll thing that we slathered with cheese, butter, jellies, honey, nutella or whatever we were feeling like at the moment. I tried one of their cakes and it was okay, despite the layer of gelatin on top. At least I think it was gelatin.....
The breakfast room.
The weather was very nice, albeit a bit chilly at 9 in the morning. But, the sun was shining for our first day in Rome, and we couldn't have asked for better in early March. The southern part of Rome was on our agenda for today, so we opted to take the Metro train straight down to the Colosseum. Besides St. Peter's and the Vatican, I think that the Colosseum ranked highest with sites I was most excited to see.
The Metro was very close to our hotel and easy to find, once I deciphered the map. I'll give Rome a break since these streets are older than our country, but seriously, get it together Romans. The Metro is an underground train that I'm guessing is very similar to the subway in New York (not that I've been there to know for sure). We decided on a day long pass for 4 Euros, thinking we'd come back home with it later in the evening. We felt pretty fancy schmany mingling with all the locals waiting for the train to show up. However, it was one giant clusterf*ck. There were people EVERYWHERE. I don't think Italians are an unfriendly group of people, but they're definitely not polite when it comes to your turn for the train.
We had to wait awhile due to the train we showed up for being too packed full of people. I'm not even sure how the doors closed. While waiting for the next train, I was guarding my purse with my life. I was a big nerd and opted for the money belt route, just to keep my valuables safe, but my camera was inside my purse and I did not want to lose that bad boy. I made a comment about it getting squashed in the mad dash, and realized it was probably not a good idea to mention the word "camera" with so many people around. So, we came up with a code word for my camera.
Codename: Turtle
Why? I have absolutely no idea. It was the first thing that popped into my head and it stuck. So, for two weeks, I was constantly talking about my turtle and how I had to protect it. We're so weird.
Anyways back to the Metro. We eventually made it on and had to make a connecting train, but we did it with little problems. Even though everything was in Italian, we figured it out. We're rockstars. After getting off at the Colosseo stop, we emerged from the tunnel and BAM, there it was. The Colosseum. In all of it's massive glory. I didn't really know what to say. Am I really standing on the street, watching cars whiz by, staring at a symbol of Rome's ancient glory?
Someone pinch me. Please.
Colosseo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We're pretty damn excited to be here!
Inside the Colosseum.
We made the decision to go inside first and then hit Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum afterwards. Our admission to one was good for all three. We quickly realized that coming to Italy at this time of year was the best decision we could have made. The line was ridiculously short and we weren't smothered with oppressive heat or obnoxious tourists. We had time to walk up the stairs (which were ridiculously shallow but tall as hell...I thought ancient Romans were tiny?), and look around at some of the art and history pulled from the Colosseum, before we walked into the ring.
Mosaic inside the Colosseum.
Being silly.
And then, we headed inside!
I'm here, I'm here, I'm here!!!
Seriously, I'm standing INSIDE the Colosseum right now.
The pictures really don't do it justice at all.
This is history, people.
This is NOT Photoshopped!! :)
First thoughts? This thing is massive, yet for some reason I thought it would be even bigger. Don't get me wrong, the damn thing was enormous. People on the opposite side were just little ants scampering about. But, it didn't take us long to walk around part of it, and I think I just envisioned it being a bit bigger. Weird, I know. We took time to do the customary photo shoots, walked all the way around to what we were allowed to do and spent a few minutes just soaking up the culture. I ran my hands over the stones, thinking about how many thousands of people over thousands of years had touched those same stones.
This totally looks like a senior photo. Good grief.
Zoooooom in.
Old stones!
We look like gymnastics coaches! (I should explain. Our apparel for the flight consisted of black stretchy pants and our black jackets. Yes, all three of us looked identical. Even Brenda and I had unwittingly bought the same exact pair of pants from Kohl's for the journey. So, we cracked jokes about looking like a gymnastics teams. With those same jackets and jeans, we looked like the coaches!)
I probably could have stayed there all day just watching and listening. It's kind of mesmerizing, even in it's dilapidated state. But, the day was still early and we had a lot of Rome left to explore. After exiting, we ran into the Arch of Constantine, an arch Constantine had commissioned to exploit a recently won battle. Seems a bit extravagant, don't you think? "Hey, we killed a bunch of people to get more power. Let's build a giant arch. Yeah, that sounds like a great idea."
View of the Arch of Constantine from the deck of the Colosseum.
We couldn't really get too close, so we headed on over to Palatine Hill. There's lots of old buildings and ruins, so it's difficult to know exactly what we saw, but Palatine was the centermost of the seven famous hills of Rome. Mythology states that Romulus and Remus were found here, so that's why they decided to build Rome around these hills. And more historically, it was a fancier place for rulers and other privileged people to live. It was really pretty up there, and I can imagine what it would look like with the flowers in full bloom. We had great views of the city, and I can see why the schmancy people chose to live up there.
A courtyard in Palatine Hill.
A view of Rome from the top.
Old stones. I don't really remember what everything was!
The Roman Forum is connected to Palatine and to the naked eye, it just looks like a bomb site. Crumbling columns, battered roofs, you name it, but you have to look past that. This place was the hubbub of ancient Roman culture. There was so much to look at that it was a bit daunting. We looked around, got some great photos and then opted to leave. It was just so much to take in that we could have spent hours there. But again lots to see and do!
Roman Forum.
Roman Forum building.
Arch of Titus.
A tree on Palatine that I thought kind of looked like the head of a seahorse or a dinosaur.
We were pretty hungry at this point and we decided to try some cart food. Not the best of ideas. They had these little pizza things that were basically a circle of dough folded in half with tomato sauce and something inside. The guy kind of grilled it like a panini to warm it up. I got one with tomatoes and ham and I didn't think it was too bad. It wasn't super warm in the middle, but I ate the crap out of it. Nikki and Brenda were less than thrilled. But, at least we had food in our bodies.
Food is good!
We were almost right next to Il Vittoriano, the monument to Victor Emanuel II, that is not-so-fondly called the Typewrite or Wedding Cake by the locals. They seem to think of it as a monstrosity because it was built after removing ancient ruins in the late 1800s. In doing a bit of research, I found that it was built as a monument to Emanuel, but it was also a symbol of the unification of Italy. Think what you will of it, it's interesting to behold. We didn't go inside (it cost to get in), but seeing the outside was enough.
It was only noonish, and we had gotten through our list of things rather quickly. Next, we decided to walk across the Tiber River into the Trastavere neighborhood. There wasn't a lot of historical sites to visit here, but we had heard great things about the neighborhood as a whole. It's supposed to be more laid back and more typical of Roman culture than that of the rest of touristy Rome. I got us a bit turned around at first since the streets are very difficult to figure out. There is really no rhyme or reason to the way they were laid out. And streets change names without warning constantly. And those streets names aren't on signs on the corners. That would be too easy. No, they're carved into stones high up on the buildings and sometimes difficult to find. I eventually got us there though, after asking some military looking guys for directions, but not before buying our sexy priest calendars.
Yes, you read that right. Brenda's cousin had been to Rome before and said that they make calendars of attractive priests. They're fully clothed and in their religious garb, they just happen to be quite easy on the eyes. We weren't sure if we believed her or not, but lo and behold, it was true. And it was only 1 Euro. Score!
I currently have it hanging up in my office. It kinda freaks my coworkers out. :)
Crossing the Tiber River.
It was time for our daily gelato fix and found a cute little trattoria on some random street in Trastavere. The guy spoke some English, but we were able to figure out the flavors pretty easily. Good gelato shops had pictures or actual items on top of the gelato to show what it was. For example, fragola would have fresh strawberries on top to show that it was strawberry. I decided to go with that, but also add a half a cup of coconut to the mix. Mmmmmm...strawberry and coconut were delicious!!!
The Basilica of Santa Maria was a short distance from where we were, so we headed over there next to take a break in front of the fountains. And while there, we had our first run-ins with the local birds....pigeons. Everywhere. They were brave little bastards. For the moment, they were just walking around, until a group of high school boys thought it would be fun to scare the poo out of them and they started dive bombing everything in their sight. I thought I was going to get a pigeon to the face at any moment. Break over!
Santa Maria
We went into Santa Maria, one of the oldest churches in Rome and the first to be dedicated to Mary. Stunning. How can I describe in words what it was like to walk into some of these places? It's impossible. I hate to say you have to be there, but you really do. The art inside is just magnificent. This isn't just some random church either, but an intricately embellished symbol of the Catholic faith. A few popes are even buried here. It's very hushed and reserved inside, rightfully so, and I even feel a little uncomfortable at times being inside. I don't know why, but I just feel very humbled by the experience. We walked outside feeling slightly sobered by the experience and continue our journey through the quiet neighborhoods.
The floor was stunning.
And so was the ceiling.
Fountain outside with the evil "sky rats".
It's during this walk I buy my first real purchase (sorry sexy priest calendar, you don't count). A snazzy teal pashmina (scarf) from one of the shops dotting the streets. I can't decide right away, since it's only the first day, but the smart shopkeeper insists I put it on. Of course, I'm hooked and I fork over my money to him. But, I'm pleasantly happy with my purchase, as evident in nearly every single picture of me in Italy after today. I wore the shit out of that scarf!
Woooo!!! Pretty! :)
Some random graffiti art on a building.
Betty Boop graffiti!
A look down a typical street. No sidewalk and very little space for cars.
We were calling this the Gryffindor car because of the lion emblem (that's a Harry Potter reference!)
Bigger street heading back into Rome proper.
It's still early in the day, only around 2pm or so, and we're nowhere near the train station. We feel up to a walk, so we continue back north across the river to Campo dei Fiori, an outdoor market of fresh fruits and vegetables, flowers, dried pastas, spices, kitchen utensils and apparel. It seems to be a mix of stuff for locals and stuff for tourists. We unfortunately got there too late for the food, but we did stop by the apparel stand for Brenda to pick up a sweatshirt. The guy selling was not really going to let us leave without something, so Brenda haggled (kinda) him down before she bought it. I still wasn't sure if I wanted anything, so I passed. But not before he tried 5 more times to get Nikki and I to buy something. It was a wonderful market and I wish we had been there earlier to see everything up. I would definitely shop there if I lived close enough. There's nothing like fresh fruits and veggies!
We pressed on on foot to Piazza Navona, a large piazza placed where a stadium used to be. It actually has a larger arena than the Colosseum and as used for festivals and sporting events. It includes 3 large fountains, one of which is the Fountain of the Four Rivers. Brenda and Nikki had picked up some snacks, Brenda her first canoli ever. I think it was as big as her head. We were pretty tired and needed to rest our poor feet. It was a pretty lively square, but nothing too crazy. They did have some artists selling their wares and I regret not buying some authentic drawings of Roman architecture. Brenda did, but I just couldn't part with my money that easily. I was turned off by some of the mats being dirty. Oh well, what can you do?!
Italian pastries, yum!
Fontana del Nettuno
Cute shops inside Piazza Navona.
I had to try the cannoli too. That thing was massive.
There was a real person inside here. And he was looking for change. Sorry, buddy, I don't really think this performance deserves any payment.
By now we wanted to go back to the hotel, but there was no easy way to get there except to walk. We didn't want to really take any taxis and it wasn't really all that far anyway. The Trevi Fountain or Fontana di Trevi, probably the largest fountain in Rome, was on our way. I'm sure you've all heard the legend that if you toss a coin into the fountain, you will be guaranteed a return to Rome. Well, at this point in our day, it was crazy busy, and it was all we could do to get a photo of it. None of us really had any coins, so we opted to do that later on. We got a few photos before we decided to press on. We were getting ridiculously tired at this point.
It doesn't even all fit into my camera window frame.
Neptune, God of the Sea
Another photo op!
While trying to leave, we had somehow gotten ourselves trapped inside a sea of Asians. I don't want to be stereotypical, but we ran into a TON of Asian tour groups while we were in Italy. They would just come out of nowhere and take us over. It was a bit ridiculous. Considering a lot of them were shorter than my 11 year old niece, it was a bit odd.
We also got our first cat calls from Italians. I think Brenda got a "Ciao Bella, I Love You", while we all got a "Hi Lovelies".
I feel so special.
Upon leaving, we were approached by a younger guy carrying some small flyers and wearing a Cardinals hat. Wait, a what? I had to look closer, but yep, he was wearing a Cardinals hat. I think we all figured he was a scammer or just someone trying to sell us something, but we took the time to listen to his schpiel. He told us about the Colosseum Bar Crawl that was going on that night and the next. It's a great way for tourists to meet other tourists and enjoy the Roman night life. We thought he was full of hot air, but he gave us a website and review to check out. Apparently it's done in other major cities like London. It sounded interesting and we were definitely going to look it up online.
I had to ask about the hat, obviously, being from St. Louis. Apparently, he was from Toronto, and a Blue Jays fan, but he had been in Philly when he saw the Cards hat. He liked it and decided to buy it. Say wha? That whole sentence didn't make a lick of sense, but I didn't really care enough about the story to get more information.
Oh, and this guy's name? TAK, or as he said it: "T-A-MotherfuckingK...like Tic Tac". This was accompanied by a weird hand gesture. Um. Okay.
Listening to TAK's sales pitch.
Kind of a dark picture, but you can see the StL on his hat.
I seriously wanted to sit down at this point. My calves were on fire and I felt like my butt muscles were contracting in protest. But, we were so close to home. I somehow got designated as the map reader, so it was my job to get us back. I think that was partially because I'm a bit of a control freak and wanted to get us home. Nikki didn't want the job and Brenda said she was hopeless with maps, so I took the job. I only got us slightly turned around once, which resulted in a long walk through a creepy tunnel, but I got us back! And thus began the reign of the "Map Maven". (That was Nikki's nickname for me, and it stuck.)
Long tunnel! At least we went through it during the day.
Ahhh....time for a rest!
So, in planning this trip, I remembered that a fellow high school classmate had moved to Rome within the last two years. I hadn't really spoken to him in probably over 10 years, but I reached out to him anyways to see if he wanted to grab dinner. It was worth a shot, and I knew he probably hadn't seen any familiar faces since moving there, no matter how long-lost they were. We had decided to meet tonight, but I hadn't actually made any set plans. He e-mailed me his phone number and when I tried to call it, a recording of an angry Italian woman yelled back at me. I hung up, thinking I had dialed the wrong number. I tried again, and got the same thing. Hmmm...maybe I didn't dial out properly. I tried again and got a voice mailbox. I didn't hear a name, but I just left a message.
We napped and I waited awhile and thought I would try the number again. This time some guy answered and I said "Ryan"? Um, it was NOT Ryan, and this guy was NOT happy to be talking to me. WTF I went to Roberto and he tried dialing and it went through beautifully. No angry Italian lady and no angry boy who is not Ryan. Uh, what the eff am I doing wrong that I can't dial a damn telephone number? I was doing the exact same thing. I went back to my room determined to get it to work. I dialed very carefully and - this is the key - SLOWLY and holy crap, it worked. I actually got his fiance's voice mail! I guess you have to dial verrrry slowly in order for the phone to work!
While resting our poor feet, we experienced the wonder that is Italian TV. Since we couldn't understand most of the few channels we got, we mainly watched MTV all week. They tend to listen to a lot of the same music we do in the US, including Rihanna and Britney Spears (which they played over and over and over and over), but they also have a more diverse "international" flavor. Some Italians, some Brits and lots of effed up videos. One girl was objectifying men by showing them in speedos...brushing her hair....nailing fish to the wall and doing bicep curls with said fish. Don't ask me, but we became pretty familiar with these wacky videos!
We prepped for dinner and took the train the Spanish Steps or Piazza di Spagna to meet Ryan. We were a bit early and planned on doing some shopping, but most of the shops were closing and what was left was just pricey leather glove shops. Uh, yeah, I don't need gloves that badly! We took the time to look around the famous Spanish Steps and were approached by a guy holding flowers. He tried to hand me one and I told him no, not wanting to buy a damn rose. He assured me "no charge" and handed us each a rose. Uh, okay, whatever. He offered to take our picture, with me holding the entire bouquet. WTF. He then told us "just a few coins" and we realized he was expecting us to pay for the roses. We said no about 20 times, telling him he said no charge, all the while trying to give the flowers back. He kept insisting until we pretty much yelled at him and threw the flowers at him. He was not happy.
Us and our NOT free roses.
Waiting on Ryan.
We had some more time to kill, and unfortunately, we were approached by another dozen guys with those damn roses. At first, we were polite, then we turned to just straight up ignoring them, and eventually we started getting mean. I swear the same guys asked us more than once. But, since they all looked the same, who knows.
We were starting to get restless and almost left, considering Ryan was late and we had no way of contacting him. I remembered eventually that Ryan was always late in high school, so I opted to wait it out a few more minutes. I tried to describe what he looked like to B & N, but he's tall with brown hair. That's all I got. (We added the line "he wears t-shirts....sometimes" to that as well. If you've seen Can't Hardly Wait, it makes perfect sense. If you haven't, we just sound stupid.) While we waited, a couple wanted us to take their photo. The girl actually ended up being an American who will be coming to St. Louis this summer to do a summer program at WashU. What are the odds? Feeling sorry for us, her boyfriend let us use his cell phone to call Ryan's fiance. She assured us he should be there by now and a few minutes later, he showed up. He had miscalculated how long it would take to walk from the restaurant to the Spanish Steps.
Ryan got us completely lost walking to the restaurant and I kinda wanted to punch him because we had been walking all day. Seriously, my calves were on fire so much that I thought by the time I got home, they would be so sculptued I could chisel marble with them. I just wanted to sit the eff down. We finally found the restaurant, Recafe, and met Kate, Ryan's fiance, and some of their friends from DC, Patrick and Jennifer. They said this was their favorite pizza place in Rome and I was excited to try it out. I got the lasagna pizza with included tomatoes, mozzarella, ham and parmesan and I added mushrooms to it.
SOOOOO FLIPPING GOOD!!!
OMG, this pizza was fantastic. It could have been because I was hungry enough to eat my fist at this point, but it was soooooo good. Unfortunately, Italians do not like the concept of cutting the pizza for you, so we had to carve it up with a knife and fork. Not exactly the most graceful way to eat a pizza. I polished off the entire thing minus a few bits of the crust. What? I'm on vacation and I fully intended to eat as much as I damn well pleased. We of course got a bottle of wine and we enjoyed some great conversation.
After the meal, Brenda and Kate both got shots of limoncello, a type of vodka made with lemons. I had wanted to try it, but I wasn't sure what to expect, so I chickened out. It's a good thing I did. It was disguting. It tasted like a cross between a lemon drop shot and lysol. Blech. Brenda was a champ though and she liked it. I'm just glad I hadn't bought a small bottle of it earlier in the day like I wanted to!
This was not our to-go box! We all finished our pizzas. :)
Headed back to the train to go home and found it was closed for the night. I think I cried a little. My body was so sore from all the walking and now we had to walk even more. Including the entire spanse of Spanish Steps. But, we made it home in one piece and finally used the lift to get to our room. It barely fit the 3 of us, but at least we didn't have any more stairs!
View from the top of the Spanish Steps.
The elevator!!!
Kinda hard to see, but it was tiny!
It kinda looks like the water bottle is going up my nose. Thanks Nikki.
Ahhhh! Tiny scary elevator. Which wasn't really scary at all.
It was a fantastic first day in Rome. We saw so much and even though I walked more than I have in the last 6 months, it felt great to get out and see the city on foot. I drifted off to sleep with a huge smile on my face.
Oh, and the Italians use the word "Prego" A LOT! It means you're welcome and about 20 other different things. We, too, decided to use the word for just about everything.
How to tell the gymnastic coaches apart? Look for the one in the snazzy teal Pashmina scarf :)
ReplyDeleteI'm so jealous you have a sexy priest calendar and I don't! Also, you should know that you take some awesome photos with your turtle :) What a incredible day, LOVE the scarf!!
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