Rome Day 1 & 2

The Eternal City

Rome Day 1-2

Day 1

We have arrived in Rome. She is beautiful, gritty, noisy, crowded, ancient, modern, and we love her!

Leaving Florence was sad for me because it is a mostly lovely city and I have grown fond of her. Our departure was marred by my being scammed at the train station on our way to Rome. Prior to this day we had been largely left alone by the hustlers, gypsies and other perhaps unsavory folks that hang out at ALL the train stations in this country and most likely our own. We moved confidently and assertively and had gotten really good at waving street vendors away with the flick of a hand, as you would an annoying gnat. But this day we had our luggage and that is like waving a red flag at a bull to a con-artist. We have learned to buy our train tickets at the machines very well....only this day we had to take several trains to our final destination, so as I was perusing my options a young man swooped in and started pressing buttons telling me in very good but accented English that I didn't have to pay full price. He waited until I had put my credit card in to the reader to step forward and then just started pressing buttons. The next thing I knew I had train tickets and he was hurrying us to the platform, obligingly carrying our luggage. Only he took us to a platform that did not have a train coming in soon so no one was there. Leah's spidey senses were sounding 5-alarms. At this point he tried to demand payment for his services. Leah already had 5€ out for him but he wanted 10€ each. And that's when I got pissed and I told him he could take 5€ or take nothing....he got a bit pushy and I stared at him and said NO! pretty sharply and he took off. Of course we were on the wrong platform so we had to schlep all our stuff to the right platform and board our first train...and that's when I discovered he bought the wrong tickets!!! So I'm out 100€ but felt it was a great lesson learned and therefore worth the cost. I just hate that it ruined the end of the first half of our trip.

We arrived at our apartment mid-afternoon, settled in to our respective rooms, freshened up a bit and made our way to the Coliseum for dinner and an evening tour. All of us have seen pictures of the ruins but to see them up close, to touch the brick and walk through the lower passages at night is unforgettable. (And if you

believe in that sort of thing, you couldn't help feeling it was haunted, we were not alone!) I cannot express how wondrous it was. And very sobering to learn that in its heyday, tens of thousands of animals were slaughtered in the arena annually for sport, not to mention the human suffering designed to entertain not just the emperors, legislators or the wealthy, but the average Roman as well. They could enjoy the mayhem for free...it was public entertainment for the masses. However, the structure itself is impressive and has withstood so much to still be standing as the icon of Rome itself.

Our tour finished and being very tired we headed home....only to discover that the last train to our stop was canceled. Unfortunately

we did not know that until we arrived at the station we needed to make our transfer....what to do? I have posted a picture or two that shows Italian military with weapons at many major venues, train stations and certainly the airport (they were ALL OVER Florence) and they were at our station as well. We approached asking for a taxi stand...they pretended to not understand but they did...and eventually told us there was no taxi service....um okay. It's 11:00 pm, I've had a really busy day, I'm tired, still pissed off at the con-artist, the battery on my phone is dying, I have no idea where I am and I cannot speak the language. What to do? We decide to head to a hotel and ask them to call a taxi...but as fate would have it as I was about to walk in to the foyer of the hotel Leah was able to flag a taxi down. The driver was the nicest man, a little gruff, but I think it was out of concern for us. But he got us to our apartment quickly and we were extraordinarily grateful. Lots of lessons learned today!

Day 2

We slept in as we were very, very tired...and when I woke up I felt hungover and all I wanted was coffee....and our apartment does not have a coffee maker...and the coffee bar downstairs is closed because it's Sunday...oh damn the day was not starting well. A long hot shower, two bottles of water, clean clothes, makeup done and out the door. We had a tour group to meet at 2:00 but ALL I cared about was getting my caffeine fix. (my closest friends can attest to the fact that I am queen of the *itches until appropriately caffeinated...and I'm not sorry about it either). We found a cafe close to our meeting spot and as we sat down (I barely had my butt in the chair) I requested a cappuccino from the waiter. He looked at me like I was crazy because it was noon...the Italians seldom, if ever, drink coffee after breakfast unless it's after dinner. It took a couple tries for me to convince them that it really was in everyone's best interest to make me a cappuccino. Once I had my coffee, life was grand....one serving of bruschetta with some lasagna and life was perfect!!! Post lunch gelato and I was in heaven.

We met our tour group at the appropriate time though it was freaking hot....Arizona in August hot...so we were beyond relieved to see air conditioned busses waiting for us.
The tour today was of crypts and catacombs. And it was fascinating. We went to three different sites for this tour. The first site was my favorite. The catacombs are on the outside of the ancient roman walls as the dead were not permitted to be buried inside the city walls. We headed down several flights of stairs in to almost complete darkness. There were very dim lights every 25 yards or so and our guide had a flashlight but it was not easy to see too far ahead and I imagine you could get very easily lost. It was so interesting to see thousands of niches carved out of the limestone and know that bodies had been placed there. The most touching thing to me was to see how many of these niches were for children. Well over HALF of Roman children during the second century AD did not live past 10 years of age. Nor were the people then very tall...primarily due to diet...they subsisted entirely upon grains...no protein, no growth. I have no photos as picture-taking was expressly forbidden at this site and at the other

two as well. Some things are still sacred.

Next stop was a church close to the center of the city dedicated to St. Clement. But the novelty of this site is that it sits on multiple levels of Roman history. The church itself is beautiful and was built in the 1200's but is considered recent because the levels below are from the 4th, 2nd and 1st centuries. The 4th century level is actually a church...and very pretty one too. The 2nd century level was the most fascinating as it was from the time period of the Mithra religious cult that flourished in this time in Rome. The 1st century level was very simple and scholars believe it may have been an apartment (insula) of sorts, or a granary, or an armory...they really don't know. Back up the stairs in to daylight I was able to take one picture provided I stood in the doorway...my camera (phone) could not be inside the church.

Our final stop was at the capuchin crypt. The Capuchins are an active order of the Franciscans to this day. They did have a macabre way of showing their brotherly love by using their dead brothers' bones to make religious art. The practice has been banned since the mid-1800's when Italy was finally unified as a country. Seems the first king thought using human bones as religious art would not been seen in a very good light around the world. The law is so explicit that TO THIS DAY if any of the bones are dislodged they have to be buried...they CANNOT be reattached to the original bone sculptures. This was my least favorite site. I'm really sure the Capuchins care not one iota for my opinion, and I KNOW in my heart their practices were from brotherly love, but I found it offensive. Leah did not.

(As a side note, be careful with whom you stand with during a tour....one guy had some serious digestive issues going on and he just kept moving around the group...kinda crop dusting the entire

time....some times quietly and sometimes a little more noisily...no that was not Gabriel's trumpet!!)

After our tour we walked to Trevi Fountian and it was mobbed! However I did not fly 10,000 miles to see Rome and her treasures and NOT make a wish in the fountain. I've gotten very good at not being polite and saying "scusi" all the time. No one hears it and no one cares. So I just barged my way forward and dropped my coin in to the fountain and whispered my wish. It's an amazing sculpture but wow was it busy!

Next we found a great little cafe tucked away down a not so busy street where I enjoyed spinach ravioli and a glass of wine. We shared our table with some other Americans and compared our trips. We all agreed it has been life-altering.

And tonight we were smart, we took a taxi all the way home!

Ciao