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Published: August 7th 2007
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Driving into Rome
Notice the bug splats on the windshield. Mmm. Another day of waking up ridiculously early and not wanting to get out of bed...seeing a trend here? The sun lured me slowly out from under the covers. A quick shower and packing job later, I was headed downstairs for breadfast. Bread and cornflakes. How novel! The thing that made up for the carb overdose was the coffee. Mmm. Italian coffee. When I was going back up to the room to get my bag after caffeinating myself, I walked through the little courtyard of the hotel, first amazed that it was so ridiculously warm at 7:30am, and second, looking around, totally content and thinking that life really doesn't get much better than this. Hopped on the coach and we took off, driving through a particularly boring stretch of road. We drove to one of the Contiki campsites, and all I could think was thank god I chose a hotel tour. I value my comfort too much. We were stopping here to drop Damian off for two days, as he needed time off. Pom Pom told us to be super nice to the new driver who would be joining us for our time in Rome. His name was Zoltan, from Hungary. He
Roma
Hanging out in Rome (Pom Pom, do you know where we're going?) was quiet and adorable. We were loud and boisterous in welcoming him onto the coach. I think he was slightly terrified 😊
Our service stop was at an Autogrill this afternoon, but a bunch of us went up to Burger King for a little taste of home. As long as I don't think about the money conversion rate and the fact that I paid about 11 bucks for a Whopper meal, it's all good. Back on the coach, Pom Pom wedged himself in, and proceeded to talk for almost an hour straight about Michelangelo, the Vatican, politics and the history of Rome. Really interesting stuff, especially what he told us about the frescos in the Sistine Chapel. I couldn't wait to see it with my own eyes. I was also totally impressed that he went on for so long without any notes in front of him. Good speaker, he is.
The TV at the service stop had said a high of 29°C in Rome for the day. Another hottie mchot day in Italy. It was kind of magical as we drove into the city. Even the modern parts of the city feel really old. We drove by all
Niiiiice
A street artist outside the Fendi store. sorts of neat places that Pom Pom pointed out to us. We were eventually dropped off (quite dodgily) at a stop on front of the tomb of...oh jeez, I don't remember. The history is kind of escaping me at the moment. It was neat, in any case. I loved - for the moment - the cobblestone streets, the mix of the modern with the ancient, and the architecture made me wonder how I was ever going to face going home with the multitudes of square, boring boxes with windows. Though I love where I live, it seemed so boring to look at, comparitively. We walked around town for a while, and Pom Pom took us to Trevi Fountain. It was gorgeous. Crowded and scary (I was white-knuckled from clutching my bag so tightly), but I threw some coins in and made my wishes and snapped some pictures. So cool to be there after having seen it on TV so many times. Afterwards, we kept walking, eventually ending up at the building that held the crypt of the Cappuchin Monks...made up of the bones of 4000 friars. They were piled into this small walkway, arranged in patterns, basically as a reminder
Trevi
So lovely. So crowded. of our mortality. The sign at the end of the crypt read "What you are now, we once were. What we are now, you shall someday be." It was totally creepy, but definitely cool.
The highlight of the day though, was when Pom Pom took us aside, huddled around him next to an unsuspecting magazine stand, and gave us another tidbit of history. As we followed him around the corner, all of a sudden, in the middle of modern Rome, was the Pantheon!!! Almost 2000 years old and still looking absolutely INCREDIBLE, inside and out. The fact that it's so old is secondary to the sheer beauty of the building. How they ever build that huge structure is beyond me. I was seriously stunned. I hadn't expected to blow me away as much as it did. Yay Roma! After about half an hour there, we walked to a little restaurant that also housed a dinner theatre. Had a nice little stage in the back. We had a nice buffet - risotto, salad, sandwiches, pasta, zucchini and some other dishes, plus I treated myself to a glass of chianti, because...wait for it...When in Rome :P
After dinner Pom Pom
Trevi Fountain
Making a wish or two took us to Piazza Navona, where we wandered around for a bit but kind of made a bee-line for the Gelati stand that he'd told us about. We crammed in there for the Contiki special. 2 Euro for two scoops. I got strawberry and Nutella. SOOO GOOD. Took our treats and people-watched as the sun went down. The piazza, however, was very dodgy. We saw people getting their fingers tied with string, we saw shady guys eye-ing the girls' bags...Jon secretly filmed those guys, making me very nervous for his safety, and eventually, we all met back up in our group and walked back to the coach. Our drive to the hotel was uneventful, and as we checked in, we were gently advised to have a quiet night since the next day was going to be a big one. There was another Contiki group staying at our hotel, and as I killed a little time before I went to bed, I realized how lucky we were to have such an awesome group. Every group has its own dynamic, and I definitely preferred ours.
zzzzZZZZ
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