Day 2 Rome

I had hoped we would wake up early today and see a few sights before meeting JoAnne at the train, but it wasn't going to happen. We were so tired. After 11+ hours of sleep we got up leisurely and went to breakfast. The hotel had a nice mix of scrambled eggs, sausage, hard boiled eggs, cereals, yogurt, fruit, rolls and sweet croissants. Sliced meats and cheeses, assorted juices and an espresso/cappuccino/coffee machine were all available. After breakfast, we headed to Termini to meet JoAnne's train. Since we had no means of communication, we made our best guess of which train she would be on based on how long it took us to go from FCO to the station. As it turns out, she missed the train we thought she would be on because the ticket seller shorted her a ticket. He gave her change, but no ticket. She tried to argue the point with him, but he wouldn't have it. She had to buy a second ticket. In the meantime, the train came and went. So we waited the 20 minutes for the next train, and there she was!

We brought her back to the hotel the long way (I made a wrong turn) and after she checked in, dropped her bags in our room because hers wasn't ready, we headed back to termini to catch the 110 hop on hop off (HOHO) tour bus. There were a number of different bus companies, but we chose the 110 because it was the cheapest (16 euro each) had the most stops and ran every 15 minutes. Everyone else touring Rome that day made the same choice. I think had we known. I would have left Rick to stand in line and brought JoAnne to and from the hotel. But since we didn't do that, we waited over an hour and four or five buses before we could board because the line was so long. A lesson learned. Then we found out that on Sundays, the route changes and we had to get off two stops early to go see the Colosseum. Turns out they close the road to all vehicles so pedestrians can walk around. In other words, it was the busiest day to tour the Colosseum. The HOHO bus gave out free headphones and a map of all the stops when you get on. We grabbed three sets of headphones and one map for the three of us. The jack for the headphone allowed you to dial a language and the volume. The talks seemed to be triggered and it only spoke when we were near something. I thought it started either too early or too late for it to correspond to what you wanted to look at. It was tough to take photos without part of the bus or someones head showing up in the picture. I love the architecture of Rome and took quite a few photos of buildings. Most of them had gardens on the roof.

We got off the bus at the Victor Emmanuel monument, a place we would be back to many times over the next two days. We pulled out our trusty map and found our destination. On the way to the Forum (I've always wanted to say that!) we passed Trajan's column, inscribed with Trajan's military victories. It is located in an ancient marketplace from early AD and is in front of two churches, Santa Maria di Loreto and Santissimo Nome di Maria. We stopped at a cart and bought gelato. Not as good as the night before, but still yummy. We entered the forum at the first entrance we passed and used the Rick Steve's podcasts that we had all downloaded onto our ipods as our guide. JoAnne and I misread the instructions and map and didn't realize that we entered the opposite end from normal, so we went backwards through the Forum. This resulted in the podcast making no sense to us. Rick figured it out, but us girls didn't realize it until it was too late. Another lesson learned. We'll get a real guide next time! We left the forum and headed to the Colosseum. it was nice to be able to stop in the middle of the street and take our first photo of it, since the street was blocked off for pedestrians. The only vehicles seemed to be Caribinieri driving BMWs. It seems only amazingly well build good looking Italian men and women get to be Caribinieri by the way. Because we had purchased our multi-pass at the forum, we were able to bypass a very long line and walk right into the Colosseum. We aligned our podcasts and off we went on our self guided tour, in the right order this time! It was awe inspiring to realize the age of the building and who had walked in our same steps before us. Julius and Augustus Caesar, Nero, Cicero, Antony and Cleopatra! Sophia Loren! Pavarotti, the Pope! Not to mention just about every other famous or infamous person, historical or current. We took lots of photos from every angle. The Rick Steves podcast for the Colosseum was an improvement over entering and just walking around ourselves, but I think a live guide to ask questions would have been better. (Next time.) After that we decided we needed a pick-me-up and found a little place with cappuccino for 1 euro each. Used the bathrooms and off we went again.

Next stop was the Pantheon. With the exception of the Victor Emmanuel Monument and the Colossuem, finding things in Rome is tricky because they seem to all be off little side streets. We followed signs and passed some interesting little shops and piazzas before arriving at the larger Piazza where the Pantheon was. It is hard to believe this building has been around since about 125 AD. It is impressive and amazing. There were lots of Egyptian obelisks in Rome, including one in the Piazza here. The Piazza was really crowded, but you could tell it was a really nice place with shops and cafes. The Caribinieri here were on motorcycle, dressed in tight pants and high boots. I don't think a movie about Rome could have cast them any better! The Pantheon stole the show though. Huge columns of the portico lead to huge doors that beckoned you inside. And then you immediately look up. Yeah we have all seen the same dome with oculum in lots of modern buildings. But to realize they engineered this back before computers, calculators and even slide rules, without anything fancier than scaffolding and pulleys and buckets makes this one absolutely perfectly amazing! After you realize that your neck is starting to hurt, you lower your eyes and see the beautiful circular room you are in. It has gone from being a pagan temple to a Christian Church. There are niches all along the inside which in pagan days held statues of famous pagan gods. Now most of them contain Christian statues or are monuments to the dead. Victor Emmanuel himself is buried here, along with the artist Raphael.

From the Pantheon we headed to the Piazza Navona to see the Fountain of Four Rivers by Bernini and to have dinner and relax for a little bit. The fountain is supposed to be a huge representation of four rivers from the four continents known to man at the time, topped by a large Egyptian obelisk and is fed by water of the original Roman aqueducts. But just our luck, it was shut off and scaffolded in for restoration, so we couldn't see it. We could peek through some plastic and use our imagination, but that was about it. Oh well, next time. Piazza Navona is so perfectly Italian. A beautiful church, the basilica Sant'Agnese in Agone, lots of little cafes, artists selling their wares, street musicians, beautiful old apartment windows with crooked colored shutters and flowers in planters. We saw a bride and groom having their portrait done by a street artist. We had dinner at a cafe that would have had a perfect view of the fountain, had it been on! I had cannolini stuffed with ricotta and spinach and a glass of the local red wine. Fantastico! Rick and JoAnne both had tortalini carbonera and a beer. I made the better dinner choice. We walked off dinner by wandering around the piazza. There was another fountain at one end, also by Bernini, but it was on a much smaller scale. Once we made it back around to where we started, we stopped into a shop for gelato for dessert: chocolate and tiramisu for me, caramel cream for Rick and coconut and chocolate for JoAnne. These were the best gelato yet! We were ready to find the nearest HOHO bus stop and take a night ride through the city to get back to the hotel. Unfortunately, at some point on our wanderings since arriving at Piazza Navona, I lost the map that listed the stops. And no one seemed to be able to help us. So our only choice was to head back to where we got off the bus, at the Victor Emmanuel monument. It wasn't as interesting heading back as it was getting to where we were going. But once there we found the monument lit up and took some photos. Another thing they have all around Rome are small water fountains that you can drink from or fill your water bottles. At the bus stop a woman who was walking her dog stopped at one and her dog took a drink. I really like these little fountains and we used them a lot. Today had been in the 80's (someone said it had hit 90F) and having access to water was a plus. We saw quite a few HOHO buses go near by, but it took a little while for one to stop. After we got on, we put on our headphones and listened to the rest of the tour. They mentioned a stop near Piazza Navona, which might have been closer, but most of the stops were on a main cross road and the things you wanted to see a few blocks away, so I have no idea where that stop was relative to the Piazza. We crossed over the Tiber and drove past St. Peters and Vatican City, which was on our agenda for the next day. We took a few photos of it at night and kept going. They talked about the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, but you couldn't see either from the bus. We stayed on until we got back to Termini station, then walked the few blocks back to the hotel. By this time JoAnne had enough and needed her sleep. Rick and I stopped at the room, refreshed ourselves and then headed back out, looking to find Trevi fountain. This is when it became obvious to me that Rome was built on seven hills. I felt like I was in San Francisco at times. The fountain is huge. And one sided, which I didn't expect. there is a little amphitheater in front of it where people sit and admire the fountain. There were tons of people there, but not so much that we weren't able to get right down to the edge of it and try and take some pictures and toss in my obligatory coin, which means I will get back to Rome sometime, as the lore goes. It is located, surprise!, in a piazza, with little cafes and bars. All of the side streets that lead to it are also lined with cafes and shops. Rick and I did a little shopping, buying soccer jerseys for him and a Ferrari tshirt for Bobby. I got a murano glass pendant necklace for myself that was going to go perfectly with my gown on the first formal night on the ship. We headed back to the hotel, showered and packed. Vatican and then on to the ship tomorrow!

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