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Colosseum
Jean and Cope in the Colosseum After a 6 hours train trip from Giulianova on the Adriatic Coast, up to Ancona and then west and south across the beautiful mountians that look a lot like Colorado we found ourselves in the crowded Termini train station in Roma. Going from the seaside to downtown Rome was a feeling much like Alice in Wonderland must have had when she fell through the rabbit hole ;-)
Lots of noise, lots of people scrambling, we were back in the big city for sure. We decided to take a taxi to our hotel which was quite a ways south of Rome so...out to the street and into a taxi from hell
Our driver was quite a good looking Italian with a LEAD foot (as all the cabs are). He regaled us with his opinions on George Bush and Obama as he whipped around traffic circles and plowed through red lights! Fortunately, I was in the back seat so poor Cope got the brunt of the political discussion as well as the front seat on the "roller coaster" Cope will never be the same again...but what a ride for just 42 Euros...Geez...maybe the metro would be better next time, but Pasta Lunch
Dave, Sharon, Jean and Cope not half the adventure!
Our hotel is just about a 1/2 miles from the metro station so we're in a hood position for hopping on the metro and seeing Rome. We walk down a hill (have I mentioned stairs and hills before;-), then go under a traffic bridge, cross a major street where traffic sorta stops, and head up another hill to the metro stop. Along the way we pass, what is now... "our" pizza place where Dominco Petrelli is the supreme owner. When asked what was on a pizza, he began oinking like a pig...we get it... pork sausage... He keeps telling us, very louding in Italian with one or two English words thrown in, that his pizza is the BEST in Roma and...it is half the price of buying it in downtown Rome. Well, the price is certainly right, but the BEST, well...;-) But he is soooo fun and sooo loud, that we went back the next night too.
So...Sharon and Dave are back with us after going north to Lake Maggiore and to the coast to the Cinqueterre region. All of us hopped on the metro and headed for the Colosseum, the Roman Forum and Palentine Hill. If you're interested take a look at all of them on the internet. Ruins, ruins, ruins, that I won't spend time going into detail about here but... fascinating and beautiful.
We found a Bar Circus Maximus for lunch on the street and loved it so much we went back two days in a row for pasta at lunch time. We have altered our eating habits here as dinner is around 9 pm for the Italians and we're fast asleep by then ;-) so ... we eat our main meal at lunch time and then just have a snack of cold pizza in the evening.
Today, we were able to go to the Spanish Steps... Steps that connect the Spanish Embassy with the church on the hill above it. We were able to also go to American Express and pick up new credit cards for Cope and Dave. Then we walked past all the high end shops like Prada, Valentino,
Yves St. Laurent, no purchases here ;-) and on to the Trevi Fountain which is magnificent and while we were there it was empty and being cleaned..oh my...bummer. Then on to see more churches and wonderful architecture. Finally another great pasta lunch and the metro back "home". One more day left... I'll finish this tomorrow after we go to Vatican City.
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