On an evening in Roma

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Geo: 41.8955, 12.4823

It was, of course, raining when we left Florence this morning. I used to have pretty good travel karma, but this trip has been pretty crap weather-wise.

Because of EU regulations, Rene now has to have 48 hours off without driving passengers. As a result, we had a different bus (far less leg room) and an Italian driver. And he drove like an Italian. (During the last 45 minutes, I honestly thought I was going to yack. I was really glad to see the Piazza della Repubblica in Rome because it meant I could get off the bus.)

At our rest stop in the morning, I found something in a coffin freezer called a Moccaccino. It looked like a takeaway coffee cup with a plastic lid, and the picture on the side showed someone with a straw. I figured I'd try it (even though it was partially frozen), and it wasn't too bad. I'm still kind of dying for a mocha (or someone mentioned yesterday an iced chai latte), but the Moccaccino made me happy.

When we got to Rome, it was sunny! And warm too. We are staying at the Hotel Nardizzi, which is just down the street from the Aberdeen, where I stayed in 2004, so at least I kind of know the neighborhood. Lest we get too happy about the sunny weather, we found that our hotel is on the fifth floor and the elevator was broken. Fortunately, there is a service elevator, and
the hotel manager commandeered it for our suitcases.

My room is large and home to a wriggly-squiggly in the bathroom, which at least I was able to kill without assistance. The ceiling is really high, and ... I've also got a bidet! First one of the trip.

As soon as I was able to, I put a bunch of dirty clothes in my shopping bag, and Reid showed some of us where a full-service laundry is. A little Bangladeshi guy runs it, and I was able to drop off my laundry for a wash and dry for only seven euros. I'll pick it up tomorrow. (I later found out that Sheree and Sandy weren't around when Reid was showing us how to get to the
place, so they asked the hotel manager for a recommendation. Where he sent them, it cost twenty euros for a load!)

I went to Bar Oscar on the way back to the hotel and got a sandwich and a Fanta. They've
remodeled since I was last there. I spotted Sandy, Sheree and Lisa in the dining room, so I sat with them. We are all looking very tired and dazed. I'm excited to be in Rome, but I'm looking forward to doing not much of anything once we get to the Cinque Terre.

The group met again at 2:30 and took the Metro to St. Peter in Chains church. I remember
Ms. Moore taking us there in 1985 to see Michelangelo's statue of Moses. I took a photo of it then with my little 110 camera, and it's kind of hard to tell what the subject of the photo is. I'm hoping my digital camera will take a better image. It's an interesting statue: because of a mistranslation in the Bible, Michelangelo depicted Moses with horns. It was not unusual for a Renaissance artist to depict a Jew with horns, but in this case art scholars are pretty sure
Michelangelo was working with the mistranslation and not with any anti-Semitism. Anyway, the statue shows the moment just before Moses freaks out on the Israelites and breaks the stone tablets. His finger is twisting in his beard, and he looks like he's about to launch himself out of his chair. There's no rage shown on his face, but it is definitely about to burst from beneath the surface. The church also houses below the altar the chains that supposedly held St. Peter.

Then we walked to the Colosseum to meet Francesca, our local guide. I had her in 2004 too, and she's terrific. She brings all that ancient Roman stuff to life. We did the Colosseum, the Forum and the Pantheon. I don't think I've really been in the Pantheon before. It's an enormous space, and it must have awed the ancient Romans. The dome on it was (maybe still is) the biggest concrete dome in the world. Michelangelo was so impressed by the dome that he made his own dome at St. Peter's just a little bit smaller so that the Pantheon's dome would still be the biggest. When it rains, the rain pours through the oculus in the top of the dome; there are little drains in the floor. Someone must have just gotten married inside because there were little girls running around in white dresses trimmed with flowers.

We wandered around the fountain outside for a bit (men playing bass, sax and accordions)
and then went to dinner nearby at Miscellanea. The owner, Michelangelo, is a big guy who is enamored of the United States. He's got several American flags inside, and he was wearing a USC Trojans t-shirt. When Reid was telling us about “Michi,” he said that sometimes the women on his tours are disappointed when they don't get pinched by the Italian men. Reid said that we women would probably not be pinched by Michi ... but some of the men might be!

We were served with bruschetta, big salads (which I think we all devoured), pizza, wine, and water. I didn't care much for the pizza: the sauce was too sweet. For dessert we were given vanilla ice cream with cream and a strawberry on top, followed by fragolino. Fragolino is a sparkling strawberry wine and is known (at least at Miscellanea) as “sexy wine.” Someone at my table asked Michi why it was called sexy wine. I wasn't really listening to the answer, but the next thing I knew, he had pulled my sleeve above my shoulder and was either kissing or
licking my shoulder! Sounds disgusting, but it was actually pretty hilarious. I think Lisa managed to get a picture of it; I'll have to ask her. When we finally left, Michi insisted on kisses (on the cheek) from everyone, including the men. And he also slapped Kevin on the butt. Hee!

Then we went for our night walk across Rome, stopping at the Fountain of the Four Rivers, Trajan's Column, the Trevi Fountain (yes, I threw in a coin), and the Spanish Steps. It was a nice walk, but we were all so tired. Didn't get back to the hotel till after 11:00.

I can't quite figure out how to close my window all the way, so I'm getting tons of noise from Via XX Settembre. I guess it's a good thing I'm so worn out!

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Photos

Angel
St. Peter in Chains Church

Where Caesar's body was cremated
Inside the Forum

The dome of the Pantheon
You can see the sun moving around the oculus

Trevi Fountain
I have yet to get a really good photo of this.