Day 2 - Rome

             We landed in Rome today around noon.  At least at the airport, not much had changed in the last 20 year.  Our plane taxied and we exited right onto the tarmac where a shuttled took us to the terminal.  We had no problem navigating the terminal and exited right to the taxi queue.  Thanks to our Rick Steve’s guide book we knew exactly what to expect for our taxi cost to the center of Rome.  Lara got the front seat with the taxi drive as she tried to have a simple conversations with him as we took the 40 minute ride to our hotel.  It was amazing, her brain understood everything, as if she had never left.  It was a bit surreal hearing all that Italian and comprehending.  We had landed right during lunch and had forgotten that all the stores close for their afternoon break.  The streets felt a bit bare with the shops closed and people inside eating lunch.

            The taxi driver had no problem finding our apartment on Via Napoli just off of Piazza Republica and a 10 minute walk from Rome’s main train station Termini.  We were the last couple to arrive so gratefully the others had figured out how to get into our 4 bedroom, 2 bathroom apartment before we arrived.  This was by far the most economical and coziest accommodation we found for our entire trip.  It was a fun idea - instead of getting a hotel, we found an apartment we could share with a small family room, kitchenette and small washing machine.  It was white, cute, clean and comfortable.  It was on a quiet street with a convenient grocery store on one corner and a fruit stand on the other.  The Grahams and the Brunkens shared one bathroom and we share the other one with the Ludlows.  Eric and I slept in a small room on 2 roll-away beds and walked through the Ludlow’s room to get to the bathroom.  Since we were dealing with jet lag while in Rome, our sleeping patterns were off which meant there was lots of night time traffic though the Ludlow’s room to get to the bathroom. Good thing we are great friends.  It was nice that we would be here for 3 days and 3 nights.

            To ward off any temptation to take a nap Sara had booked us a bike tour of historical downtown Rome.  The thought of riding a bike anywhere in Rome was intimidating at first; although the center of town is small, the traffic is insane and it’s not a biker friendly city.  The traffic is erratic, there aren’t bike lanes, the streets are cobble stone, and the crowds are so thick sometimes that riding is impossible.  However, we were pleasantly surprised by this convenient and fun overview of the city.  Our English speaking guide was from Belgium and did a great job showing us the sights and explaining the history.  We even had time to stop and get our first gelato at Gelato de Teatro, which proved to be one of our favorite gelatos.

Lara biking in Rome

           We biked past the presidential palace, down the alleys to the Trevi Fountain (which unfortunately was closed for renovations), then to the Spanish Steps where we wandered up the steps and sat down like all the other hundreds of tourists there that day (we had to walk our bike through this area).  

Spanish Steps
Rich, Jodi, Lara, Eric, John, Katie, Sara, Jeff

We crossed the large Via Del Corso to Piazza del Colonna and the other governmental offices of the area.  We visited Piazza Navone and marveled at Bernini’s statues representing the 4 known continents of the time.  This fountain, along with the Trevi fountain, and many others are still powered by the aqueducts built by the ancient Romans.  We took a drink out of the public drinking fountain in the piazza.  We soon learned how wonderfully fresh, cool, and available Roman water is.  No wonder they ruled the modern world for hundreds of years.  

Lara drinking for the awesome Rome water

After Navone we went to the Pantheon, but because of Mass we were unable to enter the ancient church.  Then we biked passed a few ancient areas of Rome including the Torre Argentina, also called the cat cemetery, where it is now believed Julius Caesar was murdered rather on the steps of the Senate at the Forum.  We saw the staircase Michelangelo designed leading up to the Piazza del Michelangelo.  We paused in Piazza Venezia and enjoyed the fact that the piazza was closed to traffic because of a protest that was just getting organized.  We saw the monument to Victor Emmanuel and the eternal flame and looked at Mussolini’s porch.  After a short ride up the street past Hadrian's Market, the Forum, and The Coliseum in the distance we headed into the trendy Monte neighborhood and back to the bike shop which gratefully was only a couple of blocks from our Apartment.  Luckily, we had all stayed on our bikes and no one was hit by a car, although a taxi came pretty close to Lara.

            That night we enjoyed dinner on Via Urbino in the Monte neighborhood as suggested by our bike tour guide.  It was our first experience dining Italian style which included the customary, “no one at this table drinks wine, or coffee” followed by an incredulous look.  The 2 hour meal was a welcome, relaxing break from the heat, crowds, and exhaustion of the day.  We quickly learned who likes their water “al naturale” or “gassato” and we developed the expectation that dessert must either be ordered at the restaurant or a gelato ordered at a nearby gelatoria every night, or on some nights both.  We learned that sharing a meal with our spouses and friends was a better way to taste several dishes and not spend hundreds of dollars at every meal; although it didn’t always prevent us from over eating.  Several times we confused the waiter by our random ordering as he didn’t know in which order to bring out our plates.  A few time some of our group got their entire meals before others had even been served their appetizer.

            After an exhausting day we collapsed in our beds, only to be woken up by jet lag at 3:00 a.m.