Rome, if you want to

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Rome, Italy

Tickets to Rome from Florence were €84, again purchased from a machine in the train station. Our 2 hour train trip to Rome began on May 7 at 12:30 p.m. Tuscany again passed by at 90 mph, rows of brown, plowed fields and criss-crossed stripes of vines like lines of crosses over the fields. And those tall, proud cyprus trees. Yellow fields, cute little orange and yellow farmhouses with red tile roofs…it was typical Tuscany as always dreamed. I could almost smell the garlic and lemons cooking…

Bryan waiting in the Florence station for the train to Rome
Bryan waiting in the Florence station for the train to Rome
Carol on the train Florence to Rome
Carol on the train Florence to Rome

We were staying at Mecente Palace conveniently located near the train station and both red and blue metro stops. This hotel had a rooftop bar overlooking to the west, the Basilica de Santa Maria Maggiore and an awesome sunset.

View from Hotel Mecenate rooftop
View from Hotel Mecenate rooftop
Our room at Mecenate Hotel overlooking apartment buildings
Our room at Mecenate Hotel overlooking apartment buildings

Rome was far busier than Florence and light years from Venice. We bought 7-day train passes for €16 each to ease some of the long distance walking that we expected here.

Of course, we spent our days seeing the sites. We stumbled onto some sites–the Pantheon and Trevi Fountain. Others, we had to hunt for–the Roman Forum, Piazza Navona.

The Colosseum
The Colosseum

One of the first sites we visited was the Colosseum. It is spectacular to walk up and out of the subway into the shadow of the colossal Colosseum. Built in AD 72-80 to hold 50,000 people, it was abandoned 500 years later–becoming a fortress in the middle ages and a source of stone for other Roman buildings. Today, it sits there–in a roundabout practically–traffic racing around it and the subway running under it. The place is huge. But all that really remains is the bones of it. Only three-quarters of the outside structure still stands, with Doric columns on the bottom, Ionic in the middle and the fancy Corinthian up top. Inside, the seats are long gone and columns lay scattered here and there. The wooden floor is gone, revealing a plush green grass floor and a labriynth of stones marking what used to be underground passageways and chambers to hold prisoners, slaves and animals. The place spooked me. It’s hard to understand the sheer volume of people and animals who died here in cruel shows. During it’s opening 100 days and nights alone of “games”, thousands of gladiators battled to the death and over 5,000 animals were slaughtered.

The Colosseum floor
The Colosseum floor
Carol and Bryan at the Colosseum
Carol and Bryan at the Colosseum
The Roman Forum
The Roman Forum

Our next stop was Palatine and the Roman Forum. We roamed the area in the hot afternoon sun for some time before finding the forum…the streets of ancient Rome where Caesar once strolled and was assassinated. We were tired and sunburned by the time we got back on our colorful subway line and headed home.

The Spanish Steps
The Spanish Steps

 

The Spanish Steps were not quite what I expected. The fountain is at the bottom and there is a grand series of steps to the top–where there is a French church and a fabulous view. People sat there in the sun–watching, waiting, wooing…we saw it all. A teenage boy feeding a teenage girl strawberries just after he put a spray of Cool-whip-from-a-can on them. A flirty woman with a drawer full of make-up on who had stripped down to her camisole (and rolled it up), leggings and bare feet to catch some rays (or guys?) and who photographed herself repeatedly and slowly added layers as the sun went down–including over-the-knee, 5-inch stiletto heeled boots. A man walking among all the people, looking at the girls. A woman with a white sweater set, turquoise scarf and matching turquoise leather bag and notebook–sitting there gazing at the domes of Rome. A guy with a guitar singing loudly and badly. An old Asian couple picking apart the petals of a rose as a friend photographed them. Another elderly couple popping a bottle of champagne and pouring it into paper cups as they sat there under their matching khaki hats. Austrians and young girls with heart-shaped sunglasses filled water bottles at the fountain. Old men sitting on the fountain side in trenchcoats talking in Italian at a brisk, yet quiet clip. And all the while, there was this smell of roasting chestnuts coming from street vendors. It was a fascinating place to sit, enjoy the sun and the site, and people watch.

Trevi Fountain
Trevi Fountain
Carol and Bryan at Trevi Fountain
Carol and Bryan at Trevi Fountain

We heard Trevi Fountain long before we found it. I never expected to see it attached to a massive building. It is the size of half a football field. Toss a coin in over your shoulder, and they say you’ll come back to Rome. We each tossed in 2 coins 🙂 We’d return to Trevi often–usually early in the morning or late in the evening with a gelato to avoid the crowds.

The Pantheon
The Pantheon
Inside the Pantheon - open to rain or snow, all these years
Inside the Pantheon – open to rain or snow, all these years

 

 

The Pantheon was quite a discovery one day. We were sort of lost and stumbled into a piazza in front of this huge old hulk of a building. Inside its massive bronze doors, it was quiet and cool…and open to the elements from its only source of light–a giant circular opening (the oculus) at the top of the dome. Any rain drains out via 22 small teardrop shaped holes in the old marble floor. Amazing in there. It was built around 100 A.D. and to this day, the dome is still the world’s largest unreinforced concrete dome. One day, I’d like to spend a rainy morning in that ancient space.

Glass baubles drape an alley
Glass baubles drape an alley

More discoveries: We found a place with blown-glass ornaments in lovely blues, greens and reds, strung like Christmas lights across the alley. The city was full of tiny cars, and the lawnmower sounds of Vespas. All the motorbikes would rush to the front of the traffic line at stoplights. At night, some people would sit with a single chair and a single parakeet on a stand…and a spotlight. Never understood what was going on there–but the birds always seemed to be waiting to go home…staring at their people. Rooms are “cameras” or “stanzas”, floors are “pianos”. It’s so musical! The bells ring the hour AND the quarter hour… for example 3 o’clock is DING-DING-DING. But 3:30 is DING-DING-DING-DONG-DONG. You can imagine that 11:45 pm is a bit tiresome. “Prego” when you sit down or are ready to order.

Tiny cars
Tiny cars
Roma license plate
Roma license plate

Some favorites: La Fiaschetta, Papa’s Caffe and Wine Bar and L’Enotec Antica–the last being an atmospheric wine bar with delicious meals and a non-stop bowl of pistachios. The colors of navy blue and mauve purple together and mustard yellow with plum and red trims. And one of my all time favorite meals at Osteria Al Valle–a place with only 9 tables and the best meal ever–rucola salad with tomato, mozzarella, olive oil, salt and pepper…followed by cheesy gnocchi, a bottle of tasty Chianti, and tiramisu and cappuccino for dessert. Sheer heaven.

Bryan
Bryan at a favorite bar
Outside a favorite bar...
Meanwhile, outside a favorite bar…
Roman evenings on the rooftop
Roman evenings on the rooftop
Italy flag
Italy flag