Rome

Finally right?  Well the magnificent Ms. M reminded me that I still haven't posted about this magical place.  Sorry...well not really,  she reminded me while booking me in to have a cavity filled.  Not nice lady.  Fine,  I guess it's not your fault that I have a cavity.  Is it your fault I have two!?!!  (thank you parents for the DNA that provides me the the joy of having soft teeth prone to cavities : P )

Okay,  so here is where I started the story about Rome.  We arrived to crazy Termini,  met Emily,  stayed at the hostel....la la la,  go back and read that part.

What day is it?  Uh,  I don't know..Wed maybe.  Anyway,  we're up and gone first thing.  I get the unique pleasure of showering in the co-ed bathroom.  Casey had already tried this adventure the night before, alone mind you,   and reported that the door didn't close or lock and the water was cold.  Great...looking forward to it.  So I head that way,  towel and shampoo in hand.  Now, the thing about co-ed hostels...they're co-ed.  So there's a dude in there,  in his underwear.  Now I'm not a shy girl,  but I haven't met this guy,  though I did sleep in the same room as him.  So I give him a minute to actually go into one of the shower stalls before I barge in.  There are three stalls.  Casey has already informed me that the end one is shower of terror.  So I try the first one.  He obviously had luck against him,  cause the door closes AND locks,  and the water is hot.  Though it tends to fluctuate constantly.  BUT it's not very big,  so clothes go over the door.   Now,  getting out of the shower is again a little dicey.  First of all,  dude sharing the facilities with me is now finished his shower and brushing teeth or whatever.  Anyway...blah blah blah....co-ed showers....meh.

We're off.  Goal this morning is to find our bed and breakfast.  We're not too worried,  we have the address,  the map and the confirmation page from my booking.  WRONG!  We have the old address,  and incomplete map and the confirmation page that I didn't print off page two that has the detailed directions.  Seriously.  We spend about two hours,  carrying our backpacks,  trying to find this place.  We're tired after a terrible night sleep,  we're hungry and quickly loosing our patience with each other.  Finally give up and find an internet cafe.  If nothing else,  I can look up the B&B website and see if there are directions on there.  Sarah is her name,  hostess extrodinaire is her game.  I email her to say we're running late,  being completely lost in Rome.  She emails right back,  with the PDF map and directions.  We find it no problem.  Hot, sweaty,  hungry and frusterated....we find our lovely B&B.  3 blocks from the Coloseum. 

Gulliver's Lodge Rome - highly recommended.  115 Euro per night,  worth every cent.  Click on the Gallery,  the first pic of the yellow room...that's the one we stayed in.  Fabulous.

Sarah has done this for a while.  She promptly sits us down with the map of Rome and starts to lay out our routes,  short cuts,  restaurant suggestions.  She,  quite frankly,  rocks!

We're off.  Our goals today are...walk our legs off.

So,  short and sweet...here's what we saw.

We wander up toward the grocery store that Sarah has told us about.  It's in the basement of a department store,  we'd never find it on our own...but it's where all the locals go.  It's called SMA.   No, that isn't short for anything....just Sma.  Across the street is this church.  Not mentioned by anyone,  as it's apparantly insignificant.  This place is huge...  We grab a truly Italian lunch.  Tomotoe,  cheese, baquette.  Sit on the steps and watch the people mill around this place.  Including a nun in crocs.  Here's the inside.

I know you've seen all these pics on FB already....patience is a virtue.

We've eaten,  which is significantly helped my irritation level,  we're no longer carrying our packs...and we're in Rome!  Time to cheer up.

We are professional walkers by this time.  We're heading toward the Bone's church.  We've been cautioned by Sarah to not call it this to the Priest,  he doesn't appreciate it. 

This is the creepiest place I've ever been.  In the basement of a church they've made decor out of the bones of 4000 monks.  You're not supposed to take pictures...uh,  you can find anything on the internet.  And I have a question....at what point did someone day..."Hey,  I have a good idea".

I know right?  I can't make this stuff up!

So that was gross,  and weird and distrubing...and cool.

Next we're on our way to a corner of the city that has a church (shocking) that contains one of the first Michelangelo sculptures.  On our way,  we fall up this...

This,  my lovelies,  is Trevi Fountain.  And as all points of interest and history in Rome,  it is in the middle of a residential area.  Turn a corner,  Oh...here it is!  We weren't even looking for this yet.

Anyway,  Trevi Fountain is fed by Aquaducts...Roman made irrigation systems.  It's on the end of a building,  nothing important around,  it's just there.  It's pretty loud,  the water and all...and very crowded.  I have a video,  not with me of course...that would be too conventient.  All of the sculpture dudes are buff and glorious.  We resort to the wonderful land of Youtube.

This one is almost exactly what my video looks like.....this one shows the surrounding area and churches,  and crowds...with a Blair Witch sorta quality.  Gravol is suggested.

Next....the Spanish steps.  History,  there was Spanish people,  there was fighting,  after the fighting,  they built steps.  Rome History 101

We're working our way toward the south? (I don't remember) end of Rome.  We have a plan for the basic sights we want to see.

This part was a main enterance for the rural settlers when they came to Rome for taxes and smushing.  So the ruler at the time wanted it spruced up.  "Look how powerful and wonderful we are"...and all that.  It has three church in the one square,  which is acutally a circle.  Fountains at each end, and in the middle.  Two of the churchs are matchy matchy...and called the twin churches.  Bad Michael Jackson impersonator,  with very limited variety,  blasts from the one end.  Flower selling leeches at the other,  birds pooping everywhere,  ahhh Rome.  These aren't our pics,  forgive the quality.

I sat on the steps of the fountain the middle for a while,  Casey took a thousand pictures of European women (there seems to be a consistent pattern of behavior here).  Then he came to sit and people watch with me.  There's an American brother and sisters...late teens early 20's in front of us.  Dude totally gets pigeon pooped.  So funny.  Right in his hair.  He goes to wash off his hair in the fountain,  with a sister that is not helpful cause she's laughing her face off.  Totally gross,  even grosser cause that's the same fountain people are filling up their water bottles in.  Ewwww.

Day is nearly done and we're sorta heading home,  sorta looking for the street that Sarah said the good restaurants are on.  Everyone is out walking,  streets are packed,  it's amazing.  Rome is loud, and fast.  While trying to find the restaurant....we,  again,  fall upon this... (it's not that we're bad with maps...it's just that you think Rome is going to be bigger,  and that the big famous places will be in more prominent areas)

This isn't our pic,  there was scaffolding all over the one side when we were there,  seems the old stuff keeps falling apart.  It was also evening,  and not as warm as this shows.   Always the case with pics of Rome,  if you think it's big...you're right.  And then look at the people and make the comparison again.  That's big!  We had to wait to go in, they were having a service.  The Pantheon is just another church in Rome.  It's tall, but not huge on the inside, we've seen bigger.  What is impressive about it,  I'm told, is the structure.  I was told a lot about this,  I was travelling with a Structural Engineer.  This building is mind blowing,  I guess.  The construction,  plans,  ideas and follow thru are way beyond their time and it's quite simply amazing that they were able to build this.  Or so I'm told....looked like a circle church to me.

See how the sides are thinker at the start of the dome, and thinner at the top.  That's impressive...uh huh.  And the eye at the top,  it's open so the rain comes right in,  and the floor is sloped so the rain runs to the sides to drain out...also impressive (whatever).  Wouldn't it have been easier and cleaner to just cover the hole in the top,  save on a lot of cleaning and getting rained on during church.  Anyhow...the Pantheon...voila.

Imagine,  if you will,  what you consider a slick Italian man to look like?  Tall, lean,  striking....well dressed,  dark,  chain and chest hair....hey hey....we saw him.  Sorry it's a bit blurry,  we were trying not to make it completely obvious that we were taking their picture in hopes of mocking them later.  They come sauntering into the Pantheon,  obviously not tourists,  completely scope out the joint...head back out,  scope again.  Me thinks that women were on their minds.  So funny.

Day One Rome - finito.