FIRST DAY IN ROME

We started our first full day in Rome by buying our Roma Pass. This pass allowed to into two museums/monuments for free and gave us discounts on other museums. I can’t decide if it was worth paying 23 euros for the pass, but it did come with free transportation. With Roma Passes in hand we took the metro down the Coliseum. We ended up paying another 10 euro for a guided tour through the Coliseum, but I definitely think this was worth because I hate just looking at things and not knowing what I am looking at. The tour guide told us all about the history of the Coliseum and the types of games changed depending on the emperor at the time. We learned that the Flavarian dynasty was the Roman rulers who built the main structure and over the years other emperors added on, like putting in a basement for underground storage of the wild animals. We also learned that working in the Coliseum was just as dangerous as being a gladiator especially the workers that had to bring the lions out of their cage. We had some free time after our tour to explore the Coliseum and visit the museum. The museum showed the history of the Flavian dynasty and how the Coliseum was constructed. Its hard believe looking at all the Roman ruins through out the city that 2000 years ago everything was covered in gleaming white marble.

After the Coliseum tour we had another tour lined up. The next tour was on Palatine Hill. Palatine Hill is one of the seven hills that made up ancient Rome. This particular hill is especially famous because it was home to all the royals and their extravagant palaces. Our guide was the funny British man with horrible teeth. He took through a crowded demonstration of angry Italians who were protesting the economy and then he lend us up on to Palatine Hill. Here he described the palaces that use to over look the city. He talked about all the different types and colors of marble the palaces were constructed out of. Then he told us how the Catholic Church had taken all the valuable marble away from the ancient Roman city and used it to built St. Peters Square and their church. He was not very subtle about his dislike for the Catholic Church and their plundering of the ancient city in the name of god. Our guide took us a spot on Palatine Hill that overlooked the ancient Roman Forum. The Forum housed all the great Senate buildings, the Basilica, ancient temples, arches, and the oldest Catholic Church in the world with the original doors still intact! This might have been my favorite part because it was spectacular to look down on these ancient ruins and envision what Roman life would have been like in the bustling metropolis.

We had a picnic lunch of peanut butter sandwiches on Palatine Hill and then we headed down to walk around the Roman Forum. We explored the ancient ruins for a while but decided to head for some cover as a thunderstorm began to roll into the city. Luckily the storm did not hit, but there were some pretty nice cracks of thunder. We headed away from the ancient ruins area back toward the modern part of the city. Here we walked to the Pantheon, which was an ancient Roman temple that Julius Caesar built that has been since converted into a Catholic church. A mass was in full swing when we arrived, so we did not get to go inside the church but we decided we would come back the next day. We left the Pantheon and headed for the Trevi Fountain. I am not sure the history behind the Trevi fountain, but the statues and the waterfalls were quite impressive. We did the typical tourist tradition of throwing a coin over your shoulder into the fountain and making a wish.

We slowly wandered back to the hotel. Karen and Victoria were getting hungry, so they decided to stop for dinner. Andrea, Jeanie and I continued wandering through the city. We were still on a Spanish eating schedule, so we did not want dinner until a least nine. We walked back to the Spanish Steps area to get another view of the city at night. Then we walked through a couple tourists’ shops. We stopped and got some gelato along the way. I tried the Nutella flavor. It was amazing of course. I was shocked to the see the insane amount of nutella products everywhere. There was Nutella flavored gelato, crepes filled with Nutella, waffles and Nutella and there were giant containers of Nutella bigger than the size of my head in all the Gelaterias. I took a picture of giant Nutellas jars to show Sarah our wonderful discovery.

We made our way back to the hotel looking for a place a to eat along the way. I spotted a restaurant that had just the right combination of ambiance and inexpensive prices, so we decided to stop for dinner. Andrea, Jeanie and I all split a liter of wine with our dinner. I tried the gnocchi. It was so rich I though my stomach was about to burst. Jeanie turned on her Asian charm, and got us another free liter of wine from the waiter that was hitting on her. The waiter did not stop with one liter of wine. He asked us what kind of desert we wanted and then we brought us all Lemoncello shots. We toasted our lemoncello shots with the waiter and all said Ching Ching. I am guessing this a typically Italian thing to say when you take a shot, but the phrase Ching Ching stuck with us throughout the rest of our tour of Italy. The waiter did not lie though everything he brought was free. It’s a good thing Italians love Asians. Jeanie got us quite a few free things throughout of travels through Italy. Thank you Jeanie for being Asian!

We all left the restaurant a little tipsy and skipped back to the hotel. Along the way we asked some polizia for a picture in the train station. They did not seem to mind our public drunkenness seeing as how there was a man lying on the floor drunkenly yelling incoherently to his friend. When we got back to our hotel I was not feeling too good. I could not tell if it was the all the wine and lemoncello or the all the pasta. Either way I got a little sick and had to see my dinner for a second time. I went to bed feeling a lot better.