Europe 2007 – 6/24/07 – Rome. Click here for pictures.
At 3:30am we woke up, got dressed, and finished packing our bags to walk to Central Station. We buy our ticket, but unfortunately we must wait forty minutes for the next train. When it finally comes we board the train and head toward the airport. At the airport we check-in and fortunately, no one questions our bag. We get on the plane and begin our journey to Rome. They serve a nice breakfast on the plane, which we were not expecting. Once we arrive, we take another train to the Termini station in Rome. We buy our Roma pass and our ticket’s for Friday’s train to Venice. Then we take the metro to Spagna station and walk to Hotel Panda.
The hotel is very nice, small but clean. We have our own bathroom tonight, but tomorrow we will move to another room with a shared bath. We leave our luggage, and then gather a few things to start touring.
Our very first stop is the Piazza del Popolo – two beautiful matching cathedrals. There are lots of fountains and lots of people. And it is HOT! We walked down the Via del Corso, a pathway only for pedestrians with lost of shops. We side track over to the Mausoleum of Augustus – which is noting but a big pile of stone. We then make our way back to the main patient and up to the Spanish Steps. It is also very crowded – people are playing in the fountains and everyone is taking pictures.
We journey on form the Spanish Steps to the Trevi Fountain. It’s amazing! We decide to wait to throw our three coins in the fountain when it is less crowded. Perhaps early one morning we can make it to the fountains before everyone else. We walked to the Piazza Colonna to see the column honoring Marcus Aurelius. Then we walked toward the Pantheon. It is hidden in a small square, and sneaks up on you. The building itself is massive with a large dome.
Our next stop is Piazza Navona. This square also has a fountain, but unfortunately, it is being restored. We rest in this square and then walk to the outside to a small road where you can see the level of the street in ancient times. Looking over a railing the drop off is about 25 feet.
Our last stop is Campo de fiori. This square has a simple statue dedicated to some heretic that was burned on this spot. We look around for dinner in this square and decided to eat at the Magnolia. We get seats outside so we can people watch. Shaw orders the roasted chicken and potatoes which I get the margarita pizza. It was pretty good. We rest here for awhile and enjoy the scenes around us.
After dinner we journey on another walk starting at the Tiber River and making our way to the ancient ruins – Teatro de Marcello, Circus Maximus, Palatine Hill, Roman Forum, Bocca della vita, the Capitol Hill Museum, and the Coliseum. We do not go to the museums, this is just for pictures. And we take lots of them, including the famous “Mouth of Truth” at the Bocca della Vita. The gates are closed, so we will have to come back to get pictures of us sticking our hands in the mouth.
Our last stop is the Coliseum and we are exhausted. Shawn takes a few pictures while we rest by a wall. While trying to set up for a time shot of us in front of the Coliseum, the worst thing happens. Our camera falls to the ground and breaks. Shawn picks it up and examines it, there is a new rattle inside and the finder will not move. We are horrified.
We quickly gather our things and take the metro to our hotel. Shawn borrows a small screw driver from the hotel staff and attempts to fix our camera. No luck. Our next thought is to buy a new camera. The hotel staff is very helpful. He helps us find a camera store outside of Rome that will be easier on our wallets. Then he gives us directions on how to get to this store. Shawn and I go to an internet café so Shawn can research the various types of cameras and pick one out. Hopefully, they will have it in stock.
We walk back to the hotel to get our things packed for our room switch. We are going to wake up early tomorrow to get to the camera store. Hopefully, it will be fast so we can then get back to site-seeing.