Bye bye PiraPora. We left Tropea at 11:30 pm aboard a long ten-coach train. We had secured 4 berths in a sleeper car all to ourselves; it was a bit crowded but comfy. The night passed quickly and we were in Rome around 7 am, multi-tasking perfection. A short taxi ride from Termini Station to our place at City House B&B and we had stored our bags by 8 am; check-in was not till 1pm so we set off ready to tackle some sights.
This we did. Around every corner lurks some statue, monument or church. So even if you have it all mapped out you can't help but bump into something unexpected. At every chance we got we ducked into small churches. Big vaulted ceilings and ornate decor in every one. Slowly we made our way towards the Colosseum. Past huge statue crusted monuments and ancient remnants of once-were's and we finally ended up on Palatine Hill. This all took about an hour walking at a snail's pace. Here at Palatine hill we bought combo tickets for the Forum, Colosseum and Palatine Hill. This turned out to be smart as we only had to wait in line about ten minutes rather than the tourturous hour long wait at the Colosseum. Palatine Hill was cool but Rome is so jampacked with ancient stuff, it is just another group of monuments next to a dozen other immensely old famous stuff. The arch of Titus was cool and so was the arch of Constantine.
Well everyone was ready for the Colosseum. We were glad about those combo tickets when we saw the line to get in, I tell ya. We got in no problem, no wait and were soon looking into the courtyard itself. It was as amazing as you might think it would be... as well as crowded and hot. We got up to the second level, saw a very smug Rick Steves smiling like an idiot at his camera crew and decided to split and get gelato. We made our way slowly back stopping for pizza and ice cream before taking a few hours rest at our B&B.
Then we headed to the Pantheon. It had been closed earlier but it was now open and swelling with camera laden gawkers. This building is one of the best preserved of ancient construction. It was built by Agrippa and remade by Hadrian after a fire in 118 AD. It is still in really good condition and has a domed roof with a large round skylight (25ft) that lets light in and shines up the place. The walls are lined with larger than life statues and other fancy stuff. From here we meandered around with no apparent purpose and poked into every church we came across that wasn't in mass. There are hundreds of them and we saw about nine this day. For us, this was the hidden gem of Rome. Every church is different and decked out like a museum. Statues and paintings, frescoes and gold everywhere; they were over the top but beautiful.
We decided to eat. Our bellies full of gelato (again), we wandered over the Tevere river to the neighborhood of Trastevere. This area is a bit less touristy and has more of an actual neighborhood feeling to it. Our walk to get there took about a half an hour and by this time we were hungry again so we ate at a little Italian restaurant. Since we were in this neck of the woods, we tried to find Trastevere Piazza and its Chiusa de Santa Maria di Trastevere, another famous piazza and church. It was almost dark when we got there and just as we entered the church they began the pre-mass organ music. We sat and listened for a bit before slowly walking home thinking to ourselves, "how could a city where everyone eats ice cream all the time be bad?" We hit the sheets and passed out cold.
Stay tuned for Day Two...
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