Roman Holiday

Despite having a full week to take in the sights,
sounds, smells, and tastes of Rome, I kind of crammed
most of it into one day.

On Sunday, I was happy to catch up with Caitlin, my
cousin from Livermore who is at the start of a year
abroad in Italy. We set out to explore Rome together
and I'd say we did a good job of checking everything
out. As you can see from the photos online, we made
it to the Spanish Steps at the Piazza di Spagna, the
Trevi Fountain (who's top sort of reminded me of the
outside of Grand Central Station, only cleaner), the
Coliseum, the Piazza di Venizia, and another trip
around Circo Massimo, where we watched workers tearing
down the Live 8 stage. From there, we checked out the
piazza di boca verita (I can almost guarantee that
I've misspelled or misstated the name). Basically,
it's the mouth of truth, and if you're brave enough,
you can stick your hand in the mouth and, if you're
honest enough, your hand will still be attached when
you pull it back out. We were both brave enough to
attempt it, but we were also smart enough to avoid the
huge line. So instead, we sort of snuck up to the
front and took a photo in between customers.

From there, we took a short bus ride to Rome's Termini
station and then took a long, long walk (after a
gelato break) hoping to find the district of San
Lorenzo, which I'm told is sort of fun and quirky.
It's also very well-hidden. I don't think we found
it, but with everything closed up during the Sunday
afternoon siesta hour, it was hard to tell for sure.

On Monday, I put my bus pass to use and gave myself a
good tour of the city. I just hopped from bus to tram
to bus and kept working my way around the city. If I
saw something interesting or worth a closer look, I'd
go check it out. Otherwise I enjoyed the views of
Rome from my airconditioned and (at times) crowded
spot on the bus. For lunch, I had the Roman Gyro... a
slice of pizza. Cheap eats for sure, but like the
Gyro, something I quickly grew tired of, but kept
eating because it was so cheap. After lunch, I
tracked down the Piazza di Navona, Campo dei Fiori,
and the Pantheon. Dinner that night came from the
pizzeria downstairs from Umberto's apartment, but
instead of yet another slice, I had a stuffed tomato
and a calzone.

Tuesday was another day wandering around the city,
people watching, and learning more about the various
bus lines. I went back to St. Peter's to see if it
looked any different. I was somewhat surprised to see
about 5 times the number of people milling about than
had been there on Friday. Even though I was there at
the same time of day--noon--the crowd was much bigger.
Maybe 'tourist season' had finally opened. Anyway, I
wandered, I roamed, I window shopped, I took a stroll
past the Castelo d' St. Angelo and was as impressed by
the round fortress as I was by the sheer numbers of
street vendors all selling the same knock-off purses,
belts and sunglasses. That little excursion took me
back to the area near the Pantheon, which was good
because I had researched a cheap and good restaurant
in that area that I wanted to check out. Even with my
map, I struggled to find Osteria d'Mario, and when I
finally did, it was closed. Growls from my throat and
my stomach at that point. I doubled back to a tiny
little restaurant that came complete with
red-checkered tablecloths and bottles of chianti on
display. They also had a cheap menu, so for 6€ I had
a huge bowl of spaghetti with basil and tomato sauce,
a drink, and some bread. I love the low carb diet! I
could have gone belly up after that, but knew that I
needed to walk off what I had just consumed, so I
headed back outside and took the long way (okay, I
didn't really know where I was going) back to a bus
stop. It was close to 5 when I finally got home, and
I had only just sat down when Umberto came home and
asked me if I wanted to go to the grocery store with
him.

Food? In the house? What a great idea. (When I
arrived I found a bottle of water and the rind of some
kind of cheese in the fridge.) Maybe it's a sign of
the fact that I'm missing some of the comforts of
home, but when we entered the "grocery store" (which
was actually more like a Super Target) and I realized
it was attached to, of all things, a mall, I was close
to jubuliant. Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm not
a huge fan of shopping. But I was so happy to be in a
mall. Maybe it was just the air conditioning?
Regardless, it was great.

We did some grocery shopping, which was a kick in and
of itself as I tried to explain to Umberto that just
because I liked some kind of food, didn't necessarily
mean I needed him to buy it. I would only be in Rome
for another two days, after all. We came, we saw, we
shopped, and we left and Umberto "cooked" me a
wonderful dinner of prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, and
tomatoes. And a somewhat cold beer. It was great.

The next day, you bet your bippy, I was on my way back
to the mall on my own. I've already grown somewhat
tired of my wardrobe, and wanted a few more options.
Plus, I had a pair of sunglasses that broke back in
Greece and I hadn't found anyone who could fix them.
So, off to the supertarget for me. I got my sunnies
fixed, a new shirt, and a pair of pants for 10€. And
I didn't stop there. In a matter of a couple of
hours, I managed to acquire a few more articles of
clothing. Just enough to mix and match to make me
feel like I had a million more choices when it came
time to get dressed (even though today I've been
content to sit in my PJ's all day).

After my little shopping spree, I came back to the
apartment and wrote what I'm sure was a grammatically
poor excuse for a note to Umberto telling him that I
wouldn't be home for dinner. I was heading back out
to meet Caitlin for another meal. We had a cheap, but
decent dinner near the Trevi Fountain, then went for a
long walk stopping again at the Piazza Navona
(currently being set up for some other kind of
concert) and continuing across the Tiber, towards the
Vatican and ending up, conveniently, outside of the
Old Bridge Gelateria. Caitlin had been tipped off
about this place and how it is a local favorite. We
could have guessed it was a favorite of some kind as
the line extended out the door and across the
sidewalk. Feeling the need to see (and taste) for
ourselves, we joined the line and each had two huge
scoops of gelato. And, except for the tip of
Caitlin's shoe, we managed to not get it all over
ourselves. It was heaven on a cone.

Today I've been lying low. I've known that it would
be my last full day in Rome, and received word from
Gianfranco that, in fact, we would not be able to go
to Pisa this weekend. So, I've spent the morning
coming up with an alternative plan. With the
exception of some fun adventures with Caitlin, I've
spent the week on my own, and I'm ready to mix and
mingle with more new people. Busabout has an Italian
Explorer tour that I had planned to join in September,
but with my weekend suddenly free, I had the option of
either heading to Florence early or doing this other
trip and leaving for Florence on Monday as originally
scheduled.

So, tomorrow morning I'm off to Sorrento for two
nights. From there, the tour visits Naples, Capri and
the Amalfi coast, the Blue Grotto, and Pompeii. I
can't wait! I'll return to Rome for the night on
Sunday and then take off again for Florence Monday
morning.

Michele

Every step of the journey is the journey.
-Anonymous