Rome

Day 1

Both Colin and I slept quite well on the train, so we awoke in the morning with a full night’s sleep.  Once we arrived at the station in Rome, we bought our Roma Passes (for sight-seeing) and took the metro to our Bed & Breakfast (which will simply be referred to as our hotel in the future).  Once there I wanted to take some time to sort out the FedEx fiasco, and find out where in Europe my camera was.  It turns out that it was shipped to my hostel in Amboise (this happened after I’d asked it to be stopped in Paris and received confirmation that it had been done)…and had arrived there the day after I left….drats!  Trying to set up another shipment to get the package shipped to Rome was a fiasco, so after a few hours of effort, I gave up for today.

Because of the time it took to deal with FedEx (and the fact that we were both starving by this point), we cancelled the day trip to Naples and Pompeii that we had planned for today, and set off in search of food.  We walked from our hotel to the Coloseum, passing virtually no restaurants on the way (and the ones we did pass were closed).  Along the way we did pass a gelato shop, so I did stop for some wonderfully chocolatey gelato.  Finally, just in behind the Coloseum, I spotted a few restaurants.  Colin couldn’t eat anything at the first restaurant we stopped at because there may have been a chance of nuts in the pasta sauces (and he wasn’t going to eat just salad), so we went two more restaurants down the street and found a place with a better menu, better prices, and a wonderful waiter who walked Colin through all of his dish options (which may have been overboard, but was still nice of him).  We had a nice, lazy and relaxing late lunch (2 pm), enjoying having the Coliseum as the background of our first Roman meal.  The food here was really good.  We made a mental note that this would be a safe place to return to if we were in the neighbourhood again.

After lunch we took a stroll through Ancient Rome, passing the Coloseum, the arch of Constantine, the Roman Forum, Trajan’s Column, a bunch of churches, and the Pantheon.  Finally we ended up at Piazza Navona. 

By this time we were both starting to get a bit hungry again (and by now it was well past 7 pm).  We took a tour around the Piazza scoping out all of the restaurants, but all of the prices were well above 10 euros for a plate of pasta (whereas we had paid only 7 euros for similar items earlier in the day).  So, given that we weren’t starving yet, we decided to hold off on eating and check out the art that the local vendors were selling.  Colin bought three small paintings of different Rome landscapes, a large paining of Rome, a large painting of Venice, and from a different vendor a painting of a couple holding hands in front of the ocean. 

All of the paintings were very nice.

After the shopping, we decided we were sufficiently hungry, so we walked down the street away from the piazza and hit another group of restaurants (these ones with much better priced menu items).  We stopped here for dinner (it’s called Insalata Ricca, if you’re curious).  I had a really tasty cheese ravioli in pumpkin sauce and Colin had some version of spaghetti with red sauce.

Once finished dinner, we set off to do a night walk through the streets of Rome – of course stopping for gelato for me along the way.  Our walk started at the Piazza Navona and passed by the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain (we both tossed a coin over our shoulder to ensure our return to Rome), and ended at the Spanish Steps.  While we were at Piazza Navona I also bought a Louis Vuitton Purse (likely a knock-off I know, but I haggled the guy down 30% in price).  Finally we had a bit of an adventure getting back to our hotel (the subway had stopped running, so we had to take a shuttle bus, and we spent more of the time on the bus being totally disoriented), but we made it back to the hotel.  This was a really long first day in Rome!

Day 2

We had a bit of a slow start this morning, but good news I managed to get FedEx to arrange for the shipping of my camera to the hotel in Rome.

Today we walked to the Coloseum, then stopped at the same restaurant as yesterday for lunch.  After lunch we went into the Coloseum – it’s really impressive, and quite uncanny how modern-day stadiums are not much different from those that were created many years ago.  After the Coloseum, we toured Palatine Hill, then the Roman Forum – both of which show you the remains of ancient buildings, but the Roman Forum was much more interesting than Palatine Hill.

After our long day of walking around ancient ruins we were tired and hungry.  For dinner we went to a restaurant just across the street from the forum.  We then did a quick walk to Campidoglia to see the piazza, the she wolf sculpture, and the nose fountain.  After all of this, we walked our tired selves back to the hotel for the night.

Day 3

So it turns out that Colin and I are a terrible combination of getting up and out of the hotel in reasonable time.  This morning was no different, I was quite stressed that we were going to miss our tour of the Vatican Museums….thankfully we made it on time, with a few minutes to spare!

At the Vatican Museums, Colin had booked us a guided tour – it was a really good tour (and an excellent idea, since it meant we didn’t have to wait in the admission line).  The Vatican Museums are huge!  They’re filled with sculptures, paintings and tapestries.  Interestingly (and somewhat unexpectedly) not a lot of the works have a religious basis, it’s really just a super-impressive are collection.  But, funny enough I found the Sistine Chapel (the main highlight) underwhelming compared to the collections within the Museums.

After the museum, we had a really late (3 pm) lunch (at another branch of the Insalata Rica chain that we had dined at our first night).  When we left the restaurant we were both stuffed, but I couldn’t help stopping for a gelato – there was a place around the corner that had a line that went down the block, with a line that big, how can you not try it.  The gelato was really good.

We then went to St Peter’s Basilica.  We were just in time for the evening mass, so we decided to go to that – I’m hoping that one Mass in Rome will make up for the fact that I haven’t gone to any other masses during my trip.  The whole mass (except for a small part of the homily) was in Latin, so I didn’t understand anything, but it’s the same sequence as back in Canada, so I knew what was happening.  After mass we took a tour around the basilica.

After our long day in the Vatican City, we were both quite tired (and still full from lunch), so we went straight back to the hotel.  I spent a few hours planning out the remainder of my vacation, and booking accommodations, while Colin did a little work and watched a movie.

Day 4

This morning we had to pack up our bags before leaving for the day – the owner had said we could keep our room, but we wanted to be packed just in case someone showed up to rent it out…that way they’d only have to worry about storing our bags, not cleaning up our stuff, which was everywhere in the room.

We got to the Borghese Gallery just in time for our booking.  The museum was nice, I preferred the sculptures on the first floor to the paintings upstairs.  After the gallery we got a turned around (aka sorta lost) in the Borghese Gardens while looking for the restaurant that was supposed to be there (turns out its inside another museaum – not what we were looking for).  So, we caught a cab back to the park entrance, then walked to the Spanish Steps area.  We had lunch in this area (the prices were inflated, and the service was poor – but the food was still good), then decided to cut our afternoon short and head back to the hotel early (I still had no idea where I was staying tonight, and my FedEx package was yet to be picked up in Amboise).

Once at the hotel I got my plans and accommodations sorted (with the help of Colin), I will be staying another 2 nights in Rome in a convent.  I was happy that I had a place to stay, but still frustrated by the FedEx ordeal.  I’ve decided to buy a new camera here, and I and stop back into Rome once my other one arrives here.

At 4:30 pm the cab arrived.  Colin and I piled in, I was dropped off at the convent (and said goodbye to Colin), and Colin continued onwards to the airport.  After checking into my room and getting settled, I set off in search of a camera.  The desk man at the convent had suggested a store called Trony, so I went there and bought their cheapest digital camera (a Samsung just a step below the one that I’d left in France).

After buying the camera I went to the supermercato to pick up some dinner.  While I was there a random stock boy was checking me out, and proclaimed that he loved me….weird!  All I have to say about that is….. Italy is weird!

I returned to my room in the convent, ate my dinner (smoked salmon, and caprese salad) did some train scheduling for tomorrow, and went to bed.

Day 5

This day I only spent the early morning and late night in Rome.  The rest of my day was spent in Naples and Pompeii.

I didn’t get as early of a train out to Naples as I had wanted, because the train was sold out, so I left Rome a little later than planned.  To pass the time before my train departure I went for a walk in the Termini area of Rome.  I saw the outside of Santa Maria Maggiore (I couldn’t go inside, as it was fenced off for some reason).

For the story of Naples and Pompeii please see the relevant post :)

Day 6

Today I only spent the morning in Rome, as I also made my journey to the Cinque Terre today.  In the morning I woke up and had breakfast at the convent (breakfast wasn’t much, but it was included in the room price, so of course I made time for it).  I then finished packing my bags, checked out and spent a few last hours in Rome.

Today I went to the Cappucin Crypt – Colin and I were supposed to go there on his last day, but we went back to the hotel early so we could sort out my accommodations, etc.  The crypt was really neat, there were all sorts of decorations made out of the bones of cappucin monks.  Unfortunately I have no photos to share, as they didn’t allow photography.  After the crypt, I went to Piazza del Popolo and briefly went inside the church there.

After all this sight-seeing it was time to catch my train to Cinque Terre.