Big Old Things in Rome « Courtney Rile

Big Old Things in Rome February 13, 2009

Filed under: Italy — unrulyizme @ 9:28 am

On the morning of Thursday, January 9th, I was up before dawn to catch a train to Rome from Florence. I said a grateful goodbye to Linda and Bruce and with their help catching a taxi to the train station, I was on my way. I watched the sun rise on the train and arrived in Rome at about 8:30 a.m. The plan was to meet Mike over the next hour or so at the tourist information booth in the train station. Well, that didn’t happen and hours later I resorted to Plan B: meet at the hotel. As I was walking to the hotel, the man himself spotted me on the street and caught up with me. Of course, his first experience in Italy and in Europe was to catch the wrong train from the airport and get a very scenic ride and several first hand encounters with the locals to find his way to the train station. With a little patience, it all worked out fine. We were just happy to see each other.

38 Al Viminale Deluxe Inn / B&B is an adorable place very close to the train station and across from the Opera house. It’s not exactly a hotel or a bed and breakfast, but instead falls somewhere in the middle. It’s like a hotel and there’s no breakfast but it’s on the fifth floor of an office/apartment building instead of in its own. The reception is a room (more like an office) on the first floor after walking into a large open walkway through a thick wooden door. Once in the room, it felt like a hotel. There was an awesome water massage shower and slightly cheesy but complimentary artwork painted on the wall above the bed. My favorite part was the bar in the main hallway, which any of the guests could use (although we were always the only ones there) that had glasses and the fixings for tea and coffee. We had a nightcap there each night. The first night was absinthe, which Mike informed me we were not able to drink in the U.S. (at least not the real thing) because it comes from a cactus plant and has a mild hallucinogen. The Italians love it. I didn’t feel like I was hallucinating, but it was definitely strong liquor. The second night featured Tuscan red wine.

After getting a cappuccino, the first order of business was to start walking to see big old things. First up was the Coliseum. We managed to get inside without much of a line. Mike had just handed me the Nikon D60 and I was experimenting with it inside the coliseum. Outside, there was a beautiful arch we took pictures of along with lots of people watching to do. We were so impressed with the Coliseum we came back just about every night in Rome to visit and take photographs. I tried to visit the Roman Forum, but they were closed two days in a row. The first time we missed the closing time by fifteen minutes. The second time they were closed for maintenance. Oh well, such is life.

We walked towards Piazza Navona, a place Bruce suggested we see. We arrived at the Piazza at dusk and sat down for dinner at one of the patio restaurants with a heat lamp next to us. We watched the fountain, local painters, tourists and locals walking their dogs as the sun set on Rome.

In the dark of night, we wandered back in the direction of our hotel and stumbled upon the Pantheon. It was quite remarkable to be wandering along and round a corner to behold such a mighty big old thing. It’s a wondrous place. We were lucky to find it open, because on other nights afterwards every time we walked by it was closed. We wandered inside and stood in awe for awhile looking up at the open ceiling and down at the marble floor. I found myself drawn to a particular tomb and when I read the description I discovered it belonged to the famous artist Raphael.

Eventually we found ourselves at another marvelous sight, the Fontana Di Trevi. We returned to it several times afterwards. Although a mob of tourists crowded the front of it, that was part of the fun. It was easy to stand on the side, watch people and get a close look at the fountain. It’s the length of the building it is built into. Although there is probably some skilled trickery involved, it looks as though it is carved from the same stone as the rest of the building. It was probably one of my favorite spots to go to. It helped that it was surrounded by little roads with restaurants and gelateries (ice cream).

The next day we wandered north and discovered the Spanish Steps. I wasn’t sure what all of the fuss was about. The steps were lined with people and there were high end designer shops all over. To me that meant a very very expensive cup of coffee just to use a bathroom. I liked the fountain better.

The last thing we saw that I didn’t mention is a place I don’t actually know the name of because the road on my map covers it up (bad design job). The last word looks something like Emanuele II. It’s a massive building with steps up the front of it leading to the tomb of the unknown soldier. There’s a large horse statue looking over Rome. We climbed to the top level taking pictures and stopped to rest, have a snack and a glass of wine at an outdoor patio restaurant on the top level of the building. That was my favorite memory of Rome. From where we stood we could see the Coliseum, part of the Roman Forum and a wide panoramic view of the city itself. Cheers.