Rome – Part 1

Tuesday, July 5

My friend, Leah, just got married over the Fourth of July weekend. We decided that rather than fly back mid-trip to attend her wedding we would instead spoil a day of her honeymoon and meet her in Tuscany for her birthday picnic.

To do this meant that we needed to get to Tuscany by the 7th. We had the perfect flight booked from Amman to Rome but it was canceled, for no reason, kind of last minute. So we booked another with a layover in Budapest and were grateful it wasn’t too expensive.

The Amman airport was actually really nice and we were able to get one last Turkish coffee before going to the gate. We flew with Ryan Air which, you know, isn’t great. They had us ‘board’ nearly an hour before take off time but then we stood in the gate vestibule for forever, waiting for the plane to arrive.

Finally we boarded. We then sat on the tarmac for another hour. People were starting to get restless and several were told to sit down when they tried sneaking to the bathroom. I myself was experiencing the tail end of some kind of food poisoning and let’s just say I almost didn’t make it. Finally the seat belt sign clicked off and I just about pushed an old woman out of the way to get to the toilet first.

In addition to being in the same row as the screaming toddler, I sat behind a man who though it was ok to put his bag under his seat, where my bag should go. When I told him he needs to move it to in front of him he said “but then I have no space for my feet”. I almost murdered him. But I really wanted to see Leah in Tuscany so I held back. Before I could throw his bag into the aisle he took it and put it overhead.

The lovely layover in Budapest made up for the nightmare flight to get there. We found a sports bar and were able to watch a women’a waterpolo game- Hungary vs. USA. I then bought something at the duty-free store to try to disguise my excess luggage in front of the Wizz Air staff. I either did a magnificent job or the woman that checked our boarding passes didn’t care at all as she scanned them and looked me directly in the eyes to welcome me aboard.

The flight was a little delayed but we still got to the Rome airport just before 10pm. We decided to try to catch the 10:08pm train to the middle of the city. Google said it would take us 6 minutes to walk to the train and we only had about 7 minutes to spare once we booked it. We ran and made it on in time to pick some backward facing seats just before the train started moving. Right on time like Mussolini would have loved.

From the central train station our hotel was only a short walk, located just across from the Santa Maria Maggiore Plaza. We came to the spot where we thought it should be but saw no signs for the hotel. We walked up and down the street. Finally I spotted a door buzzer with a tiny placard that said, “Domus Maggiore” and rang it. A waitress from the cafe next door rushed over and asked us if we were staying at the hotel. When we confirmed, she invited us over to the cafe to check in.

She then led us back to the huge doors where I had just rung the buzzer. She showed us that the tiniest key of three on the keychain is for the big door. We went inside a classicly old European building and walked up to the second floor (third floor for Americans).

Then the largest key was used to open a door to a hallway of four hotel room doors. Finally, the middle key was used to open our door. We did not remember this and later felt like we were trying to solve a Goldilocks riddle to figure out whether the tiniest key was for the biggest door or viceversa. Our room looked out onto a quiet courtyard and we slept like little Italian cherubs.

Wednesday, July 6

About 730am we went down to the café to get the breakfast part of our B&B. The waiter told us we could have whatever we wanted. Pastry? Coffee? Sandwich? Anything. He let us get an espresso, a cappuccino, a prosciutto sandwich, and two pastries. I considered asking if I could also get a fruit tart but I didn’t want to find out at what point he would make us pay extra and I didn’t want to give him fuel for gossip about fat Americans later. I got one chocolate pastry and one pistachio and they were amazing.

Then it was time to walk to the Colosseum for our 9am tour. It only took about 15 minutes and the path led us through a dry, but pretty, park full of ruins. The tour meet up spot was right next to a water fountain that provided free, cold water. There was even a spigot for sparkling water. My mind was blown. I filled my bottle up with sparkling water but later regretted it because the cap of my bottle exploded off and the water leaked into my bag (nothing damaged though).

We met up with our tour group and our guide, Faby, a little, middle-aged, adorable Italian woman. She showed us the Colosseum, Palantine Hill, and the Roman Forum. She described about 2,000 years of Roman history in less than three hours and did so in a way that we stayed interested even in the unbearable heat.

We learned that the Colosseum was originally named Flavian Amphitheater after the large family dynasty that were patrons of it. Next to the building there used to be a large statue, The Colossos, where the Colosseum stole its name from.

Our guide included entry to the Arena, the floor where gladiators used to fight. Faby told us all about the gladiators and showed us the skeleton foundation for the elevators and trap doors that used to bring gladiators and wild animals onto the stage.

Then we went up to the first and second floors to get views from above. After taking a bunch of photos we left and walked up to Palantine hill. Faby explained so much of Roman history and a little bit about how scholars knew this history. For example, the best preserved buildings are ones that were converted into churches and so saved from either destruction or neglect by Christians eliminating evidence of paganism.

Faby showed us pictures of recreated images of what the area would have looked like. She held up these images of the imperial palace and the Roman forum in front of us, so we could compare the ruins we saw to the recreation. It was an excellent tour.

At one point Faby asked us if we had been to the Pantheon yet. Most of the group replied that it was next on their list. She said we must go to see it because it is an example of great Roman architecture, like the Colosseum. She said, “If you don’t see it (the Pantheon), I kill you. I come to your town, and I kill you.” It was the most adorable threat.

When the tour ended we asked Faby for lunch restaurant recommendations and then followed the pathway through the Roman forum, underground, toward Venice Plaza. We stopped in the underground tunnel for a bit to cool down and read some of the signs about the findings in the area. It was so hot outside.

We decided to go to a spot on Faby’s list that was closest. It was expensive but it was close, and it offered authentic, homemade pasta. We decided we could spend money on one good meal per day. We ordered Aperol Spritzes and immediately felt better. For food we got Cacio e pepe (pasta Roman style with cheese and pepper), veal with gorgonzola, and some kind of salty mixed veggie dish that had artichoke heart, bacon, peas, and some other green beans.

After all this I was ready to fall asleep on the table. We ordered two espressos and then tried to hang out for a bit before asking for the check. They ended up charging us for the water AND the bread that they had put on the table AND refilled. So I made sure to refill my water bottle with the table water and noted this for future lunches.

Afterward we walked back around to the Colosseum to get some photos from outside. There were still many tourists milling about which was kind of surprising because it was 96 degrees F. Our energy was zapped quickly so we shuffled back to our hotel to shower and nap and wait for cooler temperatures.

Carl let me shower first but somehow I knocked the sliding glass shower door off one of its hinges. I asked Carl to help me fix it. He fiddled with it a little bit and then all of a sudden the whole thing shattered. We both stood there, in the shower, nearly naked, completely surrounded by a pile of broken glass. Luckily Carl was wearing his glasses as he took the brunt of the glass sprinkles. He gingerly stepped out of the bathroom and threw me some towels to put on top of the glass to walk out on.

We cleaned ourselves up as best we could and then went downstairs, to the cafe, to tell someone from the hotel staff what had happened. At the very least, we needed to borrow a broom to clean up. The man working the cashier didn’t speak English and had no patience for us but very quickly a young woman came out and said she was happy to help us.

When we told her what had happened her first question was whether we were ok. Then she tried to get us to have a coffee or anything to drink on the house while she went upstairs to assess. We decided we wanted to go with her. When she saw the pile of glass and the little bit of blood in the shower she didn’t react dramatically at all. She opened up a room next door for Carl to shower in (and brush the glass shards off) and she got to work cleaning while I waited outside.

Less than an hour later she came outside and retrieved us, showing us back to our room. She gave us fresh towels and said if we needed anything we could just call her. I showered with flip flops on and water pressure low to keep from spraying the whole bathroom. All in all it was a shocking experience but the hotel staff person was so nice to us that it ended positively.

We then chilled ourselves under the AC until evening. Finally hungry again we ventured back to the main street to a pizzeria we had seen earlier. We got a mushroom pizza and two Peroni beers for pretty cheap. We then walked back toward our hotel and got gelato from the cafe under our hotel. I got tiramisu flavor and was not disappointed. We admired the outside of the Santa Maria Maggiore Basilica as the sun set at nearly 9pm.

Thursday, July 7

We slept in and checked out at the last possible time at 10am, going downstairs to get breakfast again. The staff woman who had cleaned up our broken shower was waiting tables and she told us we could order whatever we wanted for breakfast. We ended up getting a sandwich, one pastry, four cappuccinos, and two delicious, fresh-squeezed orange juices. She kept asking us if we wanted anything more, emphasizing it was free.

They let us leave our bags at the cafe so we could walk around for a few hours before our bus to Tuscany. We decided to go across the plaza to the magnificent church we had been staring at the whole time we were in front of our hotel. The inside of this church blew us away. It is the most beautiful church I have ever seen, and I’ve seen too many.

The ceiling was covered in gilded gold squares and everywhere you looked was different colored marble or stone. The floor was a giant mosaic and each wall was covered in different colors, broken up by carved reliefs or beautiful paintings. We sat and admired all the stone and handiwork and imagined what the other historical sites, like the Colosseum, would have looked like fully decorated like this before they were repurposed for Christian churches.

Then we walked around a little and found a quiet place on a shady street for a light lunch. We got anchovy pizza and I ordered a limoncello which was served cold, but not over ice and ended up being more syrupy and strong than I would’ve wanted. Finally it was time to collect our bags from our hotel/cafe and we rode the metro to the bus station to get a bus up to Tuscany. We would be back to Rome again in about a week to see the rest of the sites, especially the Pantheon, to save Faby a trip to California to murder us.