Rome, Italy - "I swear I will never come back"

Preface, by Steve
That's what I said when I left Rome twenty years ago. It was July 1998 and it was hot, muggy, dirty, and lousy with tourists. I almost got my wallet stolen, and we were staying in a slum of a hostel with no air conditioning. It was hell on Earth. And now we're back... And I love it! I had no idea just how charming this place can be. It's been a little wet and chilly, but that just keeps the throngs of tourists at bay, and the sweat from bursting from our pours. Just goes to show me, never judge a book by it's cover, because every page tells a different story.

On to the story, by Nicole...
Steve’s a bit tired of this blogging thing since he has done so much of it for Japan (and everywhere else)….but there was so much to say! It truly was a wonderful place! But now, back to the “West”.

After a long flight we landed in Rome and made our way to our “newest” apartment in the Trastevere area of the city, which is across the Tiber river from the historical center, on the same side as the Vatican.  Unfortunately, the windows of the bedrooms were on the street side (not the courtyard side) and we listened to sirens and horns through most of the night. Actually, we listen to sirens all day and night throughout Rome. The kids and I were getting pretty annoyed by this until Steve shared his thoughts on the matter. “Do you suppose they are racing? You know, doing laps like in Formula One throughout the city?” This changed our whole attitude about the sirens and now we are counting which lap they are on and who the winner will be! Mario is currently in the lead in his Audi police car, but Luigi is close behind in his ambulance.

Day One-March 18 - rainy and cold - No big deal. We needed a day to catch up with jet lag, shop for groceries and get some laundry done. Not to mention get some math and writing time in as it has been a while. Luckily the rain stopped long enough to get to the grocery store where Zane and I were in Heaven! Pasta lined both sides of an entire aisle and the deli was packed with meats and cheeses! The produce section was bursting with freshness and had automatic scales Zane had to use to label our selections. We haven’t cooked much in a long time due to the difficulty in shopping in Asia. Aside from the differences in the selection of foods, we couldn’t translate a thing! Even the canned goods were a challenge, not to mention trying to get a certain weight of meat from the butcher with whom you couldn’t communicate with.  Snacks and breakfast foods were the best we could do and the kids were actually missing my cooking!

Sunrise view from our kitchen window

We're in Italy now.

Sweets for studying

Day Two-March 19 - Today we were tourists. We took the tram* to the Colloseo and wandered around with an audio tour to help see the main sights. It rained off and on, which was a bummer at first, but it made for less crowds and some great photos through the reflections in the puddles. It also made us really appreciate when the sun came out and threw spotlights on the ancient ruins. Palatine hill was conquered next and we loved seeing the views out over the city. We were shocked that these ruins were a thousand years older than those at Angkor Wat and even the kids understood how amazing this ancient civilization truly was.

We were not able to explore as much as we wanted in the Forum. We had no idea it closed before sunset! Walking around the bit that we did though was fascinating and I could feel the magic of a bygone era. We enjoyed our 1st Italian gelato after this at Flor and loved every bite (even though it made us a bit cold).

Gelato, cheap sweets.

* All of the trams, metros and buses are served by the same ticket. These are purchased in tobacco shops and at some machines but they must be “validated” by machines on your journey. We have been faithfully buying our tickets and validating them on each trip (because we read that if you didn’t you could be fined >100 Euros each) but noticed that none of the locals do the same. On day 4 we asked some locals what was going on. They told us that no one actually buys tickets and hardly anyone ever gets stopped. If they do, you don’t even have to pay the fine because they have no way of tracking you down. As one man said, “It’s the way Italy is”. We haven’t been brave enough to board without a ticket, but an FYI for those coming in the future.

Day Three-March 20 - watching the weather so closely we realized we needed to get out early and beat the afternoon rain if we wanted to see some more famous sights. By 8am we were on the way to the Spanish Steps (again buying our tix for the tram). We diligently counted them all of the way up (and down to confirm) and got the obligatory photos of the family! Thankfully there were very few people and Steve found it a much more pleasant visit than 20 years ago.

Cafecito (as our Venezuelan friends would say). Good morning Rome.

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet is our “missions”. We found a great book “Mission Rome” that has the kids do a type of scavenger hunt at each site for points to become a secret agent. It keeps them more entertained and we have all learned many new things. Here at the Spanish steps, for example, we had to locate the “boat dock” and the Spanish Embassy along with counting the steps.

These are Nosoni's, public drinking fountains scattered about everywhere in Rome. We earned points for every one we found, and bonus points for drinking from them without getting wet!

After the steps we marched over to the Trevi fountain. I must say, it's bigger than I thought! It was a bit crowded but not so much we couldn't toss in our coins and make a wish.

A curious scene developed as a model of sorts squirmed her way to the front for some "interesting" poses...

A particularly challenging double Nosoni.

Next, the Pantheon, the largest unsupported dome in the world… And the oldest still standing. Rain was expected by noon and we'd heard it was magical to watch it fall through the roof into the drains in the floor so we hung around a bit…. And went to a salami store and then a bakery. Arriving back just in time we watched as the rain can through the Oculus to the marble floor below. It was pretty darn cool to be inside, not getting wet, but watching water fall from the sky just beside us.
The afternoon was for studies and a slow cooked chili…. One of our favorites and truly an American meal.

Day Four-March 21 - my birthday! I didn't really want to do much on this day. Just wander and eat and drink! We started at the Basilica de San Clemente. Our mission book made it sound fun for the kids, and I was interested to see a church, built on a Temple, built on a home and Minervean cult school! It was very cool, but no photos could be taken. We went so far down, we touched the water running through the Roman aqueducts to and from the Trevi fountain! This made us all very hungry so we found a cute restaurant and had some yummy gnocchi (my favorite pasta) and vino.

All full, we made our way to a tour of a villa found under Rome suggested by a good friend of ours (thanks Guillermo). Le Domus Romani di Palazzo Valentino was the home of a wealthy Roman when this city was at its height. The tour used lights and projection and other screens to walk you through this amazing home full of ornate tile work and stunning granite from throughout Rome's empire. We, of course, grabbed some more gelato on our way home for a siesta before dinner. Autumn and Steve took me to a small bistro around the corner from our apartment and it was excellent! Ravioli stuffed with fresh burrata and a new varietal of wine made my birthday a very happy one! I'm so blessed to be surrounded by a loving family and to have the opportunity of this adventure.

It's a Primativo win from the Puglia region (it's the heel of the boot, dontcha know)

Day Five-March 22 - the Vatican. Now if you must know, we are not big on religion. Spirituality yes, man made rules, not so much. But I find it fascinating. Buddhism to Christianity to Islam and all of the rest teach us to be good to each other, to be charitable and loving, forgiving and peaceful, and I like that. Good morals are something we all need a bit more of. But I digress. We were about to see the biggest church of them all, but first the Sistine chapel. You are forced to visit the Vatican museums in order to see Michelangelo's greatest work and we found this quite strange. Large tour groups pushed us along sometimes forcing us to spin against the tide. Zane thought it was hysterical while I wondered how anyone could stand this in July with larger crowds and no air conditioning. The art soon became monotonous and we were relieved to enter the chapel we had come for. Luckily we found a seat along the wall and we were able to spend a good amount of time trying to earn points on our mission.

Truthfully speaking, the "Family Audio Tour" was probably the biggest waste of 5 euro yet. (Except for the 30 euro worth of tram passes that we spent)

The map room was pretty cool. It both showcased the cool art and ceilings, as well as the madness of the tour.

Lunch followed - leftover pizza, pasta and sandwiches on the steps of St Peter's Basilica :)!! As we entered we viewed the “Holy Door” (which we learned about in our Mission book) and counted doves and papal symbols. Steve and Autumn took a bunch of photos and we enjoyed a few works of art by Michelangelo and others. Funny thing though, we weren’t as impressed as we thought we would be! We’ve seen a fair share of temples and churches and although this was the largest, it was not the “prettiest” or even the most ornate. It was beautiful and we enjoyed visiting without the major crowds, but feel some of the smaller churches we visited in Rome were simply nicer! Next, we walked a long way to the Trastevere area to get some well deserved gelato and take some photos of a unique part of this city. Trastevere is for the locals. It is old and quaint and a place to see how people really live here. It is a nice place to stay if you decide to come and not just be a tourist.

All for now... Next Stop: Amalfi Coast!