Day 3: Santa Maria Church (designed by Michelanglo)

The Trastevere area:

Day 3: Our story

Phew! We packed in a lot in the previous two days!

We decide (or rather, it is me that decides) that we should get in some more monumental sight seeing. We take the metro to another area of the city, and after walking a couple of blocks we find ourselves at an amazing building,

Ali says “it looks just like the Coliseum!”
“No, it’s not, we are in a totally different area-it’s some kind of circus building”
“Wow, they built it just the same; it looks exactly like the Coliseum!”
It is of course, the Coliseum.

For dinner we decide to head to the Trastevere area, known as the neighborhood where “the real Romans live” We catch a bus there, almost missing it because we have to find a coffee shop to buy the tickets at first. Luckily I’m wearing heels I can run in!

Trastevere has a whole different feel to it, more mellow and intimate, but as the night goes on it gets progressively wilder. One of the favorite hang outs for drinking is an outside bar; attractive young people drape themselves over the sidewalk patio railings and pack the square. We grab a couple of mojitos in plastic cups and enjoy some people watching, inside the bar is a long table filled with tapas which you can help yourself to.

Day 2: Evening in Jewish Ghetto

Day 2: Street Scenes

Day 2: champagne break

Day 2: Sistine Chapel

Day 2: Our story

Day 2:

The Sistine chapel, we dread the lines, but amazingly we scoot right in, no waiting!
Inside we are packed in like tuna, slowly drifting down the endless, wondrously painted corridors, our heads craned back to view the ornate ceilings.

At last there is entrance into a huge hall with the famous Michelangelo’s Genesis paintings and the most famous “Gods creation of mankind”, actually a bit disappointing for me (not the creation of mankind, but the painting). I was surprised at how small it is.
But, in context, ones senses are overwhelmed by the sheer multitude of paintings.

After a morning in the rich interior of the chapel we decide to go shopping; both of us find beautiful Italian cut winter coats, though in this heat it is impossible to imagine wearing them.

Our feet are painfully sore, calling for a champagne break. Inside the bar we plop ourselves down at there is a wide selection of deliciously cool bottles of champagne on ice. We sip champagne in the shade of the awning terrace and nibble on the numerous tapas brought to us with our drinks.

At night we catch a cab into the Jewish ghetto, grabbing a slanted table on the sidewalk we eat an exotic meal of; baked artichoke served with chili oil, garbanzo and noodle soup, and an entrée of grilled tuna with tomato ragu. We keep eyeing the gelato shop next to us, watching people leave with large cones of dripping ice cream. After dinner I take a short stroll to the end of the street and discover an ancient arched ruin, illuminated with night lights, and oddly next to it, built into it-as part of the ruin- is a brick apartment. It is a strange sight, to look at this ancient ruin and at the same time see, a lit window with someone inside going about their normal business.

Our Hotel: Hotel Cesare

Our Hotel: Hotel Cesare

Day 1: Monumento to the forgotten soldier

Day 1: Fontana de Trevi and the Pantheon

Day 1: More Street Scenes

Day 1: Street Scenes

Day 1: Our Story

We conquer the “Old City”, walking the length of Via del Corso Street, and finally end up at the Coliseum, at this point in 32 C. temperature my body hits the brakes and we decide to replenish our strength before taking on the giant. Drinking beers and munching on crostini, we stare at the Coliseum looming over us, just across the street.

We order the self guided audio tours and then run around trying to figure out where the starting point is (as there are no signs). When we ask for directions we receive a lazy wave of the hand motioning us in a very general direction, as if to say “oh you know its there” we stare at the endless rows of arches, “ah, huh.. where?”

Amazingly Ali figures it out; I guess his engineer brain reduces the endless patterns into some kind of map. The coliseum is an awesome place.

We ask the hotel for dinner recommendations (as long as we don’t have too walk far!), the desk clerk draws us a restaurant location on the map-5 blocks away! But, he tells us if we don’t like the food to “send him the check”. So with this strong endorsement and a card with the owners name written on it we find the place, it is a packed sidewalk restaurant. Upon handing them our card we receive a “special service” plate after plate of the most amazing food is rushed out to us, our waiter is dripping sweat as he literally runs between the tables!

Arriving: Our Story

We begin our vacation with a dubious Ali, he is a man used to taking taxis, but I’m too practical to spend 95 euro on a cab from the airport to the hotel!

At the airport we encounter a problem, the first atm machine we try to withdraw cash from says “windows out of virtual memory”, Ali does not respond well this and begins expressing (in his best international language) “what a stupid fucking machine!”
Somehow we manage to catch the attention of an Italian policeman who politely refers us in the direction of another atm machine.

The train arrives and a crowd quickly converges, but the train doors do not open. People outside the train are pushing the red “open” door button, while the people inside pound their hands on the doors, it takes a long 5 minutes for the spray painted doors to finally wheeze open, and the people tumble out.

Inside the train we share a cabin with an Italian couple who enthusiastically share their home of Rome with us, drawing maps, giving us names of places we must see and eat at. The entire trip is consumed with frantic information from them, they even write down both their work and home telephone numbers for us to call if we need anything!

Getting off the train is hazardous, problems again with the doors, they open but then quickly shut, managing to trap our Italian friends backpack in the door as he makes a bold leap to get off. We watch the system, amazed as cursing and yelling, the Italian passengers pound the buttons and alternatively throw their 15 pieces of luggage out the door.