A City of Ancient Ruins
Trip Start
May 14, 2010
1
14
21
Trip End
Jun 02, 2010
Where I stayed
Rome, Lazio, Italy
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
I should mention that the weather on this trip has been truly amazing. It was a bit cool and drizzly our first day in Amsterdam, but after that it got warmer, and by the time we got to Rome, we had weather in the upper 80’s and sunny. This was especially terrific because we walked nearly everywhere we went, and if it had been rainy or cold it would have been miserable.
We walked quite a bit and it seemed that everywhere we looked there were incredibly old buildings and structures as well as ruins, mixed right in with the modern buildings. Here’s the other thing - traffic in Rome is INSANE! I mean there does not seem to be any rules or structure or anything. I’m sure there is, but to an outsider’s observation it’s utter chaos. At one intersection, it’s just a wide open area that 8 or 10 streets converge, and it just seems to be a free-for-all as to who goes where and when. We were all very glad we were on foot. The buses are not much better…but more on that later. We found a restaurant with outdoor seating and had dinner. Food was good, atmosphere was nice, and Brian had the largest bottle of beer I think I’ve ever seen served!
We meandered back toward our room to change since it was cooling off a bit, and then headed out to find the Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, and the Fountain of Triton by Bernini. All three are relatively close to each other and very close to our room. We had a bit of difficulty first orientating our self to the map…no Lake Michigan to navigate by!! But we did eventually find Trevi Fountain and it was fantastic! It’s larger than I imagined and there are crowds of people around - we could hear it before we could see it (both the people and the water). The legend goes that if you throw a coin in the fountain, you will return to Rome, so of course we did..and then were told by a street vendor (who then wanted to sell us a Polaroid of us at the fountain) that it was supposed to be over our shoulder…so we did it again for good measure lol! Next stop was The Fountain of Triton. This one was nice, very much smaller and much less grand than Trevi, but it was still really beautiful Our last stop of the night was the Spanish Steps. We approached them from the top, where the church of Trinita dei Monti is. The steps connect the steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the church of Trinità dei Monti at the top, and then made our way down. This is apparently the place to be in the evening. People everywhere on the steps hanging out, drinking beer and wine, and just socializing. The steps themselves are supposedly the tallest and widest in Europe. We milled about a bit and then decided to start back to our room. By this time it was after 11:00 and our feet were screaming…time for bed! Plans for the next day were the Vatican Museum and the Sistine Chapel, Saint Peters Square and Basilica, and possibly some other sites. We also were going to be meeting Trystan’s best friend Mike, who was coming into Rome that day. A busy day ahead!
