Welp, those four words have manged to get myself and Megan around Rome for about 14 hours.
It all started in Dublin with a shuttle driver (who looked like he was terribly hungover) that drove us to the airport at roughly the speed of sound. It's supposed to take 30-45 minutes depending on traffic--we made it in just under 3 1/2 minutes.
We got to Rome on time and walked about a mile to get to the train that takes you to Rome. When we got to the station we were delighted because we flew in to the Rome Airport (the main one), and figured it would cost some where between 2 and 5 Euro's to get to the center city. However, after about a million years of living here the Romans decided to put their airport approximately 7,000 miles from the city center (okay it was about 20 miles, but still...who does that?)...and it cost 15 Euro's per person to get to the city center.
Anyway, we got to the city center train station and walked about 2 miles to get to the subway. This was frustrating because 1) Megan is getting a bit of a sinus infection, so I was carrying both of our bags the entire way, which obviously doesn't bother me, but keep reading... 2) because once we walked about 30 minutes to get to the subway we ended up taking it just one stop (they didn't have any subway maps until after the 2 mile trek)...so we were on the subway for a total of 38 seconds...3) Once we got off the subway we couldn't figure out how to get to to hostel. This was due in large part to the fact that we walked around for about 3 miles and saw approximately 2 street signs. Once again, apparently European's expect you to know what street you're on with out any signs.
I finally found a couple of Capital City Rome Police Officers, and they couldn't have been more helpful. They directed us right to the hostel...and, once we got here it was very apparent we made the best choice possible in choosing our hostel. The "Mama Mia" Hostel is on the second floor of a typical building in Rome (It reminded me of Seinfeld, mainly because we had to be "buzzed up" to get to the second floor). Once we got up here it was a bit sketchy (one hallway, and about 4 total rooms). But, once we got in our room it was unbelievable. We have a huge room that has a flat screen TV, a huge private bathroom, and a balcony overlooking a quaint little street in Rome with a restaurante right across the street (all of which costs 67 Euro per night for us). This is easily the best lodging deal in Rome.
After we got settled in we went to a little back alley pizza place that we saw on the way to our hostel. It was glorious. We sat about 5 yards from a fairly busy street corner eating our fresh made Italian Pizza and Canolis.
After the late lunch we walked over to the Coliseum and got a bunch of great pictures. Then we manged our way into the "Arco de Ttio." This place was really cool...except I have no idea what anything was that I saw. I assume it was a Roman Empire village for quite some time, but then again I used my imagination the entire time, so take that for what it's worth. I was really quite frustrated about 30 minutes into the walk around this place. It was very evident that they wanted to sell packages of walking tours to the Coliseum and this tit thing. I would have gladly purchased a tour because they weren't that expensive. However, we came late in the day (4PM), so I"m guessing they just wanted to take our 12 Euro per person and run.
We actually saw some middle aged 40 year old American dude arguing with the park police about this travesty that we also experienced...and after I saw them laugh after he walked away I chose to enjoy our time and not waste my time arguing with some guy who could probably care less if I lost a nickel or a limb in the last 5 minutes.
After that we made our way back to the hotel for some wine and relaxation out on the balcony of our room. We talked to 7 or 8 of my parents on skype and decided to go to dinner. We couldn't have picked a better place. I was sitting about 6 inches from a 4 way intersection that at it's widest point was about 10 lanes wide. We enjoyed a bottle of wine and shared a mushroom and margarita pizza. We got some great pictures, but due to us forgetting the memory card in the hotel room we're going to have to wait until we get back to the states to post them.
We then walked down to an Ice Cream place and got some dessert to enjoy on another walk down to the coliseum. I can't tell you how weird it is for me to see the coliseum--I feel like I'm walking up to Bank of America Stadium to watch an NFL game...but then I think about how people used to feel walking up to it thousands of years ago, and it completely blows my mind.
I haven't even been inside yet, but I can already tell I'm going to love it.
Spaghetti, Ferrari, Italiano (that's all the Italian I know...so I figured I would show it off).
Mind the gap,
Mark
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