Flights + Day 1 - Rome

Hey, so this is my first post in this travel blog - hopefully I'll have the time and energy to update this every night or two.

So, both of our flights went fine. I was a little worried about my transfer in Boston, but my plane got in early and lines were short, so I was there in plenty of time. We landed in Rome, and my plane actually was unloaded in the middle of the tarmac, and we were bussed over to the unloading zone. Luckily Lauren found me directly at baggage claim, so we didn't have to go searching the airport for each other or use our phones. After waiting 20 minute or so for our bags, we headed towards the train station.

I think that cab drivers and shuttle drivers must purposely hang out in the hallway that leads to the train station, because in the under 5 minute walk there, we were "harassed" about overpriced shuttle rides by no less and 3 different drivers. Once at the train station, it took us a good 10 minutes of standing around confused before we were directed to the correct train (there were only 3 to choose from). Naturally as we walked up to it, it left. So we got to wait there another 15 minutes for a new one to show up, not that we were in any hurry.

We pretty easily found the correct stop and got off there. However, we were once again flummoxed by the buses. It took us 5 minutes to find a ticket dispenser, and another 5 minutes of standing in front of it like an idiot trying to get it to work. It certainly would be alot easier on stupid tourists like us if more machines had English options. Once on the bus, I throughly embarrassed myself. I was trying to figure out how to get our tickets stamped, and I stood in front of the machine trying to put my ticket in the slot for a minute or two. That was, until a nice old lady (who spoke pretty good English) nicely informed me that that machine was a ticket dispenser, and she pointed me towards the stamping machine right behind me.

To add to the fun, the minute I got off the bus, one of the wheels on my suitcase broke, so I had to carry my 35 pound suitcase for about two blocks to the hotel. Luckily, I think I fixed it to a workable level for the rest of the trip (I guess we'll find out soon enough). We easily found (thanks google street view!!!) and checked into our hotel, which is very nice, in a cute homey sort of way. As if we hadn't embarrassed ourselves enough in the past couple hours, the hotel attendant gave us our key card for room 102 and told us it was just to the left, on the first floor. We walked into the hallway and spent 5 minutes trying to break into room 2, before she walked in an told us our room was on the first floor, and pointed to the elevator. Maybe we should've remembered that their first floor is what we would consider the second floor.

After an hour of cleaning up and getting all pretty, we headed out to Rome for the afternoon around 12.00. We saw the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, the Colosseum, the Roman Forums, and the Pantheon. About half the time we were our there it was raining lightly, and if you don't have your umbrella in hand and open, you can't walk 100 meters without being bugged by a guy on the street selling umbrellas.

We ate lunch at a little outdoor cafe (it was heated and covered) right next to the Colosseum. We split a warm mozzarella and prosciutto (thin Italian ham) pizza, and it was absolutely delicious. So much better than even the best pizza I've bought in the US, and it probably wasn't even the finest pizza ever by Italian standards. During the 5 hours we were out there, we had 4 different people (usually couples) ask us to take pictures of them in front of stuff. Once French couple (two guys), one Italian couple (guy and a girl), one Spanish couple (guy and a girl) and what I think was a Scottish guy (he naturally spoke English, but had some sort of accent). I guess people trust young couples the most not to run off with their camera.

Around 17.00 or so, after seeing the Pantheon, we were really tired, so we headed back to the bus stop. The bus ride was alot longer back, and Lauren and I were both nodding off on the bus for most of the ride. When we got back around 18.00, we planned on taking a short nap then tracking down on some dinner, but needless to say we just kept sleeping until a little before 5.o0 the next morning. We've been awake ever since, and are getting ready for breakfast now.

I meant to make this post last night, but that was kind of pushed to the side in favor of sleeping. All evening and night.

Lauren in front of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Us - you can see the Colosseum down the street

Me - from the stop of the Tomb of the Unknown Solider

Roman Forums

Colloseum

Pantheon
Us - In front of the Pantheon
Inside the Pantheon
Hole, called the Oculus, in the dome of the Pantheon