We're Here and Rome May Never be the Same Again!

It is Saturday night and I am sitting on my bed typing my thoughts wishing I had remembered to ask our hostess about the wireless system…none the less lack of internet will not stop my thoughts tonight.

I always remember my father saying something about public transportation being an adventure. This trip started out just that way. On Friday, a nor-Easter in Philadelphia kept Cathy and I on the runway in Raleigh for two hours. However this is not all bad as Cathy has now discovered her new love of Technology and Pandora Radio downloaded to her cell phone. After updates and delays we all made it to Philly in time to catch our flight to Rome. That flight was fairly uneventful as we arrived around 8:30 this morning. After clearing customs, grabbing luggage and Euros we bought train tickets to Roma Termini and sat back to enjoy an hour long ride.

For those of you who have never seen Termini think of Grand Central Station in New York and then triple its size. Yes this train station is seriously huge it is about 10 short blocks long and two long blocks wide, and is the best place to catch trains and the metro. It was a quick walk from there to the bed and breakfast we are staying in for the first three nights. Casa Suri is in a nice apartment building in Rome. The owner rents out rooms as part of the bed and breakfast association in Rome and the rooms are just lovely, and much less expensive than a hotel room.
Trying to hit jet lag head on we dropped our bags and explored the metro. Even with Dale speaking Daleiano (Dale’s version of speaking Italiano), we were able to get our tickets and head to the coliseum for lunch. We were curious how far we might have to walk, but that question was answered as we stepped out of the metro station and were greeted by the most awesome sight. The coliseum stood before us drawing crowds from everywhere. Before we hit the sights we sat down and enjoyed pizza and drinks (for me that was a Coke Light-or Diet Coke) and relaxed hoping the food would help energize our very tired bodies.

After lunch we hit the coliseum and learned all about the history of the emperors who built it, how it was built and how the Roman Government scavenging it for parts is part of the reason it looks the way it does now (an earth quake didn’t matters either). It really is mind boggling trying to get your head around the fact that most of the buildings and history we are learning of took place before Christ was born. This is one of those buildings. Our tour guide talked about the class system within this structure and how the matches were very violent. Usually slaves are the ones who fought and if they won they became celebrities, when they won ten matches they were granted their freedom and allowed to decide if they wanted to fight again. There were not many who won, much less won ten times. Our tour guide gave us a wonderful insight into this unique building which we all really appreciated.
Right next to the coliseum is Rome’s version of the Arc de Triomphe. Up just past the coliseum and arc are the five hills. According to legend is where Rome was born. As a matter of fact when you hear about the emperor and senators bad behavior, adultery, incest, killing relatives in cold blood, you think this would really make a great soap opera. The hills are also where, according to legend Romulus and Remus were raised (one legend says by wolves another says by ladies of the evening) after they escaped a death sentence which originated with their grandfather (I tell you this is juicy stuff). The hill is the hill of the palace where we see the remains of a rather huge structure complete with its own arena, bath house and dining room (actually three) one had an actually island in it.

After the palace we took the metro back to Termini station and walked back to the B&B. Of course after walking all day in the sun we were tired and did not feel like walking up five flights of stairs to get to our apartment so we took the elevator. For those of you who are not familiar with European elevators, they tend to be rather small. When we checked in the elevator could only hold one person and their luggage. However we did not think twice before we all piled into the elevator and promptly found ourselves stuck between floors. After giving up on the elevator, I had my cell phone and Carolyn had the phone numbers and we tried to call our host, who was not home. Then I called the number for the elevator repair person who spoke slightly more English than I did Italian and by the end of the conversation I was not sure if we would see them. With no air conditioning and the four of us crammed into a little space we tried everything we could think of including changing places to distribute the weight differently (Carolyn’s idea) hitting all the buttons including the alarm, (Dales idea), and then finally someone in the building heard us and called for help. We don’t know if they learned how to reset the elevator or what, but they got us out after 20 minutes or so and we are extremely grateful.

After all the excitement we got to our rooms and collapsed. When we were showered and feeling better by eight and went to a local trattoria to enjoy dinner. After a relaxing evening together we walked back to the B&B and planned to get some much needed rest. Tomorrow is another day of adjusting our body clocks and checking out the sites. On our list; the fountains and some more churches and ruins. What incredible history lessons we are learning.