Rome, Italy: Sept.30 - Oct. 5

Rome: Friday, Sept. 30, 2005

This was it. We were finally headed to the ancient capital of the known world for hundreds of years. Trevi Fountain, The Spanish Steps, The Coliseum, The Forum, The Palantine, The Vatican… All only 2 trains and who knows how many hours away.

We really weren’t sure when we headed out that morning how long it was going to take us as it did involve a few train changes etc. Turns out from the time we left the hotel at 9:00 we were standing in front the door to our apartment in Rome at 1:00. It was all incredibly smooth and we know they won’t all go like that.

All the trains were running right on time when we walked off the train from Pompeii. You have to change stations (a bit of a hike) from the Circumvesuviana line to the Central Line. It’s about 1 km. We arrived and saw a train just ready to leave to Milan via Rome. A friendly tip-hungry porter helped us find a cabin where we wouldn’t get kicked out of and we were off a few minutes later. It is around a 2 hour ride from Napoli to downtown Rome. We called our latest landlord on arrival (we had picked up a cell phone and Vodavi calling card in Amsterdam just for times like these) and grabbed a cab to the apartment.

We had rented our home for the next 5 nights over the web. Its location was great though it was a little musty inside. It was a 1 bedroom with kitchen and pullout for the kids running $140 Euro / night. Location wise if you were to draw a line from the Vatican to the Roman Forum, it would sit right in the middle. It was just off the Navona square with its famous Bernini fountains and surrounded by even more restaurants that there were in Pompeii.

After getting settled in, Debbie and Brennan headed out on the standard “let’s find a store, ATM, Internet Café, and check out the restaurant tour”. They were successful with 3 out of 4 and we knew we were going to have to go a bit further a field for our Internet access. Once the basics were out of the way we found it was still rather early so we thought we should stretch our legs a bit. The kids have very quickly caught on now that “stretch the legs” is a euphemism for take a freakin’ long walk for 3+ hrs.

True to form that is what this one stretched into as well. First stop for the day was the Vatican and St. Peter’s Square which was located just across the Tiber River. En route we found a small take out pizza place where you paid by the gram. Several hundred grams of pizza later the troops were filled up and ready to go. We visited a lot of these take out pizza shops over the next couple of days. Very inexpensive (relative to all the other choices) and very good. Takeout or eating while standing was always less expensive than sitting in a café or restaurant. In the sit down choices, there were usually cover charges, service charges and bread (!!) charges on top of the purchase.

St. Peter’s Square and the Basilica are very impressive, and really dominate the skyline. The semi closed shape of the square was exactly how we had imagined it but the marble workings and the statues just don’t cut it in the pictures. They are of a tremendous size and are only dwarfed by the size of the cathedral and the square itself. As impressive as this sight was however it paled in comparison to the kids’ true mission. Rather than focus on the sights, they were desperately searching for the Gelato stand their grandparents had told them about and they were pretty impervious to anything else. They finally found it just outside the entrance and after experiencing Lemon and Pineapple for Brennan and Lemon and Straticella for Sierra for a grand total of 4 euro, we were finally able to focus on the task at time.

Our objective for the day was simple. Scope out where the tours start for the Vatican museums and their hours of operation. We were planning to tackle these first thing the next morning and didn’t want any false starts. Armed with the information it was now time to venture farther a field. Onward to the Plaza Spagna or the Spanish Steps. Forty five minutes later without any wrong turns Brian led us up to the Spanish steps. The steps themselves while large are hidden from view by all the tall buildings. Very hard to see until you are right on top of them. In fact the only indication you are anywhere near them are the tremendous grounds that you start to encounter.

Well we did the tourist thing. And the kids and Debbie had gelato number 2 inside of 60 minutes while sitting on the steps. The kids couldn’t believe their luck! Poor Sierra though. As we were filming them eating on the steps Deb asked her a question and as anybody who knows Sierra well remembers, Sierra has trouble talking without moving her hands. Bad idea on a hot day with a bowl full of gelato. Splat onto her leg and pants. I’m sure it will make the out takes for a gag reel someday. And if you can believe this, Debbie was so full from the first gelato that she had to give her second one to Brian. Debbie never gives up sweets willingly!

One more stop for the day and it turned out to be the most difficult. We wanted to find a larger grocery store to pick up some food. On the road for almost 2 months and we were looking forward to doing a home cooked meal. We hadn’t seen anything yet during our walks and were getting a little worried. (Food we could do without, but the apartment was also missing TP which spelled disaster for us). As we wandered our way back home we stumbled across a very old looking building. On the inside was a tremendous dome roof with a hole in the center to let light in and drainage holes in the floor to drain off the rain. Turns out this was the Pantheon, the oldest temple in Rome dating back to pre-Christian rule. It now serves as a church.

One block further along, we finally found our store. Armed with groceries (fresh pasta and sauce for dinner and $2 Euro wine with lots of pop and water) we made the final push to the apartment. The apartment was located very near Piazza Navona which is very famous for its 3 Bernini fountains. This is a very busy and very large square filled with tourists and vendors alike. After a bunch of photos and Brian’s complaints that we don’t have to film every fountain our first day in the city, we finally made it back to the hotel, 15 km after we had left. So much for our short walk.

After a fabulous home made dinner it was finally off to bed. Tomorrow the Vatican.( NEXT PAGE )