Rome, Italy - Day 20 - Boots on the Loose

I’ll start this entry off on a high note – For what was supposed to be the final night back in Florence before coming to Rome (back in the tent), the day’s -free- appys didn’t treat me so well, and I spent the night up every hour barfing out the front of the tent. Ugg.

The plan was to head for Rome the next morning, but I was in no shape to be away from a toilet, so we upgraded to an actual hotel for the next night, and I lied in it all day watching Italian soaps and sleeping. Poor Jen had to wander on her own but I think she quite enjoyed the lack of my whining actually.

Next morning we rented a car (which was -not- cheap) and drove thru Tuscany to a town called Montelcino for the night (1/2 way to Rome). Lots of beautiful wine country to look at, with cool medieval towns throughout. Place we stayed at was 55 euro a night, which was a pretty good deal compared to most other places around. It’s been a pretty expensive go being in Northern Italy… most double rooms we find are more like 70 euros or more (which is around $100 CDN). A couple times we’ve stayed in hostels which tends to be cheaper, but we prefer not to sleep on bunk beds in dorm rooms if we can help it (and doubles in hostels can be expensive too…). With Jamie it can be a bit cheaper too; triples can be found for around the same price as a double.

Funny thing happened in the morning when we were loading the car to leave for Rome: Jen pulled it around and gave me the keys, and I went over to what I -thought- was the car and started opening it. Owner came over quite unhappy, and by the time I figured out what I was doing wrong, there was no use explaining since we didn’t speak each others’ language. Ah well…

Rome has been great; got in around noon, miraculously managed to actually find the Hertz to drop off the car, with difficulty found a nice pensione right near the Colosseum. People have been pleasent with no harassing, not too dirty, a MILLION things to look at, etc. Traffic’s heavy as people warned us, but hey… it’s Rome (just requires a lot of caution when crossing roads).

The Colosseum. Quite a site to see. Bought a ticket the first night we arrived and wandered the ruins around the Colosseum (there are lots of them), but had to wait for the next morning to actually go -thru- the Colosseum. I really enjoyed everything about it, and can’t say enough (Jen doesn’t feel quite as strongly because of all the people, but for some reason I’m able to ignore it for this one).

Following the Colosseum we met up with some friends from back at work (Paul Tremblay, Amy and Brad Turner) for the day, and headed over to the Vatican together. Another amazing thing to not be missed. Went into St Peter’s Cathedral, and climbed it’s Duomo (they’re starting to become old now, but this one had to be done). Missed the Sistene Chapel, and probably won’t end up seeing it since today is our last full day in Rome, and we didn’t feel like wrestling with the Vatican on a Sunday. Ended the day off with a seat on the Spanish Steps, which is basically just a stair case up one of the hills in Rome, except with thousands of people either sitting on them, or wandering the streets surrounding them. Very cool experience, and could have spent many more hours just sitting and watching.

And today, did some more wandering around and hit the Pantheon (yes, another church… 2000 years old though so another ‘must see’), and headed over to the Trevi Fountain (everyone throws coins backwards into the fountain, but we resisted the urge). This one didn’t impress us quite as much as it seems to impress everyone else.

I give Rome 2 thumbs up. If I came back to Italy, I’d say Rome is the first place that comes to mind that I’d genuinely like to come back to.