Category: Places

Day Five, Florence

SDSpivey

We caught the bus to the airport, where I had a rental waiting at Hertz, but I never thought to check for locations in town, but we got there easily enough. There were 3 people at the Hertz desk, but they were all real slow. I literally spent less time buying my car than waiting in line for the rental.

I got a Fiat Panda, it is a cool little (and I do mean little) four-seater. I quickly learned to forget everything I know about safety and just drive like a Roman. Apparently, turn signals are totally optional, as well as riding in only one lane at a time.

Unfortunately, I didn’t account for the travel to the airport and wait time for the car, along with the three hour drive. We didn’t get to Florence (Firenze) until mid-afternoon. We checked into our room at a former convent (the Sette Santi, aka 7 Saints) and then headed down-town.

There really wasn’t much to Florence, other than a bunch of churches that were under reconstruction. The buildings were attractive, but too close together to get any photos.

The center of most towns in Europe are vehicle restricted, so we had to get the bus into town. We were able to get on the right bus to return, but it was heading the opposite direction, so we had to wait a few minutes at the end of the route while the driver took his smoke break. Then we rode right back to where we boarded. I don’t recommend it, but it is a good way to see the city.

Our room had a sink and shower stall in it, but no toilet.

Many of the communal toilets also have bidets, although these are not the bidets that look like toilets without seats, these are short bowls on the floor with a spout that comes out of the wall and sprays water downward, the opposite of the direction you would need to wash your nether regions. Mom and I have come to the conclusion that you would face the wall and splash water with your hand and wipe. So you end up with a wet butt and “dirty” hands.

Day Four, Colosseum and Spanish Steps

SDSpivey

We had already visited the Colosseum on Friday, but with the holiday crowd, we did not go in.

We woke early to get a jump on everyone else, only had to wait a short while.

It really is the vastness of the whole thing that impresses. Every brick and tile was mortared by hand, no pre-form casting involved.

The sub arena area was covered in a beautiful green moss, but, of course no one can walk down there, otherwise the moss would die.

Afterwards, we went up to the Spanish Steps at Trinità dei Monti, not much to say, it is just a wide stairway that has a bunch of flowers planted there. Also the church was closed due to repairs.

Later, I walked to the train station to see about getting the train to the airport the next morning. I noticed a bus outside with a sign stating airport runs for only 4 euro, much less than the 28 euro I paid to get into the city on the train, plus the bus left every 25 minutes and was outside, no long lines to get to the right platform.

I think it was also faster than the train also.

 

Day Three, Vatican City

SDSpivey

After a good night’s rest, we awoke a the crack of noon and set out to explore a bit more of Rome.

We walked down the road a bit to the Basilica Laterno, one of the original seats of the Catholic Church prior to the Vatican City being built.

They have confessionals with kneeling pads on each side, many have a language on the front, presumably so the priest can understand your confession.

The ceiling was covered with gold, very likely real gold. Painting were on every flat surface.

We then decided to go across the river to see a few things, walking down the streets, enjoying the sites. Unfortunately, we went down a road that angled a bit more than the one we wanted to walk down, both of which went off the bottom of our map. We ended walking about an hour and a half, before we came across a Metro station that we didn’t know about. We could have taken the Metro and saved ourselves a bunch of effort.

On the way, we saw our first gas station. It seems strange to not have seen any so far.

Finally we reached the river, then met a couple from Holland with two kids. We all walked towards a large church, but somehow missed the entire thing. Seems impossible to over look something of that size, but we did.

We also wanted to see a fountain nearby, but following the map, it was not anywhere on that road. Very likely on one of the very steep side streets that we were too tired from walking to climb.

Being so late in the afternoon and being nearby to the Vatican, there should be fewer people, so we followed the river there. It was also closer to the Metro than the station we had passed, so there was going to be less walking. Or so we thought.

We walked into St. Peter’s Square and up to the portico of the chapel, only to see we were on the exit side of the barriers. Circling round to the other side, we got into line and went through security. But instead of going straight into the chapel, we somehow end up in line to go to the top of the dome. OK, that seems cool, until Mom spots a sign stating there were over 300 steps to the top of the dome’s cupola. Oh, no!

The Pope was performing a service while we were there.

A quick walk up the road led us to the Metro, with a straight shot back, no transfers needed.

After more than six hours of walking, we had earned a good Chinese meal and a good night’s sleep.

Day Two, Walking around Roma

SDSpivey

After going to bed, the concert continued past 11pm, loudly. Certainly no one in the US would ever be able to do anything that late.

We awoke, quite rested and hungry, but we had to wait for the manager to come by, we had to change to a smaller room. The manager finally came up, along with 3 women, presumably they were going to stay in our old room, it was a 4-person room.

Palatine Hill
Colosseum

We shifted everything into the new room, then went to go get fed, walking in the direction of the Colosseum. There was a large crowd at the Colosseum, then we realized, that with Friday a holiday then this would be a long weekend for everyone. I guess I picked a bad time to try to visit.

We jumped onto the Metro to get to Trevi Fountain. Unfortunately, the fountain is undergoing repairs, so isn’t spraying water and the pool was empty. Fortunately, they had a walkway over the pool, giving us a closer look that one would normally be able to get. So bonus points for that.

Then we actually got around to actually eating at a small pizzaria near the fountain. Mom had a pasta dish, while I had a pizza with “potate e wurtzel.” That’s potato and wurztel, a German sausage that looked and tasted like hot dogs. The pizza came uncut, apparently the high technology of pizza cutters has not reached these shores.

Pantheon

We headed to the Pantheon, the church of “all gods.” According to Wikipedia, it has been in continual use since the 7th century. There was a service even today.

The moat was empty, but I do not know if it is normally so, or if it had to do with the aquaduct that normally feeds Trevi being shut off. It is also the burial place of two of Italy’s kings and one queen. Strange as they were a very recent addition.

We then just roamed around (around Rome) down the back streets, seeing a sorts of venders selling their “original” works of art, toys, and jewelry. We saw a small toy store with nothing but wood toys (and a life sized wood motorcycle).

Walking through Piazza del Popolo, the People’s Plazza, a man from Bangladesh gave mom three roses, of course this wasn’t a gift, he was trying to get me to buy them out of guilt or embarrassment. But he didn’t know that I am cheap.

Afterwards, we “sardined” ourselves into the subway, and then took a siesta, although not necessarily on purpose.

We walked to a local grocery store, just to browse the various brands and products that they had and tried to figure out what some of them were without a translator. Some are easy because of pictures on the label, but some are totally unknown.

For dinner, we hit a local restaurant that was very “construction” themed, including pallets as a wall and scaffold for shelving. The food was awesome as well. Then we went to a gelateria, for gelato.

Day One, Arrival in Roma, Italia

SDSpivey
Old ruins in Roma

After leaving Orlando, the flight to Charlotte was a bit wavy, enough so that they “were not able to” serve any snacks. More likely, they wanted to save money. But it was a short 1 hour trip, so no huge loss.

Unfortunately, the flight to Rome was worse. They did serve snacks and dinner, but it was very turbulent the whole trip. I only got 2 hours of sleep.

Not only that but the plane had come in a bit late, only about 5 minutes, but we didn’t get airborne for almost an hour, including at least 10 minutes sitting in the taxiway, no apparent reason, just sitting.

We arrived at 10 AM, local time, 17 hours after I was dropped off at Orlando.

Going through Customs & Border Control was a breeze, the guy was busy texting and barely looked at my passport before returning it and passing me through. I didn’t even get a passport stamp. I was gypped.

I bought tickets for the train into Rome-proper, but we got onto the wrong train, or so the conductor said. We exited at the stop he suggested, to transfer to another train, but that train never seemed to come. We found out that it is a holiday, May Day. Apparently a lot of people are off work, and train service is shortened. We were able to get onto a different train and went down to the next station, where we transferred to the subway, which I had more familiarity, but I forgot to add the folder with all the subway maps onto my iPad, so I had to rely on my memory, which everyone knows is perfect. 😉

Some really old wall, or perhaps part of an aquaduct.

We finally got to the hostel a mere six hours after getting to Italy. We did get to see a bit while riding around, and got a good workout going up and down the billion or so stairs that are in the train/subway stations.

Fortunately, the hostel owner was just coming out on the street as we approached and led us up to our room.

There is a large concert going on nearby in the park, probably for May Day. The street in from of the hostel is blocked of to cars on our side, with food venders as far as one can see. We did have the willpower to hold off until we had an actual meal before going to the pastry vender. I am not certain what we bought, but it was pure heaven.

We walked around the area a bit before going back to the room, while Mom went to wash up, I passed into a coma for an hour or so, despite the music and traffic.

Mom didn’t last much longer, she went to bed about 8 o’clock.

I will probably be not too far behind her. I am soooo tired and I know we will be doing a lot of walking tomorrow and the next day and the next and the next and …