Rome

Imagine walking around an old city, much older than Philadelphia, and then turning the corner and there right before you is one of the oldest buildings in the world. Built before the birth of Christ! Astounding and without words is how we felt a number of times throughout our visit in Rome.

Our stay in Rome was quite intimate in a sense that the 6 of us stayed in our very own 5th floor apartment ((that would be 90 steps – yes we counted!)), homey and very “We Are Family” 🙂 The hominess of the pad made the experience that much more enjoyable. While we didn’t spend that much time at our pad during the daytime, it was enjoyable to be able to go there throughout the day and in the evenings and still be together! Many funny moments and memories were made that will be with us for our lifetime!

While we were in Rome 6 nights and we felt we saw a great deal of what the city had to offer historically and as a whole, we could see spending a longer period of time touring the city. Rome has great outdoor seating at almost all their cafes/restaurants/eateries year round. This was great for us being that we were touring Rome in November with heavy coats, hats, scarfs, and gloves. While winter was approaching quickly we were still able to enjoy outdoor dinners which made the ambiance of the evenings very enjoyable!

Our first night in Rome we ate at a phenomenal restaurant located at the Piazza Navona. The food was to die for as was the wine. One thing Matt taught us was to always order the House wine, it is rather good wine at a good price. So 3 bottles later we were all feeling rather good, bellies full of good authentic Italian food! Yum!

The most fascinating site, and also favorite site for Megan was the Pantheon. Something about knowing that this structure, while still in full contact, was built before the birth of Christ, made this site 100% worth returning to Rome to see again. Matt informed us that the land around the Pantheon has been built up since the structure was first built, making the structure level no longer needing the steps that were once needed to enter the building. The other fascinating thing about the Pantheon is that church services are still held within the building. We sat at a cafe located right outside the Pantheon one afternoon and had tea; it was so nice to relax an enjoy the surroundings of Rome at a leisurely level.

One of the many historical things seen while in Rome were the obelisque. These were located outside many buildings, used in fountains, seen in many parks and outside the Vatican. They were actually pilfered from Egypt many years ago. It was amazing to think that of the history that this town has. Coming from the US, where we have history of our own, it no way compares to the history of so many other places in our world. Having Rome and Morocco be the first two places Megan has been overseas, the history part of the trip was very surreal, just surreal.

When booking our apartment, Mom must have known that we planned on drinking for there was a bar right across the cobblestone street! Now while we only quenched our thirst once at this bar, it was a nice feeling to walk into this place and feel welcomed. Having a beer each, we sat down and immediately starting catching up, only to be interrupted by one of the “Ancients” – as they have just come to be called – ((yes Matt, your cousin Nikki calls them Ancients))needing help getting into the apartment. While we would like to continue to pick and make fun we must say we had a difficult time with the apartment door to, tricky thing! For some reason this door, while probably older than any of the doors in America, must be a new invention because trying to open it was nearly impossible, especially after trekking up 90 steps! Needless to say we finished our first round and Matt and Josh were going to have a second, but three drinks were served, the 3rd on the house. Sadly, we never returned to that bar, but every night the place was packed, people out in the street drinking and socializing, the place looked like a fun time to relax, kickback and just enjoy a drink!

After a great nights sleep on a comfy bed, we woke up to rain, a pressure free shower to the point Megan washed her hair outside of the tub before getting in. See this shower only dispersed a total of 3 holes of water, when there was good water pressure. If someone started the washer before everyone was done showering forget it… you were lucky to get 1 hole of water!!!! ((It’s okay Dad!!))

Since it was a rainy day we headed to the Museum at the Vatican. Talk about a museum…. wholly cow, this thing went on forever. While it was very interesting to see the many statues and paintings it was even more fascinating to see the Sistine Chapel. An element of all its own, this was worth the wait of the many upon many people waiting to see the chapel. Josh of course mistakenly took the sign to say no flash photography when it actually said no photography, so yes we escaped “God’s Museum” with a picture!

We had a BIG lunch of personal pizzas, but not personal like Pizza Hut personal. These pizzas were more like large pizzas from your local pizza shop. How that is personal we don’t have a clue, but we each ordered our own and were rather stuffed the remainder of the day. After lunch we headed to the Vatican. Security yes… searching of personal belongings yes… once inside security, sectioned off area to The Vatican yes…. Josh steps outside gated area to get picture yes…. Josh go back through security yes…. what can we say though, he did get a good picture! Since we were separated from the rest of the group (Megan waited for her so intelligent fiance;) ) we did the tour of the tombs of the past popes. While neither of us are Catholic and have no connection with pope-isms and the job of the pope it was still neat to experience. Afterwards we caught up to the rest of our group within the Vatican. Now this place was a site worth seeing and seeing in the real not in someone elses pictures for pictures do not do it justice! It was gigantic!!! Beautiful statues and the main pulpit was just out of this world! While we did get many pictures the pictures do not do it justice, it really is without words just exquisite. We must say that the Vatican is a site worth seeing no matter what your religion or beliefs are. If you have the chance please take it!

After our personal pizzas unfortunately there was no way we were going to be able to eat a big dinner. With this said we decided to venture to a grocery store and pick up snacks along with some wine. With it being a rainy evening we felt a good amount of snacks, some wine, and a game of 9-No-Peakie was the game plan! Josh, Megan, Mom and Matt headed off to the store and purchased 3 bottles of wine and some snacks to last us our stay in Rome. After returning to the apartment and finishing off 3 bottles of wine, Josh, Megan, and Matt headed back out for more wine, yes more wine, remember there are 6 of us! After locating a store that would sell us wine (( it was late and most places were closing)) we headed back to the apartment, however took a pit-stop for a shot & beer at a bar around the corner from our apartment! Matt got hit on by a couple of married Irish women who continued to call him Max.  Once all back at our pad, we continued our game and continued with the wine. Some of us got a little more gitty than others, even if those so called people choose not to admit it. ((It’s okay Aunt Diane, it was all in good fun, besides we have the pictures to prove it))

Waking up sick the next day, not from the wine but from the travel & greasy food, Megan and Josh lay low for a bit and met up with everyone else later in the day. Meeting at The Wedding Cake we continued to site see and because of the excess amount of grease on the pizza two days in a row, Josh took Megan back to the pad and Megan rested for the afternoon and most of the evening. Mom and Dad purchased a pretty Gerber Daisy which sat on the kitchen table for the rest of our visit in Rome. Josh and Matt took some time to site see a bit on their own and Josh wanted to purchase a reminder from home for Megan, but couldn’t because the “fair” wasn’t open until the weekend. There was a fair on the Piazza Navona that Matt thought was for the Christmas season, but it didn’t open until the 1st of December. That evening we had dinner close to home at a place we could eat indoors. This food was horrendous in all of our opinions. Megan didn’t eat much because of feeling under the weather, she just shared with Mom, but we both agree that the food reminded us of Chef Boyardee… how bad is that – we’re in Rome!!!

We spent Saturday touring the Colosseum, which is another site that is a must see. While we are sure many pictures have been seen and even studied in history classes, seeing this monument of history in person is the way to go! While so old the thing has an elevator!!!!! Beautiful and breathtaking this monument has withstood so much and to think that it in it’s prime was covered in marble that is now found in other parts of the city, stolen in a sense for use in modern time. After the Colosseum we walked through the Forums – while we don’t believe any of us are huge history buffs, it was neat to see the forums and allow your mind to accept that the ruins laying around your feet are the same pieces that were part of building years upon years ago! Just amazing!!!

This evening ended with dinner at Campo De’ Fiori. We went out for a bit with Matt drinking at some of the bars he went to while studying in Rome. We saw and drank at the PSU Bar that was when he was there and then ended our night at the current PSU Bar.

One of the things going into this trip that we knew was a definite was that Mom and Aunt Diane were going to have a little time to themselves to do whatever. They took this chance the next morning and we ended up meeting them mid-day at The Spanish Steps. Now the Spanish Steps in our eyes aren’t anything exception – just steps. We’ve seen these steps in commercials and they look like “movie-star” steps, well we didn’t think there was anything movie star about them. They were just white steps. Venturing to a different part of Rome we walked the outskirts of Borghese Park, which was a close comparison to Central Park in NY. We also got some great pictures of the twin churches at Piazza del Popolo where we had wine earlier in the week. These churches match exactly, it was pretty magnificent!

The final big thing we did while in Rome was climb to the top of the St. Peters dome at The Vatican. Dad and Mom did this when they visited Matt when he was in college. Matt thought this was something worth seeing and doing, which we both agree was a must do! 390 steps, narrow hallways (if you can consider them hallways) and many a wonderous site later, we were at the top! We may have been huffing and puffing a bit, but we all did a great job at making it to the top. Of course it was a cloudy day, but we still managed to see rather far and get some great pictures. We even found Waldo!

Our time in Rome was without a doubt a phenomenal time. We so enjoyed our time seeing all the sites that Matt fell in love with 6 years ago. Matt thanks again for all the communication assistance while in Rome. While we both feel we could conquer Rome on our own it was nice to have you to help us through!

Travel in Rome

Once landing in Rome we were to have a Personal Chauffeur to take us to our apartment. After waiting around for a good 45 minutes plus, we figured we wasn’t coming to get us. Darn, we were both looking forward to seeing our name on a poster board…. Mom and Dad made a few calls trying to get through to the agency who we booked the apartment though, with no luck. Okay no problem, we’ll just take a taxi, not what we thought we’d have to do, but it is a solution… well we didn’t have to do it, for the taxi’s were on strike! We guess nothing is dependable in Rome either – it isn’t just a Moroccan thing – HA! After waiting in a non-moving taxi line, we finally manage to get a ride with a driver who the airport paid to handle the overflow of  people needing rides with the taxi’s on strike. Besides our initial taxi driver strike we didn’t have any problems with transportation for we walked everywhere!!! Are we physically fit now???

So here we are at home on our couch, back in the modern world of the US. Nice pressure in our shower daily, food just a few inches away, our dogs laying with us on our couch, so different than the lands across the ocean. Still the Dirty Half-Dozen we were!