Italian Excursion Anyone?

With only five days in Rome, each day's agenda was well designed to pack in every square inch of Rome. But plans are sometimes only fun if they are ignored and there is something refreshing in being spontaneous. Cinzia Cortese's infectious love for Italy convinced us to squeeze in a visit to Ostia Antica and Lido Centro. Cinzia was our tour guide yesterday as we discovered the Vatican and other parts of Rome. Ostia is about 1/2 hour train ride south of Rome and Lido Centro is two stops further south. Feeling adventurous the next morning, we queued up at the train station for 45 minutes (or was it an hour?) to buy Italian rail tickets only to find out we needed only to jump on the metro. This was an indication of how our day on Italian public transport would transpire.

Despite this inauspicious start, we successfully navigated the underground metro to the above ground metro at Pyramide to arrive at Ostia. We even knew which stop was ours. We felt a bit strange and initially lonely when the train departed leaving us on an almost deserted station holding our Camel Baks. We shrugged our collective shoulders and meandered into town trying to recall exactly what Cinzia said we should go and see.

We had Pompeii in mind as that is how Cinzia described Ostia. She mentioned that Ostia is quaint and beautiful city and that it is, but the Pompeii part remains elusive. Our goal was to find some kind of port or other historic site. While looking lost at a busy intersection a helpful driver honked his horn and pointed to his right. Fortunately, his right was also our right so our future direction was not vague. Just to be certain, I questioningly pointed right and he confirmed by vigorously nodding his head yes. We smiled and waved confirmation and happily went towards the recommended direction. Now, we didn't think about it at the time but we should have wondered how he knew we were looking for a port or a historic site. Well...he didn't. We continued our long hot walk only to arrive...wait for it...full circle at the train station. It did look oddly familiar as we approached it from a different direction. Ready to admit defeat we decided to continue our journey towards Lido and act as if we meant to do that all along.

One interesting thing about Rome is that you never have to buy bottled water. The Roman aqueduct system delivers cool, crisp, and clean water at fountains throughout Rome and its surrounding area. Here are the girls at of one of these fountains.

After arriving in Lido our independent streak unwisely kept us from following the people on the train with beach gear. How hard can it be to find a beach, right? We studied the bus routes and jumped on Bus 5B towards Mare Russo. "Mare" means ocean so we were rather proud of our achievement if only briefly. It does pay to be nice in life. While on Bus 5B an old man got on with two bags of melons in plastic grocery bags. He set the bags down near Kelsey and I to free his hands to grab a handle. As the bus jerked at a stop, he started to lose his balance as he tried to gather the melons that rolled out of his bags. I reached out to help but he managed to grab the handle on his own but gave a kindly glance. About this point I also started worrying we may not be on the correct bus so I leaned over to Kelsey and whispered how I wished I could speak Italian so we can ask the old man if this is the correct bus. He couldn't have heard me but after a few moments he asked "where you go?" Surprised and not having fully understood his broken english I just smiled and said "I don't understand Italian." To which he said in a bit clearer english "you don't understand me?" Now fully understanding him, I rapidly threw out words like "mare", "lido", and "beach" in case his understanding of english somehow had a time limit. He just shook his head side to side and said "wrong bus" and then he gestured we had to go exactly the opposite direction we were heading. We thanked him profusely as he graced us with toothless laughter and jumped off at the next stop and looked for the bus going the other way -- which by the way is Bus 5. Who knew adding a "B" at the end of the bus number meant it goes the opposite direction from where you would want to go?

Here is a picture of the bus before the old man arrived.

Success! We arrived at the beach and enjoyed the view of the Mediterranean. We had a nice relaxing lunch on the beach as we watched people that should not be wearing what they were.

Even with our transportation challenges, it was a fun day discovering two new towns. Half the fun is in trying to figure out where to go and what to do. We just rolled with it and enjoyed the experience. We returned to Rome, took a nap, and strolled out to find a hidden ristorante and enjoy the evening. This was a pattern we followed every night.

It Is Now or Never...

Today we met our Vatican tour guide, Cinzia. She is bubbly, fun, and very knowledgeable of all things Rome. Well, all things Rome except for Grom - a very creamy Gelato store recommended by several friends and family members. But we didn't hold that against her -- it is a somewhat new store. It was a great time discovering Rome and learning all about the Vatican from Cinzia.

Here is Cinzia and the girls...

One of the first things we learned from Cinzia is the Italian technique for crossing a busy street. You basically pray/say "it's now or never" and take the first step. It works! Cars, scooters, buses, trucks, and bicycles all slow down or stop for you to cross. The thing to remember is be firm, commited, and never change your pace or you throw everything off and could get run over.

From Cinzia we also learned many interesting and amazing things. Here are a few:

- There are four Basilica's throughout Rome and although they look like other Catholic churches, they belong to the Vatican. Meaning that when you step into them, you are not in Rome anymore, you are in the Vatican.

- The Colosseum had a capacity of 70,000 and the grounds are huge; however, it was preceded by a man-made lake that Emperor Nero had built. Talk about a guy that had issues -- Nero virtually burned down Rome to make room for his home which covered four large hills around the current Colosseum. Just one of the hills was large enough for some 200 rooms.

- Mussolini signed the Vatican treaty in 1929 and granted 102 acres -- probably more than sufficient for a single guy. The Vatican consists of its own rail station, Radio Maria, TV station, and two hospitals -- after all it is a city-state that is totally independent of Italy. Radio Maria is boring according to Cinzia!

- The Japanese gave $4.2M in 1964 to the Vatican to clean the Sistine Chapel for royalty rights for postcards, prints, tourist stuff, and later CDs and DVDs. That was smart.

Cinzia made it a fun and enjoyable experience to walk 10 miles through Rome and the Vatican. We learned so many things from her and can't wait to come back and tour other parts of Italy with her guidance. BTW, go to www.roman-gateway.com if you would like to learn about her -- we highly recommend her tours!

One sad observation I must share is my deep disappointment in Italian men. I can see why the Italian soccer team has turned into wusses and constantly dive when merely touched by an opposing player. Yes, it is a rather broad brush I am painting but they definitely threw away the man card here. I mean come on...in the land of gladiators, Ducati, and Ferrari...they wear man bags and capris. I expected Italian leather wearing guys on red Ducati's zipping through the streets stopping at cafes with women at their elbows. What a let down. Take a look at this picture -- these man bags are everywhere!

Italian women on the other hand...gorgeous. There, maybe Cinzia and Morgan won't be too unhappy with me now...

Here are a few pictures of our adventure. The tower below is an actual home today of one of Cinzia's friend. Nobles in the past lived in these towers and there are four of them in Rome today. The design was such to make it easy to defend; each window is a floor with a room. The kitchen is the lowest room.

Here is shot of the inside of the dome in St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican. The entire church is amazing and the size of the building, sculptures, and paintings is unimaginable.

To give you a perspective of the size of the St Peters Basilica, look at the letters forming the ring of the dome. Cinzia informed us that each letter is six feet tall and we didn't believe it. But look closer at the picture and notice the people that are along the railing above the letters...compare the height of the people with the letters!

During the day, we took a lunch break and discovered buffalo mozzarella - made from water buffalo milk. Wow - this was amazing. With Cinzia's help we ordered a great lunch consisting of buffalo mazzarella, tomatoes, bread, olive oil, melon, and proscuitto. She even made sure they brought lots of ice for our "light" Cokes (i.e., no "Diet" Coke).

We ended the day with a treat from Cinzia with a tour of Chiesa Di St. Ignazio a Jesuit church. This church was designed by the Jesuit architect Orazio Grassi and built from 1626 to 1685. What is unique about it is the use of perspective in the paintings on the ceiling. Instead of being domed, the ceiling is actually flat but the paintings make it look domed. The arches also change perspective as you walk across the church -- very neat.

This is Roma...

Oh my...a short two hour Alitalia flight and we were drenched in the Italian sun and accosted by the wonderfully blended aroma of scooter exhaust, pasta, sweat, and coffee.  The flight itself was mercifully uneventful given the rather worn looking Airbus aircraft. The pre-travel research proved handy as we immediately found the Leonardo Express train to Stazione Termini which is only a few blocks from Giovy Bed and Breakfast.  As an anchor for the remaining five days in Rome, it was perfect.  Giovanna and her nieces are amazing hostesses as they settled us in our second floor suite.  Baggage up the stairs? No problem with a neat little one person elevator with a folding door.   


Here is the picture of Leonardo Express at the train station...I love trains...

Our immediate goal for day one was to establish situational awareness and explore the area so we can validate our attack plan each day.  But food is always a priority and we took Giovanna's recommendation to go see Ciro at a pizzeria a few blocks from the B&B.  The pizza was unreal and not surprisingly way better than, oddly enough, the Ciro's restaurant in our neighborhood in Clifton, Virginia. You have to understand, the Virginia Ciro's sets a fairly high bar but it paled in comparison. Two pies later, we continued our day one adventure.

We wandered perhaps a bit further than expected to the Colosseum via a series of cobblestone side streets, moss covered apartments, and an engineering college.  Admittedly a bit lost and disoriented, we turned looking for the Colosseum and there it was filling the frames of our eyes.  Thousands of years of history majestically waiting as it always has for the gladiators and tourists alike. It was an amazing sight to behold and pictures or web site tours before arriving do not prepare you adequately. We resisted the temptation of purchasing tickets and decided to simply walk the grounds of the Colosseum, Palatine, and the Roman Forum -- after all it was only day one. 

Here are a few shots of the Colosseum during this exploration tour...the first picture is from a small bridge we stumbled upon.  

This second is taken as we got closer and tried to figure out how to get down to the lower street where the entrance to the grounds is located.

Being so close to the Vatican, Catholic, Jesuit, Fransiscan churches are on almost every corner. There are some very beautiful locations with intricate details, paintings, and sculptures. I'll talk a bit more about this in my next blog. Here is a photo of one of the churches -- we had to be quick since we weren't very well dressed for churches. Meaning, we had shorts on and the girls had shoulders uncovered -- we dressed better the next day...

The evening snuck up on us quickly but the heat (oh God the heat) mandated a break to the B&B. Re-energized a few hours later we headed for Trevi Fountain for an evening photo tour and dinner. It is said singles will meet the Roman of their dreams with a simple toss of the coin into the fountain and if husbands drink from the fountain they will love their wives forever. Well...there were lots of singles hanging around the fountain that was overflowing with Euros and the husbands were no where to be seen. There were a lot of bars and cafes around Trevi fountain and the water must be disgusting from all the money...I'm just saying...

We avoided the mainstream cafes and restaurants located right on a tourist site and found an alleyway with just enought light to have a sidewalk cafe and restaurant. We wanted local color and we got it in spades. The pasta dinner was amazing in a neverhaditbeforekindofway...really. We must have looked like homeless people that found a Euro because the food lasted oh about 30 seconds. Slowly we came to realize that is not the Italian way. We were supposed to order antipasta, relax, sip wine, eat a bit of bread if they gave it, sip wine, order the main course, relax, sip more wine, order the cappuccino and dessert, relax, ask for the bill (not "check"), and then pay and leave.
We instead, sat, ordered the pasta, became impatient when the bread didn't arrive in time, inhaled the pasta, asked for the bill, became impatient when the bill didn't arrive pronto, paid, annoyed the waiter didn't come to get the money so we walked it inside the restaurant, then left. I can still hear/imagine what was being said as we left..."stupid Americans." But we left with a skip and a smile having eaten the best pasta of our lives and wondering why Italians are not fatter. I think I have a clue as to why...tourist eat all the calories...the pre-travel research also paid off in finding awesome gelato at San Crispino! It too was unlike anything we have had before. To wrap up the food segment of our day...best pizza, pasta, and gelato. This week in Rome is off to a great start...