“Rise and shine! It’s time to go to Rome!” That would have been a more pleasant greeting than my phone vibrating in my pillow underneath my head this morning, but either way, I woke up excited.
Emily gave us a nice send off by making French toast and we headed out on time at 9am. (see photo above). Both of us were pretty sleepy, but we made it to the airport without any problems. The guy across the aisle from me on the bus decided it would be a good idea to sit sideways in his seat, with hit feet in the aisle because it made it easier for him to stare at us every 3 minutes. Don’t worry. He was harmless. He just asked me three times if I was doing well.
Our flight was delayed slightly due to the previous flight arriving late. However, soon enough we were ushered through the gate, onto a bus that would take us to the plane…the plane that was approximately 200 feet away from the airport. Yes, they put us on a bus, drove 200 feet, and we got out.
Ha.
In Roma! Katie is dragging around a duffel bag because she didn’t want to bring her humongous suitcase. Luckily for her, we are staying only a few blocks from Termini Station the whole week, so all our stuff can stay safe and sound in our room while we are out and about.
Now, let us discuss gelato.
Rule of Rome #1: Gelato must be consumed every day. You also must try a new flavor every day. If you wish to eat the same flavor as the day before, you may eat gelato twice, or even three times if you wish. This is all perfectly acceptable.
Today, we stumbled upon a gelateria on Via dei Serpenti (this side street is also awesome for another reason, which I’m sure Katie will mention…) and after much debate, I chose ananas, pompelmo, and frutti di bosco. Sweet, sweet bliss.
Let me translate for you. Beth had pineapple, grapefruit, and wild berry. My choice included green apple, cinnamon, and white chocolate. Delicious! Before you go thinking we’re completely gluttonous, let me ease my conscience. First, we walk everywhere so we can afford to eat copious amounts of gelato. Secondly, the price does not change for getting the same size cone in three flavors or one flavor. Score: Gelato 1, Ice cream 0.
Via de Serpenti was awesome despite its name. The Street of the Snakes, Road of Snakes, Snake Avenue, or whatever the correct translation may be, did not wind or twist or turn at all. It was perfectly straight. As we’re walking, I look ahead of me and at the same moment the light went on in my head, Beth said, “Hey, isn’t that the Coliseum?” It sure was! Right straight ahead of us as we made way down the street, we could see it.
I got very excited. We took pictures, and even though we plan to go there tomorrow for a tour and for more exploring, we wandered around the area, past the Arco di Costantino (Arch of Constantine), and took a seat on a nice little grassy hill next to the Coliseum. Beth did some writing in her travel journal, and I just took in the sights.
As we started walking again, Beth must have noticed how excited I was to be here because she made a comment about it. “You’re really excited about this, aren’t you…” Heck, yes, I am! I’ve always wanted to travel and see these places but I really honestly never thought I would lucky enough to do it. Even as a kid, I would dream about it and pretend, in my head, what it would be like there. Never did I even dare to think that I really could be there. I can’t believe the things my eyes have seen! :)
This takes us to supper time. I guess that means it’s Beth’s turn again, since food seems to be her specialty.
When in Rome, eat as Romans do. And I’m sure Romans sometimes eat Chinese.
After dinner we strolled up to St. Paul within the Walls church where there was a free concert put on by a couple of high schools from the States. Ha! There was a gospel-ish choir from Maryland and then a concert choir from Illinois that had six boys and about eight hundred girls. It was nice to relax and soak in some music in beautiful surroundings.
We get CNN in our hotel room and thus are soaking up all the world news. Katie doesn’t have English news in Tirana, and I have been traveling around Europe for the past few weeks, so it’s nice to get caught up on some of the things that are going on. By the way, we are just fine, and did not get caught in the earthquake in L’Aquila.
Ciao!
That sums up day one in Rome. Oh! We did see the famous Roman aqueducts from the train on our way into the station from the airport. Hopefully we’ll see more of those in the coming days.
Be prepared to hear more about gelato tomorrow as we continue to follow Rule #1. Our guidebook lists a place that claims to have over 100 flavors!
Maybe tomorrow we’ll even get to Rule #2: Must eat a scrumptious and savory authentic Italian meal, regardless of the prices on the menu.
Rule #3: Must update the blog every day. Cross today off the list!
Rule #4 could prove to be difficult. David requested a “blood-stained piece of the Coliseum.” So Rule # 4 is to recover a blood-stained piece of the Coliseum. We’ll report on the results of that search tomorrow as well.
Stay tuned and give thanks that we made it here safely.
Emily gave us a nice send off by making French toast and we headed out on time at 9am. (see photo above). Both of us were pretty sleepy, but we made it to the airport without any problems. The guy across the aisle from me on the bus decided it would be a good idea to sit sideways in his seat, with hit feet in the aisle because it made it easier for him to stare at us every 3 minutes. Don’t worry. He was harmless. He just asked me three times if I was doing well.
Our flight was delayed slightly due to the previous flight arriving late. However, soon enough we were ushered through the gate, onto a bus that would take us to the plane…the plane that was approximately 200 feet away from the airport. Yes, they put us on a bus, drove 200 feet, and we got out.
Ha.
In Roma! Katie is dragging around a duffel bag because she didn’t want to bring her humongous suitcase. Luckily for her, we are staying only a few blocks from Termini Station the whole week, so all our stuff can stay safe and sound in our room while we are out and about.
Now, let us discuss gelato.
Rule of Rome #1: Gelato must be consumed every day. You also must try a new flavor every day. If you wish to eat the same flavor as the day before, you may eat gelato twice, or even three times if you wish. This is all perfectly acceptable.
Today, we stumbled upon a gelateria on Via dei Serpenti (this side street is also awesome for another reason, which I’m sure Katie will mention…) and after much debate, I chose ananas, pompelmo, and frutti di bosco. Sweet, sweet bliss.
Let me translate for you. Beth had pineapple, grapefruit, and wild berry. My choice included green apple, cinnamon, and white chocolate. Delicious! Before you go thinking we’re completely gluttonous, let me ease my conscience. First, we walk everywhere so we can afford to eat copious amounts of gelato. Secondly, the price does not change for getting the same size cone in three flavors or one flavor. Score: Gelato 1, Ice cream 0.
Via de Serpenti was awesome despite its name. The Street of the Snakes, Road of Snakes, Snake Avenue, or whatever the correct translation may be, did not wind or twist or turn at all. It was perfectly straight. As we’re walking, I look ahead of me and at the same moment the light went on in my head, Beth said, “Hey, isn’t that the Coliseum?” It sure was! Right straight ahead of us as we made way down the street, we could see it.
I got very excited. We took pictures, and even though we plan to go there tomorrow for a tour and for more exploring, we wandered around the area, past the Arco di Costantino (Arch of Constantine), and took a seat on a nice little grassy hill next to the Coliseum. Beth did some writing in her travel journal, and I just took in the sights.
As we started walking again, Beth must have noticed how excited I was to be here because she made a comment about it. “You’re really excited about this, aren’t you…” Heck, yes, I am! I’ve always wanted to travel and see these places but I really honestly never thought I would lucky enough to do it. Even as a kid, I would dream about it and pretend, in my head, what it would be like there. Never did I even dare to think that I really could be there. I can’t believe the things my eyes have seen! :)
This takes us to supper time. I guess that means it’s Beth’s turn again, since food seems to be her specialty.
When in Rome, eat as Romans do. And I’m sure Romans sometimes eat Chinese.
After dinner we strolled up to St. Paul within the Walls church where there was a free concert put on by a couple of high schools from the States. Ha! There was a gospel-ish choir from Maryland and then a concert choir from Illinois that had six boys and about eight hundred girls. It was nice to relax and soak in some music in beautiful surroundings.
We get CNN in our hotel room and thus are soaking up all the world news. Katie doesn’t have English news in Tirana, and I have been traveling around Europe for the past few weeks, so it’s nice to get caught up on some of the things that are going on. By the way, we are just fine, and did not get caught in the earthquake in L’Aquila.
Ciao!
That sums up day one in Rome. Oh! We did see the famous Roman aqueducts from the train on our way into the station from the airport. Hopefully we’ll see more of those in the coming days.
Be prepared to hear more about gelato tomorrow as we continue to follow Rule #1. Our guidebook lists a place that claims to have over 100 flavors!
Maybe tomorrow we’ll even get to Rule #2: Must eat a scrumptious and savory authentic Italian meal, regardless of the prices on the menu.
Rule #3: Must update the blog every day. Cross today off the list!
Rule #4 could prove to be difficult. David requested a “blood-stained piece of the Coliseum.” So Rule # 4 is to recover a blood-stained piece of the Coliseum. We’ll report on the results of that search tomorrow as well.
Stay tuned and give thanks that we made it here safely.
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