Missing Rome Post (Part 1)

Oops, should have posted this before the Vatican post!

Buena Sera from Rome! When we left Venice this morning, it was beautiful and warm. Stupid Venice! Oh well. We traveled by train to Rome and arrived around 3 p.m. It is extremely crowded and noisy here. Fortunately, the subway is super easy to navigate, and we made it to our hotel in about a half hour.

After we checked in, we went around the corner to the pizzeria, where they sell by the gram. I don't think they get many tourists here, and the locals seemed interested in our attempts at Italian. The pizza is great by the way. I had zucchini blossom and Chris had...well we don't really know what he ordered. They slapped it in to wax paper and we were off walking. The extra-special ingredient in the pizza was anchovies. Smeared on the crust I think. Fortunately we like anchovies, but it was still a surprise.

We took the bus outside of our hotel to the Spanish steps, where we did Rick Steve's evening walking tour in reverse with our guide book. It was great and very scenic. Rome is a city of walkers, locals and tourists alike. We saw those Spanish Steps (crowded!), Trevi Fountain (threw in a coin), the Pantheon and the Camp d'Oro (sp?). We also stopped for what Rick Steves' said is the best gelato in Rome. It was indeed delicious and rich, but sadly I can see why everyone around the world thinks that Americans are so rude. This famous place was teeming with a group of American tourists with their teenagers, who were demanding to taste EVERY type of gelato, and never even trying to say anything in Italian. They were very snotty, and didn't say thank you in either language.Talk about second-hand embarrassment for your country, yikes! Oh well. We tried to say everything in Italian, even if it was bad Italian. After walking by the Colosseum and the Forum, which we'll go back to, we headed back on the bus to our hotel. We shared some delicious papparedelle a la Vongole (wide pasta wtih clams) and a salad at a little cafe near our hotel. It was awesome.

OH. Also, our first morning we had cold water in the shower. I braved it, and Chris half-braved it, and I stormed downstairs ready to have words with the front desk. How do they not have hot water? How was this not mentioned in the Trip Advisor reviews?? Oh, the whole block doesn't have hot water, they said. The city is working on a pipe. Hmph. Needless to say we had hot water later that day. But still, you think someone would have mentioned it ;) Ha ha, I guess that's just how Rome is!