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OCTOBER 4, 2003
Our train for Rome wasn't leaving until 11:20 so we took out time. We thought our bus was at 9:20 to the train station, but it didn't come until 9:52. I thought it should give us plenty of time to get to the train station. The bus ride took forever. I then started to worry it might not get us there in time, especially because the route didn't look familiar so I was also worried it was taking us some other place. It was all needless worry. We got there and in plenty of time.
There weren't any train charges which was nice. The ride was about 2 1/2 hours. Right before we got into Rome there was a thunderstorm and it was raining pretty hard. We were lucky because it stopped right when we got there.
They had room so we just took it. It wasn't that nice, but the people seemed nice. It was still early in the day so we went to check out a bookstore that sold used English paper backs. Laurie was out of reading material. We traded the ones we had for a credit and bought three more.
We then decided to find the internet place that Anna, the English girl we met in Padova, had given us a card for. It supposedly had time left for us to use. We found the place, but had trouble using it. We were right near Trevi fountain so we walked over there. The fountain was huge and it was packed with tourists. There is a famous custom to throw two coins over your shoulder into the fountain. The first coin is to ensure a return trip to Italy and the second coin is for a wish. So we hate to break customs, so we threw our coins in.
I was hungry at this time, so Laurie and I found a small restaurant to get a bite to eat. I had lasagna which was very good. We ate outside in the street at tables there.
After we were full, we went grocery shopping at the train station. They always say to shop on a full stomach. I didn't want to buy anything. We did buy a small 8 oz. jar of peanut butter. It has been hard to find but we paid dearly for it. It cost 5 euros.
We were actually surprised that the prices for everything in Rome were a lot more expensive. We paid less in the small villages of San Genesio.
After shopping we went back to the hostel. I tried to take a shower. There wasn't any hot water--and the water was not any more than a trickle. There was no way I could wash my hair so I just briefly and quickly rinsed off in the cold trickling shower.
I desperately needed to wash clothes. I had hand washed them in San Genesio, but they really don't get clean. So we washed clothes at the hostel, which did seem to work decently. After I just went to bed and read.
September 25, 2003
Laurie and I got up early to do some things before we were going to the walking tour at 10:00
We went to the post office which was suppose to open at 8:30. It was closed that particular day for some reason. I could read some of the Italian on the post office door. We then went to check out a B & B that Anna and Allison told us about. We weren't happy with the hostel so we were going to move. We found the street but had trouble finding the place. The reason is because the street was separated in the middle by a street with another name. We found the building and rang the buzzer--no answer. The next building had a list of B & Bs, so we checked those out. One was full. At another, we spoke to a little Italian lady. We tried to tell her that we were looking for a room for the following night. We thought she understood and we were going to go there the next morning to bring our things over.
Laurie and I got back in time to do a walking tour that we signed up for. We met the tour guide at the hostel last night. He looked like he was still in college (I later found out that he was 28, I must be getting old). We met Daniel, the tour guide, at 10:00. There was another couple joining us on the walk. Lisa was Kiwi, and Kerrin was Australian. Daniel was American from Denver. We hopped on the subway and went to the stop outside the Collessium.
There is an admission price to the collessium of 10 euros. We just saw it from the outside. Daniel gave us the history of it. It was built in the first century. It could hold 80,000 people and was used for gladiatorial combat and wild beast shows. It is sad to think that people could use and kill people for their entertainment. The structure itself is amazing, but the thought of what they used it for was horrifying.
Daniel was a great tour guide. I learned a lot of Roman history. Now I would like to rewatch some of the old movies about Ceasar and Claudius.
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