When in Rome

    After spending over 13 hours flying from California to New York to Rome, my aunt and I were shuttled directly to our hotel – the Golf Parco de’ Medici. Our room wasn’t quite ready yet, so instead of relaxing, we left our bags at the desk, freshened up slightly in the hotel bathroom, and caught the hotel bus to take us further into town. We were on a tight schedule – only 24 hours to see Rome before our boat took us on a much longer journey around the Mediterranean.
    My aunt and I were dropped off across the street from the Teatro di Marcello, which was surrounded by other buildings that were also hundreds of years old and full of such history. Unfortunately, I wasn’t recognizing any of them, so I felt like an idiot. But, after walking roughly an hour (using our map frequently) we found the Vatican peeking over other equally old and older Roman buildings. We entered St. Peter’s Square, Piazza San Pietro, and found ourselves in Vatican City – a whole new country, though the smallest in the world. We would’ve gone into the Sistine Chapel, which resides right next to the Vatican, but there was a large line/ miniature mob waiting to get in.
    We were next off to see the Piazza Navona, but first we got some gelato to cool down from the misery of the heat; I had pistachio, my aunt had mint (both were sooo good. I love the density of gelato). We passed the Castel Sant’ Angelo as we walked along the streets. It wasn’t on the to-do list, but like I said before, there is something monumental to see everywhere you turn in Rome.

rome continued

    The Piazza Navona was cluttered with scaffolding, and the Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi) wasn’t working, but at least it still had water for me to steal. I took a small bit of holy water in the Pantheon, too (I hope that wasn’t sacrilegious). I intend to put the water in vials on a necklace. (Is that bad?)
    We ate lunch at a small restaurant called Lunatico – yes, that was really its name – which just happened to be air-conditioned (thank God!). We struggled with our Italian when we ordered and paid for our meal, but eventually got by. The lasagna and carbanara were deliciously authentic: creamy, but not too cheesy, and great tasting sauce.
    Back in the heat, we headed to the Vittoriano (very impressive, not sure of the history, though), then the Coliseum (Colosseo) and the Forum (Foro Romano). I have to admit, although Roma has much to see, I found it unfortunate to see the gutters filled with garbage alongside the streets of monuments like the Coliseum. And, to be honest, getting to these last places was a bit whirl-winded because of our desperation to get out of the heat. We even skipped the Spanish Steps since we were dead tired. I felt like a monkey, dragging my wrists to the ground from exhaustion.
    We ventured in Rome and the city fought back! We challenged ourselves to see all the sights in blistering, dripping, energy-draining heat after being jet-lagged and lacking proper rest from 13 hours of flying. After being marked with each generation, from ancient imperialists to modern graffiti-writing Romans, you can’t blame the city for giving us a hard time.
    At a quarter to four (Roman time), we surrendered. We headed back to the hotel for cleaning and much-needed sleep.

 

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