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06/23/2004: "Rome - June 22, 2004"
Our hostel is wonderful, thanks to Flash and Mel, who tested it out before we did.
We are staying in an apartment that is a bit away from the main hostel, but it is still nice. The building has a tiny elevater - Mike & I couldn't fit in it together when we had our packs! It's one of those old fashioned elevators, where you have to open and close the doors yourself. The apartment consists of 4 double/triple rooms, and bathroom, a kitchen, and an internet/phone station. Unfortunately the internet connection is not working, so we have to go to the main hostel if we want to get online. The bathroom is very clean and has a bidet, but Mike says he doesn't want to try it :) The room is also nice - we have a triple, but are only paying for a double. There is no tv, phone, or radio, so it has been quite peaceful. We leave the shutter windows open, and are able to hear he sounds of Italy below, including the church bells that toll nearby. When we come back to Rome at the end of the trip, we will probably be staying in the main hostel area, as we are staying in a dorm-style room for a night.
It has been really interesting experiencing different aspects of Italian life - mopeds everywhere (I mean everywhere), tiny "Smart" cars (I haven't figured out yet how someone can fit in them!), different clothing styles (yoga pants are the "in" thing, even when it is 100 degrees, and everyone wears Benetton), nuns/priests/monks are everywhere, even the beggars are different (usually old women or women who are pregnant or have kids with them - the old women bend their back down really low, so you can't see their faces, they wear long robes, even gloves, and shake coin cups at you), bottled water (gas or no gas) with restaurant meals, the list goes on. However it is really hard to miss how much influence the U.S. has had on Italian culture - there are American movie billboards everywhere, Britney Spears "Toxic," etc, can be heard wafting out of many stores, and the Italians go crazy for Brad Pitt. Yes, that's right, he's staying in Rome, and apparently we almost saw him....twice. The first time was right in front of the Pantheon in a hotel he is staying in. The crowd in front of the hotel was 10-20 times larger than that looking at the Pantheon. We saw a row of Land Rovers with black tinted windows getting ready to leave the hotel, but rather than staying around to watch, we went into the Pantheon. After we came out, the cars were gone. After leaving the Pantheon, we walked to the Piazza de Spagna and the Spanish Steps (touristy area, hangout for writers and musicians like Keats, Goethe, Byron, Liszt, and Wagner), and again we saw another huge crowd gathered around video equipment. We asked a British couple what was happening, and they told us it was Brad Pitt and George Clooney filming Oceans 12.
Other sites today included---
*Coloseum - a quick trip (especially after we followed a few locals and cut in the ticket line -- hee). It was amazing to see something with so much history.
*Arch of Constantine
*Palatine - this is the area next to the Coloseum that housed many aristocrats and emperors. By this, you might assume that it was a building or two, but no, it was a huge, sprawling area, with gardens, towers, and the ruins of many buildings.
*Roman Forum - the business and law center of Rome around the 2nd century BC.
*Trajan's Forum and Markets
*Capitoline Museums - known for its Greek and Roman sculpture, we saw the Medusa (Bernini), "Capitoline Wolf with Romulus and Remus" (you'd recognize this as the wolf with 2 children drinking milk from it), and an enormous (and recognizable) sculpture of Caesar.
*Trevi Fountain
*Pantheon
*Piazza Navona - this was the nicest part of the day. We took lunch/dinner at an outdoors restaurant, and watched the people go by. It was a great Italian meal, and the setting was perfect.
*Spanish Steps
*San Giovanni in Laterna - the Cathedral of Rome, founded by Constantine
*Santa Maria Maggiore - a beautiful church known for its intricate mosaics - 2 blocks from where we are staying
My legs are starting to feel a bit better, though they have a ways to go. They have been looking really weird ever since I got off the plane in Rome - extremely swollen, blotchy red on the entire calf area, even bruised looking. Yesterday they were so swollen, I felt pinpricks of pain everytime I stood still. Today it was much better, but hopefully they will improve more tomorrow.