Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it was seen in three. What
an experience it was. First, I spent two days touring the ancient city with my
friend Phil, his last two days in Italy. We saw all of the important landmarks
with the exception of the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica. We found
some great places to eat, and enjoyed the Roman hospitality at the Ice Club,
Rome’s sub-zero nightclub.
This morning, I drove Phil two hours to Naples for his
flight and was back in Rome before 9 a.m. After a quick shower, I went to the
lobby and my friend Erik was just walking through the door. Today was the
hottest of the three days here in Rome, but Erik powered through the whole day
and we walked more than 32,000 steps.
We started the day with a train ride from the airport to
Termini station, where we found out that the metro was closed due to a worker’s
strike. (It was open later in the day.) We walked from Termini through the city
to the Coloseo, then Foro Romano, then Piazza Venezia and the tomb of the
unknown soldier, up some side streets to a gift shop, to the Trevi Fountain
(which is under restoration), over to the Pantheon where we had lunch, then to
Piazza Navona where we had dessert, then across the river and past the Tribunal
and Castel San’Angelo on the way to Vatican City, through St. Peter’s Basilica,
then a subway ride to Piazza di Spagna, and then finished with a walk back to
the hotel shuttle down the street from Piazza Venezia. Needless to say my ankle
is swollen and my feet have blisters. I’ve walked more than 60,000 steps since
I arrived in Rome on Wednesday.
Tomorrow we will head back to Campomarino and the beach for
some much needed r-and-r. I’m also looking forward to doing some cooking which
I haven’t done all week.
