When in Rome

The Blogger had advised us that we should stay in Rome close to the railroad station rather than outside of Rome close to the airport. Following her advice, the Professor found us a room in Rome. He did mention getting a B&B with a bathroom down the hall. Since I am over 60, I was a little horrified at the prospect of wandering down the hall in the middle of the night. My hero came through for me and found a very comfortable room for us not far from the station at the Hotel Camelia, at Via Goito 36, Stazione Termini, 00185 Rome. It had a great bathroom "en suite." It would have been even more terrific if the plug had actually worked on the tub allowing me to soak in a huge bathtub after a long day of walking.





Rome surprised me. I had a vision of what the city was like and it turned out to be very different from that idea and much, much lovelier. We arrived on a Sunday morning. We left our suitcases at the hotel and set off wandering with the hotel clerk's map. We were very close to the Place Republic and from there just a short distance to the Coliseum. We still do not know if we arrived on a special Sunday or if every Sunday is like it was that day in Rome. Major streets were blocked off to traffic. We wandered towards the Coliseum down broad streets with hundreds of other people. Parents with babies, lovers arm in arm, and older people like ourselves. Along the street were groups producing music and there were gelato wagons everywhere. The sun was shining and the breeze was cool. It was a perfect day.









I had not expected there to be so much continuing excavation in the area around the Coliseum. Frankly I had expected the area to be dirty and unpleasant surrounded by a bustling city. It was delightful to find it a part of a larger group of archeological projects with a feeling of openness.

On Monday morning the Professor woke me up and told me that we needed to have breakfast and go. We took the Metro from the Republica station to Ottaviano to see St Peter's cathedral. We arrived there at about 8 am and waited in line about 15 minutes before passing through the metal detector at security and going on into the cathedral. The square was breath-taking. The cathedral interior was awe inspiring.












When we came out of the massive museum into the sunshine again, I was startled by the length of the line waiting to go through security. Already a half hour later the line was 3 or 4 times longer than when we had arrived at 8 o'clock. The Professor had been wise about getting our day started early. Unfortunately we had only a short time to take the metro to get back to the hotel to check out and go out to the airport.

Would I go to Florence and Rome again? Yes. But only if I can go in the company of the Professor.