12/19/2006
Our first full-day in Rome! I slept better than I thought, as by the end of the day, I am still going strong at 1:22 am. Tonight is our last night at Stefano’s so we need to move out early in the morning as he needs to catch a flight somewhere. I want to sleep in! We haven’t got to yet … This morning we were up and out by 9:30. Tomorrow is out by 8.
On our way to the bus, we stopped at the market on the piazza and fumbled our way through buying some bread, cheese and apples. The stand we bought stuff from didn’t speak much English. We got what we wanted, though, and they even sliced the bread and made us sandwiches! Back on the 310 bus, we were headed towards the Termini and on to the Colosseum.
Is the word colossal from the colosseum?
I was very impressed. The colosseum and the forum were very cool. I was a bit sluggish walking around the place, needed more coffee, probably. I don’t really have much to say about it! It is a must-see for sure. I was a bit under-dressed and in denial the weather was colder than I hoped. I don’t want to sound minimizing, but the whole thing is something you just gotta see. We rented a self-guided audio tour for the forum ruins and had lunch on Palatine hill.
From the colosseum we walked up Via del Corso. We had a mission to find the Vodafone store and see about a SIM card for James’ Nokia. On the way we passed many great spots, too many to remember and photograph. We found the shop, got the sim card and had an Italian phone number!
The Spanish Steps were next. It was quite busy and lots of activity. We walked to the top, snapped a couple of pictures and started making our way towards diner. We took another Rick Steves recommendation and ate at a place called Ristorante il Gabriello. It was very good (I’d look up the Italian phrase, but I’m lazy). I had this excellent traditional Roman soup called Zuppa di Cece - chickpea soup. Yummmmmm!
We caught a taxi back to Stefano’s an were done for the night.