First things first: I am SO glad that we were in Rome last week and not, say, this week what with all the Tom Cruise/Katie Holmes wedding nonsense. I can't imagine what it is like there now. Ugh.
Today's post covers our one day outside of London: we went to Rome last Thursday (11/9)! And can I tell you how weird it is to talk about being in London and Rome just last week? So weird.
My first trip to Rome was in 1997. One of my goals at that time was to see the Trevi Fountain; I had my three coins to throw in and everything. Anyway, when I finally got to the fountain, I learned - much to my great dismay - that it was the ONE DAY OF THE YEAR it was drained for cleaning. The ONE. I KNOW. I was so crushed. That was the Charlie Browniest moment of my life, y'all.
I was looking forward to going to Rome this time, and not just for the food and sights: come hell or high water, I was going to see the Trevi Fountain as it was meant to be seen!
Ahem. Onto Rome!
Our day in Rome began in London at 2:45 a.m., which is when we woke up. This horribly blurry photo is of our cab's meter upon leaving our hotel at 3:30 a.m. We had to hire a cab to drive us from Chelsea to Stansted Airport because we had a very early flight and the Stansted Express (which would have saved us a ton of money) did not run during the middle of the night. DAMN.
All I can say is that this was the Most Expensive Cab Ride EVER. Want to know how much?
After an hour of driving, we ended up paying 153 Pounds Sterling (tip included).
One. Hundred. And. Fifty-Three. Pounds.
That, my friends, is equivalent to $300 dollars.
I think I'm going to frame the receipt.
To quote my very astute co-worker, Ryanair is like Southwest, only not as nice. The airline has its safety instructions printed on the back of the headrest in front of you, which gave us something to read. We would have read the mythical Ryanair in-flight magazine the pilot talked about over the PA system, but we didn't see anything resembling printed materials anywhere.
"In case of fire, all colorblind men wearing Dutch clogs should try in vain to follow the red arrows leading to the exits."
"In the event of an emergency landing, all women dressed as Little Orphan Annie should exit the plane via the nearest inflatable ramp with their arms in the 'No Sex For You' position, and then run away from the wreckage before it explodes."
"In case your seatmate uses his X-ray vision to set fire to something outside the plane, BE ALARMED. And know that once you see him do that, you cannot escape, because he has already soldered the exit doors shut."
Insert artsy photo of British currency here.
Buon giorno, Italia! We arrived at Ciampino Airport and took a shuttle that dropped us off at Termini, Rome's main train station.
Mr. Bear came out of hibernation to join us on our day trip.
I love Earth Wind & Fire! I'm so jealous that the Italians will be dancing in Novembre.
One of the huge train schedule boards in Termini: no TV monitors to read, just this large display with its individual slots that flipped and changed into letters or numbers at a very impressive speed. You could even hear the flippity-flip (and I'm sure that's the correct technical term) of the slots as the locations and times changed during the day. I'm probably the only person who would think this, but just hearing the board at work with its constant flippity-flipping was extremely satisfying. In a world full of high-tech electronic isolation, the sound was something intangible yet real. It was as if the board was alive, and I loved it. I could watch it all day.
I am sure hundreds of people pass by this board every day and do not think twice about it. However, and at the risk of sounding extremely geeky (if I don't already), it means a lot to me. I can close my eyes now and hear that sound again, and I smile. Oh, to have that sound on my iPod!
Listen up, Termini. You've been nicely renovated since I've seen you last, but you didn't update those display boards, and for that, I thank you. Don't go changin'.
Moving on...
Motorcycles in Rome. Sadly, I didn't see any Vespas lined up just so.
This group of Young Hot Priests distracted me so much I couldn't focus clearly.
Mr. Bear in front of the Colosseum.
Mr. Bear with the Arch of Constantine.
Mr. Bear at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.
So, Trevi Fountain, WE MEET AGAIN. And you have water this time! The huge crowd around the fountain, however, was not fun to deal with. There were so many people! It was also getting warm, which made the experience less pleasurable.
Of course Mr. Bear had to have his own picture in front of the Trevi.
Up the road apiece from the Trevi Fountain is Il Gelato di San Crispino, which is considered the home of the best gelato in all of Italy. I tried two flavors: the Vanilla Bourbon and Hazelnut. DELICIOUS.
Vatican City. I kind of love the God light in this picture.
Mr. Bear sought an audience with the Pope, but that was not to be.
The Da Vinci Postal Code: Years ago, I learned that people come from all over Rome and, nay, the world in order to send mail through the Vatican City post office. I think I heard about it on a 60 Minutes report. Anyway, Romans sent their mail through this particular location because it was the fastest of all the post offices in Italy at processing its mail, plus having the Vatican City postmark was like having a "blessing" on your correspondence, which I could see as an added bonus. With that knowledge we were on a quest to find the Vatican City post office.
Which we didn't.
After looking around the city proper, we asked one of the local guards about this elusive post office I had heard so much about, and he told us that it became so swamped with all of the non-papal letters and postcards and bills and packages that it stopped processing public mail altogether, and that now it only handles mail from within Vatican City itself. FINE. Yet another Italian dream crushed before my eyes.
The photo above is of a regular, non-papal Italian post office. It is located just outside Vatican City, so I like to think that while you don't get the Vatican City postmark, you're at least sending from a post office nearby, so that has to mean good vibes for your letters, right? Notice the device for wheelchairs in front: that was the one place in Rome where I had seen such a thing.
The girls went inside to send off postcards, and I stayed ouside to take pictures.
Italians have such vivid mailboxes, don't they? I'm all about the brick-red mailbox being that that is my favorite color. It looks like lipstick!
Mr. Bear makes friends with some Italian dogs in front of the post office.
By evening we were pretty tired of walking, so we decided to get dinner. We found Tudini on Via Cavour just two or so blocks from Termini, and it fit the bill perfectly.
How good does my pizza look? It was a thin crust pizza with the freshest mozzarella cheese I have ever had (there was a pool of milk on my plate from the cheese) and the most flavorful tomatoes. I don't even like raw tomatoes, but these were so fresh and bright that I could have eaten them like candy.
Mr. Bear was overwhelmed by the Chocolate Mousse.
Our day in Rome turned into night, and we left the city for Ciampino Airport in order to catch our late-night flight back to London. We watched as a very suspicious man leave one bag kind of far away from himself as he checked in before us, and we totally thought that he was carrying some explosive device and were ready to turn him in if he didn't pick up his one bag. Sure enough, he did, but that didn't quell our suspicions.
After what felt like an eternity (okay, so it was a few hours, but we were exhausted and everything felt like it took longer), we were finally able to board the plane. (Dear Ryanair: Please do not have your employees stand around and debate having passengers board the plane when they are standing RIGHT THERE. Thanks.) We made it back to Stansted just before midnight and were hoping to get through Passport Control quickly so as to make the last Stansted Express train back to London at 12:15 a.m.
Upon questioning, the Passport Control person asked me to show not just my U.S. passport but also proof of my return trip back to the states. Mind you, the Stansted flight had NOTHING to do with my flight back home, but she asked to see something indicating that I was indeed going to the U.S. Fortunately for me I had an itinerary to show her, but what if I didn't? What would have happened to me? I do not like thinking about the reasons why she asked for that. Bothersome, this was. Very.
We made it to the train with minutes to spare - phew! - and arrived at the Liverpool Street Tube station at 1 a.m. The station was closed. In fact, the entire Tube was shut down by then (I thought it ran continuously - my bad), so we had to take a bus back to Chelsea. By now we were walking zombies, we were so tired.
However, I wasn't so tired that I couldn't take pictures.
This photo was taken at 1:30 a.m. from the N11 bus. It ranks very high on my all-time favorite pictures list.
We made it back to our hotel by 2:45. Yes, we had been up and about for 24 WHOLE HOURS. Unbelievable! I don't know if I could pull a stunt like that again.
In a nutshell, underneath all the unlovely parts (of which there were many), Rome is a lovely place. However, the negatives outweighed the positives this time. Yes, we had good food and we saw (most of the) amazing sights, but it was more crowded and dirtier and smellier than I had remembered it being. Next time I go to Italy (and there will be a next time), I don't think I'll do Rome again. I will go to Tuscany or the Amalfi coast. Mmm, Portofino! Definitely.
Oh, wait. I would go back to Rome just for the Termini display boards. That I would do. :)
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My goodness, this post is long! See what happens when you have no plans on a Friday night? If you've gotten this far, thanks for reading the whole thing. I hope you liked it.
Come back tomorrow for more Chelsea fun!
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