Day Four in Rome

Well, the rain arrived early as we awakened to thunderstorms. We took a leisurely ‘get up’ before we headed out the door. We’re now at the stage in our vacation where “reality” has somewhat set in. You can’t get anywhere or do ANYthing in under 2 hours b/c you have to depend on bus schedules and traffic & distance across town just can’t be covered in an ‘over and back’ timeframe in anything that’s considered just a “quick outing” (especially in rush hour where my advice is no matter HOW tired you are and no matter HOW much your feet hurt… stand up anyway, the air is fresher with the windows open, even in the fall).

In addition, we’ve had the novelty of an itty bitty front end loading washer wear off… especially when the only drying rack can hold barely a load at the time to dry, but like the regular washer/dryer timeframe you need at least a 2:1 ratio for dryers to keep up. Needless to say, blue jeans can be dried in a cold air conditioned room in about 2 days 10 hours… give or take 2 hours. Sigh. The website said we were on a “quiet residential street”… quiet must lose something in the translation… still, it’s wonderfully convenient to many things, including a bus stop out front across the street from a bread shop… and we even have an aqueduct in the back yard.

However, I digress. Today’s outing began with me TRYING to mail a few thank you notes at the Post Office. HOLY COW! You have to wait for the first door to open and allow you into the vestibule. Then after the first door closes behind you, the 2^nd door opens to allow you INTO the post office where you stand like an IDIOT in front of this machine with 3 options to “take a ticket”, except there’s nothing resembling any Italian I’ve ever seen on the front of it… and people are sitting around in lines like the modernized DMV’s all across America. I take another look around and everyone sitting already has this “glazed over look” in their eyes as if they all know they’re going to be there until the rapture and I remember that the Vatican has a Post Office that looks more like a Post Office, and the cards can wait another day… so we depart through the same sort of “Door #1, Door #2” security wondering how on EARTH anybody makes a decent trip to the post office.

We opted to try to find the Subway this morning instead of taking the bus… and that was fine. There are a number of stops that we might use depending on where we're trying to get... a subway, three bus stations, and a trolly - all within a reasonable walk. The kids have really taken to getting around in Rome.

We exited at Veneto street and our first stop was at the Cimitero Dei Cappuccini, yep, you guessed it, the Cemetary for the Cappuccins. This is a cemetery unlike any other. It’s a long narrow hall beside 4 or 5 small rooms… and the only decorations are a few crosses in the dirt floor, and on the surrounding 3 walls… bones. Used as “decorative pieces”, most of the skeletons were taken apart and used in various arrangements. Just counting the skulls alone you arrive at well into the thousands… and that didn’t include the dozen or more full skeletons dressed in their monk garb. At the end, written in Latin, English and several other languages reads, “What you are now, we once were; what we are now, you will be”. This became our first souvenir shop as we bought the full set of postcards from there. Definitely something the kids will remember. DS1’s comment? “You know, It’s surprising, but I’m not freaked out”. Took a photo before we realized that they were "non permisso", so decide for yourself.

Then it’s on to Trevi Fountain where we each tossed a coin over our left shoulder (with DH pondering, if we never return to Rome, do we live forever or do they just bury us here? LOL). It really is spectacular to see. We then began our traipse across the city down MANY a crowded alleyway in search of either lunch, or the Pantheon. Needless to say, the options for lunch became MORE expensive the closer we approached ANYTHING remotely famous (which is pretty much everywhere in this city)… so we opted for viewing the Pantheon first. Amazing that a church built to “All the Gods” was commandeered by a Pope many years AFTER Caesar commissioned it… and is still a working church as we encountered a Bride & Groom finishing their wedding service. I can’t imagine what it would cost in dollars to rent THIS church for a wedding, but we paused for a few minutes outside, and Boo-Boo even was given a Rice & Sprinkles bag to toss at them when they walked out. Sadly, he didn’t get the bag open in time to do any tossing, but that was okay.

We were then allowed into the building, complete with the very large hole in the ceiling and drainage holes in the floor. Not sure what the purpose of that is for, but it’s interesting and apparently the largest “unsupported” dome of its kind in the world. Took several pictures, and then ventured out in search of lunch.

Lunch, as it would be found, was at “Primo Café” off the beaten path and was very good and not NEARLY as expensive as the E12/person we’d seen closer to the Pantheon (and came with the wandering musician above). However, my MIL did get a little suspicious when the Matre’D told her the bill (it was less than expected), asked her to pay in cash… and then let us go. Apparently she’s seen this before and suspects this is WHY they have a “Dept. of Finance” that keeps an eye on the restaurants.

DH & Boo-Boo headed off in search of a phone sim card that might do something “fancy and electronic” (like keep our internet access working without paying hundreds of dollars) while the rest of us went off in search of gelato and a bus home. The trip was a success (500 MBs per week = E3... when 100 international MBs per month from AT&T cost over $100 plus $5/MB for any overage - which we were fast approaching)

We opted NOT to take the first opportune bus… I’ve seen sardines with more wiggle room than that, and instead waited patiently (sort of) for the next. It arrived (finally) and we were able to conveniently make the bus transfer at the main station and head home. By next week the kids will be EXPERTS on Termini station – LOL! A short time later my FIL and I headed over to one of the only “Supermarkets” in town… and it’s not even the size of a regular Aldi. An EXTREMELY eclectic group of things sold, but it works. And as I mention “Aldi” I had to giggle at the shopping carts tethered to each other with locks/chains awaiting the deposit of a 1 or 2 Euro coin. FIL had never seen that before, but I did explain that if we put the cart back we get our Euro back… so we went to make our purchases. On the way back we run into MIL & the girls who had apparently found the “Dessert shop” and made a number of random dessert purchases for us. Sweetie was chattering a mile a minute telling how “Daddy wasn’t going to let Nonna take us out and she had to promise a DOZEN times and then I had to tell her the story of the boy that cried ‘Wolf’ and then she STILL had to promise and Rachel was crying because we wanted to go out with Nonna and Daddy FINALLY let us go out with you and we bought DESSERT for EVERYbody tonight, (pause for breath) Do you want to go see what we bought?!” We head back to the dessertery and I ask what Nonna had to promise a dozen times and Sweetie pipes up, “That she wouldn’t play ‘dodge car’ without him in the street” – ROFLOL!

Dinner and to bed early tonight. We need to figure out a faster way to dry clothes, I WOULD like to be able to get on the ship with everything washed and dried… not half washed & half mildewed.