Rome is Still Great
July 1st, 2015
On day 2, we woke up early to visit the Coliseum. When we emerged from the train station we were greeted with the amazing sight of the coliseum (in addition to way too many tourists with selfie-sticks…again). It is astonishing to see today, but to then imagine seeing it when Rome was the center of the world would have awed anyone. It amazed Chuck to see it again, to him it seemed larger and grander than previous memory.
Anna didn’t quite know what to expect entering the Roman Forum and was surprised to find that it was possibly more mind-blowing than the Coliseum. Thanks to a Rick Steves podcast we were able to imagine the massive forum as it was used back then, and imagining the real circumstances of Julius Caesar’s death.
We decided to venture out for lunch and found a local sandwich shop and bakery Forno Campo de Fiori, just off a piazza. After lunch we walked through an outdoor market and Chuck was excited to find blood oranges, which he remembers enjoying during his time in Rome. We were a bit disappointed when they turned out to be bitter, mini-grapefruits. Not quite what we were expecting.
By this time it was around 95 degrees and we knew it would only be hotter tomorrow, so we decided to go to the next site of Palatine Hill and make the steep walk up. Although this ended up being Anna trying to find shady spots to sit, it gave a beautiful view of Rome and insight into how the wealthy lived. Anna also decided that our future home has to have it’s own gardens and areas for chariot races.
We decided to go for dinner at a restaurant in Trastevere that Anthony Bourdain visited on his show and said the cacio e pepe was a must-try. On his show he called it “Restaurant X” in hopes that tourists would not ruin it, however it is clearly no longer a secret as we easily found it was called Roma Sparita, and it seems others have found it as well. It was definitely good pasta and beautiful presentation, but perhaps it has already lost the special touch that he seemed to think it had because it seemed a bit overrated. After dinner we met up with Chuck’s friend and previous college professor (Sander) back at the Piazzo Navona, and found a pub nearby to collect tips for the rest of our travels. Along with Sander, we met Charlotte (who we hope to meet again in London), Steven and Pedro (SLA’s from the Rome Center). By the time we left the pub, the neighborhood was still alive with locals but all the tourists had gone home and the city was lit up. It was a beautiful sight and we decided to wander around and take pictures. We ended up wandering the streets and taking pictures until almost 4am! It was worth it…