Today Andrea and I got up early, walked across town towards the Roma Termini (train station) and looked for a new hotel for our last night in Rome. We went with the Hotel Mondial, operated by Best Western. As soon as we walked into the lobby we knew we were better off; the hotel has a beautiful entry and friendly staff. The room was much larger, the bed much more comfortable, and there was both internet access (that worked) and satellite TV. To say the least we were very happy to be changing hotels. The location obviously isn’t as good, but we’d be leaving via the train the next day anyway, so the location was actually quite near where we needed to be.
Andrea and I made our way back to the Hotel Tritone, checked out, and caught a cab to move our bags across town. We used the internet connection to find a hotel in Florence, and decided on the Florence Dream Domus B&B, not far from the central market and the Duomo and pretty close to the train station.
We weren’t too sure what to do with the rest of our day in Rome, since we’d done most everything we knew we could or wanted to do. We thought it’d be fun to ride scooters around Rome, and we’d seen some near the Colosseum, so we slowly made our way there. Wayne and Kim were checking out the Palatine and the Colosseum that morning, so we figured it’d be an easy place to meet up. We all did, and grabbed some lunch at a little cafe a few blocks northwest of the Colosseum. I (Matt) went for the spaghetti carbonara, because I’d heard it was a Roma specialty and was interested in trying it. In case you don’t know, carbonara is pasta with egg and ham. It was very good, kind of like a breakfast spaghetti.
We found several places to rent scooters, but at that point it was 4 PM. The places closed at 7, and with a minimum 3 hour rental it meant we’d have to pay a full day’s price and be back pretty shortly after we began. We decided it probably wouldn’t be worth it after all. We’ll try to find another opportunity before we leave Europe.
We wandered in the general direction of the train station, window shopping, checking in for different deals at scooter rental places (there were none), and looking for a nice place to sit. Eventually we found an old basilica just west of the train station and took a look inside. The small entryway hid what turned out to be a massive room with huge pillars and vaulted ceilings. Evidently Michelangelo had a hand in its design, and the vaulted ceilings themselves are all that remain of his contribution. It had a large floor mounted sundial, as well, with an opening in the upper corner to let light in. Unfortunately it was too cloudy today to read the sundial.
Andrea, Wayne, Kim, and I found a little cafe just west, near a large fountain. I don’t have a map on hand, so I’m not sure which piazza it was. We had some drinks and sat for an hour or so, just soaking in the atmosphere and taking our time. It struck us that it was Sunday, and there may be a bar showing American football, so we made our way to our room in the Hotel Mondial to check the internet for details. We found the Abbey Theatre Irish pub showed a handful of games clear on the other side of town, west of the Piazza Navona. We walked our way over there to find an incredibly crowded Irish pub, filled to the brim with American tourists. We got ourselves a table way in the back, just in front of a flat screen where we could watch Green Bay against Detroit (the other signals, we were told, weren’t coming in). We also found ourselves in a room with some of the most obnoxious Americans in the place…as far as we can tell they were exchange students, some of which were from California. They were everything the rest of the world probably hates about us when we travel, mostly loud and ignorant (actual quote: “Mt. St. Helens…there’s like nothing even remotely important around it; it’s, like, in the middle of nowhere so it’s no big deal” We think this quote was in the context of if it were to erupt again). Another member had been to “the Chi town” 3 times, so he was an expert on all things Chicago. We managed to not get in a conversation and/or argument with these “students,” swore we’d never let our kids leave the house alone until they were 30, and headed back towards the hotel.
On the way back Andrea found some incredible elaborate paper lanterns some folks were selling on the street, but we decided against it (light used a 220V plug). We’ll look for something similar online or back in the states.
matt & andrea 