Einstein, Snow, Conclaves and Ancient Rome

Yet another early morning would have awaited Lady Rachel and I had we decided to sleep at all the night before our departure to Rome. Our bus was scheduled to leave at 3:45 am to get us to the airport in time for Rachel's 5:50 am flight. We wearily wandered down to the Bus Eirran stop and were close to arriving at around 3:40 when we saw our bus pulling away. Spectacular. Fortunately there was another bus scheduled to get there at 4:15 so we were hopeful that it wouldn't end up being a big deal. THAT bus then decided to be roughly 20 minutes late and all of a sudden we are in panic mode. When we get to the airport we are dropped off at the wrong terminal and have to sprint to the other one. We don't see Lufthansa's check in desk anywhere and soon find out that Rachel's flight had been moved to 5:30 am! It was 5:15 and I was sprinting all over trying to find anyone that could help. After explaining my plight to someone who apparently was high ranking at the airport, she radios in with this "Dispatch Milan, hold that flight to Frankfurt, I have one female with no bags who needs an escort to the gate." Thank God. I then take her bag she was going to check with me and let the con-artists at Aer Lingus charge me 30 euro to take it to Rome. Oh well. At least we were both going to make our flights.

Upon arriving in Rome, I knew that Rachel's flight would be arriving a little later than mine so I waited around by the arrivals area and played some games on my phone. Being the inquisitive traveler that I am and having to micromanage everything, I check the status of her flight to see where she was. To my great displeasure I saw that her flight had been diverted to Stuttgart and that Frankfurt had been shut down due to winter weather. I quickly made my way over to the Lufthansa desk in Rome to see if she would need to be rebooked. I wasn't the only one who was having issues apparently tho because the line was quickly wrapping itself all through the terminal while 2 poor Lufthansa workers attempted to sift through the mess that was their airline's central hub airport closing down. Rachel was able to borrow a cell phone twice during the 10 hours she was stuck to let me know she was ok and give me updates so at least I knew where she was. However after a long day for both of us at the airport it was evident she was going to be staying the night in Stuttgart. Fortunately she was able to find a hotel and be rebooked on the earliest flight the next day.

The hotel Rachel was booked to stay at was one that I personally would have loved. When she messaged me that night she informed me that "It's a German old man hotel! The guy who checked me in looked like Einstein!" I on the other hand made my way into Rome and wandered around with my bag for nearly a half hour before finally finding the hostel I was supposed to stay at. I was so exhausted that I just took one look at my bed and crashed. I was still asleep when I heard a commotion outside that was Rachel trying to convince the hostel owner, Mario, that she needed to get in my room. I was still a bit groggy when the door opened but I sat up just in time to see Rachel exclaim "How the hell are YOU tired?!" Can't say I shouldn't have seen that one coming!

The first day in Rome was a whirlwind. I'm definitely thankful Rachel informed me of the unofficial dress code for Rome because my usual garb of a hoodie and baggy jeans would have stuck out horribly here. Thankfully I got the heads up and despite my grumbling adhered to the advice and was definitely glad to have done so. By trying to blend in with the locals, we avoided many of the problems a lot of tourists face and also hopefully spared some Italians from problems they get from most tourists. I was also definitely glad Lady Rachel had previously studied there and was able to show me about because I never would have seen most of the stuff she showed me without her gracious assistance. After we left the hostel we headed for the Vatican to try and make the noon voting. We got there just a bit late however but did manage to bump into my friend Emily from St. Joe who was studying at the Loyola Rome Center. She was just leaving the black smoke on her way to class so it was just a quick meet and greet. Rachel and I then proceeded to check out San Pietro and to simply say it was amazing would be an understatement.

Afterwards we went over to Trestevere for lunch. This is the part of town where Rachel went to school and it is gorgeous! Pizza bars, gelatarias and restaurants line the streets as the area is a utopia of culinary delights. We stopped in at a pizza bar and it was the most delicious and inexpensive food I had tasted! I would soon find out that my taste buds would only get happier with the longer I stayed in this incredible city!

Once we finished our lunch we took the tram to Largo di Torre Argentina. This was the site of the ruins of 3 different temples that is now used as a cat sanctuary. I love how they have all these ancient sites so well preserved and right in the heart of the city! Unfortunately it was raining that day so we didn't get to see many cats perusing their sanctioned area.

We eventually made our way over to the pantheon which I hadn't realized had been converted into a Catholic church. It amazes me how architecturally brilliant the Ancient Romans were when I see how incredibly durable and beautiful their structures remain today. The pantheon was filled with various tombs and side altars around the edges so we enjoyed walking around and taking time to examine each one. After we exited to the plaza, Rachel told me about how when the Ancient Romans would get mad at the Egyptians about something, they would go steal these obelisks from them and prominently display them in the middle of Rome! Well played ancient Romans. Well played.

After our pantheon visit we wandered down Via Del Corso towards what Romans now refer to as the Wedding Cake. I still don't understand why, but they refer to it as the ugliest building in Rome because it doesn't seem to go with any of the surrounding architecture. I began to see how it didn't really match anything, but didn't quite come to the conclusion of seeing it as ugly. Perhaps some more time in Rome and Italy in general sometime in the future will aid my understanding

 

Eventually we found a cafe that was kind of a one stop shop anything you could want. They had real pizza (not pizza bar pizza) and I also had my first gelato experience and a Peroni! I can't even begin to tell you how perfect this meal was. I'll start with the pizza though. I never thought just a basic cheese pizza could taste so good, but pizza margherita was incredible! Their pizza is really thin and they don't cut it so you have to eat it with a fork and knife rather than with your hands (even though i'm being a barbarian in the photo), but that only makes you slow down and savor each bite a little more. Then there's gelato. Oh. My God. Why has this not caught on anywhere else?! Each bite was the most flavor packed spoonful of desert-goodness I had ever experienced and I knew I had found a weakness for my spending while abroad. Never had I tasted a chocolate so chocolate or a strawberry flavor so delicious. Since they allowed three different flavors I also got an amazing dose of vanilla as well. I was in heaven. Not to mention that Peroni has probably risen up to one of my top 3 preferred beers! 

After our dinner it was back to St. Peter's for the third in a series of conclaves to attempt to elect a new Pope. It was raining and everyone had their umbrellas out so it was difficult to see, but we still managed to get a pretty good view of the chimney on the screen. I'll let these clips do most of the talking :)

After the announcement of (as Rachel would call him) Popey we headed back past the Tiber river towards our hostel. As we walked we were even able to see Trajan's Forum, Caesar's Forum, and the Roman Forum before finally topping our night off at the Colosseum. It was an incredible start to my 12 days in Rome and getting to share it with Rachel just made it even more spectacular.