La nostra avventura Italiana: Prima parte ~ Roma~

After arriving in Spain I was assigned to a job that required me to go to a school, lucky for Brad and me, that school was offered at the base in Naples Italy! The Navy paid my way so it just made sense for us to pay for Brad to come along too! We had the awesome opportunity of spending three weeks in Italy with only a little time at work getting in the way! An old friend of mine lives in Naples, so we also had the privilege and pleasure of having a local guide to all the best of Naples, and the Amalfi Coast. We couldn't have dreamed up better traveling companions, especially since John's wife Gillia is fluent in Italian. We spent most of our time during the first week, bumming around the base, doing home work and watching world cup games, but the first weekend we made up for lost time and took a world wind two day tour through Rome!

The excitement surrounding our weekend get away to Rome was quickly transformed into stress when we learned about Naples summer time scourge...STRIKES! We had planned an amazing fast paced weekend that started with our train ride from Naples to Rome, and that was also where is started going wrong! We set out from the base, hoping to be able to get on the train before the strike started but we had no such luck. We waited 45 minutes for a bus that is suppose to run every 20 minutes, arriving in Piazza Garibaldi we could immediately see that something was amiss, the square was absolutely brimming with travelers, lines of buses and the largest queue of greedy taxi drivers I have ever seen! We spent almost two hours here first trying to get a straight answer out of someone about whether or not we would be able to buy a ticket and get on the train, and then after giving up on that, try to find a car rental place that still had cars to rent. Frustrated and agitated we decided to go back toward the base and the airport where we hoped they might still have some cars. We zipped from counter to counter asking the same less than amiable Italian faces if they had any cars for rent, and received the same less than enthusiastic head waggle indicating that there were non to be had. Brad and I split up while he waited in line and I checked out a couple of the counters that were tucked over in another corner. I arrived at the counter at the same time as another gentleman, and out of courtesy I allowed him to go in front of me. Just after that Brad motioned for me to take whatever they had, since his search had not yielded anything more than frustration. I motioned back to him as he crossed the lobby that there was someone in front of me, and he was getting a car. Since I was lingering so close and so nervously, the gentleman at the counter felt compelled to ask where I was trying to go. I told him we were just visiting and had planned a trip to Rome for the weekend. He was actually heading to Rome himself, with his son, to catch a flight since theirs had been canceled because of the transportation strike. After a little more introduction we all came to the conclusion that it was in everyone's best interest to split the cost of the car and all go up together. The father and son were Italian which made them much more qualified to safely drive us the two hours to Rome. After all was said and done, we arrived at our hotel 10 HOURS after we had left our room in Naples. It was quite a day, but it ended well, we had made it to our destination and the next day was bound to go more smoothly!

Our first tour of the day was through the Vatican. The pine cone courtyard, the museums of religious art, the Michelangelo rooms, modern religious art, and of course the Sistine Chapel. Our guide was a very knowledgeable and bubbly young woman who was attending college in Rome. She had more information than I could fathom to regurgitate here or even remember, but there was probably as much history as there is raw wealth contained within those walls.



We, like almost everyone else, broke the rules and snapped a couple quick pictures in the Sistine Chaple, but we did it in the most reverent and reflective way possible ; )
After the Chapel we made the climb to the the dome atop St. Peters Basilica. It was an epic climb, but the views were worth it.

It was kind of difficult to get a great picture of us on the cat walk inside the dome, but at least this one has a comedic value.


After a little walk, a short metro ride and a quick street lunch, we were off to our next tour at the Colosseum and the ruins of Palatine. Our guide Bruno, told us the history of the Colosseum by building a story with the members of our tour group as its players. It was quite entertaining as well as educational.

The Colosseum is one of the worst preserved artifacts of Roman history, much of its facade was destroyed during the many scourges of Rome. Its metal supports pried out by raiders to be melted down for making weapons. During the height of its usage it would have been covered in plaster and fresco and completely round with seating all the way to the top. All the seating was actually covered by a linen shade, only the arena floor was open to the sky.
We ended our busy day with a stroll through the forum discussing all the funny things that had happened on the way there ; ) As we reached about halfway through the forum, the cloudy sky darkened and split open like someone turned on the shower! We booked it to the nearest metro station(along with the rest of Rome's pedestrians) and proceeded to take the hottest, most humid, and tightly packed train ride across town back to the hotel. It was a fitting ending to our rather perfect day.
Our last day was spent walking from monument to monument, doing our best to hit all the hot spots! Piazza di Spagna and the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon and just about everything in between. Just before our lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe we sought out the Harley shop hoping to get my dad a t-shirt for his collection, but much to our aching feet's chagrin, the shop is closed on SUNDAY!!

Of course Gerome was in tow the whole time, and we let him out for a photo op or two. He enjoyed just being along for the ride!

Luckily, our train ride back to Naples was much more easily executed. We had a great time in Rome, and there was still so much to see, but now we know that going through Naples to get there, is definitely not a good idea!