Without a pre-purchased tour to go on this morning, we slept in, and we didn’t get out until lunchtime. It doesn’t mean anything that we didn’t get out of bed until almost 11AM---it certainly has nothing to do with jetlag! We decided to ride the bus down to the Colosseum, and we purchased a couple of panini (in Italian, “panini” is the plural of “panino”) at a nearby café. They were excellent---we ate them on the bus. The bus was interesting---you can purchase tickets at bus stations or on the bus itself, but it seems to rely on the honor system more than anything. The machine you use to buy a card or get your existing card punched is in the middle of the bus, so you’re already past the driver and can pretty much do what you want.
The Colosseum was bustling with people, and we were prepared to wait in a long line until someone approached us saying that an English-speaking tour was about to start. The tour was led by an Italian woman who initially looked like she was going to be good but showed her inexperience early (we later discovered it was her first tour to lead). After a grueling two-minute, 100-meter walk past the long lines and into the Colosseum, several people indicated they needed a bathroom break. Our guide pointed out the restrooms and stood with the rest of us for about 30 seconds before saying we should go on in. What the third of our group that was in the bathroom missed was an amazing view of the Colosseum, with a fascinating commentary provided by…hmm. I thought the little radios we had been given were so we could hear interesting facts from our tour guide, but instead we got to hear her responding to the older British couple that was peppering her with questions. “Yes.” “Over there.” “80 A.D.” “I don’t think so.”
We went back by the restrooms and found some (but not all) of our group, and the guide muttered something about how foolish it was for people to use the bathroom at the beginning of the tour. The British couple perked up: “Bathroom? Where’s the bathroom?” She pointed to her right, and they scampered off. Our inspiring tour guide commented, “This is like being with children,” before taking us up to the upper level of the Colosseum. More great views, more lacking tour information. It was obvious that our tour guide was lacking as a guide but she looked good doing it. She was fantastically Italian, like she had stepped out of a movie with subtitles. We saw some other groups enthralled with their tour guides, and we thanked ours and walked on to the second half of the tour, the Palatine Hill. We handed in our radios and were transferred to our next tour guide, not knowing what to expect.
Observing the difference between our two tour guides was like observing Bullwinkle pre- and post-Kirward Derby. If you didn’t get this reference, don’t worry, I didn’t either. It’s one of those moments in time where Daniel gets to be the only one laughing at his own joke. The second guide was a Ph.D. student from Denver, studying in Rome, and he was incredible. Every piece of information was relevant and interesting, and he linked everything together to give a pretty complete narrative on the Roman Republic and its place in the history of Western culture. A few tidbits (paraphrased):
- What allowed the Romans to conquer such vast territories was their ability to move men and equipment. They built roads and an infrastructure to get places fast, and then they built aqueducts and sewers in conquered territories to help keep them loyal.
- If you were coming to Rome from another land, and you saw the structures they had built and the visual record they kept of the battles they had won, you would have no choice but to think that these people were superhuman.
- When people think about what made Rome great, what they’re thinking back to is the Roman Republic. The only people who look on the Roman Empire as a great example are Hitler, Napoleon, and Mussolini. The Roman Republic is the foundation of Western civilization, and that is what Brutus was trying to save when he killed Julius Caesar.
Apart from the tour information, Palatine Hill itself was remarkable. To walk across a marble floor that’s been standing there for 20 centuries is unreal, and although the hill itself is much sparser than it once was, everywhere you look from atop the hill is amazing, from the Colosseum to the Arch of Constantine to the Forum to a panoramic view of Rome to the north.
Our daily gelato stop was at Ciampini, a more upscale shop in a nice little piazza along Rome’s main shopping street. Brandi had banana, chocolate chip, and lemon, and I had banana, peach, and cherry (with cream on top, which is apparently what they do in Italy, even on cones). We then did a little shopping and headed back to the hotel.
My aunt had suggested a place called the Supper Club for one of our Rome dinners. Supper Club is like a cross between a speakeasy, a massage parlor, and a restaurant (you lounge on a bed while you eat), and unfortunately they were closed (a barely noticeable door along a tiny alleyway was shut, with about seven motorcycles parked in front of it), so we visited Pierluigi.
Pierluigi is a very nice restaurant tucked away a few blocks from the Tiber. We started sitting outside with an English-speaking waiter, but Brandi got cold, so we moved inside, where our waiter spoke not a word of English. For the pasta dish, Brandi had risotto alla crema di scampi (with a whole crawfish on top), and I had some oriecchette con broccoletti (ear-shaped pasta with broccoli). Both were very good. All of the fish dishes were priced per etta (100 grams, or about a quarter pound), with a 3 etta minimum. So we asked our waiter for 3 ettas of the sea bass. He took the order and, after a couple minutes, came back telling us something about the fish and “pochino” (a little bit). With a little difficulty, we determined that the sea bass is not a fish that can be subdivided into small portions---you have to take the whole thing. He weighed the sea bass for us: 0.96 kilos. No sale. He pointed out a few fish that you could get 3 ettas out of, but we were so confused with what was what (and a little eager to not look at all of the fresh fish on ice (the lobsters were still moving around)) that we just ordered scallops, which were also excellent. The tiramisu we had for dessert, though, was half frozen. We also had a nice bottle of wine and toasted our 1st year anniversary feeling blessed to have the opportunity to experience another wonderful day in Rome.
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