We needed to find our museum passes somewhere within the crowded train, subway and bus terminal. A girl with a blue collared shirt and lanyard offered to help us, and after walking a little way together, she started demanding we pay her. It was our first "gypsy" encounter, and a much different welcome than warm Montelupo or generous Genoa.
I guess it's no surprise that Rome was a lively and crowded place. Being in such a famous city, of course we wanted to visit some typical tourist highlights. But we also wanted to make sure that the last days of our honeymoon were laidback and fun. So we picked only two destinations to visit per day, making sure we were not rushed and could make whatever random detours we wanted.
Our first full day we visited the Roman Colosseum and Forum. I downloaded some free audio guides and listened to them as we walked through both locations. I repeated the highlights aloud to Isaac, sharing fun facts and figures as I heard them.
We had another interesting encounter with some locals here too as we tried to find the correct queue to enter. Another "gypsy" lady offered to help us, and then began getting pushy about giving us a guided tour of the Colosseum. An Italian man next to us plainly pointed us in the correct direction, and then began criticizing the lady for her behavior. We walked away to the sound of them yelling at one another: the man declaring that the lady was a disgrace to Rome and Italy, the lady defending herself saying she is just doing her job.
The Colosseum was grand and impressive, even if it's now just a shell of its former glory.
Right next to the Colosseum is the Roman Forum, a piece of land that was the heart of Rome for centuries, containing the ruins of many things like government buildings, monuments and temples. I listened to the audioguide, but we had more fun just wandering and walking along the ancient stone walkways.
We were thankful for fountains throughout the Forum like the one showed above, where you could fill your bottle up with cool water. By about 3 in the afternoon, our feet were aching and we were tired from the intense Roman sun. We headed back to our place, stopping by a pastry shop along the way and picking out some fun-looking sweets.
The next morning, we made sure to catch a bus in order to arrive at the Pantheon just as it opens to the public. Our efforts were rewarded and we were able to enjoy the glorious building without having to share it with many other people. The building itself is cool - full of fun details like it's central circular room has the same height and diameter, deliberately the right size to fit a perfect sphere within it. The only light comes through the hole in the ceiling. It was built as a temple for the gods - all gods - and people came and worshiped to whomever they wished. My audioguide mentioned that one reason it is so well-intact, compared to other Roman ruins, is because the temple has pretty much been in constant use since it was built in the second century. First, as a temple to many different gods, then as a Christian church.
The city square out front of the Pantheon was incredibly beautiful. Warm colors and old stonework add a charming frame for the epic, ancient temple.
Our plan for the rest of the day was: eat tiramisu, walk through park, visit art gallery. We tried Tiramisu at Pompi, a place that is supposed to be the standard for classic tiramisu - it was tasty, but nothing revolutionary. I guess tiramisu is delicious wherever you eat it.
Our walk through the Villa Borghese Gardens was an unexpected delight. It's a beautiful, grand park with huge trees and hidden ponds and monuments. Right below is the view from the edge of the gardens over the city of Rome, across the Tiber River, towards the Vatican.
Then to a very nice museum with a very boring name: National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art. The highlight for me was seeing The Three Ages of Woman in person. Gustav Klimt is one of my favorite artists, and I felt like I was posing with a celebrity when Isaac took the picture below.
There was also this giant piece of art made out of thorns. Pretty neat.
By the time we arrived in Rome, we had been missing spicy Asian food for some time. It seemed like destiny when we found a Chinese restaurant, Grand Dragon, very close to the place we were staying. Not only was it delicious, the prices were great, the menu was large and there was no coperto. In Italy, we quickly learned what the word coperto means - a cover charge that random restaurants apply to make more money off of tourists. Or at least that's what we figured it means. For all of these reasons, we ate at the Chinese restaurant three times while we were in Rome.
Below was our first meal at Grand Dragon. Isaac's plate was never more than three inches from his mouth for the entire meal.
Our last night in Rome, we were heartbroken to find that Grand Dragon was inexplicably closed. But it turned out to be for the best. We ended up finding a unique and exceptional Italian restaurant. Usually you have to make a reservation to eat at Pro Loco Pinciano, but they were kind enough to squeeze us in somewhere. The restaurant had a modern mindset with all fresh, local ingredients. The restaurant owner and her daughter were very passionate about their place and their food. The owner's daughter spoke English very well, and she acted like a food psychiatrist, listening to our tastes and diagnosing us with the menu items most suited to us. Actually she correctly guessed what I would like before I said anything. Mine had some type of fish and cheese I had never heard of. Everything tasted amazing.
Our last day in Rome, we revisited the area around the Pantheon, sipped a latte together and shared some other tasty foods. We arrived at the airport with plenty of extra time for our night flight back to Incheon. Isaac and I agreed that it is a shame that Rome put Leonardo da Vinci in its airport name. Da Vinci surely would have designed a much nicer airport.
Settled onto our airplane, we looked back through the many pictures we had taken, the beautiful places we had been. It already seemed like a distant memory, now that we were surrounded by the plane's familiar interior. We were so excited when the airplane dinners came - instant fish soup and kimchi have never tasted so delicious.
And now we're back! Still reveling in the memories from our trip, but so glad to be back in the land of spicy foods and late night delivery. Our first night home, we couldn't fall asleep and decided to have fun with our jet lag. At 2:00 am we ordered delivery, and thoroughly enjoyed stuffing ourselves.
This is awesome! I felt like I was walking through the streets with you.
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