Since there was no game scheduled for the Lakers football team this past weekend, Rick and I decided to take a trip to Rome to visit my girlfriend Patou and her husband Tony. Patou has been my pen pal since 1969 when our correspondence was arranged by my middle school French teacher.
We arrived on Saturday afternoon. We had taken the Italian high speed train, the Frecciarossa, which we connected to in Milan. The trip from Lugano to Rome used to take 6 hours, but now it's just over 4!
We unfortunately had quite cold and rainy weather in Rome. Rick and I managed to see some sights while dodging the rain.
We visited the basilica of San Giovanni, which is about a 15 minute walk from Patou's house. A Saturday evening mass was just ending. Can you see the priest in this massive structure? He just had said "the mass has ended, go in peace".
On Sunday Rick and I started long walk between most of the famous sights. Of course in Rome there are ruins everywhere, and it's quite amazing when they are, well, right there! Here we look down on an old street in Rome.
Rick and I have the uncanny ability to show up in a city which is having a marathon - of which we knew nothing about. In the past couple years this has happened to us in Zurich, Zug, Los Angeles, Savannah, Georgia, and now Rome. Here, Rick stands very proud of our name - Benedetto!!
The problem with marathons, though, is that we had to walk much more than planned in order to try to find ways to get across the street! A bit of a pain.
The marathon winds through Rome. In the distance we see it must be near the end, as there is quite a crowd!
We found the perfect time for lunch, as another wave of rain came through, but we were covered!
Here we are inside the Pantheon. Again, we found a place to get out of the rain! In the center of the roof of the Pantheon there is a big hole - so.... when it rains, it rains inside! You can't really see it in the picture, but the rain is coming down in the center.
I used my panoramic to go from bottom to top - this way you can also see the hole in the roof.
Somewhere along the way between the Pantheon and the Piazza Navona, we came across this Gelateria with 150 flavors! Believe it or not, we didn't have any! We were full from lunch. Maybe next time!
The Piazza Navona. The final runner had just come by along the left side. And also a little sun!
Parking is at a premium in Rome. When you can't quite fit into a space.... why not?
We stopped in a department store. No, Rick is not in the women's department. This is the men's accessory department! Italian men love to wear scarves. You wouldn't find this in the US. I keep telling Rick to wear one - he'll look so European!
On Monday we headed in a different direction - towards the Colosseum. It was still very cold and rainy, but we caught a peak of sun. It's so amazing that something like this was build so long ago!
A panoramic of the Colosseum. There are more ruins on the left side.
The ruins next to the Colosseum. I just take pictures - I'm not an expert on exactly what it is. :-)
We stopped in a grocery store later on. In the frozen section I found these mushrooms. You see the picture on the package, but look at the actual mushrooms in the package! They are just like the picture, and they are HUGE! I've never seen frozen mushrooms like this!
My girlfriend Patou (in the middle) and her two beautiful daughters, Anaïs and Chloé
Now, I have been to Rome since I was 14 years old. I always remember the markets and vendors on the street - it's part of the culture. But this time I found it frustrating and annoying. All the market stalls, all the vendors on the street or who had carts, were all northern African and Arab. Now, that doesn't bother me, it's just the fact that they "attack" you and just don't leave you alone. Those selling umbrellas because of the rain, they keep stepping in front of you to try to sell one. It's exhausting, and I found that I did not want to look at the markets or shop. It's a shame!
We also observed in the train station the high number of people there who are mingling around to find ways to scam travelers. And here is my story of how I got scammed. I have a pre-paid Swiss cell phone account. I knew there were higher charges if I used my iPhone in a country other than Switzerland. I kept my phone turned off during this trip, but on Monday I needed to send a message to Patou. I turned on my phone and the data was enabled. In a few minutes I got an SMS from my Swiss company saying that I had only 4 francs left on my account. I know I had nearly 50. I turned my phone back off and when we returned to Switzerland, I checked my account online. Those few minutes my phone was on (and I mean a few minutes!) the Italian cell phone company took over 40 francs from me!
So the bottom line is.... in Italy, if you don't get scammed one way, you will another! :-(
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