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Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Rome, Italy: First walk around the city

Blogging about our honeymoon in Rome feels a little silly since we were just barely there two weeks ago, but our second trip to the Eternal City doesn't make much sense unless you know about the first. ("You didn't see the Vatican?!" "No, we did. That was last time." See?) So I'm going to stick with chronological order and blast through the rest of our honeymoon before sharing our latest vacation. Just so you know what to expect, that means Rome, Florence, Pisa and Paris from our honeymoon and then London, the Amalfi Coast, the Island of Capri and Rome again from our early anniversary trip. I think I have enough Europe pictures to last me a lifetime! (And yet, you can never get enough!)

I left off in Venice. From there, we took a nice, long train to Rome. Our honeymoon required many, many trains. We passed the time enjoying the scenery, reading, napping and playing cards. I usually won.
Once we arrived at the "Roma Termini," we lugged our bags through the streets, checked into our hotel on Via Cavour, and then set out to explore the city. It was late afternoon at that point so we figured we'd just enjoy the ambiance and get a feel for Rome's layout, and then hit it hard the next day.
A few points of interest on that walk were the Piazza della Republica and the adjoining Basilica Santa Maria:
The Vittorio Emmanuel II Monument and Tomb of the Unknown Soldier:
And, of course, the lovely Trevi Fountain:
The Trevi is swarming with people, day or night. Most of them are tourists, but there is a fairly large group of these guys (like the one with the arrow pointing at him) who are neither tourists nor Italians. They walk around pestering tourists to take their picture for them and then demand compensation for doing so. Some have also just run off with the tourists' cameras, apparently. (We didn't take our chances either way and just had a nice-looking American snap a quick shot of us.) Crowded areas like this can also be hotspots for pickpockets. Moral of the story? Be careful.
Matt and I left the Trevi and started heading toward our hotel. When we made it to our street, we were greeted by this view of the Colosseum at the intersection. We weren't expecting to see it just yet and it really takes your breath away--such a magnificent building with so much intriguing history.
We were starving at that point so we ducked into a hole-in-the-wall pizza place and were thrilled to find a little air conditioner by our table. Did I mention before that it was 95 degrees and insanely humid that day? Yeah, that little air conditioner was like a slice of heaven. And so was the pizza! Sometimes those tiny little restaurants can be gems.
Even if the pizza hadn't been delicious, we would have been satisfied by the entertaining pizza box. Matt tried to imitate the lady but our pizza was still so piping hot that the cheese started sliding down and through the corner of the box. It was one of those "you had to be there" funny moments at good ol' Pizza Flu Flu.
At that point, the sun was beginning to set (at 9:30 p.m. I love summer!) and we were exhausted so we took our pizza back to our room and dozed off for the night. The next morning, we were up bright and early to tour the Colosseum!

10 comments:

  1. Hi. My name is Ashley.. and I travel the world, and by doing so I kinda piss of Shay;)

    Just kinda kidding! How freaking fun.

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  2. i'm still so envious of your big European vacation, TWICE!! ahahahaha, i have yet to go anywhere coolio like that with my hubby. Someday..someday. aaaaand i want to be cute and tiny and beautiful like you one day too. hahaha!

    hillary
    xo

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  3. Amazing pictures, and I am officially jealous. My husband and I have been married for 6 months now and still no honeymoon. Might take us a while to find the time to go.
    Also, I am glad to see that some of your pictures were taking by someone else. My husband and I don't like to bother others and end up taking pictures of ourselves. We sort of perfected this technique, but my biggest fear is going to places such as these and not getting all of the beauty of the architecture in the shot. So, I am glad to see you guys got those amazing pictures. But yea, I have heard about those "tourist" that steal and ask for money. Good to see you picked your camera men/women wisely.

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  4. oh wow! I bet it was so fun to be there the first time. I'm glad you didn't have any trouble with the camera-stealing guys....and also the pocket-pickers!! I know about you dad's trip and his wallet being picked right out of his pocket right as they first arrived. That was horrible!! I love your pics and can't wait to see more!

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  5. Thanks for the tips about the crazy men with the camera's at Trevi Fountain.

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  6. I wondered who you had take your pictures. So fun!

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  7. Sydna: We're all about the nice-looking Americans! Or nice-looking, younger English-speakers. They're really easy to come by in Europe, and half the time, they're the ones that ask us to take their picture first. Then we just ask them to return the favor.

    There's also the classic nice guy taking a picture of the nice girl, and you ask them if they want a picture together... you know. The possibilities are endless :-)

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  8. these are beautiful!! good on you for going to italy twice...rome alone could fill a whole week, and it looks like you guys got to see all the good stuff. i want to take my husband there for our still-unscheduled honeymoon...i'd love to hear your tips!

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  9. It's so funny that you are posting this now - DH and I just came back from a week trip to Rome a few weeks ago! I wish we had warm sunny weather while we were there- instead it was rainy and cold :( Still, what an amazing place to visit!

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