Day 1 Rome

Took a train from the airport to the main train/bus terminal, equivalent of Grand Central Station but smaller. Then we walked about 5 minutes to our hotel, Hotel Corallo. We got on the smallest elevator. It would only fit Alison, myself and one piece of luggage. The hotel bellhop had to come up separately with Alison's bag. It was tight!

After a shower and viewing our small room and very interesting shower, We then walked about 15 minutes to the Colosseum. We were in city, city, city and then all of sudden there was the colosseum. We elected to take a guided tour through the colosseum and palatino. We entered the colosseum through the entrance that the VIPs and emperors would have. The tour person inside the collesseum lacked some originality and story telling skills. We did learn that the collesseum we see today is about 1/3 of the original. The marble was "recycled" for other buildings, read the Vatican here. The floor of the colosseum was impressive as you could see all of the rooms that the trap doors led to. We had no idea what the palatino was until the tour. It is essentially the palace and village that Romulus built. We saw an ancient bathroom, with gutter and basin. We learned how the saying "Wrong end of the stick" came about. Apparently the Romans were very advanced and had a sponge on the end of a stick instead of toilet paper. Since there was no electricity unexpecting people would attempt to use a stick that the sponge had fallen off of. Ouch! And there was born the saying "Wrong end of the stick" or "short end of the stick". The tour guide inside the Palatino had many more stories like this one. He also told us that there are several fountains around the city where water just runs out of them. They are somewhat like small thin fire hydrants. This water is fresh spring water that is brought into the city from a spring that is 16 km outside the city, but the Ancient Romans built a faraway aqueduct thinking that the ones near and inside the city would get destroyed. They were right....and now they have fresh spring water in many parts of the city. Unfortunately the tour guide told us this right after we had thrown out a bottle because we finished the water....but we got smart and won't buy anymore water...since we have one of these fountains right near our hotel! We learned that the Romans were short people (average height of 4'6") as the doors leading around the palace ruins were very small. We walked through the ancient Rodeo Drive. We also learned that salt (spelled sales in Italian) was a currency here in ancient Rome. That was why the wives were happy when the husbands recieved their salary (coming from the word sales for salt). So that they could go spend it. This is where the modern English word sales comes from because the stores would print sales on the window telling people that salt was an acceptable currency. Apparently it stuck....just the sale, not the salt.

After an exhausting day we walked back to our hotel and accidentally took a 3.5 hour nap. We woke up and had our first Italian meal. Scrumptious! Danielle had penne aribata and Alison had spaghetti with mushrooms and shrimp.

Oh we have already ruled out renting scooters and driving around like maniacs....at least in Rome. They are CRAZY already...we don't need to add to it! The first time we saw them at a light and they took off it was like they were off to the races. It was scary. They also are not nice drivers. They are always honking at people who get remotely in their way!

Tomorrow: Vatican City