Pete works for American Airlines, so both he and I benefit from the perks of free flights. After nearly a week of wandering on my own, Pete flew out to meet me for a lightning-fast three-day trip. He was exhausted from a combination of consecutive night shifts and jetlag; however, I revived him with a delicious prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich from Volpetti.
It makes sense to meet Rome at its beginning when beginning a vacation in Rome, so we started in ancient times with the Colosseum which is, in fact, the number one tourist destination in the world. Experiencing such an iconic site in person means experiencing it with a crowd. A consistent effort in Rome is trying to focus on the place you are in rather than its visitors. Pete imagined back in time as a victorious gladiator, a terrified victim, or a member of the bloodthirsty audience. Here, in the same place but 2,000 years removed, were humans armed not with swords but with selfie sticks. What a different vision of humanity – people who do not seem to experience the feeling of the present because they are thinking about their posts.
After the Colosseum Pete and I went for a couple Aperol spritzes at a nearby bar. Because it was happy hour, they came with an abundance of complimentary snacks that satisfied our dinner needs. Later in the evening, we went for a long walk in the night on streets of gray cobblestone. At only 10:00, we had the city to ourselves. We walked past Bocca Della Verita and the Temple of Hercules and up the steps of Piazza Campidoglio. Around the back of a Capitoline Museum is a view of the Roman Forum which is surreal to see at night – especially with no one else around.
It was the first time on my trip that I was a tour guide and the pressure was on! I worried that Pete would have enough time to form a deep life-long connection with Rome so, if this was the only time he was ever going to be in the city, he had to see Piazza Venezia, Trajan’s column, the Pantheon, Piazza Navona, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish steps. You really do need to see all of these places if you go to Rome and so we did on the second day.
While Pete liked all these places, I think he preferred the more obscure things we saw that attracted less attention from the masses. On our way to Piazza Navona, we passed ancient ruins that had been converted into a cat park. I had passed these ruins before, and never noticed all the cats! The greatest curiosity of that day, however, was the Capuchin Crypt which contains the bones of 3,700 monks, dissembled and used as decorative motifs. There were several rooms that had body part themes–the crypt of skulls, pelvises, thigh bones and so on.
After our long day of site-seeing, we went to a typical Roman tavern for dinner. As usual, when I tried my elementary knowledge of Italian for ordering food I was answered in English. Nevertheless, we had a delicious meal of multiple courses including bruschetta, pumpkin ravioli, and lamb.
Not only did I have a list of sites for Pete to see, but a list of food for him to eat. My description of Volpetti in the previous post may have betrayed how passionate I can be about food. We had Volpetti sandwiches, freshly squeezed OJ, coronetti, chocolate from the famous Moriondo e Garriglio, pizza from Casa Manco, gelato, and Fettuccine Alfredo from the original Alfredo’s.
On our final day, we meandered the morning away in Trastevere, by the Tiber and up into the hills. In the late afternoon, we went to the Vatican and enjoyed the view from the top of St. Peter’s Basilica at sunset. We had run out of time to see the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel but I think that the Basilica view is almost better.
In the evening and after dinner, we happened upon a concert next to the metro. An Italian choir, singing in English, on the Spanish steps. It was an odd scene but their melody was moving. They sang Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujia.
Pete and I crammed a week’s worth of activities into a few days. My health app showed that we walked 10 miles on each of the days he was here! It was hard to say goodbye to him and to Rome but I am grateful for my incredible boyfriend and this incredible city.
Darcy Hughes 