June 2, 2012: Rome, Italy: Day Two
	May 31, 2012: Florence, Italy: Day Three
	Return to the Index for Our Week in Florence and Rome

Today, we will be leaving Florence to travel back to Rome. We will meet up again with Frederico and get our luggage that he has been holding and we will move into the apartment that Greg has found for us and which will be our home for the next four days. Once we are reasonably settled, I hope we will get out and about and begin seeing the sights of the city.

We Travel from Florence Back to Rome

Early this afternoon, we caught a train from Florence back to Rome. We could have gone early in the morning, but the apartment where we were going to stay in Rome wasn't going to be available until after four, so we planned to leave Florence about two. This gave us plenty of time for breakfast at Casa Rovai, and an opportunity to catch up on email and stuff, check out, and head over to the main train station with our stuff. We also knew that we wouldn't be able to meet up with Frederico and get the luggage we'd left with him until he got off work, so there was really no reason to rush. We ended up leaving Casa Rovai about one-thirty.

By two-fifteen we'd bought our tickets and were heading out onto the train platform. I made a movie as we walked down the platform, and you can watch it with the player below:

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The trip back to Rome was much like the trip north to Florence- very comfortable, very scenic and very, very fast. At the front of the car was a flat screen television, that seemed to be showing the Italian equivalent of CNN, but down at the bottom of the screen were the local time, temperature and our current speed.

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That's how I knew how fast we were going, and could tell you in the narrative of the movie I made as we were speeding south. Use the player at left and you'll find out.

Taking pictures outside was tough; as I mentioned in the movie, anything near trackside was a blur. But we did get some good ones of various countryside scenes, and you can use the clickable thumbnails below to view as many as you wish:

The train was very comfortable, but not full, so we were able to move around a good deal. I changed cars and found a seat that had a little table in front of it. We were in second class, so I can only imagine what the first class cars must be like. The fellow sitting across the aisle from me said there was wi-fi on the train, but I never bothered to set up my laptop or try to use my phone to access email. I was too busy looking at the scenery.

Not so the companion of the fellow across the aisle; he was obviously a seasoned train traveler.

The trip went by quickly, and by four o'clock we were getting off the train in Rome.

Getting to Our Rome Apartment

We arrived back at the same station we'd left from, and Greg dug out the address of the apartment- on Via Cavour. He had booked the apartment on the Internet months ago, and already knew that it was less than a half-mile from the station. It was easy to find, being right on a major street just southwest of the train station. Although Fred and I, at least, didn't know it at the time, the apartment was within walking distance of every major site we visited (save for our day trip to Tivoli, up in the hills outside Rome). In fact, we were quite amazed at how convenient it was. Take a look at the aerial view below and you will see what I mean:

I've labeled the distance from our apartment to the Colosseum; it was just about a half-mile. So you can see that everything was close by. The furthest site we visited, The Vatican, was only two miles away (but it seemed even shorter).

So you can see that our trek down Via Cavour to the apartment was only about six blocks. It took a minute to find the right address, but we did. Greg had already coordinated with the woman renting the apartment, and we were supposed to meet her there just before five. So we had to hang out in front of the apartment for fifteen minutes or so until she arrived.

Fred took a few pictures of Greg and I waiting on the sidewalk, and he was also intrigued by the facade of the building down Cavour and across the street. There are clickable thumbnails for some of these pictures below:

The lady arrived right on schedule and took us up to the apartment to show us around and give us all the instructions as to how to operate everything. (And there was everything- except for Wi-Fi, but that was available at an Internet shop right around the corner for a very reasonable 1 Euro per half hour.

When she had left, Greg called Frederico; he would stop by right after he got off work to give us our luggage, and then he would return a bit later to walk around with us for a while and have dinner. We did get our luggage a short while later, and we went out to find a grocery store to do a bit of shopping to stock the kitchen. We found one on the lower level of the train station. Then we came back to the apartment to relax and wait for Frederico.

Our Rome Apartment

While we were relaxing in the apartment, I spent some time taking pictures and movies, just like I did at Casa Rovai in Florence. Actually, I took pictures of the apartment almost every day we were here, but I have gathered them all together in this one section. So let me try to tell you what the apartment was like.

From our walk to the apartment in the section above, you can tell about where we were. But let's zero in on the building in which the apartment was located:

As you can see, our apartment was in one of two buildings that occupy a triangular piece of real estate just south of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore, right on Via Cavour. Via Cavour leads southwest towards the Colosseum, and northeast to the main train station. Vatican City is about a mile northwest, and the other major sites we saw (the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, etc., are all northwest of here within a mile and a half.

Our apartment was on the back side of our building; the windows in the apartment opened out over Via S. Maria Maggiore. We were on the top floor of the building, and our living room window had a little balcony outside (it was just decorative; there was really no place to stand on it).

Looking out the window to the left, we could see the Basilica, and in the street below was the Internet Cafe where we went to check email and stuff while we were here.

While I am going to describe the apartment to you, and show you some pictures, you may not actually have to read that description or look at many of the pictures.

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) Our Rome Apartment: Outside and Entry

The reason is that the movies I made might be enough (actually, they might be more than enough.

So begin by using the movie player at left to watch the movie I made of the outside of our apartment building (you can see that it was, apparently, built in 1888, making it one of the oldest buildings I have ever stayed in) on Via Cavour, and the entry into the building itself. I'll show you the street and how, generally, the building is laid out inside.

After you have watched that movie, you might be interested in a few pictures we took on the rather ornate stairway, and there are clickable thumbnails below for these:

(Mouseover Image if Video Controls Not Visible) Our Rome Apartment: Inside

I cut off that movie in the building entry so I could change the light setting. In this movie, I'll complete the tour as we go up in the elevator, enter our apartment and take a complete tour through it. You'll see our foyer, our living room and kitchen, the loft bedroom that Fred and I used and the larger bedroom that Greg occupied. You'll also get a chance to look out the window at Via S. Maria Maggiore.

So use the player at left to watch this movie.

Once you do, if you think you've gotten enough of a feel for what the apartment is like, you can just scroll down to the end of this section and go with us on an evening walk to the Colosseum. Or you can continue and have a look at some of the still pictures we took in the apartment.

This was the second time (Florence was the first) that I've stayed in any accommodation other than a hotel, and I have to admit that given the opportunity, I will continue to look for private places like these- even if checking in and out isn't as simple as walking through the doors and up to the reception desk.

Click on the Image Above to View the Slideshow

As you've seen from the movies, we stayed in a two-story apartment, with a nice master bedroom (which Greg occupied) and living spaces on the lower floor, and a loft bedroom on the upper.

We stayed in the loft bedroom; it was at the end of the apartment past the kitchen, with the bath downstairs. It was a neat place to sleep- very quiet. Fred took a number of pictures of this loft area.

But of course we spent most of our time downstairs in the living room and kitchen, and Fred took numerous pictures there, too. I have put all of these pictures into a slideshow to make it easy and quick for you to have a look at them.

To view the slideshow, just click on the image at left and I will open the slideshow in a new window. In the slideshow, you can use the little arrows in the lower corners of each image to move from one to the next, and the index numbers in the upper left of each image will tell you where you are in the series. When you are finished looking at the pictures, just close the popup window.

That's it for the apartment. Now for our first outing in Rome- an evening walk to the Colosseum.

Our First Evening Walk in Rome

About seven o'clock, Frederico came back to the apartment and the four of us went out for some supper and a walk.

We walked a ways down Cavour and then, following Frederico (who knows this part of the city well) turned off into the back streets to the west. There were lots of interesting sights in these small side streets and it was very interesting just walking around. In the US, we all get comfortable with cities laid out in grids; only the oldest ones, like downtown Boston, aren't. But this is not the norm in Europe, where almost all the cities are very, very old. Rome is no exception; it reminded me of my experiences years ago in Seoul, Korea, where once you got off a main avenue it was like you were in a maze. In any event, we found a nice little restaurant and had a typical Italian dinner- salad, a bit of beef or chicken with some kind of pasta, and a little dessert. We got our waiter to take a picture of the four of us at dinner.

When we were done, we walked for a while through area, and had the first of what turned out to be quite a few cups of gelato (it seems that there is some sort of gelato stand every few doors along most streets), and then followed Frederico down towards the Colosseum and Palatine Hill.

This first night, I was just tagging along, not quite knowing where I was. But I must say that after looking at a Rome map for a while later on this evening, by tomorrow I was fairly knowledgeable as to where things were, which direction I was going and generally how to get from place to place in the four square miles of Rome that we explored. This made me feel more comfortable.

We crossed Via Cavour and continued south towards the Colosseum, whose lights we could see not far away.

Just north of the Colosseum, there is a hill, and we came out on a street a bit higher than the Colosseum with an excellent view of it. The Colosseum lit up at night is one of the iconic views in Rome, and from our vantage point slightly above the ancient structure we had an excellent view of it. My little snapshot (right) can't match the professional pictures of it that you have undoubtedly seen before, but then the point was that we were actually here, standing right next to it. But then that has been a common feeling on this cruise, that of actually being "there," at places I'd only seen in pictures and movies.

Coming down that hill and along the avenue right by the famous structure, we were able to walk right up to it (even though the building itself was closed for the evening).

We were able to get a number of fairly good pictures, but of course had to use night and low-light settings to do so. Professionals can add extra lighting when they set up their shots, but of course we were just tourists taking touristy pictures. There are clickable thumbnails below for a few of these pictures:

It was nice to have someone else along to take our pictures; Frederico was very obliging. It was interesting that Frederico was so blasé about everything, while we were fascinated. I guess that's what comes from living so close to so much history for so long- you take it for granted. I suppose New Yorkers don't give the Empire State Building a second thought, although it's one of the first things their friends who visit want to see.

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As usual, in addition to pictures, I always like to take movies as well, whenever I can, on the supposition that one can only get a complete sense of a place with both pictures and live action. So I took a movie of the Colosseum at night, and you can use the player at left to have a look at it.

We also took some additional pictures while we were wandering around here; I wasn't sure if we would be back here again at night. Use the clickable thumbnails below to see some of these:

We also got a good nighttime shot of the Arch of Constantine; we will be back here during the day, at some point, for we all want to go into the Colosseum and see all the other ruins on the Palatine Hill west of us and the Forum ruins that stretch away to the northwest between here and the monument to Vittorio Emmanuele.

We continued to wander around, accompanied by plenty of other tourists and locals, as we walked over around the east side of the Colosseum. There, we crossed the street and headed back north, still following Frederico, and then turned down a side street- just across from the Colosseum as you can see. There, we found that between this street and the larger avenue just north there was an ongoing excavation site. The little street was filled with people, and since Frederico had said nothing about where we were going, it took me a minute to realize where we were.

Use the player below to watch my movie and I'll explain.

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I found myself perplexed that any city or country would have allowed really any kind of commercial establishment to be right next to such an iconic structure, but I suppose this is not all that unusual in Europe. In this country, again, only very old cities, like Boston, might have the same thing (and I recall just that kind of juxtaposition at numerous stops along the "Freedom Walk" that we took there). But it was still amazing to me, since the Colosseum isn't just an Italian landmark but indeed a world landmark. Perhaps you can see what I mean. (And the fact that these were gay bars just made it seem all the more unusual!). We didn't stay long- just long enough to relax, take some pictures and chat with Frederico. Then we took a different route back to the apartment. This had been Friday, and Frederico had planned with Greg to do some outings with us over the weekend. He promised to be back tomorrow morning and lead us off on a walking tour of some of Rome's interesting landmarks.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	June 2, 2012: Rome, Italy: Day Two
	May 31, 2012: Florence, Italy: Day Three
	Return to the Index for Our Week in Florence and Rome