I would have blogged last night, but our luggage still hadn't arrived, and the computer battery was all but dead. Yesterday was both a very good first day, and a frustrating day.
First (and more briefly), the frustrating part. . .our luggage did not arrive until around 11pm (so much for my cautious 3pm prediction), so we spent the entire day in the somewhat smelly clothes we had flown over in. So, everyone was tired, and no one wanted to shower and then put dirty socks, etc. back on.
That said, we were still in Rome, and we certainly made the best of it. . .so let me back track.
We had lunch at a nearby restaurant -- Tema. It was fine food (the pasta the girls had was quite good, and the mozzarella was excellent). Carol and I passed on the offer to order wine (that would have resulted in a nap right then and there). Oddly, the service was great until it came time for the check -- which we had to wait, and wait for. Remember, we're running on three-four hours of sleep, so we're all about more cranky than on the average day.
We then walked to the Colosseum. The kids were revived from the meal, and Julia quickly realized there are no actual traffic laws in Rome (she was asleep on the drive from airport, so she missed the highspeed game of dodgeball).
We made a tactical error -- we agreed to pay the money for a tour with a guide. The guide was both interesting and boring. His info was of interest, but he droned on and on (almost as though he was writing a blog), with no inflection to his voice and no sense of when to move on.
For example, his discussion of the building of the Colosseum was interesting, but could have been five minutes briefer. Also, we were all grossed out from learning that they would drain the blood of the slain gladiators, which would then be sold to spectators. They would drink the blood (looking for a Red Bull-esque energy boost). That's when I fully understood the Billy Joel line about "the good old days weren't always good."
Finally, we handed in our little radios (it wasn't a big group -- just hard to hear) and headed off on our own to explore the Colosseum. Torie captured the excitement best when she noted that "we're walking where the ancients walked."
From the there we wandered past the Arch of Constantine and around the Forum with a full and appropriate sense of wonder and appreciation. The kids were getting tired and hungry by this point (understandably so), so we skirted Capitoline Hill, went into a relatively new church (1635), walked past the Victor Emmanuel Monument (under reconstruction), and found an ATM and a gelatto shop. We then headed to Circus Maximos to walk on the ancient chariot grounds. By this point, I had a full scale rebellion on my hands -- it was late in the day, and everyone was exhausted.
We crammed onto the nearly full Metro. Or so I thought. Full wasn't the right word -- because at the next stop the rest of Rome crammed onto the car. Torie could hold onto anything, but it didn't matter -- she couldn't fall when the subway moved anyhow -- she was being held up by the crush of people. I was set to slam my way off the subway car at the next stop, acting as a human shield (actually, I was relishing the idea), but to my disappointment only a few were getting on, so it was easy to get out.
Back at the hotel (after one wrong turn) by 6:15pm, our bags still weren't there. Plans for a shower before dinner were dashed, so we turned on Eurosport and rested. Eurosport seems to be a much less self-reverential version of ESPN. They were showing the World Swimming Championships live from Australia, so both us and the girls had it on in their room (okay, we're some of the few Americans who believe that showing Olympic swimming once every four years is enough, but I write for a swim team website, so I'm different that way). Carol fell sound asleep, and I was dozing. I heard a buzzer, and woke up, wondering aloud if it was the starter mechanism for the swim meet, or the door. It was the door -- but not the luggage. Just Maddy with a question.
We got up at 7, and went to have dinner (meanwhile, the helpful front desk person was calling to track down our still-missing luggage). We just went to a "simple restaurant" nearby -- Scoglio di Frisio on Via Merulana, where we received excellent service and good enough food. They had a piano player AND an opera singer (who was fine to listen to from a distance, and we were happy he did NOT serenade our table). The musicians took turns.
I'm sure reality will come crashing in at some point, but so far the famous Italian indifference to service hasn't really reared its annoying head.
I had a conference call to do, so the girls got dessert at a patisserie on the corner at the hotel, where I joined at the end. By nine pm, we were all in bed. . .where I slept soundly till the luggage showed up (don't fret, I managed to fall quickly back asleep). Stone cold awake at 3:30, I killed some time, handled emails, and then wrote this lengthy post. It's now around 6:15 in the morning, and traffic is starting to stir.
I expected a lot more noise through the night (Manhatten-esque), but it was relatively quiet, with the exception of a group of drunks modestly loudly passing through the Piazza (frankly, they weren't that bad).
Today, it's off to see more of Rome. I brought running gear, but today's not the day. . .maybe tomorrow before breakfast and heading to Pompeii. More tonight. . .
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