Arriving in Rome was a massive culture shock. I don’t think I would ever recommend that someone visit Rome as the very first stop in their European experience – it is overwhelming to say the least. On our trip from the airport to the city center, I was surprised at how similar it is to other large cities. That sounds naïve I’m sure, and I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting, but I wasn’t anticipating driving through a city that could easily be mistaken for any other large city from any other country (minus the ancient Roman ruins of course). After getting lost trying to find our hotel, Sean and I settled in and cleaned up a bit after the 18+ hours of travel. Then we hit the streets to get oriented with the city. From our hotel (Hotel Selene), it was an easy walk to Piazza della Republica. We knew we couldn’t get lost finding an attraction that was within eyesight.
However, from there our sightseeing went downhill – fast. In an attempt to find Trevi Fountain, we lost ourselves in the back streets of Rome. Fortunately we were in the mood for exploring, so we weren’t too bothered by the delay it caused to our schedule (with only one full day in the city, we knew we had to pack as much sightseeing as we could into every waking moment).
We decided to give up trying to read the tourist map we had been given (not at all helpful) and follow the hoards of people moving in the general direction of where we guessed Trevi Fountain to be located. Fortunately our hunch paid off, and as we broke free from some of the buildings, Neptune towered into view. Trevi Fountain was definitely worth the visit (and getting lost), especially for a Roman history and mythology buff like me. The fountain was beautiful and the excitement within the crowd was intoxicating. Trevi was surrounded by hundreds of people, all trying to get close enough to throw their coins into the fountain. Having just arrived in Rome we didn’t yet have any coins (only the 20 and 50 Euros that the ATM spit out), but I didn’t want to miss out on the obligatory coin toss. To get some change, we found a gelato stand to have our first true Italian gelato, but of course, it came to an even number that provided no coins in return. There was a fruit stand nearby selling fresh coconut slices, so I decided to indulge in that treat as well, which gave us a return on our investment by providing two one-Euro coins that Sean and I threw into the fountain, assuring our return trip to Rome.
Getting lost one time wasn’t enough for us two free spirits (what, that doesn’t sound like us?), so we wandered the streets trying to find the Spanish Steps – which from what we could tell, wasn’t even on the map we had been given. A quick rant about the tourist maps - for whatever reason, the maps are in Italian, which for a tourist, isn’t actually that helpful. While it did allow us to point and get gestured directions from non-English speakers, we didn’t always know what it was we were actually pointing to. End rant. Because we couldn’t locate the Spanish Steps anywhere on the map, we took a few guesses – all of which were wrong. After about an hour of aimless wandering (we did A LOT of that in our three days), we stumbled upon the Spanish Steps almost by accident (I say almost because Sean did finally figure out where they were located, but even knowing that we weren’t sure we were headed in the right direction – that’s how confusing Rome is). If I lived near the Spanish Steps, I’m pretty sure I would visit them every day. Of all the sites we visited, they were one of my favorites (along with Trastevere, but more about that later). There seemed to be an agreed upon peace on the steps – a short break from the chaos that is Rome. We savored the calm and lingered for a while, enjoying the view and the cooling warmth of the sunset.
It was getting close to dinner at this point, so we found a little outdoor restaurant and enjoyed a glass of wine and an authentic Italian meal out on the sidewalk. Sean and I decided to split a few courses and have continued to do so throughout most of our trip. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel to call it a night. We wanted to stay awake until at least 9:00 pm to fight the jet lag, but as we were quickly approaching our self-imposed time limit, we figured it was safe to head back and go to bed. We went to bed exhausted and excited for all the adventures to come.
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