Rome Trip Day 1

In an effort to try and condense everything that we saw in Rome, which was way too much for my poor little brain, these next posts will be mostly pictures. Obviously, I can't post every picture or this blog would explode (we took about 500) so this is going to be the best of the best.

The one thing I will talk about though was our journey to Rome and our arrival. We took a train from Stuttgart to Karlsruhe, then we took a night train from Karlsruhe to Milano. This was the worst. We couldn't afford beds (60 euro per person on top of our ticket already) so we took seats. There are 6 seats in a cabin, and we got stuck with a smelly, old, loud Italian. Apparently he had been robbed earlier in his trip on this very train because he fell asleep and they took his bags. So for the next two hours all he did was explain to the other Germans what happened to him in very loud German with an Italian accent. Therefore, we didn't get much sleep. Finally we got to Milano, and then took another train to Rome. This time, it was first class. Very pleasant and I even slept a bit. They give you food and drinks too.

When we got to Rome we found our hotel after asking the female police officer for directions, avoided a street that was blocked off due to construction, and then made it to Hotel Serena. There was just one problem. Apparently, there are two Hotel Serenas. The one that booking.com booked us at was an hour outside of Rome. We couldn't believe it. Thankfully, the staff at the Hotel we had planned to stay at, and thought we were booked at, were very helpful. They called the other Hotel and had them cancel it without charging Brian. Still though, they didn't have a room for that night. But she found us a room across the street at Hotel California (and she did warn us it wasn't that nice), so we stayed there the first night, and stayed at Hotel Serena the next 2 nights. So, what could have turned out to be a real disaster turned out okay. Thank God.

Anyway, here are some pictures.



The Colosseum.


The trapdoors where they kept the animals and other such killing things.






These rocks are older than shit. I'm totally serious. This is where Romulus and Remus were supposedly raised by the she-wolf on the Palatine Hill.


The Forum.




Trajan's Market


It was at this point that an old man smiled at us and said, "It's nice to hear English again." We laughed and agreed, and he asked us where we were from. We said California, you know, being all nondescript. When we asked where he was from he replied, "Seal Beach, California." Brian couldn't think of anything to say for about 15 seconds, which is a really long time for him. But really, how amazing is that? We on the other side of the world, and we run into someone who lives in the same small beach town as Brian. Crazy.

Anyway, we had dinner at a nice outdoor cafe. Our only Italian dinner in Rome actually (we ate McDonald's the next 3 nights to save money). Then it was back to the Hotel for bed.