We arrived in Rome on Saturday, March 24th right on time (7 am). After picking up our luggage we were met by Marco from Rome Connection and 2 eight-passenger vans. They took us right to our hotel, The Casa Bonus Pastor. There the friendly desk clerks were able to help us secure our luggage in a small room while we were fed our first Italian breakfast (yogurt, rolls, some with powdered sugar, some plain), and strong coffee with steamed milk. There was also a nice cold juice (apricot or mango?).
Some rooms were ready early, so we were able to put our luggage in our rooms and get ready for a walking tour with Barbara. I was able to purchase two postcards at the front desk with postage (about €1.2 for each stamp). Then, we walked as a group downhill to the Vatican area.
It was a beautiful day, sunny and warm. We agreed to meet at 2:00 at a specific spot inside the walls. Tim and I wandered out of the Vatican toward the Tiber River. Fortunately, we had a fairly detailed map.
We walked down to the Umberto Bridge and crossed over the river. The river appeared shallow and we saw no boats or traffic on it. We just wandered the narrow streets, looking in shop windows and looking for a place to grab some lunch. We found a nice restaurant with outdoor seating right at an intersection. Most of the traffic was foot traffic, with an occasional moped or motorbike. Since we were just looking for something light, Tim ordered a pizza, I had some pasta and vegs.
While we were eating a violinist came by, spoke to the maître d’ and apparently got permission to entertain. He played a song or two and then walked around with his hand out. We gave him a Euro.
We wandered back toward the Vatican. We were apparently obviously Americans as we approached a set of stairs near the river, a young American couple asked us if we knew where their hotel was. We figured out they had to go up the stairs and turn right. Meanwhile, the wife was on the phone with the hotel desk clerk who kindly sent out a maid to help them.
Soon we were back at the meeting place or just nearby. Tim went to take a quick picture of the Vatican guard. (They wear this bright orange and blue baggy striped pants and shirts and big hats. I don’t think the style has changed much in the past few hundred years.) Most of the people from the group managed to trek back to the hotel.
Conner decided to take the “high road” back to the hotel. Being the adventurous types, Tim and I decided to go along with him. The road circumvented the Vatican. There was a high wall on the right side of us for about a mile as we traversed the area, trying to get to our hotel. We obviously missed the left turn (probably because it went uphill, where we were expecting a downhill turn.)
Anyways we ended up on a street that led to nowhere and had to reverse our steps for quite a while. But wait, there’s more to this story.
First I’d made the mistake of asking some old Italian guy in a parking lot how to get where we wanted to go. He spoke not a word of English. Conner nodded his head and acted like he knew what the old guy was saying…but he spoke so quickly, that I don’t think he could have kept up with him.
Tim then took the opportunity to educate Conner on the first rule of “Directions” – since (as Tim observed) his Dad hadn’t apparently gotten around to teaching him this yet. The rule goes something like this: if one man asks another man for directions- thereby admitting that he was LOST, the man providing the directions was given the opportunity of taking the other guys wife. Fortunately, I was the one who asked the old guy or I might be living in Rome today!
We eventually ran into Kevin who was sent to find us as we rounded the last bend before the uphill turn-off. Barb looked relieved when we showed up. I told her we weren’t prepared to send another kid to college, don’t worry, you can have Conner back!
Back at the hotel, we were able to rest until dinner at 7:00. Dinner was antipasto, meats, a bowl of pasta, some more meat, and dessert. Of course, there was red wine with dinner. Should sleep well tonight with all the wine, walking and a full stomach, even on a bed as hard as a rock.
To add insult to injury (or exhaustion), we also had to turn our clocks back one hour for daylight savings time (already?… haven’t we suffered enough?)