Day 1 Rome: Trouble with Police and Gypsies

So it's been about a year since we went on our European vacation and I still don't have it documented.  If nothing else, I at least have to document Rome.  I loved every single sweaty, deathly hot, middle of summer moment of it.  Having a hotel with AC was pure heaven in the middle of the Roman summer.

The airport train station near Rome

After Germany, we drove through three hours of pouring down rain back to the airport in Amsterdam.  From there, we caught a cheap EasyJet flight to Rome.  We were on the flight with a bunch of Italians.  On this kind of a flight there was no polite waiting in line for your turn to board the plane because it was "first come, first serve, choose your own seat".  It was knock down, drag out, push and shove to get to the front of the line as quickly as you could.  So Joe and I pushed and shoved right along with the rest of them and made it onto the plane.  Luckily we had some practice with this having lived in Albania.

It was a quick flight to Rome, and when we landed we found our way to the airport train station and caught a 30 minute train ride to the Termini Station in downtown Rome.  At Termini it took us a while, but we finally found someone who helped us find the Roma Pass station, where we picked up our pre-purchased Roma Passes.  A MUST HAVE if you ever want to see the colosseum without waiting in an enormously long line.  More on that later.  Our hotel was a quick walk from the Termini Station.  We found it using google walking directions that I printed out before we left on our trip.  It was a teeny tiny hotel room, but it had air conditioning and was within walking distance to almost everything.

Old buildings and cobble-stoned streets

After checking in to the hotel and checking for signs of bedbugs (what can I say...I was paranoid!) we hit the old cobble-stoned roads and walked to the Pantheon.  We went inside briefly, but wanted to start the Rick Steves audio tour that I downloaded to our phones.  The tour started outside the Pantheon, so we headed to the fountain outside and started listening.  When it was time for the tour to take us inside, we found the ancient, gigantic metal doors had been closed for the day.  Darn.   At least we walked around the inside a bit before we started our tour.

Checking for signs of bedbugs

Pantheon doors closed on us

Outside the Pantheon (crowds gone after closing)

Next on our itinerary was the Trevi Fountain which was a short jaunt from the Pantheon.  It was nearing sunset, and really warm.  We went into one of the many gelato shops around, picked up some yummy flavors (they had tons of non-dairy choices for Joe!) and carried our treats to the fountain's edge where we found a seat with our backs to the water.  It was really crowded with people, but it was still romantic to sit by all of the other lovers eating gelato by the water.

In front of the Trevi Fountain

Then came the most memorable moment of the trip:

"Honey, is that our camera slipping from your pants pocket into the fountain?"  Why yes it is...and there it goes down the slippery 500 year old stone bowl... about six feet away.  Oops.

There were many police officers surrounding the fountain, blowing their whistles at anyone who dared touch the precious fountain water.  Retrieving the camera meant getting into the fountain with my feet and reaching all the way into the fountain.

I'm not a rule-breaker, so I quickly approached one of the officers who didn't speak English and pantomimed that my camera was in the water and I wanted to get it.  He smiled and nodded so I assumed that was permission to retrieve it.  Unfortunately, pantomiming isn't always a reliable form of communication.  I took off my shoes, stepped into the fountain, waded in a bit, reached down and grasped the strap of the camera.  At that precise moment, I heard shrill whistles blowing all around me, and the officer that granted me permission was the one who first blew the whistle!  I was surrounded!  Police came running, but I yanked the camera out of the water and jumped out.  I guess they saw what happened and decided to ignore me for which I was very relieved.

Last pic Joe took before the camera fell in the water

Joe turned the camera on to see if it worked, but it went black.  He took out the battery and SD card and we made a mental note to look for a little shop that sold dry rice.  Joseph had recently read in a Boy's Life magazine that if your electronics get wet you can rescue them by placing them in dry rice for a few days.  We decided it was worth a shot.

Our next stop was the Spanish Steps at the Piazza di Spagna.  This is the spot where many gypsies tried (very forcefully) to get us to buy flowers and other what-nots.  The advice I read online was to keep your fists closed because they will try to push the items into your hands, then not take them back, and try to make you pay for them.  Sure enough, my hands were grabbed, but since my fists were closed they couldn't put anything in them!

Joe and I climbed the Spanish Steps and enjoyed the pretty view from the top.  After heading back down, we walked back to our hotel and found a grocery shop where we bought dry rice and gatorade for Joe because we didn't want him getting heat stroke on our vacation.  We also stopped at a kebab place for dinner which was reasonably priced and yummy.

It was about 10 pm when we arrived back at the hotel.  It was still really hot outside so the air conditioning felt delicious!  It was only our second day in Europe, so we were still trying to get on a new sleep schedule.  After all of that walking, we crashed as soon as our heads hit the pillows and we had a really sound sleep.

Next up:  Rome Day Two--The Colosseum, the Jewish Ghetto, and other adventures