Adventures of Janet

We stayed out pretty late the night before so the next morning I was grateful we didn’t have anything until 11am. I had booked us a tour of the Catacombe San Callisto and I was super excited to go. I had been to the catacombs in Paris but these were very different. Pictures were not allowed inside so I only got one of me in front. It was a nice Christian Pilgrimage and it was neat to see how they buried people a long time ago. No skulls or bodies were seen but a lot of history shared. I am always surprised how much history is preserved and how neat it must have been to be the archaeologists that first got to explore it.

Afterwards, we got lunch and we had a bike tour scheduled for 3pm to bike the Appian Way. I love Rick Steves and one of his things to do in Rome is bike this route so I had to do it. We scheduled our tour with Bici Baci and I was delighted when I saw Sarah, our tour guide from 7 years ago that took us around Rome there! She, of course, didn’t remember us but I remembered her so well and was happy to see her still there and loving what she does. Sadly, she was not our tour guide and for the life of me I can’t remember our tour guide’s name but he was very nice and took lots of pictures of me and Dan. I was shocked the tour ended up being only me and Dan for English speaking and the one Sarah led was in Dutch and had like 15 people. I was even more shocked and so grateful they didn’t cancel on us. It was an amazing treat to have a private tour and not pay the private tour price.

This bike tour was so much fun but me and Dan agreed it was also the scariest. Thank goodness we upgraded to the electric bikes for all the hills but the actual Appian Way is so bumpy and no real flat road so any wrong move or swerve on the road and you could go flying off. It was terrifying and thrilling! Our tour guide was so sweet and would wait for us and guide us and tell us what to expect for the road conditions. I love taking bike tours in various cities and now I get why Rick Steves recommends biking this route because this route will always stay in my memory. It was absolutely beautiful! All the villas, the tombstones, and the history all together it felt very surreal. The weather was hot but the breeze from biking felt so nice. I would definitely do this exact tour if I ever make it back to Rome because while it was scary there was something so special about it that I can’t quite articulate. We loved it!

We went back to the hotel to rest a bit, shower, and change. I had asked for restaurant recommendations from our food tour person that cancelled and we had a good list and we decided to go to one of them. It was delicious! This was another night of walking by the Big 3 and random fountains and Piazzas. It is weird how time works in Europe. I can do like a hundred things in a day there and still get up the next day just fine but back home if I do two or three things in a day I am exhausted for hours lolol.

This would also be the first night we rented scooters and were brave enough to travel on the street late at night on them. We didn’t dare try to navigate the roads on a scooter during the day but at night if we saw a Lime or Bird scooter we would rent them and head to the Colosseum then to our hotel. It was this night that it really hit me that we were in Rome, the eternal city. As we stayed out late, talking, laughing, and riding around I couldn’t help but feel so happy and “blessed” that I was able to take this trip. I even pinched myself while at a red light thinking this was a dream. I remembered exactly why I love traveling, why I love Rome so much, and how special this trip was to take with Dan. We got back to the hotel, showered, and stayed up talking some more about what we loved about the day. Sometimes, I find it hard to believe I can still find things to talk about to Dan when I am literally with him 24/7 but we both surprise each other with a different memory or we took a picture of something the other missed and this night we stayed up talking about our bike and scooter rides and how much we loved both.

One of the many reasons I really loved this trip was because we got to spend so much time in my favorite city. I bought tickets for everything beforehand and booked the tours I wanted, but still left lots of time to just wander and eat wherever.

Our first full day in the eternal city (Monday) I only booked a food tour at 6pm in the Jewish Quarter area (same one we did years ago, I loved it then so I wanted to do it again.) This left the whole day open. We slept in and got breakfast, took our time getting ready, and first stop was seeing the Colosseum and Roman Forum.

We bought tickets to go inside the day time for that Friday and also booked a night time underground tour that Saturday so I only wanted to feast my eyes on sites and then walk around.

But, as soon as we got there we were hounded by people asking if we bought tickets, if we wanted a tour, it was beyond annoying. I couldn’t believe they let them harass people like that! They look legitimate too with a lanyard and if you said you did have a ticket they would direct you to the gate, but if you didn’t they would be so sneaky about it and try to get you to buy it from them.

Dan wanted to go inside the Roman Forum and started to talking to one of the people (yes, I wanted to kill him) and they tried charging him 20 Euros to just get inside the Forum. That was crazy to me and I immediately said no and pulled Dan away but when the guy followed us, I snapped and said we would not be paying 20 Euros to go inside when it cost 18 Euros to go inside all three, the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and Palatine Hill and there wasn’t even an option to just go inside the Forum so it was ridiculous and a rip off. I even checked the website and there were still tickets from 2pm to later so if Dan really wanted to go inside I could have easily bought tickets right then and there. The guy left shortly after and I was finally able to breathe.

I don’t mind the people trying to sell water for 1 Euro because honestly I sometimes need a water and too lazy to go into a convenience store and they also charge 1 Euro so this just saves me time, but the people hounding back to back asking if I have a ticket drove me nuts.

Anyways, I took some pictures and walked around the outside. I like scoping out the area and knowing where I have to go on the day of tours so I liked seeing where I had to enter and what to do. Everything is online now because of the pandemic so I was very happy I booked everything I wanted to see and do beforehand.

After visiting the Colosseum we walked over and went to see the Bocca della Verità. Logan loves this thing and gets a kick out of seeing the replica they made for a restaurant here in St Paul so of course we had to visit it and take pictures to send them to him. I also like seeing it because it reminds me of the movie Roman Holiday. We both stuck our hands in and neither one of us lost a hand so that’s good lolol.

After this we took an Uber to the Spanish Steps. It was in the high 80s/low 90s so as much I love walking it was too hot for all that.

I have loved the Romantic poet writers, Keats, Shelly, and others since high school. I can still remember not having a boyfriend but writing my best friends notes and postcards quoting their beautiful poems and sharing my love. Last time when we came to Rome I did not get to go into the museum that is located right next to the Spanish Steps but I made sure to go inside this time. I was so excited and in awe of seeing so many original manuscripts and paintings that I didn’t take any pictures. I am kicking myself now but this is exactly why I would make a terrible real blogger, I get way too excited and just read and flint from one room to the next in all my excitement. We were the only ones inside and I could not stop saying “omg, Dan look at this!” They not only had Byron and Keats, but they had stuff from other poets too and I even saw some stuff from another favorite Oscar Wilde! I was practically buzzing and could not believe how much stuff they had. When I was done, we visited the gift shop and I bought a tote and a couple of postcards to mail to my high school friends that all knew about my love of these poets. If you love poetry you definitely need to check this museum out, it was surprisingly really good and I still cannot believe I saw some original manuscripts!

We then walked by the Trevi fountain (yes, one of a million times we did one this trip) and then walked over to go inside the Pantheon. It is free to go inside but on Saturday and Sunday they do require you to make a reservation. You can scan their QR code by the front and pick a time. This was on Monday so we just stood in line. I thankfully had bought a scarf earlier that day and had to wrap my shoulders which was fine but don’t forget to get into the churches your shoulders must always be covered. They took our temperature and we went in. I loved going inside and this would be one of many times we went in. Again, I did not take pictures, but I did a different day so I will post those then, I was just so excited and enjoyed walking around in peace and just looking.

I wanted a little snack afterwards and went to Tazza D’Oro to get my favorite Grannita. It is like slushie coffee with yummy cream. I fell in love with this last time we came and it is conveniently located kiddie corner of the Pantheon. Dan who isn’t really a sweets person even loves this so we got this multiple times during our trip.

We still had energy so we walked over to Piazza Navona. I still remember as a teenager watching that Sophia Loren movie Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow and loving her apartment view of this amazing fountain!

We, of course, got hungry and ate right in front of the fountain and I must admit I didn’t mind these tourist traps. It was nice seeing all the people and vendors. I especially liked how they would run once they saw the saw police. I wonder if they had a signal or something because they always left right before the police came and wrapped all the goods up so fast.

Later that night we had our food tour at 6pm. I was sad that at 6:05pm they texted to cancel because not enough people signed up. I was really annoyed they cancelled so late because then we could have made other plans but we rescheduled for Sunday with a promise they wouldn’t cancel again.

We decided to again walk by the Big 3, but then it started to rain and I forgot my umbrella since I thought we would be inside various places so we chose a place on the path between the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon. It was actually really good and I loved that we got to see Rome in the rain. This reminded a lot of Paris, just sitting in a cafe and enjoying the city in my favorite weather.

It stopped raining so we again walked by the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. For as many times I walked this path it never got old lololol. I just couldn’t believe I was Rome and enjoyed every minute. We got gelato and sat in front of the fountain to people watch and then walked off our dinner back to the hotel. It was an amazing first full day in Rome!

I am finally back from my trip and it was AMAZING!!! I didn’t bring my laptop when I went and I don’t really like typing on my phone so I decided to just wait until I got home to write about everything.

We left last Saturday July 17 around 10am from the Minneapolis St Paul Airport. Our flight was at 1pm and we got there with plenty of time to spare. Our gate was far but I am happy we left early and had a chance to eat at a sit down restaurant. Everything was on time and seemingly well until we got on the plane. The pilot said there was balancing issues, too many people with heavy luggages. The crew had to move around people on the plane and move around luggages. We had a 3 hour layover at JFK so I wasn’t too worried about time. Well I was wrong lololol, 3 hours on the plane on the tarmac, they decided to take off people’s luggage, they promised us they were only removing people’s luggage that was going to JFK and leaving the international luggage on the plane. I immediately knew that wasn’t going to be the case because all the heavy luggage was more than likely people traveling abroad. I did what I do best in a panic and just prayed we would make our flight to Rome and hopefully have our luggage. I was comforted by the idea that since we got there so early our luggage would be further back and hopefully not picked to be taken off. We finally got the ok to take off and we were all so excited when the pilot said, “more bad news, air traffic control has decided to keep all planes from going to JFK because of the weather and not enough workers to land us.” AHHH, sadness all around when a minute later the pilot said wait! We got the ok to take off and he booked it out of there before they could change their mind. During our 2 hour flight we got to know the people around us, a lot were going to Athens, Venice, Milan, some Rome, and various other cities across the world. The most interesting, was a family behind us, they had 2 sons and one was chosen to play soccer on a national team of like 20 something kids across USA to play against the Greece team. The kids were so cute and were playing a soccer game and they kept naming players and that peaked my interest and I began talking to them and that’s how I found out about their cool trip.

Anyways, we get to JKF and we had 20 min to make our Rome flight, it was the only Rome flight of the day left so I prayed and hoped we would make it. We logged into the Delta app and find out our flight was delayed by an hour!!! I have never been so happy for a delay in my life until this moment lolol. Still cutting it close but it gave us hope! We land, almost everyone with connecting flights missed except a handful of others. I hate how big JFK is but I was happy we landed in Terminal 4 and our next flight was there like 30 gates away. I don’t work out but for some reason if in danger I can always run a good steady pace to save my life and even beat Dan to the gate! We get there and by the grace of God they just started boarding, we get our temperatures taken (they didn’t check our CDC card or really anything,) and get on board. Once on the flight, I keep checking the Delta app to see if our luggage made it (I love their app!) and right before they told us to put our devices on airplane mode I see both our luggages are checked in!!! I do a happy dance and can finally relax.

The flight there felt fast and my only complaint was the airplane food has gone down hill. I forgot to take pictures but it was meh at best. I normally love hospital and airplane food and never really saw why people complained but no bread or salad and just the main dish which was pasta or chicken, a very small side, and a little ice cream. I miss their bigger portions and their bread and butter so much! We made it and once in Italy we flew right through customs. They didn’t ask for our CDC cards and just took our temperatures and stamped our passport and then we picked up our luggage and went to find a taxi.

I didn’t like how as soon as we left the airport there were like 40 people yelling if we needed a ride, I like following the rules and don’t ever take up random rides so we had to shove our way through to the legitimate taxi stand and got a taxi right away. I couldn’t help but think how crazy that was because there is still a pandemic around and no one moved out of the way and I hugged my backpack close and used my luggage as a shield to make my way through. I was thankful that we each only had 2 pieces of luggage, our back packs and big suitcase.

We made it to the hotel, which is the same one we stayed at last time. Our room was ready so we went and showered and brushed right away (it was around 2pm.) When we were done, we called an Uber to go to the Pantheon (this service didn’t exist last time we were there so it was nice they finally had it there) and ate lunch. Last time we avoided the tourists traps but this trip I wanted a lot of people watching since I felt like I have been missing just looking at people and being around people that it felt so nice to be surrounded by them.

After lunch we got gelato and headed to the Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps. I call the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps the Big 3 since they are 3 big attractions all near each other and so easy to get to by foot.

After some walking around and sight seeing, we got dinner. We were so exhausted but happy we made it until 8:30pm at night so we could get on some normal schedule for the next day of full day of activities.

I loved our first day in Rome and noticed it wasn’t as crowded as last time we were there. This would be both good and bad for the rest of the trip, but I will break it down day by day and explain in other posts.