Postcard from Rome

For a New Zealander and an American, Rome is an incredible place to visit because an “ancient” building in our countries is considered to be any building without a broadband connection, whereas the Collins-defined ancient Rome didn’t even have dialup!

We traveled backwards in time to Italy via Nottingham earlier this month and were greeted with torrential rain for a couple of hours during which we stood under a tree near the coliseum while a guy tried to sell us umbrellas. It probably would have been a good idea to buy one, but you develop an instinctual “no” response to hawkers when you travel, so we just stood there in our raincoats developing both wet trousers and an understanding of why Caesar wore a miniskirt and sandals.


The rain quickly let up, however, and we were treated to beautiful weather for the remainder of our trip. We avoided the coliseum due to a colossal slow-moving line of tourists through a single gate, which was funny considering the building was designed to allow 50,000 people to enter in a matter of minutes, and headed through the forum to the Palatine, the prime real-estate overlooking the forum where the original rich-list built their mansions. It was almost devoid of tourists due to the entry fee and the lack of conspicuously tourist-attraction features visible from the outside, but it contained an incredible wealth of beautiful and extraordinary ruins of palaces, gardens and grounds, and a breathtaking view over the forum, the heart of the old empire.

Then we ate some snacks. To save money, we brought a bunch of delicious snacks with us from the U.K., stashing them in our backpacks to eat during our trip in order to avoid expensive tourist-site food. We did buy some snacks at a little cart to see what they were like, but ours were better. Half of good traveling is good eating.

After a few hours admiring how the Romans were able to build structures that lasted 2,000 years when we can’t even develop a light bulb that will last more than a week, we moved off to the Capital Museums to see some of the artifacts that didn’t make it into the Tomb Raider movies. Every room was an incredible experience. In one room we were avidly admiring the frescos on the wall, which I assumed were painted recently to add an authentic feel to the rooms, only to discover that they were painted more than 400 years ago! That’s older than my country. Turn after turn, we were astounded simply by the age of everything around us. The museum is also where I had my first authentic Italian espresso. It was actually quite a mission to find the café. I could smell the coffee from the floor below it, but it took us half an hour of going up and down stairs and looking at floor maps to work out how to get to it. But it was worth it in the end because it was the best espresso I have ever had. Sweet, rich and nutty. Definitely the highlight of the museum, espresso trumps fresco.

All this time we were wondering where Brock and Amber, Kristy’s friends from the USA, had gotten to since we had been due to meet them earlier that morning. I had a message on my mobile, but I was feeling too Scottish to spend the money to check it, so we just assumed they would call later, which they did. While I was on the WC in the museum bathrooms. Their plane had been delayed, but they had eventually made it in so we met up with them and went to have dinner, where we ate delicious Italian pizza!

After dinner, we went for a constitutional to see Trevi Fountain, but spent more time watching the hawkers amusing tactics as they attempted to sell roses and bubble guns to the tourists amassed there. Nearby, however, we had the most delicious gelato I had ever eaten up until that day, which was definitely the highlight of the Fountain. Gelato trumps Nicola Salvi.