Senatus Populus Que Romanus

After three days without showering and homeless, Nick and I were beginning to reek. Staying with the Ferrini’s provided us the cleanest showers we’ve used thus far as backpackers. The showers in the hostels (if they have showers) are usually quite disgusting. Staying with this faithful Latter-day Saint family, I was reminded of my two glorious years spent in Finland as a missionary. The Finns would have to travel by bus to Switzerland to attend the temple before the Stockholm temple was built. I’m sure these long “temple trips” give members much time to ponder and reflect on life—something I definitely need to work on.

Simona quickly drove us back to the train station just in time for our connection to Rome. We rode a high-speed train to Rome arriving around 12:45 pm. The 2-hour trip was gorgeous most of the way. At times, I only saw field after field of nothing but matured sunflowers.

Nick and I didn’t know what to expect in Rome. Having no plan at all definitely has its pros and cons. However, we’re starting to really get the hang of what we need to do once we arrive in a city. A few things MUST be done at the train station or time will be wasted. These include: finding a place to sleep, finding the tourist desk, grabbing a good map good map of the city, finding out about public transportation, etc. The idea is to quickly do all of these things so we can see as much as possible. Our turn-around time in Rome was by far the quickest. We found a GREAT place to stay for a reasonable price (our own room with WI-FI within a random family’s apartment) in the heart of Rome (about a five minute walk from the Spanish Steps), which gave us quick access to everything.

We started wondering the streets in Rome around 1 pm and didn’t get back to the apartment until 11:00 pm. I love Rome because the cobble stone streets we walked along would likely be in a museum if found outside of Rome. However, there are just too many ancient remnants of the Roman Empire to store all of them in a museum. The highlight of today was the Roman Forum. Nick’s brother and sister-in-law recommended downloading a few podcasts done by Rick Steve, which took us on a free audio tour of the sites. Thank you, Oliver & Heidi!

Walking Rome at night was a blast! In the neighborhood of Taverini, I enjoyed a delicious meal, which included a margarita pizza, Italian orange soda, and a deep-fried rice/mozzarella stick treat. After dinner, Nick and I made our way back to the apartment stopping often at the numerous sites dotting the city.