We left Portland at 12:30 on Saturday and got into Rome around 1 on Sunday. Smooth flights, bad movies, microwaved food. The usual.
After a long/slow train into the city we caught the subway to Coliseo, which is right at the Coliseum. Duh.
After a 5 minute walk from the Coliseum, we found our apartment. And boy what digs. This place is bigger than our house and there’s marble floors. And marble tiles in the bathroom. And a bidet.
This morning we woke up, had some coffee at our cozy little breakfast table.
Afterwards we headed out for the day.
Seeing these buildings in art history books and in movies doesn’t prepare you for actually standing below them.
The Coliseum is impressive. More impressive were the crowds. We didn’t go inside, but from the outside the people inside were pressed against the sides. Admittedly we are here the during the easter holiday. Today was also a national holiday, so the crowds are out in force.
Finding an open grocery store was a bit of a tall order as well. The three we knew of were not open, so we walked until we found one. Wine is cheap. Really cheap. What would be a $10 bottle in the states goes for about 1,50 euro. And it’s delicious.
I’ve been looking at bikes when I see them, but there’s not much to report on. Mostly dutch style cruiser things, cheap department store bikes, and the weekend warrior choice seems to be mountain bikes.
I did spy one awesome Colnago though…
On the way home from the market we found a small stall in our building that had opened for the afternoon.
It’s nice having a beer store in your building.
Tomorrow we’re headed west to the Vatican and possible Tiber Island. Saturday we leave for Paris to catch a Sunday morning train to Roubaix. It really is a rough life.