Trip 2 Begins (Intrepid)

We spent our next full day in Rome exploring the Roman ruins including the Colosseum with our fellow travelers Scotch and Phil. Our tour guide Diane took us through the Forums and we got to see Emperor Augustus Caesar's house. It was really cool to be looking back in history - Matt enjoyed it quite a bit. We learned that after the fall of the Roman Empire and into the middle ages the forum ruins were used as cow pastures - cows were just let free in the area in between old ruins! Anyway, it was neat to see the the aqueducts and the neat innovations they’d invented so long ago.

We went into the Colosseum as well - to get a better view than we had gotten quickly the day before. We tried to picture the movie Gladiator taking place as we walked around :-). The Romans even had their own ticketing system, and you could still see the Roman numerals that marked the different arched entrances. It’s a bit hard to describe all the ruins because we heard so much history in one day - but we had a lot of fun - and it’s certainly worth going to see.

Later in the afternoon after seeing our share of sights, and after Diane left us to take care of getting tickets and other things, Scotch, Phil, Kristen, and Matt headed off in search of a little roadside ristorante for some food. The best way to find a place to eat in Rome is to wander down an alley and explore until you find a place off the main roads - the food is better, there are less tourists, and it’s much cheaper! We found a cute place to eat off the side of a small piazza. As our waiter took our order he came down with a horrible case of the hiccups, and in his broken English we struggled to understand him as we placed our orders and held in the laughter. It was an interesting start to the meal... We had decided to get what we thought was a plate of different salamis as an appetizer, but when our waiter showed up with the meats they were in a giant basket that he placed on the table along with a knife and cutting board. There were probably 20 different salamis in the basket - and we were just supposed to cut and eat whatever we wanted! They were really tasty, but by the end of the meal as the table was being cleared (2 hours later btw), our waiter expressed disappointment we had not finished the basket (which would have been impossible for even 10 people). We asked if we could take some to go, but he didn’t get our joke... He was a nice guy though, and the meal was awesome.

After the meal we headed back to the Termini - the central train station in Rome - where we met Diane and hopped on board our first Italian train...to Lucca!