Rome, Day 3

The day started early for us, up at 7 a.m. and in the breakfast room in the lobby by 8:30 or so. Typical fare if you've been to Europe, sliced meats and cheese, yogurt, breads, hard boiled eggs, pastries, etc...

After a hearty breakfast we headed to the bus stop for the Campo Di Fiori where we strolled through a farmers market. Cheese, pasta, oils, vinegars, lots of fruits and vegetables, flowers, and a great stand we stumbled upon that let you sample limoncello and other cream liquors which were all fantastic. We will be going back there on our final 2 days in Rome to pick up a few bottles along with some of his aged balsamics.

Here are a few pictures from the market:

We finished at the market and started heading toward Piazza Venezia and stumbled upon a Roman ruins site that appeared as it was still being excavated.

This was pretty neat as traffic was buzzing past all around and yet this amazing archeological find just sits, in some cases somewhat undisturbed after all of these years. A few more moments of taking it all in and we continued on towards the Piazza and were greeted by a monstrous building ahead:

Inside was a huge museum which we didn't even bother spending any time in except to use the bathroom... Which of course there was a line, and was very clean, and cost us about 1.50 American to use. Then we discovered something cool. On the backside of the building are two elevators that take you to the top for this amazing view that is almost unheard of. While in the elevator, the elevator operator was enamored with Claudia and flirted with her all the way to the top. An older married couple were in the elevator with us and they laughed the whole way up. They even sang a song which sounded like a smooth, Italian love song that made the situation even funnier. But all was forgotten when we stepped out of the elevator and saw this!

We enjoyed the view and slowly headed back down (avoiding Claudia's new boyfriend) and made our way towards the Roman Ruins and the Coliseum. The ruins were almost out of place, however at the same time, the city seemed out of place around the ruins. It is almost unexplainable how you just stop and become awestruck at just how amazing the ruins are and just how historical all of it really is.

It is so amazing... we were going to buy tickets to explore the ruins and the Coliseum, but we only had about 40 minutes for both and at 15 euro each... this was not something to be rushed. We opted to come back after a trip to the Vatican on New Years Eve or Day. However I must say every tourist known to man kind is here and they are either at the Vatican or the Coliseum. It was a mad house of people, but so much fun to people watch!

We strolled toward the Coliseum and just couldn't believe what we saw... The size and scale and magnitude of the Coliseum is unreal. Just truly unreal. We sat and stared at it for the longest time, both saying to each other, "This is amazing!"

By this time, our feet were pounding in our shoes and our tummy's were announcing themselves loudly. We found a hop on/hop off tour bus and purchased the 48 hour ticket. This took us to all the major sights in Rome with the privelege of hopping on or off as many times as you like in those 48 hours. We rode it around 1 and a half times... Mind you the top of the bus, where we first sat was open air... open air as in cold air. Open air as in our toes and hands froze. We promptly moved downstairs when seats opened up below, however we were cold to the bone by then. We took the bus to the Piazza Di Popolo again to go back to the cafe where we had cappuccino's and little pastries and sat inside.

The restaurant nice and the food was stupendous! For an appetizer we shared an italian salami plate with fresh rosemary bread. Then for entrees, I ordered risotto with truffle oil and shaved truffle chips on top and Claudia ordered a fettucini plate with olive oil, Italian mushrooms, and chili peppers. Let me tell you... Italian mushrooms are like butter... or if you are a steak house person and love the bone marrow some of the high end places serve... THAT is was these mushrooms tasted like. Oh and the risotto... There are no words in the English language that would give it justice!

A glass of wine and some laughter and reminiscing of the events of the day, we bundled up again and made the 10 minute walk back to our hotel room. I promptly set out to blog... and Claudia... well, she's out like a light. It was a long day, and I better drift off to sleep myself. It is an early day tomorrow... Ciao!