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Trip Start May 16, 2006 Previous
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  Rome, Italy
Saturday, May 27, 2006

We did our best to leave Riomaggiore at a decent hour today, to try and see the Roman Forums before the last entry at 5:15pm after the 5 hour train journey. Nothing of note happened on the train, and we got to the Termini in Rome at about 4:30pm. We were staying again in Maian, and we were excited to be getting back to our "home," and the internet. We are such addicts. However, once we got there, there was a sign on the door for me to call an unfamiliar number. Sighing, we went back down the street to the station to perhaps store our bags and make the Forums, only to find that the baggage check was temporarily stalled due to the sole worker having his hands full with a screaming man. We tried the number instead, and got a very confusing person telling us to go stand out front to Havana. We shrug, head back to Maian, and wait. And wait and wait. Eventually some guests arrive and let us in to sit on the couch and whisper behind our backs with the other guests. At this point, we didn't even care about the Forums, we just wanted keys. Forty-five minutes and some pizza later, I go out again to call the man again. He says roughly the same thing, only he adds "at the window." Going back to Maian, I study all the windows closely, both in the building and across the street. And wait. Sarah comes out and says the other guests are suspicious of our...sitting and eating pizza, I suppose. We look so very dangerous and all.

Around this time, a man comes out from across the street and says "Why didn't you ring?" Turns out, we're staying in an apartment across the street which is owned by someone with the last name of Havana, because Maian overbooked. Of course. Why didn't I get that from "I'm out front to Havana?" The new apartment is fine, though not quite as nice, but it does have internet, so we're appeased.

I notice during my internet browsing that it's probably still technically possible to make the Pantheon before it closes. So we run *back* to Termini, take the B line south, and walk from the Colosseo stop to the Pantheon as fast as possible. We're practically running for most of it. About a mile and a half later, we get there about five minutes before it closes, just in time to snap a few pictures of the oculus and sit outside wheezing. One of the other sites I wanted to see was the Synogogue in the old Jewish ghetto, so we grab some (excellent) gelato and start walking. We start out going the right way, but, surprise surprise, we get turned around and end up by the River Tiber.

We figure we can't possibly get lost following the river (famous last words), so we start following the river. A half hour later, we get a few shots of the Vatican across the river as the sun sets. An hour later, we get to the guards armed with machine guns outisde the synogogue. Sarah takes a few pictures and we decide to head back, via the metro stop nearest our current location. But the street we're on loses the sidewalk and streetlights and gains some rats. Eventually, we hit the metro entrance. As we head over, a guy starts yelling at us, "Hey! What time is it?" Since it's dark and we're in the ghetto, we ignore him completely. This enrages him and he screams obscenities at us as we walk away. Sarah turns to me. "Okaaay. Hey. Wasn't he standing right underneath a clock?" I turn and look. Eight foot high clock. "Yup." "Huh."

Safely back at Termini, we stopped at a Chinese food restaurant. I tried a fruit cup which might have consisted of kumquats and lychee and Sarah had some lemon chicken. We both had hot and sour soup. Though we were too exhausted to appreciate it at the time, we agreed later it was all quite good. Plus, they had the cheapest bottled water we've seen in Italy - 1.5 liters for 1.5€.

We resolved that we would *definitely* get up early no matter what to see the Forums, after all the trouble we'd gone to to get back to Rome, and crashed.

(Minimal pictures forthcoming)

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