Rome, Day 1
Thursday, June 7, 2018
My flight into Rome was comfortable and pleasant. Unfortunately, I did not sleep much. I never have been able to sleep on a plane! So my first few hours in Rome were spent resting up at the hotel.
This afternoon, I took a long walk through the city. I visited Trevi Fountain, which is one of the most famous fountains in the world. The fountain has been working since the year 19 BC. (That's over 2,000 years ago!) Trevi Fountain was redesigned in the 1700's. What you see today was finished in the year 1762. Many people who visit Rome will toss a coin over their shoulder into the fountain. Some people believe this means you will return to Rome again someday. (I did not choose to do this!)
A few steps away, I visited the grave of one of my favorite Romans in history: Gaspar del Bufalo. Gaspar started the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, and many of them came to Indiana in the 1800's. Gaspar's missionaries started Saint Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana. This is where I went to college.
I ate an early dinner at a restaurant that a friend recommended to me. I ate a dish that consisted of mushrooms and some sort of cheese. It seemed like a lot of cheese for dinner, but I ate it all because it was the first good meal I've had since leaving Indiana. And it was a good meal! After dinner, the waiter brought me a small cup of espresso with sugar. (That's the coffee they drink in Italy.) I love coffee, so I enjoyed this treat after dinner. It's the tiniest coffee cup you have ever seen, but the coffee is quite strong!
So far, I am enjoying Rome. It is a very large city, and people come here from all over the world. When you walk down the street, you hear every language you can imagine. Everywhere you go, you see pizza and gelato (ice cream) shops. You also see a lot of churches. (There are over 900 in the city of Rome.) There are almost as many pastry shops where you can buy delicious Italian sweets. This is going to be a problem for me because I love sweets! Then, there are clothing and jewelry stores everywhere too.
So far, most Romans seem friendly, and they put up with people like me who speak terrible Italian. Most speak at least a little English. My taxi driver told me he speaks "macaroni English," which is to say not very good English. I told him he speaks much better English than I speak Italian! So maybe I could say I speak "macaroni Italiano?"
So far, most Romans seem friendly, and they put up with people like me who speak terrible Italian. Most speak at least a little English. My taxi driver told me he speaks "macaroni English," which is to say not very good English. I told him he speaks much better English than I speak Italian! So maybe I could say I speak "macaroni Italiano?"