Rome -- 4/14/11

Something wakes me at around 6 am, some kind of banging or construction. No matter. I’m not on a schedule today so I can take my time getting up.

I am not a tour person. Even though tours are very educational and I end up seeing things I may not have seen on my own, I would much rather be on my own time going where I want to go. Might mean I get lost along the way but that’s just part of the experience.

I get dressed, twist up my hair (no more flyaways), and pack my backpack for the day. Over another yummy breakfast of eggs, pears, and angry coffee, I plot my course for the day and head out. I want to hit the Spanish Steps first then maybe attempt to go back to Vatican City.

Thank goodness it’s nice and sunny after yesterday’s yuckiness. I’m walking along Via Septtembre when I notice there are a lot of politzia milling around. I get closer to a major intersection and I can hear a steady siren coming from the distance. Some kind of procession is coming – the pope maybe? Or some political figure? I wait around for a while to try and see something but I never do. Shrugging, I keep it moving.

Making the usual Roman curves, I finally find Via Sistina and make a right. The road ends in a circular area full of cars. Once I get past them and some vendors selling paintings, I see some steps leading down. I make it to the first landing when it hits me: I’d made it to the Spanish Steps without getting lost! Woo hoo! Woo hoo! Almost had to pat myself on the back!

The stairs are wet so I can’t sit down like I want. Instead I take some pictures then very carefully make my way down the steps (because old, uneven marble + water + me = trip to Roman E.R.) to explore the Piazza del Spagna.

Walking down one of the streets leading away from the piazza I spot a Lush store. I’d heard of these all natural hair and beauty products online but had never seen them up close. It’s a great store with lots of things to sniff and enjoy though not to read – all of packaging of the British-made products in this store are in Italian. Fortunately the sales clerk speaks English and is able to guide me around. I pay way too much for a seaweed shampoo bar, a bath bomb (for that evening’s bath) and a facial mask that needs to be refrigerated.

I follow this street out to Via del Corso. I know this street though not this section of it. I follow it to the end and discover yet another large oval-shaped meeting area named the Piazza del Popolo. With the standard fountain in the middle, there are two more fountains on either end with benches lining the perimeter.
This is by far my favorite piazza. It’s big enough to be crowded and yet still have areas on each end that are practically empty. There is a woman playing the cello beside the fountain (Frank Sinatra is very big here) and a couple of living statues aimed at each of the entrances (one is dressed like the Statue of Liberty and the other is a pharaoh I think). Tourists and locals alike are passing through (along with the occasional car or horse-drawn buggy), there are pigeons everywhere, and it’s a sunny spring morning. I sit for a while and write out my postcards. After all the hustle and bustle of the rest of the city, it is very nice to just be able to sit and enjoy the view.

But, this is still Rome. I had to know the peace wouldn’t last forever. Out of the corner of my eye I see someone approaching my bench. There is no reason for this; I don’t know anyone here and there are plenty of other benches on which to sit. The guy hands me a rose and introduces himself as Mano. As I’m fishing out some money (way too much in my opinion) he ties a string around my wrist and strikes up a conversation.

He tells me he’s from Bangladesh and I tell him I’m from the states. He knew a woman from California who used to come to this piazza and talk to him before she returned to the states to marry and divorce. He asks where my husband is. I tell him I don’t have one and he asks why. “No one’s asked me, it doesn’t work that way in my world.” He just can’t understand it then tells me I should get an Italian boyfriend. Just look around and pick one (now why didn’t I think of that?). Then he starts actively hitting on me saying he could come back to America with me. It was then I decided that I should get on that Italian boyfriend search immediately. I wish him good luck and head back towards the Spanish Steps. (Note to self: I really need to learn to lie when I get the rare question about my marital status – it would save me a lot of time.)

By this time the Piazza del Spagna and the Steps are crazy with tourists. I wade my way through them back up the steps and down Via Sistina only to run into a problem. The politizia have blocked the street off with vans. It’s bad enough that cars can’t get through but they’re not even letting pedestrians through. What’s up with that? We’re all just milling around on both sides of the barricade (folks trying to get to the Spanish Steps are really screwed if they don’t know Rome well enough to find an alternate route) until I give up and head back down Via Sistina. Never did see what all the fuss was about.

I pass by a shop called Blue Ice. It’s a small colorful shop full of pastries and yes, more gelato. It is time. I get a small cup of pistachio and go back to the Steps. I park myself and happily enjoy my treat while watching the people float by.

People-watching is always fun in foreign countries. In a single day you can hear accents and languages from all over the world; German, British, Indian, and some I can’t even recognize. With the tourists out in force, the vendors and beggars are not far behind. I see many more ‘Manos’ walking around with strings and roses. I’ve placed mine in the headphone hole in my backpack. It seems to ward off any of the others from approaching me (yay!). The other vendors are selling everything from eyeglasses to purses to these nifty jelly-like toys that go splat when you throw them on the ground.

I finish my gelato and take a moment to plot an alternate rout to the hotel. Then it’s back down the steps and down Via del Condotti. Here in one concentrated section is where all the really chi-chi shops are located; Bulgari, Ferregamo, Jimmy Choo’s, Hermes … the list goes on and on. I feel like I have to be a millionaire just to walk down this street. At the very end where Condotti meets Via del Corso lies a very large Fendi store. I love Fendi so I have to press my face against the glass before moving on. No sense in going in – I’ve already spent way too much on this vacation and I don’t need a gorgeous Italian bag tempting me.

Thanks to having been lost on these roads before, I actually know where I’m going. It’s a long walk to the hotel but I make it back just as the sky is getting darker. I drop my stuff off and head back out but I can see that it’s getting colder and darker. Not to mention the fact that I’m really tired by this time and can’t even fathom making it all the way to the Vatican on foot. I make a stamp run then head back to the room.

The rest turned out to be a long one and well-needed. I read and pack my clothes for my flight tomorrow until my 8:00 reservation for dinner at the restaurant downstairs.

The dinner menu is a multi-course affair. There is no way I can eat that much so I order a nice fettuccini Bolognese (good) and have a bite of a chocolate ricotta cheesecake (not so much). Then it’s bath time.

Despite the lovely bath bomb in the water, the bath isn’t as relaxing as I’d hoped. The phone rings while I’m in the tub. It is not normally my nature to run to a ringing phone and certainly not while wet. I ignore it but then not five minutes later it sounds like someone is in my room. Now I know I locked the door when I came in but I get up to check just in case. I suspect the call and the room invasion are because I left the restaurant without getting a check (the not-so-attentive waiter already had my room number so it’s not like they wouldn’t get their grip). Turns out that a lost guest had tried my door. He apologizes when I spot him in the hall and I quickly return to the tub. So much for relaxing.

I finish as much packing as I can, set the alarm and it’s out for the night.