Happy 4th of July! This is my second
Independence Day away from America in a row. I am going to try really hard
to be in America next July 4th. I was really missing the BBQ food
(especially an all-American beef hot dog and baked beans,) family/friend gatherings,
red,
white and blue, parades, American flags and fireworks! But we had a nice relaxing day in Rome. We woke up just in
time to make if to breakfast before it closed. Then we took our
time getting ready and didn't leave the room till close to noon. We
easily navigated our way to the Trevi Fount. We felt like two locals
with how well we remembered how to get around. We enjoyed looking
in at the shops and people watching. Then we went down to check out
this new tourist activity called the time elevator. It was a 5D
film that incorporated 3D viewing, moving, feeling and smelling. There
were three film options and since we didn't have anything else
to do we decided to do all three. The first was a haunted house film.
It was really dumb and pointless. The only thing it did was make me
motion sick. For the next film I exiled myself to a cart that did not
move. The second film was called the evolution of time. It covered the
beginning of the planet and how life was started. It was interesting
and a little better than the haunted mansion one. The final film was on
the history or Rome. That one was really neat and the main attraction. It covered
several historical events important to the nearly 3,000 year old
city. I enjoyed it. Mike choose to stay in the moving cart and ended
up motion sick by the end. I was so glad I switched, even though it
meant I sat by myself in the corner I much preferred that to motion
sickness. After the movie ended we continued on down the street to see
the Colosseum again. Mike was kinda of the "been there, done
that" attitude with a lot of the things in Rome and since it
was so hot I didn't care to walk around too much. So we
found a good shady spot and listened to our book for a good half hour or
so. Then we decided to go find some place for a late lunch/ early dinner.
It's always hard to find a place to eat. There are so many restaurants claiming
they are wonderful and begging you to sit down, but how do you know if they are
any good. My body was in need of some veggies. I wanted a green salad with
lettuce and veggies. A lot of places we pasted didn't have salads on the menu.
I found only a few along our way but for one reason or another passed them up.
We finally came to one that looked really nice by the Trevi fountain. It had a
salad that sounded good on the menu, so we decided to stay. The ambiance was
nice, but the servers were a little rude, and rushed us. We decided on the
salad and a pasta dish. When it finally came the salad was not at all what I
had expected and tasted terrible. The pasta was about the same, way to salty
and very under cooked. It was so terrible. Then of course when we got the bill
they had added there service charge to it, which just ticked me off because all
they did to "serve" me was take my order and bring the food to me. I
was so annoyed. We left them a terrible review on trip advisor but it seems
everyone else hates them too. That's the problem with those places they feed on
tourist passing by who don't have the mind to check on trip advisor to see what
kind of reviews they go. Mike and I will be doing that from now on, regardless
of international data charges. After our very disappointing lunch we walked
over to the Pantheon. On our way over we passed the government building. There
were tons of cars and camera there, so we stuck around to see what the fuss was
all about. Of course we didn't recognize anyone and even after 8 min of watching
still weren't sure what we were looking at. When we got to the pantheon we went
inside, sat on the pews and listened to our book. I'm not sure if that was
disrespectful or not, I don't know how often they actually use it (if at all)
for church services so we figured it wasn't to bad. While we were there not one
but two high school choirs came in to sing. They both were very good and sang
in Latin. It made me miss my days in Delphian. The second choir was huge and to
loud to hear over them, even with our ear buds in so we went outside. We saw
some African dudes (in Brazilian clothes) fighting with an accordion player for
the space to perform. Unfortunately, the three of them beat the one of him and
the Africans took over with their banging and off key chanting. So we decided
it was time to go get gelato. We went to Gioletti's and ordered a sundae with
chocolate and Oreo gelato, divine! We also had passed a place on the way to the
pantheon that advertised 150 flavors so we went back to check that out. There
selection was impressive, everything but chocolate chip cookie dough ;( I was
thinking maybe their focus was quantity over quality and almost said no when I
saw the 4.5 trip advisor rating posted and decided to give it a go. I was glad
I did, heavenly! I shared a giant cone with Mike, we got peanut butter,
kit-kat, Biscotto and mars bar flavors. So good! Then we headed back to the
Trevi Fountain so I could toss my coin in. As soon as we got there is started
raining. Of course it was the one day I was not carrying the umbrella and
ponchos. We huddled under a building ledge to stay dry. The rain really came
down hard at some points scaring a lot of people away. I decided it wasn't
terrible and snuck a peek at the fountain. No one was there! Everyone one had
run for cover. I ran up to get some pictures. I guess I signaled everyone else.
I snapped 2 or 3 pictures before it got packed again. It was cool while it
lasted. Mike came over and took a few pictures of me and I threw my coin in.
Unfortunately, it was over the wrong shoulder, so I hope it still works. Then
we started back for the hotel. We passed a Burger King and decided our sweet
gelato over load made us hungry for something salty. We went in and orders a
few nuggets and fries to balance it out. That's what I call a well balanced
diet, sweet and salty. Lol. I can't wait to stop eating out when I get home!
Then we walked up the Spanish Steps to our hotel. We pack up our things,
facetimed with family, reminisced about the Fourth of July and eventually listened
to one more chapter before bed. We are addicted!
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