An Evening Tour of Rome

I started off on an evening stroll by going to the Piazza de Popolo. The subway there was erratic at best, at one point they had to cart away a broken train and replace it with a new one! Ahh, the joys of the Italian rail system (known for its inconsistency). But, I got there in one piece -- eventually.

Take a look at this statue, the plaza (piazza) is surrounded by them on all sides. Bernini is responsible for most of these sculptures, he is considered an architectural legend that brought Rome out of the Renaissance in both art and sculpture. All around the Plaza is busy, not surprising for Italians whose restaurants don't open until 7:00pm. Noticing my hands were dirty from subway "grit", I wash them off in the fountain -- because all plazas have fountains with obelisks.

Ok, lets go. But uh oh, what's this? A three way split in the road! (you only see two of them, my camera can not do panoramic view). The concept of "blocks" is not familiar to Italians, so a natural grid format isn't what you see. Looking at a map shows one that the roads look like strands of multiple spider webs placed on top of one another. The middle vein looks to be the right one. If you look carefully, you can see all the way down to the Vittoro Emmanuele II Monument perched on Capitol hill. That's where we want to go, its close to the Coliseum and home.

We're off, and heading down a very busy street with very few cars, and lots and lots of people. Shops are all over right and left, people buying and selling all kinds of wares. Its not like America, at this time we would mostly be watching sitcoms. Italians just have this way of coming home from work and heading right back out again. The mission tonight is to find gifts for my friends, so we'll be checking out book stores and music stores along the way.

Here's something that's an eye opener, an unmarked church on my map. That's how it is here, old churches are all over. So, I stop in to say a decade, pay my respects and on the way out, give a coin to a one legged beggar on the road. Great! Now I'm 0.000000128% closer to God, so lets continue down the road looking for our shops.

Found a music and CD store with Italian everything. No pictures here, I do want to keep the gifts a bit of a surprise. Outside, there's this grumbling sound, I wonder what it is?

Ahh Piazza Coalanna, we're getting close now. Again, another obelisk, and of course a fountain. That grumbling sound persists, could it be the diesel engines in all of the cars that the Europeans drive? They sure are noisy. Lets check out the mall.

Italians have them, but they're not as big as American malls. This is a ritzy one, with all kinds of expensive stores for the haves (which there are not a lot of thanks to a socialist society). Hold the door on the way out for the amazingly hot Italian chick in a tight orange tank top -- thinking, "is this a distraction while someone else pick pockets me?" Italy's women are amazing, but I feel sorry for them because I'm not jealous of Italian men -- ask me later on this one, in a bar.

That's what the grumbling sound is, my stomach! Ok, lets go off the beaten path and find an authentic Romano cuisine where I can get some seafood. On the way there, look at this guy, he's nearly invisible, looking exactly the same color as the trash can. At first he appears to be a bronze statue! But look at the pot, he's a beggar. Italy has these, they lie still and when you put some coins in the pot, they get up and do something. This one rolls around a bit and acts drunk and then goes back to sleep. A tourist trap, yes, I know.

Finally dinner, and its getting late. Seafood is on the menu tonight, so here's a picture of it. A little known fact, fish here is pretty good. Italians live near the sea and over thousands of years have used fish in all their meals. Seeing that everything else is superb in this country, fish would have to be too. Bon Appetite.

And the final leg home when it is dark. The Coliseum is well lit up in lights making it quite a nice picture to end this day with. Look down below in the picture, you'll see the bottom of a stage. Bon Jovi was playing here 24 hours ago. Italy's great, they never seem to left the late 80s and early 90s, so all that 80s rock is still in fashion here. Someone should resurrect Jerry Garcia and tell these people Madonna really isn't past 40, cause they still love their 80s music. :)

And that's about all, a nice little night stroll of the city. We'll try something again tomorrow but, first a meeting with the Pope!