Roma: Street Rat-Peddlers and No Running Water

We arrived in Rome around 11:00, navigating the airport and Roma Termni rather easily.  Our rental apartment was located just outside the city center near the Baldo delgi Ubaldi Metro stop.  My parents had arrived the previous day and had already checked into their room.  Our only concern, how were we going to get in contact with them after arriving?  As it turns out, this was not a problem at all - when exiting the Metro we saw my parents roaming the streets.

We headed to our apartment where we were informed that our room was currently unavailable because it was awaiting the cleaning service.  This made the decision to leave all the easier, but what to do for the day?  We figured that the idea of a hop-on-hop-off bus would gives us a good lay of the land and would greatly reduce the walking between attractions.

We took the Metro to Termini station and purchased our bus tour tickets at the station.  Unbeknownst to us, the line awaited us on the other side of the building.  Upon seeing the line was the length of the block, we went to lunch across the street and would return to a much shorter queue.  Unfortunately, the reduced line didn't move any faster - only four to six people would get off at Termini and the company was one bus short for the day.  What's worse, the street-rat peddlers incessantly imposed their scarves and selfie camera/phone holders to the same twenty people waiting for the bus.  We had to say no at least sixty times during our hour in line.

Altara della Patria - seen, but not taken from bus

Fancy camera phone awesomeing Pantheon.

Shortly after the hour mark, a minor miracle occurred when an empty bus arrived.  We were off, the first "site"of the tour - Termini train station.  There was more information given about the old and new terminals than any other location throughout Rome.

Palazzo Montecitorio

Marcus Aurelius Column

Poliezi

The entire tour was the equivalent of a middle school student reading a timeline of Roman history - structure, year, and if we were lucky - who ordered the construction.  Also, there was odd intermissions of classical music, each song played in 30-second increments - twenty seconds longer than the descriptions of the attractions.  The hop-on-hop-off bus was an absolute waste of money - we decided to get off at the Spanish Steps, the last stop before returning to the tour's main feature, Termini station.

One of many columns in Rome

Arcibasilica di San Giovanni in Laterano

The bus was a wild failure and as we were walking towards the Spanish Steps a member of our tribe swallowed their gum and spent a few minutes attempting to throw up on the streets of Rome.  It wasn't even nightfall and our day was a total laugh riot.  While at the Spanish Steps, another street-rat peddler approached us with roses, handing one to both my mother and Julie - saying, "free of charge, a sign of good fortune."  The petal-peddler proceeded to follow us (me) for the next two minutes.  Finally, he stuck his hand out and said, "a little money."  Apparently, "good fortune" does have a cost.  Not interested in the flowers to begin with, I gave his good fortune back to him.

Piazza di Spagna

Top of the Stairs

Building near Spanish Steps

Our next stop was the Fountain of Trevi, but further disappointment awaited.  We arrived at a large construction site, scaffolding covering the fountain's sculptures and the water drained.  There were pictures and a television with images of what the fountain looks like, but that was no consolation.  We later found out that the restoration project has been ongoing since February.  To take advantage of our location, I noticed we were relatively close to my, "absolute must see" attraction, the Pantheon.

The Pantheon was built in 117 C.E and is one of the best preserved buildings in all of Rome.  The structure is an architectural marvel that holds the largest non-reinforced concrete dome.  The oculus at the apex of the dome is the only source of light and cooling for the entire building.  Originally, the portico was gilded in bronze, but like much of Rome - the Vatican had it re-purposed.  This was undoubtedly the highlight of the day, and I was elated to have seen the historical masterpiece.

Very busy Pantheon, facade once gilded in bronze

Entrance

non-reinforced concrete dome with oculus

Proof that we were there

To end our day in the city we had a delightful meal in an ally-way a few blocks away from the Pantheon.  We made our way back to our apartment where Julie and I still had to get our apartment key and check-in.  Conveniently, we were welcomed by our rental manager outside the building - he was distraught and he had bad news.  He informed us that the water in our room had to be shut off, but tried to reassure us that someone would be there to fix the problem at six in the morning the following day.  He said he could turn the water back on for us to shower, but the water would be scalding and he would have to shut it off immediately after because we ran the risk of having our basement apartment turn into a literal Roman bath.

It was late and not wanting to lose his business, the manager did his best to beg us to stay.  However, yielding to such an inconvenience is not a concession we were willing to make on vacation (or in any other circumstance).  Not to mention, but really mention - an early wake up call on vacation is sufficiently worse than not being able to shower or have water for a few hours.  After a mad scramble, Julie found the four of us hotel rooms at the Canadian Embassy - well, the next best thing, The Best Western's Hotel Canada.