Good morning! Welcome to Rome! Ahh, this place is lovely!
After a much-needed night of sleep the three amigos set off
to the rooftop café for the Marriott breakfast. Now my breakfast is included in
my platinum membership but Chris and Gigi had to pay. They were running a
special two for one for the price of 30 Euro. It was a little pricy but they
really do put on a great spread. I highly recommend the breakfast!
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| View from the hotel rooftop restaurant |
We then started off to head towards the Colosseum. Now this
was Sunday. The first of March. Little did we know Rome on the first Sunday of
March opens up all the attractions free of charge. So when we finally go to the
Colosseum (after a late start- we did get in really late last night) there was
about a 3-hour line. Yeah: That’s not happening! We did get some great picture
of the exterior, though and we made plans to be there when they opened on
Tuesday so that we could get in.
We then walked along the top of the Forum area (again the
price of admission is included in the Colosseum so actual entrance was planned
for Tuesday). The sheer size of these historical places is hard to articulate.
And the amazing thing is that they are so ancient but yet the modern city is
built right around them. There is literally a metro stop 100 yards from the
Colosseum. It’s incredible!
While we were walking around we stumbled upon this fabulous
street festival. From what we could tell, it was a type of (perhaps) Peruvian
day for I am guessing the Peruvian folks living in Rome. I am guessing at this.
But the three of us agreed that was going to be our story! That is the lovely
thing about travel; you never know what you are going to stumble upon as you
are walking. (Carrie: remember the Russian church procession we stumbled upon
in Red Square?!)
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| These little girls were adorable! |
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| I soo want to twirl around like that! |
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| The festival headed right towards the Colosseum! |
Walking throughout the city, we then ended up at the
Pantheon. This is an incredible ancient building designed and built from 118 to
125 AD. It is “governed by circles and squares” and according to my architect
friend Gigi cannot be duplicated even with today’s technology. It really is lovely and although full of
tourists I highly recommend checking it out.
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| Pantheon |
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| That skylight is open to the elements! |
After the Pantheon we met up with Chris and Gigi’s friend
Ricardo. Such a lovely man! I was so glad I was going to meet “real people” and
not just the folks going to tourist attractions! We strolled around and chatted
for a while before parting to go back and rest at the hotel. We were all a
little tired after our first day and we wanted to take a break because later
that night we were meeting up with many friends at an Italian Gay Bar!
Later that evening…..
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| Picture of the menu outside the OS Club |
So we met friends at a local Italian Gay Bar in Rome. This
was both a restaurant and bar with music (of course) and actually quite hidden
in a quiet neighborhood near a park. I say this because we took a taxi there
because it was rather difficult to find and that it was dark out when we met
there. I was rather disappointed
to learn that there still is a stigma attached to gay bars and clubs and often
they are slightly hidden from view and hard to locate. I expected Italy to be a
bit more progressive in that manner. Sigh…
OS CLUB VIA DELLE TERME DI TRAIANO,4A
http://www.osclub.it
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| Exterior of the secret Gay Bar! |
There were several groups of couples (and some not couples) that met up with
us there to have dinner and drinks and hang out. This place was so much fun! I
of course had a great time meeting and chatting with friends but the atmosphere
was fabulous! For a fee of 10 Euro you get entrance into the club, full buffet
all you can eat dinner and one drink from the bar. Really a great deal. There
was so much food!!! And it was all so good! But it really was the company that
made the night! David and Antonio, Fabio and Ricardo and of course Chris and Gigi
made the night what it was! They had reserved an entire table for us in the
back and there was a total of maybe 10-15 of us. It was interesting to chat
with people and not “be a tourist” and just hang out. Everyone spoke English
(all of various degrees) and it was great fun learning about everyone’s lives.
These are the types of “normal” activities that you can’t get from a tour book.
Just hanging out with people chatting and having good food and drinks! Now we
didn’t stay exceptionally late (everyone has jobs to go to in the morning) but
I can say that is was not a “wild” place. Which is good, because I am at the
point in my life that I want less “wild” and more “food and drink”. Heh
The music was fabulous (everything from Nancy Sinatra’s
“these boots are made for walking” to the “under the sea” song from the Little
Mermaid) just added to the good times. We laughed and chatted and had a great
visit! I was one of the very few women in the club but that didn’t matter
because the place was filled with beautiful Italian men who this American woman
doesn’t mind looking at (even if they are all gay). You really have to love the way European men know how to
dress and tie a scarf.
***Michelle’s tip:
Stay away from the museums on the
first Sunday of the Month. You will thank me.
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