Rome, Italy - What a day! Student protests relieve traffic stress for us

Here was the plan for the day:  take the bus from right outside the apartment to the Colosseum, visit the Forum, visit a museum or two, and finish with the Pantheon.  Quite an enjoyable day.

BUT, the day started when Kalen noticed that the traffic was blocked off. He was watching people argue with the police as they told them that they couldn't go on the main street into the middle of the city.  We dressed and headed "to the bus stop" and noticed that no buses were running.  Traffic was very light and soon we came to a police barracade.  We turned to the right and went in another direction, guided by the expert map readers.  Noticing that the traffic was very light and the policy were standing around in riot gear (how we were we supposed to know that it wasn't like this all the time???), we commented that Tuesday was a very good day to pick to go to the Colosseum because it was clear of all of the usual obstructions.  (Note that the woman with a patch over her eye is not involved in the story and is just a coincidence.)

Police secure the monument and area of protest

Well, Sara sweetly asked one of the police what was going on, she returned to tell us that there was a student protest.  "What fun! And we are right in the middle of it all."  Undaunted, as everything seemed to be under control, we continued on (through the rain...did I mention that it was raining while all of this was going on...).

Click here to read what the news reported.  (This link will open in the same window. Click on the back arrow when you are finished reading and you will come back to this blog.  For more info, Google "student protests Rome".  We totally missed the part about the egg and tomatoe throwing, and also the tear gas.  No tour buses in the area, and only the visitors on foot were getting in to the area.

Watch this video to see some of what we saw.

The line of students started in areas around the Colosseum, then past the Forum. They covered the streets, but did not effect our sidewalks so we were able to take photos.  Well, you can't stop from doing the tourist job.  Here we are with the Forum in the background.

Ladee and Kalen, Forum in the background

The Colosseum was wonderful. I took photos with the other camera, so I will need to post them after I return home. Actually, it looked liked all the photos that I have ever seen of the Colosseum, so it was great to be there, but there was nothing unexpected.

We went to lunch at a little place "at the top of the stairs" from the Colosseum. I was starved so I'm sorry about the photo. This was a pizza...remembered to photograph it a little late. Don't you think that this goes along with the 'ruins' theme of the day?

House Grill
Via Nicola salvi 65-66, Roma

Remains of Pizza Funghi

Pizza takes up the entire plate. We had Pizza Proscuito 10€, Pizza Funghi 11€, Lasagna Bolognase 9€.  We also tried some glasses of wine: Syrah 6€, Montepulciano 6€, Caffe Americano 4€, Acqua Frizz (bottled water) 2,50€, and Caffe Espresso 3€.

After our late lunch we decided to head to the Pantheon Tour.  We were slowed down a bit by the Police barracades but were able to get through when they knew that we were tourists (and not students).  Maybe the part that gave us away was that when they asked us "Where are you going?", we said "To the Parthenon".  We heard one say "Tourists. Cleared." as he let us through. I hope that didn't make a comment about the fact that we said Parthenon instead of Pantheon.  We even asked one nice policeman how to get there, since our route had been blocked and changed and he gave us directions. Such nice people!

We trucked on through the rain, trying to skillfully negotiate the sidewalk with our umbrellas.  I was behind Kalen, so the opposing traffic had to try to dodge his high umbrella, then my low one.  We moved smoothly, hopping over puddles on slippery cobblestones and made it to the piazza in front of the Pantheon. We stopped at a coffee shop so that Karl could use the bathroom (oops, TMI?) and had some espressos and Americanos.  We sat outside in the covered area, heated, tables jammed in and took a brief rest. This photo is from the restaurant with it ambiance and candles.

Bar Ristorante Ritorno Al Passato
Pz. Della Rotonda 68, Roma
Espresso at 3€ and Coffee Americano at 4€.

Moving on to the Pantheon, I thought that the building outside was a little lackluster. The front was half covered with scaffolding in a refurb effort.  But inside...wow.  Takes your breath away.  It is so beautiful.  Kalen listened to the Rick Steves' tape and reported that this was an engineering marvel, not only for the ceiling construction, but for the huge columns outside that were carved from a single piece of marble, and hauled from the quarry to Rome.  Construction and transportation inventions were created.  Here is an inside view:

We spent about an hour at the Pantheon and then decided to go to finish the day with a light dinner at "Cul de Sac", just off of Piazza Navona.  Small place, nice staff, good food, great prices.  I had some pasta with cheese and broccoli, Kalen the same (8,80€ each), Karl had lasagna 8,50€ and Sara had veggies and cheese Caprino Caldo 9,50€. We finished with 3 orders of chocolates Cialdine cioccolato 10,20€ total (sorry about the photo) and a mousse 4,30€.  Oh yes, and a bottle of Syrah wine 19,80€ with dinner.

Enoteca Cul de Sac
Piazza Pasquino, 73

Pasta with cheese and broccoli

Cialdine Cioccolato (Chocolates) - wrappers

We declared that it was an adventurous day and we went home to rest and prepare for tomorrow.  Net result of the rain: shoes, socks, slacks and coats are wet.  They are scattered about the apartment in an attempt to have dry essentials tomorrow. My Rick Steves' tour book is wet on one of the corners, so I'm going to put something heavy on it and hope that it dries flat.  We are nearly out of coffee for espresso, so we may need to make a morning run to the store. And the Panettone that was supposed to last for a week is gone.  I'll take the camera so that you can see what the city grocery store looks like.