Rome: dirty and full of naughty people

Bitti and I spent our first full day in Rome on the hop on hop off bus. I thought this might save Bitti’s legs, but it didn’t really work. The closest stop to our hotel was near the Colosseum so we started by heading down there. On the way Bitti noted that the streets were very dirty. She kept finding rubbish lodged into cracks in buildings, the bottom of lamp posts and the hollows of tree trunks and getting very indignant about it. She concluded that the people who live here must not care at all about anything. This suspicion was confirmed when she noticed that every building has graffiti on it. The final nail in the coffin was her observation that people here drive their cars and scooters all over the footpaths with impunity, a reckless practice she cannot condone. Her opinion of Romans is thus set as the dirtiest and naughtiest people to ever live, and nothing can change her mind.

We headed to the Spanish Steps first. Bitti found it all too hot and boring. There were step monitors blowing their whistles at tourists who sat on the steps. We had morning tea in a busy cafe nearby and that perked her up a little. Meanwhile, I keep accidentally speaking Spanish to everyone. I didn’t know I knew so much Spanish, but it keeps rolling off my tongue here! But we seem to get by. The waiters and shop staff are super friendly, especially to Bitti. She has received a lot of attention, free lollies, bracelets and was taken inside to personally choose a dessert at one restaurant. Of course she hates it! ‘Why did that man touch my face?’ She asks with a look of disgust on her face. God, it must be awful to be found adorable everywhere you go.

Back on the bus and we headed to the Trevi Fountain, taking a detour through a very fancy department store along the way to cool down. I am not sure how we were allowed in because the place was basically only selling high end fashion, and Bitti was carrying a great big dirty old bird feather she’d acquired at the bus stop, using it to tickle $20,000 bags as we made our way past each floor to the top. That ended up being a good detour because we found some clean toilets to use for free.

I got us a little lost, but we eventually found the Trevi Fountain. It is enormous! I didn’t get a chance to actually look at it because Bitti was on a mission to be anywhere but there and the crowd was making it too easy for her to get lost. Instead she found a quiet back alley with some chains to swing on and we just chilled there for an hour like a couple of delinquent teenagers. I’m quite sure she has touched or licked every germ in Italy by now.

We went home for a little rest, then Bitti wanted to return to the chains so we set out again. We did get on the bus again, but because it was travelling in peak hour traffic this time progress was slow and bedtime was fast approaching. I convinced Bitti to get off at the Colosseum and walk home. But the Colosseum was suddenly really interesting to her so we did a little more looking around. We found a little church at the top of a hill by following a stream of people up a big bill. Bitti was very disappointed with the destination, ‘why are so many people coming to this place?’. Probably because they followed the crowd like we did! I’m afraid I don’t do a very good job at explaining churches. It’s a pretty abstract concept, the whole god and faith thing.

We headed back home, Bitti catching a piggy back ride in the second half. We stopped at a restaurant around the corner from home and Bitti ate half her body weight in spaghetti then fell asleep in her chair waiting for dessert. First time for everything! Of course she woke right up when the strawberry gelato was delivered. Wouldn’t want me to eat that! When we finally got back to the hotel she fell asleep faster than I have ever seen. The food really was excellent though, and the waiters were astonishingly looking (they definitely have a hiring policy). But even young men seem to adore children as Bitti got the special treatment again.

It was a long day for Bitti, perhaps longer than I can understand. The next day she wanted to stay in the hotel all day 😦 I haven’t learned a lot about Rome so am itching to get out there and explore. Would happily walk all day, only stopping to eat and drink. I’d love to do a walking tour so I can hear what all these buildings are instead of just looking at them ignorantly. Finding a compromise between our energy and interests is difficult. We might manage it by the time we need to return home!