Well, today our adventure officially began :) We got up this morning after resting (kinda resting) last night. I personally had a rough night, caffeine withdrawal due to the time change presents with a headache that mimics a migraine in all the worst ways. But it's all good. We rested and got up around 7:30 with the plan to go grab a bite at 8:30.
When I asked the hotel concierge about breakfast recommendations I found our hotel included breakfast so we ate the continental. Now, this continental isn't like the ones at US hotels. It's a buffet, but it has a lot of options. Italians, in general, don't do breakfast like us so while there were scrambled eggs, and bacon to appease the Americans I stuck with the fruit and pound cake-like thing they had. I tried a couple of the other croissant thingies, but they were not for me. Jack had cereal and some fruit and Mama had the more traditional American meal with some pound cake. We both did American Coffee. The coffee cups here are so tiny though so I got up like 6 times just for coffee, by the end of breakfast though my headache had mostly abated. It is still a twinge of it but nothing like last night.
After we ate we left and meandered our way to the Capitoline Museums. It is a little over a mile from the hotel so we walked it and I'm grateful we did. We got to see the colosseum again, part of it, and some Roman ruins, and just enjoyed the experience. At the end to get to the Museum we had to go up a hill and that was pretty rough for Mama. Her COPD has progressed and this 90+ heat is not easy; it makes it really flare up. That being said she hung with us. We stopped often, which was fine with me - more picture time and finally made it to the museum. She was sitting and I decided to take pictures of the courtyard and I'm grateful I did because that is when I saw the rather lengthy line for the museum.
I went ahead and got in it and attempted to call Jack to let him know, but no phone call would go through. So I waved and waved until Mama saw me and then they wandered over and waited with me in line. By this time it is really quite warm and we needed to find Mama a chair. She kept sitting on the wall along the way but we needed to rest.
Once inside, we got in free today, some type of special event - which was awesome. Anyway, I digress. We kept asking for a chair or bench for her and were getting nowhere. The language barrier sometimes can be a real challenge. I went in search of an English Map that would help and Jack helped Mama get a chair, one of the museum employees who monitor the rooms for people misbehaving let her sit in hers, thankfully. She sat there for a good while getting her O2 back and Jack went in search of water. After he got back with the water and she had gotten a tiny bit of a second wind we hunted for the bathroom. Nothing in this museum is easy to find, the signs with arrows and English were even hard to understand, but finally, everyone goes (I accidentally went in the men's I think - I had to hover to use it) and we were on our way to actually see the museum.
We spent about 2 hours meandering, looking at sculptures, and just enjoying ourselves. Mama kept asking me what stuff was and I kept saying I don't know. They had some of the signs in English but not many. But it was cool inside which was nice. They have this one open area auditorium-like room with super large sculptures in it which was neat.
After wandering around a bit we made our way to the terrace cafe and had a nice lunch looking over Rome. The wait staff wasn't especially friendly but the view was nice, the sandwich yummy, and the chair heavenly. They always bring out sparking and natural water to the table which I didn't know so I filled our water with sparkling and had to ask for a replacement glass, he wasn't happy with me.
We then planned to go see Santa Maria in Aracoeli but the stairs were insane. It is the Aracoeli steps built to commemorate the plague and they were no joke. I think there is a handicapped way to get there but we didn't know what it was so we just meandered n took pictures of the Victor Emanuel Monument buildings which are also really cool. By this time it was about 2:30, Mama's 02 batteries were dead and we all were ready for showers. I negotiated with a taxi to take us the mile or so back to our hotel and here we are.
Overall it was a nice day - hot and I was a little worried about Mama with the heat but nice.
Tonight we meet up with our tour group for dinner and go from there :)
Until then :)
Some general observations I want to remember:
* Rome is dirtier than I remember. Maybe it was a detail I just didn't pick up on before but there seems to be trash and litter everywhere.
* I remember the Italians being especially friendly. So far on this trip that has been about a 50/50 split. Some have been great and understand we don't speak Italian. Others have been kinda huffy or ignore you when you try to communicate... the mood toward Americans certainly seems to have shifted, at least in Rome.
* Mama is worried she is keeping us from having a good time and that's not the case. This trip is rough, though they all have been, this one I can tell her age more. I knew it was coming - old age and COPD suck! Just saying.
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