in which Italy wins EVERYTHING but at least we have strawberry daiquiris {more Wills in Rome vol. 7 - Colosseum, Roman Forum, Piazza Navona}

this day ... i'm still in disbelief over how this day turned out. if Rebecca hadn't lived it with me, i might have thought it was all a crazy dream. but let's start at the beginning ... 

Monday, October 8, was Sabrina's birthday, and we planned to go out to dinner that evening to celebrate. however, Rebecca and i had big plans for that afternoon, namely the guided "underground" tour of the Colosseum, Roman Forum, and the Palatine Hill that Rebecca had booked months in advance. the tour would be three-and-a-half hours long and encompassed all four levels of the Colosseum (including the "underground" level which is not open to the public). i was especially excited for this, since our family got rained out of the Colosseum when we went in August (and besides, we were just following the self-guided audio tour). 

before our tour, Rebecca and i went to the Scholars' Lounge Irish pub for lunch. she had scouted out this spot ahead of time, and couldn't shake the craving for a meat-and-potatoes type meal. as we sat down, i felt like my brain was firing like a banshee, and realized it was because i could actually read and understand EVERYTHING inside! all the signs, the posters, and the menu. it was simultaneously thrilling and relaxing. 

of course we had to take advantage of the opportunity and order adult beverages we wouldn't typically find in an Italian restaurant. i ordered a Smithwicks (one of my all-time favourite Irish beers - flavorful but a little lighter than Guinness), and Rebecca did me proud and ordered a frozen strawberry daiquiri. 

our food was delicious: Rebecca ordered a Guinness beef stew and i had a chicken baguette served with french fries and a salad (the only thing that would have made it better would be Ranch dressing ... the cruet of balsamic vinegar and olive oil reminded me that we are still in Italy!). 

as we enjoyed our meal, we mapped out our route to the Colosseum. we were supposed to meet the group at 12:45 pm so the tour could depart at 1 pm. according to Google Maps, we could either walk the whole way (17 minutes) or take a bus for part of the way, which would reduce the total travel time to 13 minutes. we would only ride the bus for a few stops, so we agreed that we would go to the bus stop first, but if the bus didn't show up within a few minutes, we'd just start to walk. we left the restaurant at 12:30 and figured we'd meet the group no later than 12:50 so we'd still be within the timeframe.

when we arrived at the first stop and no bus appeared, we figured we would just walk along the bus route, pausing for a minute or so at each stop, and if the bus happened to come by we would hop on just to save some walking (since we'd be hoofing it all afternoon for the tour). after passing the second stop with no bus in sight, we just kept walking. Rebecca checked her phone again and asked, "why does it say we now have TWENTY minutes til we get there?!" i thought maybe it was just because it had adjusted the estimated time of arrival based on our slower walking speed, but no, the distance to our destination had increased as well. at this point it was 12:40 and we started freaking out a little. i realized later that the particular bus we were supposed to take essentially makes a U-turn and heads BACK up the road we had just come down. so for the past five minutes, we had been speed-walking in the wrong direction. 

"let's just call an Uber Black!" Rebecca suggested, and i agreed, because we didn't want to take the chance that we'd miss the tour. the estimated driving time from our location was 8 minutes, so we thought at least we'd be there by 12:55. a closer margin than we'd like, but the best option under the circumstances. within a few minutes, our car had arrived, although he pulled up on the cross street facing away from the direction we needed to go. i didn't think much of that initially -- traffic is so weird in Rome that i thought maybe this was the fastest way to get there. but as the car pulled away from the curb, Rebecca saw that the driver's GPS said it would take 15 minutes to arrive, with an arrival time of 1:07 pm -- which essentially wasn't any better than if we had just walked. the driver spoke very limited English, and i wasn't sure how to communicate that we needed to get there as soon as possible. if ever there was a time for pulling some crazy driving, this was it! 

the driver asked how we were doing and then we both did start trying to explain that we were supposed to meet a tour at 12:45 (it was now 12:50 and we were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic, going THE WRONG WAY). he turned on Google Translate on his phone so we could communicate better (i spoke English into his phone and then it transformed into Italian text for him to read). when he read my message, he laughed, said "impossible!" and then spoke in rapid-fire Italian into his phone. he showed me the screen once it had been translated into English: "I am sorry, this is an Uber machine, not a time machine." we all had to laugh at that, but Rebecca and i were both getting increasingly worried about the situation. Rebecca's tour voucher stated clearly that there would be no refunds for no-shows, and since she and Sabrina were flying back to the States the next day, there was no way to reschedule the tour. we did have the cell number of the tour operator, but Rebecca didn't want to get dinged for an international call. all we could do was stare out the window as we crawled along the road. i realized that we were making a giant loop, back up the hill we had just come down, past the restaurant we had just left, and finally were now on the road headed to the Colosseum. 

suddenly, her own phone rang, and it was the tour operator asking if we were still coming. she explained that we were trying our best and we were a few minutes away. thanks to our driver's efforts, the estimated arrival time was now 1:03 PM, which i thought might be okay, especially since the tour operator knew we were on our way. but he hadn't given Rebecca a guarantee that they would wait for us, so we still didn't quite know what to expect. 

when the Uber driver pulled up to the little plaza where we were supposed to meet our group, we flew out of the car, thanked him, and began frantically searching for a group with a guide wearing a bright blue shirt. we were supposed to meet in a small oval plaza which is impossible to miss ... and there was no one in it. of course, several different tour operators wearing blue shirts were standing around that general area, but none of them had groups with them. we just kept walking around, hoping that we would see them, having no idea what to do next. i overheard another girl on a cell phone angrily saying "we were here by 1 PM!" and wondered if she was supposed to be with the same group. 

it was now almost 1:10 PM and we were at a loss. this had turned from a crazy adventure that would make a great story, into the sickening reality that Rebecca had just lost hundreds of dollars. finally we thought we would try to meet up with them at the entrance to the Colosseum, which seemed like an impossible task, but we couldn't just keep standing there. i approached one of the other guides and asked if there was a specific entrance for the tour guides. when he heard what had happened, he said there was no way for us to meet up with them once they had left the meeting point, because the groups all have timed entry to clear security at the Colosseum, so they would already be inside by this point. but he did kindly offer to let us use his phone to call the tour operator and see what they suggested. (either he really was just that generous, or he was hoping that we would then book a different tour with him. we had no intentions of doing that, but took him up on his offer anyway.) after a harrowing few minutes in which i entered the number incorrectly (the voucher had the number listed as if you were dialing from the States, not from an Italian phone), i finally got through to the tour agency. the representative was quite lovely, and actually offered us a few options. we could see if there were any cancellations on the 2 PM family tour (but this didn't include the underground sights and was a far lesser value than the one Rebecca had booked). or, Rebecca could redeem the value of the tour for any date up to a year out, in any major European city where the agency operated. this was a significant silver lining, given that we both thought she was going to forfeit the money. and for most people who aren't planning to visit Europe twice in a year, it would have amounted to forfeiting the money ... but Rebecca is planning to come back in the spring, so it actually worked out. 

after all this, we just needed to sit down in the shade for a little bit and process everything. street vendors kept coming up to us, hawking souvenirs, selfie sticks and jewelry, and we were just not in the mood. we were sitting there, staring at the looming Colosseum, thinking about how we should be inside. we still had the whole afternoon ahead of us and didn't want to waste it, especially since it was Rebecca's last day in Rome.

after much discussion, we decided that we would walk down to the Palatine Hill entrance and buy regular tickets there (the ticket covers the Colosseum, Palatine Hill, and Roman Forum). we could see a little bit of the forum and the Palatine Hill, and then if the lines got shorter at the Colosseum, we would at least go inside. as Rebecca said, there are no guarantees in life, and she would always regret it if this was her one chance to go inside the Colosseum and she didn't do it. 

this proved to be an excellent plan. there was no line to buy tickets at the Palatine Hill (although a short line had formed when we left!), and we got an audio guide to share as we explored the Roman Forum. 

the original Forum consisted of this square, around which were built various temples and judicial buildings. this is where Rome, the community and the city, took shape. the Arch of Septimius Severus stands in the background, honoring the Emperor Severus' exploits in Mesopotamia. 

the temple of Saturn is the oldest temple in the Forum, built in 497 B.C. these columns are all that remain of its entrance. 

the column of Phocas was a gift from the Byzantine Empire in 608 A.D. 

the Rostrum is the platform from where politicians, officials, and other orators addressed their fellow citizens. 

the House of the Vestal Virgins stands here, behind the Temple of Vesta. this is where the six priestesses lived. each of them served for thirty years, living here with her fellow priestesses in relative luxury. the Vestal Virgins enjoyed special privileges including box seats in the Colosseum.

 

the three tall pillars are from the Temple of Castor and Pollux, while the three short pillars (on the left) are from the Temple of Vesta. 

this is the most ancient road in Rome: the Vicus Iugarius, dating from the fifth century A.D. 

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the Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina was built initially to honor the Emperor Antoninus Pius and his wife, and then became a church in 1550. 

there is so, so much more in the Forum area, but it was also blazing hot. with the time we had left, we decided to skip the Palatine Hill and head back over to the Colosseum. and wouldn't you know, by the time we got over there, the lines had gotten much shorter! since we already had tickets, we just had to go through the security line. it took us probably ten minutes total to get inside -- unreal! 

* (photo credit: Rebecca)

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a bronze cross is erected here, at the place where the emperor's box once was. this is to commemorate the Christians who were martyred here, including St. Ignatius. 

view of the Arch of Constantine from inside the Colosseum

looking down to the first level, which affords lots of opportunities to take a break

we went down to the first level, from where you can see the hypogeum (the underground network of tunnels). we tried not to feel too bereft as we stood on the other side the wall. on the other hand, as we realized that the tour we missed would have gone up and down all four levels, we thought maybe it was better that we could explore things at our own pace. 

construction/restoration in progress

we finally made our way out of the Colosseum and touched base with Nick and Sabrina to determine where we should go for her birthday dinner. Sabrina's requests were a restaurant that served burgers and wine - she's a woman after my own heart. we agreed to meet at T-Burger, near the Pantheon, in about forty-five minutes. that gave us time to walk up to see a small landmark on Rebecca's list -- the Pie de Marmo (a marble foot). and then we realized that our route would take us directly past the Scholar's Lounge. there was nothing else for it but to drown the sorrows of the day in another strawberry daiquiri. 

and of course, our waitress from lunch was still working, which made it even funnier. she even said, "let me guess, a daiquiri?" i opted for an Augustiner Helles, and we sat and reminisced over the misadventures of the day. 

then it was a ten-minute walk to the restaurant, passing the Pie di Marmo on the way. this huge foot was part of a 1st century A.D. statue that originally stood in a temple to Isis. 

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then we made our way to T-Burger, where they do indeed serve burgers and wine, and Heinz condiments, to boot. 

then we walked a few blocks over to the Piazza Navona. it would have been a travesty if Sabrina and Rebecca left Rome without seeing it. at night, it's buzzing with activity, and of course we had to join the throngs taking pictures at Bernini's fountain. i wish we would have been able to pull off a fancier birthday celebration -- Sabrina definitely deserved it, especially after all the time she spent watching the girls! 

Happy Birthday to the best Nana ever!

someone was ready for her glamour shot

to top off the evening, we stopped at my favourite gelateria, Frigidarium. this was my third visit and i have never been disappointed. 

bacio (chocolate hazelnut) + caramel swirl, con panna (whipped cream) of course

and that concludes the tales of our adventures with Rebecca and Sabrina! it was a lot to pack into seven days, and the memories will last a lifetime!