I just got into Rome late last night, so I decided to take it easy today. I went to the central train and bus station and bought a Hop-On-Hop-Off big red double decker bus tour. You get headphones and dial the channel of your language. I think it's in seven languages!Rome is really hot in the summer! You have to get used to the idea that you will always be sticky and you will always have a river of sweat running down your back! I don't even think they even notice it themselves.
I rode it around past the Colisseum and the Circus Maximus and over to St Peter's cathedral, seat of the Catholic Church and the largest church in the world. I decided to get off there, because no Metro station is really close to that place, so the red bus is the easiest option. I went in and sat awhile and rested. The picture of it at left does not really show how huge it it. Later I went to a tourist info place and asked about catacombs I could get into. There are several in Rome. After lots of fooling around, I finally rod a bus out the Appian Way to the catacombs of St. Sebastian. (picture below)
What a cool place! I have to take you guys here! They have 7 miles of underground tunnels, and over 100,000 people were buried here. You enter the catacombs through the church in the picture.
On the way back I recognized the Caracalla Baths, so I got off the bus and walked back. They had an English audioguide, so I really enjoyed that. Sometimes they have opera performances in the Caracalla but no performances this week until Friday. Darn! That would have been so cool! I wandered around and tried to get into the Roman Forum. Although it closes at 7:15, the last entrance was at 6:15 and so I missed it.
I got some great photos of the Colisseum (the light was just right) and then got back on the red DD bus and went over to the Campo Fiori and bought pizza from my favorite little place. I sat on some empty flower shelves in the square and ate it and watched the people and thought about Bruno, who was burned at the stake in that piazza for heresy.
That was when I saw the tiny little electric bus #116. I decided that if I saw another, I would try to flag it down and get on. They have these little busses that are about the size of Troy's van, except the floor is lower and it has regular bus doors. So here came another bus, and I started chasing it. I caught up to it, but the driver would not open the door to let me on! A lady said out the window of the bus that I had to go to the bus stop, up around the corner. So I ran up there, but he did not wait for me! At least now I knew where to get on. So I waited for the next bus, and sure enough, here came a third bus #116. I got on and rode lots of tiny little streets that are way too small for the regular bus. We went past the Piazza Navona and around the back corner of the Pantheon and up Via Veneto to the Borghese Gardens and all the way through the gardens, almost to the Borghese Gallery before he turned around.
Everyone got off but me. The driver kept looking back, like "Aren't you ever going to get off, lady?" but I stayed on for the ride back. A little way back, he stopped behind 2 other #116 busses and made me get out. I got in another and waited half an hour, while the drivers chatted. I figured I was right by the American embassy, so this was probably normal. The bus finally go going again and took me back toward the Trevi Fountain. It was getting dark, and I thought, "What am I doing? Why don't I just go to the internet and then home?" So I said a prayer and I felt like I should go over to the Trevi Fountain and make sure I knew how to get there, because it's kind of tricky finding it off the main street. So I walked and asked 2 different policemen and I finally got there and got some nice shots because the light was great at sunset.
I was about to go home when I heard singing. Choir-type singing! I followed the sound, and came upon a group of 18 A Capella singers. They were from a Catholic church in Budapest, Hungary, and mostly music majors, and they were really good! One of their members had a sore throat and so was not singing, so I talked to her for a long time (in English) and we exchanged e-mail addresses. What a treat! They sang Hungarian folk songs and Latin songs and a group of American Spirituals and finally some Beatles songs. I loved it! I so appreciated the chance to hear them sing and to talk to one of their members. The perfect ending to a long day in Rome!
