Roman Holiday. Day One.

After finding an Internet café this morning, I wandered over to the Pantheon, but morning Mass was still going on, so I headed a few blocks over and tossed my coins into the Trevi Fountain. It was gorgeous, but absolutely mobbed with tourists (OK, I’m one too, but still.) From there, it was a pretty walk south to the Vittorio Emanuele Monument, then to the Colosseum.

On the way, I passed the Musei Capiotolini, which has a Renoir exhibit going on. Not quite the ancient Rome I had planned for the day, but I couldn’t resist.

Later, I hooked up with a tour at the Colosseum. The organizer thought I was Swedish (or maybe Dutch?), which has already happened to me twice, until I open my mouth and the southern drawl comes out!

We had two tour guides – one for the Colosseum, and one for the Palatine Hill. The first tour guide was good, but the second cracked me up, starting off by comparing guide #1 to an oompa-loompa. Short, orangey tan skin and bright white hair – right on target! Guide #2 was Dave, an art history student from New Zealand who could be the poster boy for Ritalin. But energy in a tour guide is a GOOD thing, and he kept us laughing through the climb up the hill to the archaeological site. Particularly amusing were his repeated, yet highly cheesy and ultimately unsuccessful efforts to pick up the really pretty Canadian girl in our group.

I’m actually going to take his tour tomorrow of Vatican City. The company lets you pre-register, and you don’t have to stand in the lines, which I have heard can be really long.

After the tour, back down the Palatine Hill, through the forum, then up the Capitoline Hill. By the end of that, it was about 4:00 and I was whipped. A lemon gelato on the way back to my hotel helped a bit. There are gelaterias here like there are Starbucks in DC – one on every block. I’ll take incredibly smooth and delicious ice cream over coffee any day, although the $5 per can of diet coke is making my caffeine addiction cringe.

I stuck to “my” neighborhood in the Piazza Navona for dinner again tonight. It’s touristy, which makes it a little bit easier to sit by yourself. They put me at a table next to two women from Germany who were about my age, and we chatted a bit. No free limoncello tonight though! Walked home to the sound of a street performer singing La Vie en Rose in Italian. A little bizarre, but pretty…