Rome, the eternal city

The long awaited Italian adventure was finally here. Italy has been high up there on my bucket list and as much as we have enjoyed every single vacation with the kids, Italy needed to be "soaked in" to my every body cell! And I also knew that this would be the first of the few more trips to this exotic land. And this would be a good "introductory" trip for us so we have a first hand experience when we go with the kids next time! 

While reading up on Italy in general and Rome in particular, I was definitely getting excited, but also overwhelmed by the complex history spanning over 2500 years. After all they say, "Rome was not built in a day!" And there is evidence of i habitation in this region for over 10,000 years. For the sake of simplicity I had managed to "classify" the eras into the Ancient Rome (the Etruscan era in 754 BC up until the 1st couple of centuries AD), the Medieval times, the Renaissance period and the more "modern" era after the Renaissance. But then that was just one layer! What about the hundreds of emperors, the wars they fought, the arty and architecture they inspired, the umpteen number of extremely talented artists of whom I can only name a few like Michael Angelo, Leonardo de Vinci, Boticelli, Donatello  and the several monuments and churches in this eternal city. While I knew, I could nail down the more famous ones like the Pantheon, Spanish steps, Colosseum, the Imperial forum, the Trevi fountain, what if I am gazing at an intriguing piece of architecture or church, clueless about its name, leave alone the history! What if I am in one of the famous piazzas that j have wanted to go on and don't know which one it is! Well, I am not going to let the pressure bog the excitement down. After all, I have technology and Chinmay to my rescue! 

The "SIT" airport shuttle brought us within a 10 minute walking distance of our hotel after a long flight on Lufthansa. Visconti Palace hotel has a charming and modern lobby with decent rooms, standard size from a European standpoint. It was past 8 pm and we were both starving. So we headed to Piazza di Poccolo for dinner. A traditional stretched out delicious Italian dinner in the patio with tables so close to each other that we felt like we had come to dinner with some friends (who we didn't know!) is how I would describe it.

The post dinner stroll through the piazza and the narrow back streets was enjoyable despite the jet lag starting to kick in. A gelato stop for mango and dark chocolate gelato made the rest of the wall even more enjoyable. Next stop- the famous Spanish steps at the Piazza de Spagna, a gathering place for people at night simply enjoying the slow pace of life at 10.00pm!

The climb up the steps brought us to the "haute couture " brand name stores, closed for the day and the "pseudo-brands" at the side-walk vendors! By the end of the day, we had managed to figure out that we will be smoking a lot on this trip, albeit passively! We were looking forward to explore more of this mystical city after a good nights sleep and a sumptuous breakfast the following morning!