This morning, the plan changed a little bit. I wanted to see AS Roma play a game of football (soccer), but we didn’t have tickets, and couldn’t secure good information as to how to get to the Olympic Stadium where they were playing. Instead, we headed out with some women we bumped into in another minbak a few cities back and went to the Trastevere Market Street.
We aren’t big shoppers on vacations. Frankly, it’s a bit of a waste of time, as you don’t really know local prices, and you can’t return anything you have a problem with. Still, this was a gigantic outdoor market that the entire city of Rome goes to, so it can’t be that bad. If the locals show up en masse, it can’t be THAT bad, and THIS was the day to go.
We arrived by bus, and the place was absolutely hopping. It was outdoors with tents along the street. We started walking, and the first place was filled with piles of really nice Italian shirts. Five Euro. People were scavenging through it like a Korean housewife looking for cheap cabbage. I pulled out two great shirts for ten Euro. We hadn’t walked 20 meters and we had a bag of stuff.
The street was PACKED, and there was lots of opportunities to get pick pocketed. That place was crawling with pick pockets and thieves, but we had our bags locked up, in front, and our heads screwed on straight. We didn’t end up robbed blind, thank goodness. I picked up a belt for another five Euro, a sweater for five more, and my wife got two authentic, leather bags for 90 Euro. The price were crazy, mind boggling low. Impossibly low. Sure, there were a few stalls selling some crap, and lots of bad wallets too, but damn, CHECK IT OUT.
Our shopping itch well scratched, we headed back to the room to drop off our wares. We ended up collapsing for an hour to rest. We just ran out of steam for an hour. We then headed over to a local pizzeria for some pasta. Meh. I’ve had better pasta in Korea. That’s not an impressive feat either.
We hit the Pantheon right as it was about to close. We ran into some people we knew from a tour, but they told us to head inside. The artist Raphael is buried in the Pantheon. The dome was impressive, considering the technology of the time. The swell around his grave a picture was completely and totally NOT worth the effort. It’s an inscribed rock, get a grip people.
Trevi Fountain is really cool and romantic. My wife had been there a few nights ago. When she went, a man proposed to his girlfriend. There was a big cheer from the crowd when she accepted. Then, the rose seller ran over to congratulate her, patting them both on the back. He handed the man all the roses he had in his hand. The man grabbed them all and gave them all to his new fiance. Then the rose man asked for his cash. The man was stuck. Who’s going to take roses away from the fiance to give back to the man who wants his cash? OF course he paid for them all.
We didn’t see anything nearly as cool. All we saw were people with telescoping scoops that would walk around the fountain, leaning in, and taking all the coins people threw into the water. There isn’t a law, but there should be. From there, we saw some stupid tourist taking pictures in the middle of the street almost get smacked by cars rounding a corner. They did this MULTIPLE TIMES. I hope they have good travel insurance if that’s how they go around the city from day to day.
Tomorrow is the Colloseum.
