Ah, Rome. So many thrilling experiences… both educational and social.
I’m glad Heather and I were all about getting to Europe before the rest of our group. We traveled by ourselves and had to figure everything out without any guidance. Thank god for information desks. Anyway - we had a whole day and a half to kill in Rome before everyone else arrived so we took it upon ourselves to go exploring. We figured that we might as well since we would be seeing the Colosseum and whatnot when we were with our group.
A while ago a friend of ours suggested that we visit her uncle’s restaurant and bar he opened years ago in Trastevere. Trastevere is the old part of Rome across the Tibre river. Our friend and her uncle are relatives of the Olmsted family - Frederick Law Olmsted designed the park system in Buffalo and central park. Anyway, our first step was figuring out the bus/train stazzioni so we could get to Trastevere. Heather and I finally found the bus we needed, the H, along with two guys from Philly. Tony and Rick, Rick and Tony. They were middle aged travelers who take weeks off at a time to explore Italy because they love it so much. These guys were life savers because they explained Rome’s bus routes to us and where to buy tickets. We got on the bus without a ticket because, well, we just didnt know where to find them at first. Luckily Rick and Tony gave us one of theirs because, as they explained, its best to buy bus tickets in bulk (theyre only one Euro each). The fine is pretty steep if they catch you without a ticket, yet the guys from Philly said they’ve never even seen someone patroling for free loaders. We played it safe anyway and used their tickets. This is one of many experiences where “strangers” lent Heather and I a helping hand.
Once we arrived in Trastevere Tony and Rick gave us the one - two on which way our final destination was. We walked around with them for a bit and picked up some tips about traveling in Italy. In Trastevere we visited an extraordinarily old church: Santa Maria in Trastevere. The first one was built in the late 3rd century and the masons marks were saved and added to the walls of the new church when it was rebuilt in the 12th century. What was most amazing to me was finally seeing spolia used in a church. Spolia is when old matierals from buildings are used in the construction of new buildings. In Sta. Maria Trastevere the capital for each column was different! Some of the capitals were probably from the original church from the late 3rd cen. and who knows what other building materials were recycled from the old church. It was amazing. Unfortunately we couldn’t explore very long because a mass was in session. Oh, well… looks like I’ll just have to visit again. Shucks.
Heather and I reached our destination. The restaurant was closed but the waiter pointed to the bar of Olmsted when we mentioned the name. The Olmsted bar is SO AWESOME. I highly suggest visiting it. It is a dug out cavern with a ton of Remi’s props from Ben Hur. Yeah. Remi Olmsted was in Ben Hur and has a sweet bar and restaurant in Trastevere. What a life!!! We explained to the bar tender and his friend that we traveled here from Buffalo to see Remi’s place… they were floored! They gave us free shirts and we had outstanding German beer. It was a good time had by all.
To end this blog I will simply state that we made some friends and made our way to a very popular discotech in Rome. IT SUCKED. Supposedly, by the number of people there and the hype our friends had about the place, that it was IT - the coolest joint in town. Heather and I gave it two thumbs down. The music was crappy and it was more or less for show, not to socialize. Oh, and it costs a pretty euro to get in. Not worth it. It was the “electronica” discotech, by the way. There are others, like reggae and rock, so maybe those are worth it.
Be mindful of alcohol in Europe. As our generation may think they can crush liquor or beer in the States, it is not the case in Europe. Alcohol is much stronger and hits you harder! Heather and I couldnt believe how strong a mixed drink was… it was intense. Tasty, but intense.
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