September 9, 2018
It’s busy here! Rome is crazy busy with tourists. If you thought Hawaii’s tourist attractions were crazy, you would be very mistaken. Stay tuned for pictures of crowds with some historical sights in the background!
Yesterday we decided to catch the hotel shuttle into the city and then just walk around. The hotel has shuttles that run every half hour from 8AM until 11PM which is great!! We shared the shuttle with two Australian couples who had been here a day longer than us, and they were so kind to give us some help in figuring out what was nearby and what there was to see.
First stop was the Spanish Steps.
The first picture only shows half the crowd. There’s a fountain right in front of the steps which you could hardly see because it was just surrounded by people! The bottom is Taylor and I trying to take a selfie on the Steps but we’re both noobs and don’t normally take nice pictures so that’s what we got haha.
Next was the Trevi Fountain. It was incredibly packed, as you can see in the first picture. The second picture is what I tried to take of the water and fountain area. We also took a few selfies but the lighting was really weird where we were standing, so my facial expression is very weird! Lol
Next up, the Pantheon! We were impressed by the orderly fashioned entrance/exit area. The second picture is of a hole in the floor, purposefully drilled to help drain the water! Since there is a huge hole in the ceiling, the Pantheon floors get flooded during rain, so these holes have been drilled to assist in removing said water! Pictures do not do this place justice. The architecture is seriously so amazing. I can’t believe how old this place is, and still looking good! I hate to say it, but they don’t make things like they used to!! Also the attention to detail is just insane. I could have spent hours in there just looking at the crown molding and other small designs!
Last stop was the River Tiber. Pretty impressive, although it looked a little similar to the Ala Wai Canal. There was a guy with a super high-tech looking one-man canoe (which I’m sure has a different name here but it really looked like a sleek, fancy one-man).
Along our walk we also stopped off at a place called Fabriano. It specializes in stationary and paper goods, so they have really really nice notebooks, pens, and other office accessories! Needless to say, we were super happy in that store! We also did a little olive oil tasting and looked at really nice ceramics from the Tuscany region in Piazza Navona.
The hotel shuttle service also works if you want to go back to the hotel. All you have to do is call them and ask if there’s room on the next shuttle. Surprisingly, the Australians were on the same shuttle again! They are so incredibly nice and we chatted the whole way back to the hotel.
Once it was time for dinner, Taylor and I went down to the restaurant and found one of the Australian couples, Bruce and Jan, having some cocktails. They were so nice and invited us to have a drink with them! We talked about all kinds of stuff, and they showed us pictures of their first granddaughter who was born only six weeks ago! If we’re ever in Australia, I would love to meet up with them again! Or if they’re ever in Hawaii! And with the other couple, the Slingsby’s!
Rome is truly a different world. It’s such a culture shock coming here from Hawaii, but it’s nice to experience a culture that has been around for THOUSANDS of years. It’s incredible to think about how old many of these buildings are, and how much history those walls must’ve witnessed. Anyways, that’s all for now!
A hui hou! Ciao!
Aloha,
Diamond