When in Rome, don’t get robbed. If I learned nothing else from this trip I will always remember to lock my door.
Sunday morning, I awoke to find my wallet missing. Thinking it was simply misplaced I began to ransack my room. I finally gave up the search when I heard that the other guys from Villanova in the hotel room next to me couldn’t find their wallets either….
The lady at the front desk calmly informed us that the door to the front door of the hotel was locked all night and that the only other couple in our hotel was an old an Italian couple and that we had to have lost our wallets outside the hotel. I very calmly proceeded to tell her she was out of her mind. Unfortunately, however, the security cameras don’t record and are money was probably long gone. Luckily, the money was the only thing the nightmare took.
A half hour later, the cleaning lady showed us our wallets. She had found them nicely stacked on the table of the foyer while doing her rounds. At this point in time, another friend remembered that someone had entered his room in the middle of the night and then, after seeing him awake, walked out. It appears as if he was only after the cash. So we went down to the questura (police station) filled a perfunctory report and carried the rest of our possessions on our persons until we left for Urbino in the afternoon. I can’t say Rome wasn’t exciting!
But now, about Rome. In short, it’s really cool and everyone should go there for at least a day or two- right now! The first day we had a very dry tour guide to lead us through the Roman Forum, but it wasn’t all her fault. They call them ruins for a reason; you really have strain your imagination to envision 3 reconstructed pillars as part of a once massive temple. However, those ancient structure which are still mostly intact are incredible. The Coliseum was still very imposing and the Pantheon looked as strong as ever. If you want to talk about awe- inspiring buildings Saint Peter’s was my favorite. Everything is done on such a large scale and the dynamic figures are so lifelike and formidable. I definitely got the message, while exploring the wide streets and beautiful piazzas of Rome, that this was Rome. All roads don’t lead to Rome; rather, the ancient mapmakers measured their units with the Forum as their starting point. Rome is the center of Italy and she knows it.
