Living outside our comfort zone for a year: In Rome and in overwhelm

As much as I love Rome and as much as we are pacing ourselves (afternoon nap/siesta) I still find all the new sights and sounds very stimulating and overwhelming.

For our full first day in Rome, we had breakfast at the Beehive and I think Les enjoyed his fried eggs and toast as much as I enjoyed my oatmeal with apples. With great coffee, it was a fabulous way to start the day. And then we walked......and walked......first to the Colosseum (crawling with half of the world's population), then to the Trastevere neighbourhood, with lots of markets and cool shops and the beautiful Basilica do Santa Celia in Trastevere, with a Cavellini frescoe. Stopped for a small sandwich and coffee and moved on. Then to Trident area, on to the opera....Aida is on and perhaps we'll get tickets.....then to the Pantheon, the Trevi fountain (still under wraps with renovations), checked out Hannah's favorite gelato place and by 4:30, collapsed for a nap. At 6pm I attended a cooking class offered by the Hostal, with a couple from Florida and one from Texas. We learned so much, and had a blast. Besides the eggplant starter, we made three pasta sauces: from top left: eggplant and parsley, tomatoes and basil and lemon and sage.

All fabulous. Les chose a quiet evening in with Brie, prosciutto and wine.

Because of the crowds, we decide to rise at 6:30am, have yogurt, fruit and coffee in the kitchenette here and we were out the door by 7:30, in line for tickets to the colosseum by 8:15. We had a good, uncrowded visit, ignored all hawkers and really enjoyed ourselves, letting our imaginations run as to what life might have been like here 2,000 years ago. We promised ourselves lunch in the Trastavere neighbour and went to a restaurant recommended by Neville. Again, sea bass for me. I'm so predictable, but the bonus on this dish were the mussels and clams. Delish. Les had the rigatoni bolonase and we were both so full there was no room for dessert. But we had had wine, so time for siesta again.

By the time we got ourselves organized, it was 7pm and time to head out to a small theatre about one hour's walk away, to hear "Three Sopranos in a Maria Callas Tribute". The theatre was behind the Pantheon, held about 125 people, but was only half full and the performances were fabulous. What a way to spend an evening in Rome. We were walking home shortly after 10 when we realized we had not yet eaten. My solution was a gelato at Como iI Latte, near Hannah's favourite. We thought it was cool that restaurants were closing at 10pm, yet gelato places had lineups at 11!

So today was another early day as we headed off to the Palatino and the Roman forum. Truly overwhelming. A lot of walking over cobblestones and Roman roads and appreciating what the Romans have given us. Almost every arena in the world is modeled after the colosseum in terms of entrances and ability to seat people quickly. And where would the world be without Times Roman or Times New Roman typeface, used by typewriters and now computers. Check out the 2000 yr old archway. Oh, yeah....the arches. Think about it.