Rome, Day One!

So, I've chosen to skip the last few days in Germany and therefore catch up with my blog much more quickly. 

My dad and I arrived in Rome on the 22nd. and immediately following our leaving baggage claim, we were accosted by a taxi driver who offered to drive us to our hotel for 95€ (about $150). My dad had already checked and knew the correct price was closer to 50€. So he told the guy no. The driver said "Wait, maybe for 60€?" And my dad told him what the price should be. The driver at first refused, then said, "Well ok, this guy drives a shuttle, maybe he take you." And so we went. It had been raining off and on all day so the roads were wet and there was heavy traffic. The driver was exactly what I had expected from an Italian shuttle bus driver, he was arrogant in an easygoing manner. And drove like a madman. Then again, so did everyone else. It was interesting to note the difference between German drivers, who usually respect the traffic laws assuming that they keep everyone safe, and Italian drivers, who ignore most of the laws and use their horns and their hands to convey entire discussions. I thoroughly enjoyed our drive to the hotel, but was glad we arrived there in one piece. It was a bit hard to get a sense of direction with all the lane-switching and such, but we were able to see a few Roman landmarks, like the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, and part of Rome's old city wall, thanks to our very proud taxi driver / tour guide.

The sign reads, No Smoking, and it's next to an ashtray...

Upon arrival at the hotel, Dad and I decided it was time to eat, but since the restaurant in the hotel would be closed until 7 (3 hours away) we needed to venture out into the slippery streets of Rome. We found a map of several bus routes and bought a ticket from a graffiti covered newsstand, the first time I needed to use my Italian, "per una ora" "due biglietti." I was very happy that I knew at least some Italian and that it was already paying off. We stepped back out into the street, and went to go catch the bus. Once on the bus, I realized I had no idea where any places to eat were. We rode for a few blocks until we finally saw a Pizzeria. It looked good, and I thought, "Well, how badly can you screw up pizza in Rome?" I ordered Pizza Margherita, and Dad got a ham and cheese filled pizza. Both were delicious and only 5-ish Euros.

After the pizza we went to go walk around a bit and ended up getting a bit farther away from the bus route than we'd planned (little did I know this would become a sort of a theme for our trips together here). The sidewalks in Rome are often lined with flowers that were dripping with the mist that continued throughout our walk. We made our way back, after viewing a police station and several apartments, by going to the Terminal, and finding a bus that went basically the same route we started on, but in the opposite direction. (the 360 bus) We arrived back at the hotel and decided that was enough sightseeing for one day, even though we'd seen nothing that we really knew was famous.