Hello! Let Nino Tell You!

Our 10 favorite things:

Luggage arrived: Hooray! Our flight was delayed for four hours in Chicago, which made our stay at O'Hare Airport five hours long. Luckily, our group is large (26 members) so they held our next flight for a half hour in Washington DC for us to board. Because we had to run to the plane, we were worried that our luggage wouldn't make it. Our flight to Rome was 8.5 hours for a grand total of 13.5 hours of travel (not including travel time to our hotel in Chicago). We made it and thankfully, so did our luggage!!!

Lunch, Italian style: We found a delicious local Italian café called Lavorgna Marino down the hill from our hotel, which featured classic Italian dishes. We chose between linguine, chicken, meatballs, numerous kinds of pasta, and pizza. All we could say by the end of the meal was, "Delish!" and "Num, num."

Rain, rain, go away: To make a long day even longer, it rained and rained! Our tour guide, which we will talk about momentarily did an excellent job of explaining every monument or site we saw, however, everyone was struggling with jet lag, the rain, and mud. Several people were glad they packed umbrellas, as for the rest of us...

Nino: Nobody can think of our tour guide, Nino, without thinking of him saying, "hAllo! Come, Nino will tell you!" Boy, did he tell us! Nino was one of the most knowledgeable and proud Italians who shared the history of Rome. The Coliseum, the Roman Forum, the "belly-button" of Rome, and Saint Paul's prison were all explained in great detail by Nino. He is an older gentleman who talks in the third person and who loves his country dearly. Our experience with Rome would not have been the same without Nino as our guide. During the tour to get our attention Nino would say, "hAllo!" but out of our tiredness we were thinking more along the lines of "Goodbye, Nino!" We love you Nino and we'll see you soon (He's giving us a tour of the Vatican and St. Peter's Basilica later today [Thursday, we think]).

Coliseum: WOW! Where do you begin to explain this marvel of engineering? Nino took us back in time 2000 years. We became spectators. We learned how 50,000 spectators, rich and poor, all came free of charge to watch three major events. The first event was one gladiator fighting another gladiator, the second event was a gladiator versus an animal (bear, tiger, lion, etc), and the final event of the day was a free for all where all of the gladiators who survived fight the remaining animals. Because the event was free the Coliseum would make money by having spectators buy wine, food, restroom use, and make bets on who wins or loses. Although the Coliseum looks broken down today and what we saw yesterday was mostly bricks and cement, 2000 years ago the Coliseum was covered in white marble. The Coliseum was used for 400 years, then during the Middle Ages it used as housing, and later scavenged for its marble. Some interesting facts about the construction of the Coliseum is that it had a canopy over it, it had the most advanced bathroom utilities, they invented cement, and they burned the bricks in a certain way that made it last over 2000 years.

Roman Forum: It is located between the Palatine Hill and Capitoline Hill in Rome. It is the central area, also know as the "belly-button" of Rome and where the phrase "All roads lead to Rome" comes from. Located in the forum are the oldest, most important, and influential buildings/ruins. Located within the Forum are many different arches, basilicas, and temples. One of the more memorable and important temples is the "Temple of Caeser." This is the point of Caeser's cremation.
To see and learn more about these structures go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Forum

The Bellybutton of Rome: The Latin phrase "Umbilicus Urbis Mundus" refers to where the economic and political events took place, which is located at the center of Rome.

Saint Paul's prison (Carcere): When entering the church, even as a large group, where St. Paul was imprisoned there was an immediate feeling of solitude. We were all awestruck in the cell where St. Paul was chained and confined. This is where he wrote some of his letters. For those who have never been there, there are three levels to the church. We walked down the chiseled stairs into the tiny non-lit room, and the only thing in there was a stone post where St. Paul was chained and a spring well. A plaque in the cell testifies to a miraculous spring of water used by Paul to baptize the guards. There is an altar placed there in remembrance of St. Paul and St. Peter.

First supper: After a short nap we all gathered in the dining hall in our hotel, Casa Tra Noi, to eat supper. Spaghetti was brought and we ate like that was all we were getting to eat. Little did we know that after three more courses our meal would be complete. The waitresses brought us salad and cheese, then peas and pork, and finally fruit for dessert.

Casa Tra Noi (among us): The hotel we are staying at is beautiful and sits on top of a hill. When you enter the main lobby area there are Christmas decorations and a small bar and lots of sitting area for people to congregate in. In the center of the hotel is a beautiful patio area. The hotel itself is quiet because it is run by nuns. The best part is that we have warm rooms, hot water, and a running toilet.