At the train station in Milan, we had to get seat reservations to travel to Rome. I had already purchased a seven-day Europass to travel wherever we wanted… a choice of 33 countries. We have a month to travel to use those days up… you could go through three countries in one day if you wanted, just like we were doing this day, but seat reservations which guarantee you a seat were extra. We got our seat reservations from the ticket office and headed to the platform to wait for the train to Rome. It was while waiting that we discovered the ticket clerk had put us in different cars… we would be taking the three-hour journey apart and sitting with strangers. I told Steven he’d better enjoy it because it was the only bit of peace he would get for the next few weeks. After the train left the station, he texted me and told me he was sitting next to a priest. Good, I told him. You need Jesus!

Because we don’t have a set plan per se about where we’re going, it’s difficult to make reservations very far in advance – because plans change, especially when Sherri’s involved – so hotels are booked on the train on the way to that destination.

That’s what happened in Rome. I booked at a place called The Stromboli Hotel (my first mistake… picking a hotel named after food), picked because its description put it just 640 meters from the train station and after the last hotel I picked in Milan turned out to be much further because my non-metric American brain didn’t comprehend, I wanted close. The pictures of the rooms looked great, the hotel seemed to have a pleasant ambiance, and everything looked great. What’s to lose?

When we walked up to the hotel, I was a bit taken aback by the outside of the building. It was just about across from the train station, so the distance was perfect. The building of course was old, but it also looked dirty… the area smelled like urine and there were homeless around, which I should have expected by the train station. Inside was a different story. The lobby looked perfect, a blend of old-world and modern. I watched as people returned their keys and asked for them when they came back… it was just like the movies. I’m thinking, this was going to be a great place to stay afterall.

Now, mind you, I thought paying almost $350 a night meant a decent hotel. I’ve never paid that much for one night EVER, so I thought I was giving us a treat by splurging. Boy, was I wrong! Apparently, that price point was still in the “budget range.”

When it was our turn to check in and after entering our passport details, the clerk took a key and turned to us, and said follow me, your room is in another building.

Wait… that wasn’t mentioned in the booking!

She takes us outside, walks the side of the building, turns the corner, walks a bit more, and goes into an alley where there’s a door in the side of a tunnel. Opening the door, she hands us the key and says “second floor. One key opens this door, other for room,” and turns and leaves. We go inside and here is the tiniest elevator I’ve ever seen. The two of us with just our backpacks on had to squeeze single file to get inside the elevator and stand that way as we rode up to the second floor. Old 1960s movie posters were stuck to the wall in the same matter as when we decorated our rooms as teens.

I’m already disappointed because I’ve been taken to another building and its entrance is in an alleyway, and when we open the door the disappointment grows. The size of the room was fine. It was actually quite large and held three beds. It was the dinginess of the room… the duct tape and peeled laminate on the desk and the stains on the wall. I’ve been in cleaner nicer looking rooms for $89/night. I guess I expected better for $350 a night… but on the other hand, I was in the center of Rome and the room was just for sleeping and storing our backpacks while we explored so it would do, but I swear I felt like I had been a victim of a bait and switch scheme.

The first day we went walking… and walking… and walking. It’s amazing how much history is just right there within your reach. We managed to find our way to the Colosseum. This was Steven’s first time seeing it so even he was impressed. It was so crowded with people from all over the world in its vicinity.

Hawkers from India and Africa, worked hard to get a Euro from visitors. Pleasant guys but slick… one came up to us asking, “You from Africa? I from Africa. I want to give you a gift from Africa,” as he’s slyly putting on the bracelet on your arm. “Oh, pretty lady, Africa wants you to have two bracelets.”… I ended up with six bracelets courtesy of Africa for $10 euro. The kids are going to like them.

We didn’t go inside the Colosseum, as the lines were quite large, and my husband’s tolerance of sightseeing that in-depth is non-existent. I’ve been before so I didn’t mind just walking around it. I actually saw more than I had the first time I went twenty-plus-odd years ago. We walked up one hilly street to a church because we thought it was a way around and it turned out to be a dead end. For those who know my husband, your imagination would be right. LOL

We walked all over Rome… well, according to Steven, and saw many sights, pleasant and unpleasant. Rome for all its history and beautiful architecture is a very dirty city as well.

Back at the budget hotel, we found a place to eat – everything is a pizzeria – and then we had to walk up the two floors to our budget room because a group of teenagers are on a high school trip and ride the elevator up to the fifth floor and forget to close the elevators doors which makes the elevator inoperative until the doors are closed.

In the room, we passed out I think from all the walking.

Stay tune for Enternal City – Part 2 tomorrow