Family, Family and more Family II; “Nosy” adventures in Rome

First and foremost, I'm pretty sure that everyone got my email on Thursday. But if you didn't, Aggie's surgery was a resounding success and she's now home and recovering quite well. She will be back to 100% by the beginning of July, and the doctors are all very pleased with her progress. So pleased, in fact, that they let her go one day early! We will post a separate blog about that in about a week or so (a whole new "nose" story). But for now here's a picture for you all to feast your eyes upon:


Well, as you all know, we are on a kick with the “Family, Family and more Family” blogs. This is the 2nd edition. We say farewell to the first edition, which featured my cousin, Brent and his wife, Erika, and hello to the second edition, featuring my parents, Fred and Andrea.

Here was the basic itinerary of the elder Marcums' trip to Europe:
Friday, May 16th: Aggie and I fly from Zurich to Rome, stay overnight in the Marriott near the airport (Fred and Andrea were to arrive on Saturday morning at 7:35am)
Sat, May 17 - Tues, May 20th: Tour Rome
Tues, May 20th: Rome to Florence via the train, stay in Florence 'til Thursday, May 22nd
Thurs, May 22nd: Florence to Venice via the train, stay in Venice Thursday night
Fri, May 23rd: Venice to Lake Como via the train, stay in Lake Como Friday night
Sat, May 24th: Lake Como to Zurich via the train, stay in Zurich until Tues, May 27th
Tues, May 27th: Andrea and Fred fly home

The blog is going to be really, really long if we write the whole thing now, so we are going to divide it up between the cities we visited. Therefore, the first blog is all about Rome. Now I know some of you were becoming a bit “nosy” regarding to my Dad’s adventures…so, here we go…

Aggie and I flew out in the evening on Friday. We got to Rome around 9:30pm and we’re immediately reminded of how nice we have it in Switzerland. No offense to the Italians out there (and my cousins!), but things in Italy are just a bit “dirty”…at least the things we seemed to encounter. Anyway, long story short, avoid the bathrooms at the airport if you can, and if you do need to go, be sure to carry tissues or napkins with you.

We knew the hotel was close by and remembered that last time we were in Rome, the taxis were relatively cheap and reasonable. Well, we get ready to get in one and the driver tells us that it’s going to cost 40 euros (just over 60 bucks) for a 5-minute ride! So, we get out of line and call the hotel that says they have a shuttle service still running and can come over and pick us up. So we find the shuttle waiting point and notice the sign says the last shuttle comes at 9:20pm. What?! Did we have a ride or not??

I call the hotel back at 10pm (after waiting for about 15 minutes) and another lady answers the phone. She politely informs me that her colleague was wrong and that we needed to take a cab. Lovely! So, a cab drove by just as I got off the phone, we jumped in, drove for not even 5 minutes and paid the dude 30 euros. (He was nice enough to drop 10 euros from the fee….)

We check in and the hotel totally reminded us the Marriott hotels in the US: big, air-conditioned rooms, modern building, fluffy beds, etc. We checked in and made arrangements for the next morning. Mom and Dad were to arrive at 7:35am so we figured we would be back at the hotel around 10am. They could shower and relax a bit, and then we could jump on the Marriott’s shuttle that takes you into the heart of Rome. We could take our bags and such as well, so the set up was perfect. The shuttle departs every few hours so we opted to leave at 11:30am.

Of course, we were hungry from our travels and I asked if the restaurant in the hotel was still open. It wasn’t but the bar was and we could order food from there. PERFECT! After a bottle of Chianti and some food, we went to bed full and happy; excited to start our adventures with my parents.

We woke early and took the hotel shuttle to the airport and waited…and waited…and waited. Finally, I said to Ag, “What is their itinerary again?” “Seven thirty-five am from Newark,” was her answer. Of course, that flight was not listed on the board. There was a flight from Newark that was to arrive at 8:44am and was delayed until 9:20am, but that was it. I then asked if we were at the right airport or did she get them confused (there are 3 airports in Rome).

I pulled out my blackberry to look up their flight info in email while Aggie had a minor panic/heart attack. Low and behold, she was right, 7:35am from Newark to Rome. She smiled a HUGE smile of relief…now the question was, where the HEY-YELL my parents be!?

By 10am, they still hadn’t arrived so I sent Aggie back to the hotel to get our things packed up and organized. Finally at 11am I see my mom come through the door. The customs area was packed and just a mess; then of course, the airlines had lost their luggage. Finally big Ferd came through the door as well, and we were back at the hotel at 11:30am.

Aggie asked for a late checkout and changed our shuttle service to the city for 2:30pm. We relaxed for a bit and then went to the bar area for some food and drinks before we headed out.

Andrea's example of "relaxing"

The shuttle ride was about 30 minutes and it literally dumped us into the heart of the city. It was perfect! We ended up walking to the hotel from there and checked in with no problems. By 4pm we were finally off exploring!

We started the trip off the right way, with a gelato cone! Then we walked to the Spanish Steps, into the shopping district and to the Fountana di Trevi. We grabbed a snack, walked to the Pantheon and then walked back to our hotel. We covered a ton of ground!

We had dinner at the pizzeria next to our hotel that Aggie and I went to when we went to Rome the first time together back in Dec 2005. It was as good as we remembered and we all cheered for a successful day, despite the morning issues. Now the next goal was to get my parents’ bags….

Sunday we woke up and enjoyed breakfast with my dad. Mom slept in for some time, which was fine. Aggie ran down to the front desk to ask the concierge something and came back with my parents’ bags! Hooray! Everything was starting to fall into place.

We then left and headed to the Vatican. We jumped onto the bus, which dropped us off right in front of the Vatican City. We thought we would go and check out the Sistine Chapel first, and to our surprise and disappointment it was closed! (Note to blog fans, the Sistine Chapel is closed almost every Sunday and some other random days throughout the year)

The good news was we could still get into St. Peter’s Basilica, and there was mass going on! We joined the mass and afterwards walked around a bit more then explored the crypt. Of course, everything was as impressive and amazing as we remembered the first time we were there.

After mass at St. Peter's

After the Vatican City, we jumped on another bus and headed to the Coliseum. We stopped on the way to enjoy some snacks in a small park by the Italian government building (at least that's what I thought it was). Then we got a few pictures with a Roman soldier; he was trying to steal Aggie from me!

Off with your head!

The Coliseum was very cool to see in the sunshine. (I had a horrible experience here last time as it was raining hard and the grounds were all muddy.) We envisioned the lion fights and chariots that stormed this amazing fortress.

Afterwards, we grabbed some sandwiches at an outdoor café, and the waiter was extremely bizarre and quite rude to the table next to us. It ended up being comical after a while - we were dying laughing as were a few other tables around us. Seriously, the waiter would walk by this lady and mouth off to her under his breath every time he passed. We have no idea why, but either way it was funny. Anyway, my dad and I then enjoyed a cigar on our walk back through the city. We ended up at Piazza del Popolo and climbed the stairs into the park that overlooked the city. Then, we walked through the park back to the hotel and had dinner at a nearby restaurant. Off to bed we went, ready for the next day’s adventures.

Our plans for Monday basically consisted of sleeping in and taking the day easy, as the only main thing we really needed to see was the Sistine Chapel. So, Aggie and I went down to breakfast around 8:30-ish, and Aggie saw my dad heading out for a jog. (Unfortunately I couldn’t go with him as I have a torn calf muscle.) Well, about 20 minutes later as I was enjoying my 3rd cup of Joe, Audrey came into the breakfast nook saying that dad fell while running, is bleeding all over and thinks his nose is broke! WHAT?!

Aggie and I rushed up to the room and the three of us get the bleeding under control (it’s a blessing that my mom is a nurse). Turns out that as Freddy was turning a corner to come home, he slipped on an oil spot on the road and the next thing he knew, he was eating the curb. Ouch!! Anyway, I ran down to the front desk and ask the concierge for a taxi to the nearest emergency room. He said that he saw someone come in all bloody…was this related? Um...hello??

The cab drive was fast and the doctors and nurses rushed him and mom into the room immediately. Aggie and I were escorted to the waiting room. What a room it was! I have never been in a hospital that was so strange and dirty. Put it this way, Aggie tried to ask for toilet paper for the bathroom and the information lady sent her to the paper and magazine stand down the hall! I carried around a magazine as “back-up” just incase. There were people from all walks of life wondering around, and most of them had portable IV's hooked up to them. It was strange.

Four hours and some x-rays later, it was confirmed his nose was broken. He could have surgery right then and there, or he could wait to have it when he arrived back in the States (however, they would have to re-break it). He opted to wait and we got out of there as quickly as we could and hoped for the best. Fast forwarding to the next day for minute: my mom said that night was the first night Fred didn't snore while sleeping. How funny. "Falls down a well, eyes go crooked. Gets kicked by a horse, eyes go back to normal. I don't know!?!"

We walked back to the hotel just relieved to be in fresh air. We passed a farmers market that was just about to close up shop so we grabbed some fresh bread, cheese, fruit, etc. At the hotel, we then took turns getting ready and eating. By 3pm we were ready to go!

We jumped onto the bus and walked quickly to the Chapel. We had noted on the previous day that the Sistine Chapel closed at 5:30pm but you had to buy tickets and be inside by 4pm since it’s a large building and there are many things to see. As we walked up, it was almost 4…. there were no lines…. did they already stop letting people in?? Ugh…Nope! We walked right up, got tickets and started exploring. It was perfect!!

The place was very empty and Ag and I couldn’t get over it…last time we were there, it was so crowded you couldn’t really “experience” and see everything because you were either getting in someone’s way, running into someone, etc. Anyway, it was awesome and then at 5:30pm, we were kicked out. But the timing was perfect and we had plenty of time and space to see the entire museum, the Borgia apartment and the actual Chapel.  We also had plenty of time to do funny "statue" pictures. Below is a post-nasal fracture Fred re-living one of the many jogging incidents he has had with K-9's back home.

Not again!!

From there we jumped back onto the bus and headed back toward our hotel. We got off about 4 stops early and grabbed dinner on this random street we had found two days before. It was a very quaint and somewhat ritzy side street with cafes lining the streets. We stopped at one for dinner that evening and the scene and crowd was very fun.

Tuesday we woke up, had a hardy breakfast and jumped into a cab, heading to the train station. This cab went as far as we went the day before but the driver charged about 10 euros more…something about 1 euro per bag…whatever. We were there and ready to get to our next destination: Florence.

Next stop: Florence