We woke up at our hotel in Berlin around 9:30 am and had coffee. Then we got ready and started packing for checking out before noon. After checking out, we stored our suitcases with the hotel and went to Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church which is the next building from our hotel. It is a church that was created as a memorial for Kaiser Wilhelm the first who was the King of Prussia in 1871 when it became Germany and that's when King Wilhelm the first became Kaiser Wilhelm the first. The church was heavily damaged in the Second World War and is still undergoing restoration. Only one small chapel is open while construction continues. We saw the chapel and then stopped at Starbucks for a quick breakfast. Then we came back to our hotel to get our suitcases.
We took an express bus to the airport at 1:20 pm and were at the airport in 20 minutes. We dropped off our bags, passed through security and waited for boarding. Boarding started around 3 pm and we took off on time at 3:20 pm. We did some research about our plan for Rome using our guide book and the downloaded Rick Steves' audio guide. The flight landed at 5:15 pm, 10 minutes earlier than scheduled. We collected our bags and then bought tickets for an express direct train from the airport to the main transit station of Rome (called Termini Station).
Our first impressions of Rome so far are not great. There were several booths selling tickets and all of them advertised themselves as being official so it was a challenge to find out the official tickets (which we found at a kiosk and not a booth). The train was dirtier than any we've seen in Europe (including Turkey) or North America or even Peru.
Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport is near the coast whereas the city of Rome is a good 25 km away from the coast so even the express train took 30 minutes to reach Termini. Getting a taxi from Termini was again a challenge since all taxi drivers were trying to charge too much (probably after guessing from our suitcases that we are tourists). The taxi we finally hired, its driver agreed upon 15 euros as the fixed fare (didn't bother to turn the meter on) and by this time, we didn't argue and agreed to go with him. He didn't know the directions and what he entered in the GPS was inaccurate (not entirely his fault since the hotel was to blame as well and hadn't advertised the correct address either). We finally reached the hotel after asking several pedestrians for directions and each of them giving contradictory directions. It was funny and frustrating at the same time.
The hotel is too expensive for its quality. It isn't bad but it's not the same quality that we got in Paris and Berlin and the rates in all these cities were comparable for the hotels we booked. It is clean but has no AC and we can tell that it's going to get hot during the day. We left for dinner around 8:15 pm and got lost on our way to the closest Metro station. It's not that close and is about one km from our hotel. There are only two Metro lines in Rome and the only point where they both meet is the Termini station. After boarding the train, we decided to stop at the station where they have the Spanish Steps. Again, they underwhelmed and all we saw were some stairs with tourists taking pictures.
We took the train back to our hotel's closest Metro station and saw a halal Italian restaurant. We ordered lasagna and a pizza and both were decent. The appetizer bruschetta (bread with tomatoes and cheese on it) was actually quite good. We walked back to our hotel and will go to sleep now since tomorrow is going to be a pretty busy day.
The saving grace of Rome is that although the taxi drivers are dishonest and the transit system not the best, the people that we asked for directions, all tried earnestly to help despite a significant language barrier. We are hoping that the food and the historical sites will be great. But so far, as Mohsin warned us, Rome has only been the dirty and unsophisticated side of Europe.
Rome's history can broadly be categorized into two categories - Ancient Rome from the times of the Roman Empire and the Christian Rome since the first and second century. Tomorrow, we will be exploring ruins from the Ancient Roman times (Colosseum, Roman Forum and the Pantheon) and the day after tomorrow will be reserved for the Christian history in Vatican (Saint Peter's Basilica which is the Pope's church, the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel).
Till tomorrow, good night and take care.
We took an express bus to the airport at 1:20 pm and were at the airport in 20 minutes. We dropped off our bags, passed through security and waited for boarding. Boarding started around 3 pm and we took off on time at 3:20 pm. We did some research about our plan for Rome using our guide book and the downloaded Rick Steves' audio guide. The flight landed at 5:15 pm, 10 minutes earlier than scheduled. We collected our bags and then bought tickets for an express direct train from the airport to the main transit station of Rome (called Termini Station).
Our first impressions of Rome so far are not great. There were several booths selling tickets and all of them advertised themselves as being official so it was a challenge to find out the official tickets (which we found at a kiosk and not a booth). The train was dirtier than any we've seen in Europe (including Turkey) or North America or even Peru.
Rome's Leonardo da Vinci airport is near the coast whereas the city of Rome is a good 25 km away from the coast so even the express train took 30 minutes to reach Termini. Getting a taxi from Termini was again a challenge since all taxi drivers were trying to charge too much (probably after guessing from our suitcases that we are tourists). The taxi we finally hired, its driver agreed upon 15 euros as the fixed fare (didn't bother to turn the meter on) and by this time, we didn't argue and agreed to go with him. He didn't know the directions and what he entered in the GPS was inaccurate (not entirely his fault since the hotel was to blame as well and hadn't advertised the correct address either). We finally reached the hotel after asking several pedestrians for directions and each of them giving contradictory directions. It was funny and frustrating at the same time.
The hotel is too expensive for its quality. It isn't bad but it's not the same quality that we got in Paris and Berlin and the rates in all these cities were comparable for the hotels we booked. It is clean but has no AC and we can tell that it's going to get hot during the day. We left for dinner around 8:15 pm and got lost on our way to the closest Metro station. It's not that close and is about one km from our hotel. There are only two Metro lines in Rome and the only point where they both meet is the Termini station. After boarding the train, we decided to stop at the station where they have the Spanish Steps. Again, they underwhelmed and all we saw were some stairs with tourists taking pictures.
We took the train back to our hotel's closest Metro station and saw a halal Italian restaurant. We ordered lasagna and a pizza and both were decent. The appetizer bruschetta (bread with tomatoes and cheese on it) was actually quite good. We walked back to our hotel and will go to sleep now since tomorrow is going to be a pretty busy day.
The saving grace of Rome is that although the taxi drivers are dishonest and the transit system not the best, the people that we asked for directions, all tried earnestly to help despite a significant language barrier. We are hoping that the food and the historical sites will be great. But so far, as Mohsin warned us, Rome has only been the dirty and unsophisticated side of Europe.
Rome's history can broadly be categorized into two categories - Ancient Rome from the times of the Roman Empire and the Christian Rome since the first and second century. Tomorrow, we will be exploring ruins from the Ancient Roman times (Colosseum, Roman Forum and the Pantheon) and the day after tomorrow will be reserved for the Christian history in Vatican (Saint Peter's Basilica which is the Pope's church, the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel).
Till tomorrow, good night and take care.
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