On the trail of the tourist Visa

Can you tell that we were reluctant to leave Sicily? I always count it as a good sign when we talk about changing plane reservations to stay longer in a particular place because we enjoyed it so much. We haven't actually done this, but we like to believe we are spontaneous enough to do that sometime. Sicily was such a place, but Jim was especially anxious to get back to Rome and visit the Chinese VISA office to turn in his paperwork and start the process toward getting a visa. This has added some interesting challenges for us, and focused us in new ways. I know that For Jim, it has been in the back of his mind for weeks, and if knew he would feel more at ease once the process was started. 

Finding the office in Rome was our first challenge, but we took the metro, which is probably one of my least favorite in all the world. It's bad enough that you are waaaay underground, but it is dark, with dim lighting and generally rather depressing. Anyway, the VISA office was easy to find, right near the exit from the metro. It helped that the building had Chinese writing on it! Jim got his number and waited a short time, clutching all of his paperwork nervously. It wasn't long before they were sending him away to a travel agent, to get some additional documentation. This only happened two more times...by the third try, we thought they had everything they needed, so we fled like two kids let out of school, and took the metro back to the colosseum stop. I wanted to try to get to Campo Fiori for the morning market, which was supposedly not far from there. 

Wow, what a surprise to emerge at " tourist central" where there were suddenly mobs of people, the likes of which we had so far managed to avoid! Well, it was right next to the colosseum, which is pretty impressive.  Seeing it brought back some good ( and bad) memories of the last time I was in Rome with Sam. We strolled around the monuments at dusk, in the stifling heat, but had a great evening there.

This was the first time we had been in Rome when the heat wasn't oppressive, so it was fun just to walk through this impressive area. I just wish I had gotten a photo of Jim asking the historically dressed " Roman soldier" for directions! 

I took a few photos as we strolled, just so you know we really were there. I'm glad I went when I was much younger, because Rome requires a lot of walking and a lot of 

stamina...

But it's wort it.

Never ceases to be amazing, no matter how many times you see it. We had memories of another trip when we were camping outside of Rome and brought all 4 boys in on the metro for a long, hot day of sightseeing. We even made it to the Vatican and the Sistene chapel on that trip! 

The soldier had told Jim we should walk to Campo Fiori,  as it was only 10 minutes away. Hah! We've learned from recent travels that no matter how long they tell you it takes to walk, it is always at least twice, if not three times as far. But we eventually made it, and it was very pleasant, even though over touristy, but what did I expect? It's Roma! We bought a porchetta sandwich to share, and proclaimed it not quite as good as the one Jim makes. Good shopping around there, too. Especially at my new favorite, Tiger. Lots of fun, inexpensive stuff.

But nothing I could fit in my suitcase...

Cute even though they' re probably made in India or someplace else.i love looking at clothes in the Italian markets, but have yet to buy anything. 

Loved these- a kind if radicchio? But everything had tourist prices here,too. No longer those wonderful bargains we saw in Sicily..

By this time we were totally exhausted, so thought we would take a city bus ride. Someone suggested bus number 169 to St Peters . We waited a short while and soon it arrived and we squished in. I should amend mt travel rule about hopping on a city bus as a diversion to say " don't cram yourself into an overcrowded bus" This was an awful ride, and there was no place I could even hold on,so I had to clutch Jim's arm the whole time. Ugh! We were so happy to get off, and immediately boarded another empty bus. Not so bad if you get a seat! After three bus rides, a metro ride and a short taxi back( which was nearly impossible to flag down), we were finally " home"! Later that evening, Jim got a call from the VISA office letting him know that there we a couple of problems with his application, which he could probably fix the next day....we had forgotten how much the Italians love bureaucracy!