Roman Shoes

It's been a couple of weeks since I was in Rome, but I figure it would be a good idea to try to record what I remember of the trip. I did try to keep a written journal during the trip as I was not always able or had the time to login and make an entry to this site.

One of the things that popped into my head today was, just how did the people of ancient Rome manage to get around without developing so many blisters on their feet? I was thinking about this because most of the blisters I got were from walking around Rome. Granted that I walked a lot that one day, but the shoes I wore were not new!

The day we did all of that walking we had met as a group around 8:30AM. We took the subway to where the Spanish Steps were. This was the start of our orientation walk. (Our Intrepid group leader had that previous night gone out to map out the route for our walk!) We spent about 15 minutes there to take photos and whatnot. Afterwards, we continued our walk. I don't remember exactly where we went, but I think I had most of the sites marked on the map that I still have (somewhere). I will have to check it and post it here later.

After we did our orientation walk, which took up pretty much the entire morning, we stopped at some place near Piazza de Venezia (I think). We rested our weary feet and discussed what some of us planned to do next. Being one of 3 solo travellers, I figure I'd try to stick with some of the folks.

The mother/daughter duo decided to head off in one direction. The two sisters also decided to go off in another direction. The rest of us decided to tackle a hill that was across the river for a view of Rome. Thus we split into 3 groups and took off in different directions.

We consulted the map to see what the best way to where we wanted to go was. We knew we wanted to head towards Trastevere. I remembered the route I took to meet the instructor for the cooking course. The way to Trastevere was not far from there. Plus, the others would get to see the ruins that doubles as a cat sanctuary. So away we went.

We managed to find our way to Trastevere. Our group leaster had mentioned that there would be plenty of trattorias and such along the way. We didn't see any at first. At some point, after walking some distance, I pulled out my Lonely Planet Rome to check out where we were exactly and where the eateries might be. By this point I think the decision was made to backtrack somewhat.

Eventually, we found a place on a corner. It turned out to be a place that was also listed in the Lonely Planet. We decided to acquire some sustenance here before we continued on our trek.

(to be continued)