I arrived around 6am. It was pretty cold. I was a bit tired because of the long flight. Then on our way to the city, I saw the Colliseum. That woke me up! It was breathtaking. An unbelievable experience. Something that I only get to see on TV or in the books was now only a few feet away.
The streets going to my hotel were narrow. A complete opposite of China were roads are so wide. When we finally got to the hotel, I still needed to wait until 2pm to check in. So what I did was left my luggage and laptop and went out to walk and see the city.
I reached an empty plaza. Everything was quiet and you could count with your fingers the people in the street. It felt weird. Again, coming from China were you're always surrounded by thousands of people. Then I saw this long steps. I almost missed it as the Spanish Steps because it was empty and therefore looked different. I went up those steps but there wasn't much up there except for some artists selling there paintings. I was getting hungry so went down and walked again...and walked...and walked. Until finally, I saw this bar (yes, a bar!) selling pastries. So I bought this chocolate croissant and walked again. I felt pretty happy and very Italian (lol!) who would walk and eat something from a bag at the same time. Then I went to this coffee shop (which I later discovered was McCafe!) and had a capuccino. I was already tired from walking so stopped there to drink, order another pastry and read my book.
An hour later, an African-American talked to me and asked if I know of a place where he could play pingpong! That was the craziest question I have ever been asked. We got talking. He tought I was an American which was kinda weird given I look very Asian. Must have been my English. Anyway, he was an old man who was travelling around and playing his sax. He talked about his work in the states in a radio station, to his stint as a tutor, to his another job as an accountant, and now just playing his music. He was a pretty talkative guy but very nice. He was also very fatherly with many advises. When I got tired talking to him, at the same time getting a stiff neck as he was seated on another table, I bade him goodbye and went back to the hotel. Lo and behold, as I stepped out of that coffee shop, the streets were filled up! There was a marathon apparently and there were many guys (in shorty shorts!) running and all sweaty. It was such a transformation from the earlier empty streets!
And so I was able to check-in, took a bath and rested for a while. That was my morning adventure. The afternoon was something else.
I went out to look at the shops that afternoon. The hotel was near all these branded stores and little stores that sell clothes, shoes, undies, gellato, etc. I went in one of the stores that sell leather jackets. One of the salesmen got to talk to me. I was again mistaken for an American! I couldn't believe it but I was getting to like this place! So we got talk. He asked me where I worked and where I came from. I told him from China and he told me his father would often help some Chinese get settled in Rome. He also said he would go to China once a year for a vacation. So in my short stay in that shop, we got to talk a lot. Later he asked me if I would like to see some of Rome's parties. He was pretty cute and I wanted to say yes (!!!) but my friends were arriving that night so I gave that as an excuse. And THEN, he asked me what about the next night. Oooooh, if it weren't for work (which was my primary purpose for coming to Rome), I would have said YES!!! So I just said, "I'm not sure. Let's see..." Darn!
So I must say a pretty good first day!
