Rome Highlights and Lowlights

15th September

• Very bumpy landing into Rome. We were flying Alitalia, so it was possible the bumpy landing was just the pissed off pilot letting off some steam. We had three flights with them throughout our trip so we were ensured a sense of "living on the edge" at all times because the news told us they could go belly-up at any moment (I believe they're still flying, but I would never fly them again!)
• Arrived and called the landlord for our apartment, as per instructions. No answer. Figured we should catch a cab to the area anyway. 
• Cab driver drove 140km/hour in a 90 zone, in the pissing rain, talking on his mobile. No seatbelts were available to passengers. 
• Arrived at apartment, no-one there. Then we noticed a small note had been stuck to the door, addressed to me. There was something very cool about having a note left for me in Rome! Found the key, let ourselves in.
• Next door to a spaghetti restaurant. This is what Rome is about!

16th September

• Walked ALL DAY. From about 10am til 5pm. 
• Looking for the perfect spot for our wedding. I should at this point mention that legally we were already married! We got married about a week before I left in Melbourne because the Italian bureaucracy fucked us around for ages. No-one who was coming to Rome knew this, it was all a secret (thanks to Petrea and Miles for managing to keep such a big secret!) The point is, we could get married wherever the hell we wanted to in Rome because the ceremony was totally up to us, there was no red tape to deal with.
• Found the perfect location, the Terme di Caracalla (Baths of Caracalla). An Ancient Roman site that is just south of the Forum but is not listed on any of the free tourist maps so no-one knows about it! Beautiful gardens and the huge stone Roman Baths.
• Chose the most photogenic spot (obviously!)
• Walking just outside the baths site we had a very weird experience. We were scammed by a man who had an Italian accent but claimed to be a Parisian fashion designer! He drove past in his car and showed us a map and asked where he was. We showed him. He said he wanted to give us a present in return for our help. He was in Rome for a fashion conference and they'd been given these leather jackets for free, worth €900 (about $1500) and he wanted us to have it. We said we didn't really want it, but he was most insistent. Then, when we had accepted his gift, he asked for some money for petrol! So weird. We gave him €10 and he asked if we had more. We said no. Afterwards, we opened the plastic that the leather jacked was in and the jacket STANK! Like rotten eggs or something, really foul. The label said 60% polyester! Lucky we only gave him €10. A strange scam.
• LK arrived at 2am that night and slept on our couch. The next morning we confessed that we were already married and asked her to be our celebrant. Needless to say she was ecstatic.

17th September

• The other element we had to organise for the wedding was dinner at a nice restaurant. We'd had a place recommended to us, which was on the top of the Spanish steps overlooking the city, and our friend Nina had been trying to email them in Italian to book it for the Sat night. They had been rather difficult and elusive, eventually asking for a €650 deposit to book a room that we didn't even want! Ben and I decided to find the restaurant and sort it out (they also didn't have their menu online).
• However, we couldn't find the restaurant's address on our map. After a lot of walking from the Termini (main train station) we managed to stumble upon it but were not greeted with a warm reception. As soon as we walked in they yelled at us that they were closed and shooed us out the door. The menu was difficult to understand on a number of levels: as well as being in Italian it was extremely pretentious! We couldn't tell if the meals were made from root vegetables or some kind of animal tongue. Rather ostentatious.
• Down the street, we came across a smaller restaurant that also had a view of the city and a glass terrace. There were vegetarian dishes on their menu, as well as a caprese salad (Ben's favourite!) We booked a table for 16, no problems, with a €200 deposit. It suited our wedding much more, down-to-earth and simple!
• Went back to Trastevere (the district in Rome where we were staying). Most of our guests were arriving that day, so we went to a bar, sent messages to tell them where we were, and sat back with a drink while people drifted over. Very pleasant.
• All decided to have dinner on a piazza near Mum and Dad's apartment. Dad somehow got lost with a few others and ended up sitting at a different restaurant (don't ask!) but our restaurant was excellent. I had eggplant parmigiana, which was good, but mine is better!

18th September

• A frustrating morning with lots of plan changes. In the end, I went home while Ben went to the Colusseum and a "freaking cool church" (you'll have to ask him which one!)
• My loverly sister arrived so we booked a hairdresser to get our hair done on the wedding day, ate gelati on the main st then drank beer in the piazza in the warm afternoon sun.
• That night, all the guests went to Ben's parents' apartment for dinner. When everyone was gathered around, and Ben's dad had given a speech and asked everyone to think of a song to describe our relationship (!), we announced that we were technically already married, although we will consider Rome to be our true wedding because we didn't do the full ceremony in Melbourne. Ben was really nervous about this announcement, he thought people would feel ripped off or disappointed. Turns out, most people were relieved, because they'd been worried about the red tape in Rome failing us!
• My Dad and Ben's Dad made lots of bad Dad jokes. It was like they'd planned a double act.

19th September

• Day before the wedding. Pissing with rain. All day, non-stop.
• Ben and I went to see the Pantheon (a bit disappointing, to be honest!) and were then due to meet about 8 people at the Forum. All chickened out because of the weather, except LK.
• Despite the rain, the Forum was great. In fact, the overcast sky seemed to add to the atmosphere a bit. There's something eery about it, a ruined city.
• A bus drove through a puddle and soaked me from the knees down. I still had a nagging cough, so I figured maybe it was time to go home and get dry!
• LK came home with us and we had a rehearsal (minus the pieces Ben and I had written for each other, which was to be a surprise on the day).
• Had a smaller number of guests for dinner at Mum and Dad's apartment. CB arrived and joined us for dinner with her "man friend"!

Feel like, in 5 days, I didn't really get to see as much of Rome as I would like. I think I'll definitely have to go back one day when I don't have any organising to do! Even for a small wedding like ours it was all a bit much; all these people had come a long way for this one event and so it was hard to relax and just enjoy it. Next entry... the wedding!