Adventures of David and Paul: Rollercoaster & FC Roma Game!

For our Saturday in Rome, we focused on fun activities instead of just sights or museums; specifically roller coasters and a soccer match! We took a bus in the morning to the EUR neighborhood on the southside of Rome. EUR is a weird fascist-era neighborhood that largely consists of government buildings, office buildings, and large open spaces. We took a quick look at some of the architecture, and then walked to Luneur Park, a surprisingly cute family amusement park. Usually on trips we take in winter, roller coasters are off the table. Luckily Luneur Park was open on the weekends for a Christmas event. Paul got a spin on each of the roller coasters.

Paul at Luneur Park.

Even the ferris wheel has the cute little owl logo.

They had some holiday decorations, including a polar bear.

The spinning roller coaster is creatively named "Spinner."

Hi Paul!

Of course they had a Wacky Worm.

From here we took a taxi even further south, to Cinecitta World, a large "Universal Studios" style theme park in the suburbs. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere, and a bit difficult to get to. Supposedly there's a shuttle bus you can take from EUR, but we weren't sure if it was running during the Christmas event or only during the summer. There's no train or public bus, so taxi was our only option. It would have been a relatively quick trip from EUR straight down the highway, but we got stuck for a bit in a traffic jam caused by a stalled truck with a portly grandpa standing behind it waving traffic around him.

Cinecitta World is a well-themed park with several great rides. It was also open just for a Christmas event, complete with a Christmas market and Santa Claus. The park is unique because while it is themed after movies, it doesn't actually have the rights to any of the intellectual property. So you won't see a Jurassic Park or Spiderman ride, rather they have rides like "Indiana" (a nod to Indiana Jones) and "Jurassic War" that barely skirt copyright infringements. More interestingly, they have a few rides that are well themed to Italian culture and myths. Inferno is an indoor roller coaster themed after Dante's Inferno, including a projection of a demon eating a baby. Volarium is a ride where you fly through the air with Leonardo da Vinci, swooping over Tuscany and 15th century Florence. We wrapped up our time at the park with a spinach pastry from the Christmas Market, took a picture for a family posing with Santa, and caught an expensive taxi (that we had to wait 20 minutes for) all the way back to Largo di Argentina in the center of Rome. Since Paul previously visited Magicland, he's now been to all of the big parks in the Rome area - although there are several little kiddie roller coasters spread around the city that still need to be visited.

Paul at the entrance of Cinecitta World.

Christmas market on main street.

Altair, the park's big roller coaster.

There's Paul in the second row! Good job David on getting this picture!

Entering the Rome-themed section of the park.

By now it was mid-afternoon, and we grabbed a sandwich to go from Panepiu on the south side of Largo di Argentina. This is a great, tiny, cheap, conveniently located panini place with high quality ingredients. We picked up some drinks and chips at the little store across from our AirBnB, and ate and relaxed before our next adventure - an AS Roma game! We were a bit hesitant to go to a large sporting event in light of the pandemic, but there were strict vaccine rules and the stadium is open air. We tried to go to a soccer game on our previous trip to Rome, but the date of the game was moved with less than a week warning, so we missed it. We caught a bus up to the stadium (our unlimited bus passes were extremely handy!), which hosted the summer Olympics in 1960. It was cold and drizzly, but luckily the stands are covered by an overhanging roof. The atmosphere at the game was fun, with opposing Roma and Inter Milan fan sections chanting and lighting smoke bombs. We were close to the Inter Milan section, but they were separated behind a plexiglass wall - soccer rivalries are serious business in Europe! Unfortunately for the home team, AS Roma was badly outclassed, with a score of 0-3 before the half. We left a bit after the 70th minute to beat the crowd and catch a bus back to our AirBnB, which worked out well.

Our AirBnB balcony was wet from the rain, but we can still take pictures of beer on it. :)

Olympic Stadium.

Paul with his new Roma scarf and mask!

Lots of flags in the Roma supporters section.

Inter Milan fans celebrating a goal. Note all the security in yellow vests!

Arriving back in our neighborhood, we decided to stick relatively close to the AirBnB for dinner due to the continued threat of rain and the chilly temps. We had some decent dinner and great cocktails at Santa Maria Bistro, then wandered around the nearby Jewish quarter, stopping for some gelato.