Arrived in Rome on our 25th anniversary day. After leaving the car at the airport and catching a shuttle bus into the centre of Rome right to our hotel. Love this idea...and so cheap in comparison to Australia...and saves us attempting to drive through chaos. We both knew within 10 minutes of being in our hotel and heading out for a walk that Rome would be our favourite city. It has a vibe...feeling...that is positive, clean, proud, beautiful...I don't know. Hard to describe. It is truly beautiful. Perhaps this is due to our location. We are ideally situated in a little cobblestoned lane between two key shopping streets ...del Corso and I forget the other. The streets are not like back home...tar roads...they are beautifully cobblestoned and the shops are gorgeous (though most designer). We are a 10 minute walk to Piazza Spagna and the Spanish Steps, 15 minute walk to the Fountain of Trevi and if we head the other way we are 5 minutes from the Piazza Popollo, which is a large square with beautiful churches and fountains and sculptures.
Decided to walk to the Trevi fountain to see it lit up at night. Was a little wet, but even with our umbrellas it was magnificent. It was a lot bigger that I had imagined. Didn’t throw our coins...thought we would wait till the morning when the sun would be out. As this was our anniversary day we dined at a beautiful (and extravagant) restaurant recommended by our hotel...very nice salmon.
Woke up wondering what the weather would hold as we had seen the BBC news about snow in Western Europe and poor weather. Rome was expected to rain continually the whole time we were here. But, the weather was kind and we woke to a sunny day. Walked up the Spanish steps. These are a monumental stairway of 138 steps built in 1723–1725. At the bottom/start of the steps is a beautiful baroque fountain called Fontana della Barcaccia ("Fountain of the Old Boat") which was built in 1627-29. We then headed back to the Trevi Fountain and did our “3 coins” wish. Read about what the “wishes” meant. Not sure how many coins...but a particular number represented marriage/divorce. (Wonder if that is why I had to drag Rick away from emptying all our coins in the fountain???). Spent the day walking to a range of fantastic piazzas (or squares), including Piazza Chigi And Navone. We entered the Pantheon for a look and were pleasantly surprised by its size and beauty. It had a massive dome that is still the largest concrete dome in the world. The tombs of Rafael and of several other Italian Kings are also here. Walked to, then along, the river (Fiume Tevere), then up to the Piazza del Papolo, with the two beautiful churches... a mirror image of each other. The square here was huge and contained very large fountains and a very tall obelisk. By this time it had started to rain lightly. I guess it was close to 5.00 so we couldn’t complain.
Day 2 we again woke to sunshine, after heavy rain during the night. We had prebooked our Vatican museum tickets on line as we had read about horrendous queues. Decided to walk, given it was such a nice morning. Half an hour later we arrived at the large stone walls that signalled the Vatican...its own country. Straight in (God, I love the internet) and we wondered a maze (literally) of galleries of religious and non religious artefacts, including paintings, tapestries, sculptures, religious icons etc. The highlight of the museums was clearly The Sistine Chapel. You literally wander into it from a room- almost nondescript really. But when you enter this smallish chapel...the works of Michelangelo become apparent. The ceiling is...perfection. Unfortunately you are not allowed to take photos, so I have tried to photograph a postcard. The Last Judgment, also painted by Michelangelo, dominates one end of the chapel. We just sat here for ages taking in the magnificent renaissance art work and admiring...well just the place. After leaving the Vatican museum...didn’t see Pope Benedict for a latte...headed over to St Peter’s Square and Basilica. Again a huge piazza, fountains etc. The Basilica is huge and clearly gorgeous. Big Rick decided it was the most magnificent of all the churches (and we have seen heaps). Caught the lift up to the Dome (Remember earlier posts about the Italians not exerting themselves too much as there are lifts in all the towers?...well here was no different). The views over Rome, the square and the Vatican City were fantastic. Last stop today was the Castel Sant Angelo. This is also known as The Mausoleum of Hadrian. It is large circularl building that was built by Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle. It was quite small, but had great views back over St Peters Basilica. Very excited by today.
Final day in Rome was of course...the Coleseum. We have all seen the pictures and know how old it is (built in 72 AD), but it is truly grand when you arrive. We decided we should sample Rome’s Metro and 1 euro later we arrived at Termini station, looking for the train line to the Coleseum. A further 15 minutes later we exited the station and there it was. Never had so many ‘tour guides” approach us for private tours. There are only so many times you politely say “no thanks” before you want to say “bugger off”. Spent time here just walking around and remembering those projects you did as kids at school...probably never thinking you would actually visit the place.
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