Colosseum Pantheon Bernini fountain / Navona Trevi fountain
Rome
We conquered Rome in 2 1/2 days.
Day 1
Rome was beautiful and busy as always.
We arrived at about 10 AM (Alitalia was early - who would have seen that coming?) We got settled in, and went right out. We were staying right in the middle of town and within walking distance to just about everything.
The first day we went to the St. Maria Maggoire church, the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Bernini fountains in the Piazza Navona and the Trevi fountain. We veered off track a few times, but started to get our bearings.
Colosseum Pantheon Bernini
fountain / Navona Trevi fountain
I was telling Brian how the the Pantheon is designed so rain can't get through the hole in the top due to the air pressure (or something) from the dome. He looked skeptical. Then looked up. And a feather fell right through it, taking my credibility with it. Hey, the book didn't say anything about feathers. Anyway, it was pretty to watch it drift all the way down in the soft ray of light.
The Food
Italians don't really have breakfast. It is pretty much sandwiches and pizza until dinner. We went for the sandwiches for breakfasts which typically are any combination of tomato, mozzerella, eggs, ham and mushrooms. Maybe lettuce if they feel like it. You take whatever is already prepared. All very fresh and good.
The first night we were dead tired and dying of hunger, so we popped into a restaurant near the Trevi. I must say it was the worst Italian food I've ever had - and this is counting Chef Boy-ar-dee Ravioli as Italian. Moral of the story, don't eat near tourist sites - especially if they are handing out coupons (OK, I suppose we should have seen it coming.) The second night we strayed away onto a back street with two tiny restaurants - very little English spoken at either. That was the best (and possibly longest) Italian meal I've ever had. The pizza most anywhere is really good.
It's kind of fun to spend 10,000 on a light meal (around $5.) I liked throwing around the thousands of lire. Everything was inexpensive compared to New York.
My Italian
What little Italian I do remember helped when reading and figuring things out, but was useless when speaking. If we ordered in Italian, they invariably answered in English. I must be oozing American because people in restaurants and shops would automatically greet me in English before I had a chance to speak up. It was as if I had the stars and stripes tatooed to my forehead.
Day 2
| This was a pretty standard tour of the St. Peters and the Vatican (with the Sistine Chapel of course.) Didn't see the Pope, but lots of nuns and some monks. We had each been before, but then the chapel had some scaffolding for the cleaning so we had to go again. Fully clean for the Jubilee* and beautiful. I hear everyone that goes to mass here this year gets absolved of their sins. Missed that. |
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| After that we had some time left and wondered over to Castel Sant' Angelo to see what it was all about. The pleasant surprise was a bar on the upper level. We learned that it housed the Pope during an attack on Rome and there is a pathway atop a large brick wall that runs between the castle and the Vatican for quick escapes. I don't know if the Pope frequents the bar, next time I'll ask. |
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We'd had enough of the city
(isn't that what we were getting away from?) and went out to
the catacombs. The Romans believed in cremation, and the Christians
believed in burial. One more thing to fight about. Anyway the
answer was huge burial grounds on the outskirts of Rome. 7 miles
of pathways to individual and family plots (holes in the wall.)
Cryptic symbols on the marker stones kept the Romans guessing
and Jesus happy. There are lots of creepy things in Italy... |
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As wonderful as it was, we'd had enough of the city and were very ready to move on to Sorrento.