Author: marionvermazen

I am a traveler, hiker, avid reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, Spanish and French language student, knitter and genealogist. I am retired after working for almost 30 years in the Computer Industry. I live in Reno, Nevada with my husband Duke.

Rome and Vatican City – 23 October 2021

Saturday we had tickets to see the Vatican Museum at 6:30 in the evening. That was the earliest we could get tickets. We left our hotel around noon and did a lot of walking and saw a lot of Rome.

We saw the Italian Parliament and the obelisk they took from Egypt after conquering Cleopatra and Mark Anthony.

Italian parliament

We saw the Pantheon,

Pantheon

had coffee on Piazza Navona overlooking the four rivers fountain,

Coffee on Piazza Navona
Piazza Navona

And then walked across the Tiber and got our first view of St. Peter’s Basilica.

The Tiber with St. Peter’s in the distance.

At St. Peter’s Square we waited in a 30 minute line to get into the basilica. It is enormous and it’s beauty is like no other church I have ever visited.

St Peter’s Square
St. Peter’s Basilica
The alter and bronze canopy at St. Peter’s

From St. Peter’s we walked about 20 minutes to the Vatican Museum. It is enormous too. I bet we only saw a quarter of what there is to see. We ended with the Sistine Chapel. I particularly liked the map hall.

Map of Sardinia in the map gallery
Map Gallery
Laocoön
One of the ceilings.

The quantity and quality of the art works was overwhelming. By the time we left the museum it was dark. We had a nice view of St. Peter’s from some of the windows.

Our feet were hurting and we were worn out. We planned to get a cab back to the hotel but couldn’t find one. So we got gelato and walked the 40 minutes back to the hotel.

Rome – 22 October 2021

Friday morning we went online and bought tickets to visit the Forum and the Colosseum Friday and the Vatican museums Saturday.

The Colosseum is so big. It impresses me how advanced Roman civilization was that they could build and use a 50,000 person stadium. It shocks me that those 50,00 people were enjoying public torture and killing. It is ingenious that they raised and lowered people, sets, and animals through trap doors in the floor.

The Colosseum
Inside the Colosseum
Duke and I inside the Colosseum

After the Colosseum we went through the Forum. There were a lot of people in both places and they checked our tickets and covid green passes in both places.

The Forum

We got back to our room. But just as we were putting our feet up housekeeping arrived to clean the room. So we went out to find a snack. We ended up having beer, salad, and pinse at a great sidewalk cafe, Il Miraggio Trevi, with a very friendly waiter and excellent food.

Lunch/dinner
Pinse and salad

From there we went to see the Trevi fountain.

Trevi fountain by day

We were so full from our pizza that we didn’t want to go out for dinner. Later we did go out and buy water and wine and crackers to go with the cheese we already had for a late picnic dinner. We also stopped to see the Trevi fountain at night. Duke thinks it look a bit like our new backyard landscape!

Trevi fountain at night.

Visiting Pompei and then on to Rome.

Thursday morning we entered the Pompeii archaeological site just as they were opening. It was lovely to almost have the place to ourselves Even at noon when there were a lot more people it still didn’t feel crowded. Perhaps the threatening rain and the fact that it’s October made a difference.

The forum in Pompeii

It was the little things we saw in Pompeii that caught my imagination. Like the stepping stones at cross walks that were placed so that chariots could drive through them and people wouldn’t get their feet wet crossing the street when the streets were being flushed out or it rained.

Stepping stone cross walk

The two mountains to the north of Pompeii today allow you to imagine the top of Vesuvius that was blown off in the eruption.

The remains of Vesuvius in the background

More than one of the houses had a beware of the dog sign built into the mosaics at the entrance.

Beware of the dog.

We did the Rick Steves Pompeii walking tower. We saw lots of storefronts with counters built to hold food bowls. Rick Steves called them fast food joints.

Food store

Pompeii had a population of 30,000. The archaeological park is massive. The distance from the west entrance to the amphitheater is over a kilometer.

Amphitheater
Pompeii

The plaster casts of people who died in the explosion are haunting.

Plaster cast of a victim

When we left the archaeological park we picked up our bags at our hotel and walked to the train station. We took a train and a bus to Naples and from there took the high speed train to Rome.

Before we could board the high speed train we had to show our green pass. That’s proof of vaccination. It’s interesting that the QR code I got for France works just fine here in Italy. I show the PDF download of my pass and a green check shows up on the device the gatekeeper is using. It’s all very efficient.

We had a wonderful dinner around the corner from our hotel at La Cabana restaurant. I didn’t get any good pictures. We had spaghetti with bacon and a spicy sauce and great steak. We shared both.

We will be in Rome for three nights. I was last here in 1970 and Duke was last here in 1976. I’m sure exploring the next few days will be a very different experience.

Victor Emmanuel Ii Monument. We saw it on our way back from dinner

Olbia to Pompei

Wednesday on our ferry from Sardina, at 5:40 we heard the first announcement that we were pulling into the harbor at Civitavecchia, the port of Rome. About 6:40 we got off the ferry and walked to the train station.

Leaving the ferry

We figured out how to use the ticket machine and bought our tickets to Naples. We got on the train stowed our bags, sat down and then Duke said “we are on the wrong train!” I thought he was kidding but he wasn’t. Luckily we were able to grab our bags, get off and get on the right train.

Civitaveccia train station at dawn

The trip to Rome took about an hour. I napped on the way.

On the train to Rome

In Rome we changed to the high speed train to Naples. I love high speed trains. The trip from Rome to Naples only took us about hour with no stops. It’s about 140 miles.

In Naples we bought tickets to Pompei. We took a packed local train to Pompei. And from there we walked about one mile to our hotel.

At the very nice Forum Hotel Pompeii we had a picnic lunch on our balcony. Then we napped all afternoon. Traveling when old is exhausting. 🤓

Picnic lunch on our hotel balcony

We woke up to have a great dinner in a nearby restaurant.

Pizza
Squid

Olbia, Sardina

Monday we turned our rental car in at Olbia airport. I meant to say a little bit about the car in yesterday’s post but I forgot to. So I’ll let Duke tell you about it now.

Our Fiat Panda

Tuesday we took an overnight ferry from Sardina to mainland Italy. So we spent the day exploring Olbia and killing time. We checked out of our B and B at eleven and stored our suitcases. We walked all around town and out to the ferry terminal to check things out.

Olbia

We had a two hour pizza lunch and then visited the local archaeological museum.

Remains of a Roman ship burned by the Vandals when they invaded Olbia.
Our ferry

We sat on a park bench and read for a couple of hours and then had pasta for dinner before retrieving our bags, walking back to the ferry terminal, going aboard and settling into our cabin. All in all a successful day. My watch says we walked a total of 8.5 miles!

On the way to the ferry
Our room on the ferry.

Now it’s 11 pm and our ferry is pulling away from Sardinia.