Rome – Marion's Blog

Rome – Day 2

We had a very busy and hot day today exploring Rome. I should perhaps have titled this video shade spot to shade spot and water spigot to water spigot. The temperature was in the high 80’s and the humidity was high.

We started out by doing most of the Rick Steves Heart of Rome free walking tour, backwards from #13 The Trevi Fountain to #2 Campo de’ Fiori.

Italian Parliament building and the Obelisk of Montecitorio

Last time we were in Rome we didn’t get to go into the Pantheon. Today we did. It is stunning. especially when you realize that the Romans completed it in 19BC!

We stopped for a rest, drinks and people watching on Piazza Navona.

After finishing the walking tour we walked to The Forum.

Whenever we couldn’t find shade the sun was intense. I don’t remember ever sweating so much. So, the first thing we did once we were inside the forum was to stop and refill our water. I think we each drank a full bottle and then refilled.

We climbed up to the Palatine Hill where the emperors had there palaces. There was a nice breeze up there and we refilled our water again.

From the Palatine Hill we went to the Coliseum.

Once we finished at the Coliseum we took a cab back to our hotel and then celebrated our successful day with pizza and beer The owner of the restaurant was very welcoming. He even provided Jo Ann with a gluten free and dairy free pizza and beer.

Rome is an amazing city! It was wonderful to see so many of its monument and antiquities.

Rome – Day 1

It felt great to get a full nights sleep after spending the night before on the airplane. After a buffet breakfast at the hotel we went out exploring.

Duke’s sister Jo Ann and her husband Brian flew in today. We met them at the train station about 3:15 and walked back to the hotel with them. A bit later we went out to see the Spanish Steps and the Trevi fountain.

On the way back to the hotel we stopped for gelato.

Then we walked by the presidential palace

From the Quirinal Palace we had a great view of sunset with St Peter’s Cathedral on the horizon.

St Peter’s cathedral from in front of the presidential palace.

We stop for dinner and ate outside on the roof.

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.

We saw the Pantheon,

had coffee on Piazza Navona overlooking the four rivers fountain,

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

From there we went to see the Trevi fountain.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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