Last Morning in Rome & on to the Cruise

Rome final thoughts.
Last night, we dined once again on the Campo de’ Fiori at a different restaurant. You would have to be here for a month to sample each of the eateries around this square. This is definitely a happening place, most of the day and most of the night. As we explored further, we discovered there is also a lot of good affordable shopping in the area.
Yesterday there was a lot of helicopter activity over the city related to a number of things. The Italians, it turns out, are as good as the French at protesting. As they were setting up for a big bike race around the Coliseum today and disrupting traffic, there was a protest about traffic problems, which further screwed up transportation. Interesting! Apparently there were 3 major disruptions in traffic this week, which is not so good in an already congested city.

Sunday morning we packed up, vacated our room and then went out to the Campo for an American breakfast – really just eggs and toast. Then we strolled around our neighbourhood for a final time, soaking up the local ambience and decided that the

Romans are not pedestrian friendly. Lots of places to walk, but most of the roads are without sidewalks and at any time, one could get seriously creamed by a crazy Roman motorist.

Our private Mercedes picked us up at 12:45 and drove us the hour and a bit to the port. Once there we were able to immediately board and have lunch. You know, ever since our doctor branded us as “foodies”, I’ve been thinking that maybe we ARE a little different when it comes to culinary tastes - more about that later.
When we booked, we opted for a picture window verses the more expensive balcony, due to our travel agent’s advice – given a different port almost every morning. I’m pretty happy about that advice and we’re very pleased about the size and storage capabilities of our stateroom. The ship seems to have all of the amenities of a bigger ship without all the extra bodies. We did the orientation and the muster drill – re: sinking – and then went for dinner.


Our sommelier already sees me as a worthy adversary. We ate in the Grand Dining Room tonight and found the menu as impressive as any starred restaurant we’ve visited. We had a very impressive multi-course meal with excellent Californian wines – American cruise ship wouldn’t you know. The courses were outstanding: appetizers of goat cheese without golden delicious apples tart tatin and a melon and grapefruit flower; salads with blue cheese and walnuts and olives and capers and arugula; mains of veal medallions with crab and asparagus and Thai fish and seafood with basmati rice; and dessert of vanilla crème brulee and milk chocolate tart with fresh fruit sorbet. We didn’t finish either the white or red wines, but they will show up at dinner tomorrow – BONUS! The service was a little American prompt, but the food was fabulous.

Following dinner we went to the first entertainment, which was brief, but introduced us to the variety of wonderful entertainers they have on board. We took a break from this and tried to Skype Canada. Due to lack of broadband on board (satellite), the call didn’t go very well, but we did have a picture.
Back in our stateroom, we felt no indication that we were on the water – very good. I finished this version of the blog and tomorrow we dock in Monaco at 9:00 in the morning.

Ancient Rome

Although it nearly killed us, we walked from our hotel to the Coliseum, then up to Via Veneto and back to our hotel - an 11 000 step trek, which might translate to 7-9 km. Fortunately, we continue to be blessed by great weather, so although the rain gear got pulled out this morning, it wasn't needed.
Our first destination was the ancient city, with its three main areas of the Forum, Palatine Hill and Coliseum. The history here is astounding. I'll let my pics do the talking.




These first pics were all taken within the Forum area. The next pics are of the Coliseum.


The next pics were of the large Palatine Hill area, including the last pic which doesn't look like much, but is The Circus Maximus - not the field in the foreground but the track area in mid-picture - famous for its BenHur-type chariot races.



We then started the long march across town to find the Hard Rock Cafe. We discovered many historic sites on the way and had a great lunch at tables they had set up cafe style on the street, when we finally got there.

We weren't sure our legs or feet were going to hold up for the journey back to the hotel, but off we went. Our route took us past the Trevi Fountain again - even busier today than yesterday.


Back at the hotel, it was siesta time once again as we awaited a Skype call from Chris, Jessie, Ella and Sadie.
We just finished our Skype call with Chris, Jessie, Ella and Sadie. What amazing technology! And... what an excellent opportunity for people to stay in touch for no money, anywhere there is internet.
Our Saturday is winding down, so I'll post this addition and then we'll go up to the roof for a drink before choosing one of the myriad of excellent restaurants in short walking distance, for dinner. Tomorrow we're off on our cruise, so we'll see you on the Mediterranean.

Rome

We had several conversations with friends before we left on this trip about the greatest city in the world. Although we haven't seen all of them and I'm quite prepared on this trip to choose a new one, my choice has always been Paris. Of course, for many, the Parisians themselves keep Paris off their list. I suspect this is a clever ploy by the Parisians to get rid of the god-damned tourists. However, the reason I bring this up now is that after a full day of Rome I'm impressed. I'm not yet prepared to give it the number one spot, but, I'm impressed.

So this is what we saw today: Castel Sant'Angelo (featured prominently in Angels and Demons); St. Peter's Square; St. Peter's Basilica; The Vatican Museum including the Sistine Chapel; The Trevi fountain; The Spanish Steps; The Coliseum; some of The Palatine Hill (ancient Rome) and more of Piazza Narvona. Tired yet? We actually didn't do entry to the Coliseum or the Palatine area and I think we might do that tomorrow, but our trick today was grabbing the jump on/jump off double decker bus, so although we did walk a fair bit, we also made tracks thanks to the bus.
The Castel Sant'Angelo was a walk-by but its most impressive feature is the entry to it over the Tiber river by an angel flanked bridge. Originally built as a tomb 2000 years ago, it was used as a papal refuge for 1000 years with its own private viaduct allowing the popes to scurry here in times of peril.


The entrance to St. Peter's Square is everything that the Catholic Church intended it to be - awesome. We cleverly arrived here early this morning to avoid at least some of the multitudes. The Basilica itself is overwhelming when you get inside and my ADHD had me hopping from aisle to aisle with little focus. Both Dawn & I agree that places like this inspire sensory overkill - it's hard to focus on one thing without being distracted by another. There ARE some amazing things to see here, however, Michelangelo's Pieta and Bernini's altar (Baldacchino) being the highlights.

To get to the Sistine Chapel one exits St. Peter's Square and walks for a kilometre around the Vatican walls to the servant's entrance at the back. Here, we picked up the hordes, but got admitted surprisingly quickly. Once inside the Vatican Museum, you see most of it, before finally getting to the plum - the Sistine Chapel. Sorry - more sensory overkill. I'm glad we saw it, but the many photos I've seen of Michelangelo's ceiling would probably have sufficed. It's pretty surreal sitting on the side benches - boy you stand in line to get those seats - and staring up at the ceiling makes you pretty much wonder who the hell thought this up. But, Michelangelo does nice work.
Leaving the Vatican, without posting a letter, we boarding the Open tour bus and set out across the city. I was reminded again how happy that I'm not driving in this city. It's not even so much the driving - 'cause you know I like driving and I can be as nuts as the rest of them - as the lack of places to put your car once you're finished with it.

We hopped off at the Trevi Fountain. You could hardly get near it for the school kids and wouldn't you know we had zero coins to donate to it. I actually didn't see anyone heaving coins over their shoulders. So much for tradition!
Then we walked a short ways to the Spanish Steps. Interesting, but I think I'm missing the big deal here. There is a very avantgarde Bernini fountain at its base but the steps up to Sacre Coeur in Paris are more impressive and punishing.

We then hopped back on the bus and rode it to the Coliseum - now that's impressive!


As we arrived around 1:00 and were feeling a little peckish, we just did a short walkabout here, but I think it deserves more time, especially the Palatine area.



Back on the bus, we took it to a short ride to a stop not far from our hotel and then headed to the Piazza Navona for lunch at one of the cafes with views of the artists and massive Four Rivers Fountain. We got a nice front table facing the action, but managed to park ourselves next to some Americans who I think were moulds for the "Ugly American" expression. Talk about loud and loutish! Fortunately they didn't linger and we had a great pizza and soaked up the ambiance.
This has been a superbly sunny,warm day and following lunch we meandered back to our hotel for a respite, but not before checking out a statue nearby that is the most famous "talking statue" in Rome. Now, these statues don't actually talk and this one in particular, without much of it face or limbs, probably wouldn't be a very good communicator, but historically people have hung messages, political or otherwise around their necks to make their point. Today, thanks to better adhesives, they glue their messages everywhere around the base.

So, after spending the late afternoon back at the hotel - when I got to catalogue my pictures and start my blog - we went for a walk around our neighbourhood. We ended up at the Tiber, which is actually a fairly sad river. I guess it's just too shallow, because there is next to no boat traffic, which makes it a very quiet, uninteresting river. There is also very little human activity along its banks.

We ended up at a little hosteria, just off the Campo de' Fiori, for dinner. This was a Ma & Pa operation, but we had a wonderful meal highlighted by our main course of Saltimbocca - veal with Parma ham - and fresh strawberries with ice cream for dessert.

What a great full day! Tomorrow, we'll play it by ear since showers are a possibility.

To Rome May 27 to 28

Time for another adventure! Our first cruise! But first.....Rome.

Once again we had a rather uneventful 8 1/2 hour plane ride with Air Canada direct to Rome from Toronto. Uneventful is good. The food service was not one-two with Air France but there you go. Everybody had the seat back entertainment system so there was plenty of distraction.

Once we landed and collected our luggage - still not light packers - we were met by our driver who managed to accommodate all of our bags in his Mercedes and we were off for the heart of ancient Rome. The drivers are of course nuts, but miraculously we ended up at the Hotel Campo de' Fiori unscathed after passing numerous Rome sights like the Spanish Steps and being awed by the magnificence of some of the ancient buildings.

Fortunately our room was ready when we checked in, so after going to a local corner store for wine,water,cheese and bread, we went up to the roof terrace of our hotel for a great view of the city, including our first look at St. Peters below. Then we went to our beautiful room and crashed for around 4 hours.

Before dinner we took a wee walkabout from the hotel, with which by the way, we are extremely impressed - location and appointment. The city is teeming with tourists mostly young college types looking to discover Europe. It does make for a pretty safe, full of people, city.
The only disappointment so far, is that the city fathers have not been able to control the proliferation of graffiti - it is everywhere!

The closest Piazza to our hotel is Navona. It seems to be the local artist hot spot and has a spectacular Bernini fountain - Four Rivers.


As short walk from here was the oldest monument in Rome - the Parthenon. The square has an obelisk at its centre and the dome of the Parthenon has an open oculus. The bricked facade is quite intriguing with various subtle patterns in the brick that I'm guessing was further faced with marble at some time.


When we'd wandered back to our neighbourhood, we had dinner at a restaurant on the Campo de' Fiori - pasta of course. The day was warm so the evening in the outdoor cafe was most pleasant with various guitar virtuosos adding to the atmosphere.
When we returned to our hotel, we grabbed a glass of bubbly and headed up to the rooftop terrace again for another amazing look at Rome - a pretty nice end to Day 1.