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.