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Published: December 19th 2006
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Trevi Fountain
Be careful of bag snatchers in this area (which we saw one of) and people offering you things 'for free'...nothing is ever free. There is also an excellent gelati place on the corner opposite the fountain. Our first day in Rome was one I think I would rather forget, apart from a couple of things. Firstly, there was all the dramas of missed flights, lost luggage and my mobile. Then we decided to walk to the Trevi fountain from our hotel where we proceeded to fall for the trap that every tourist book warns of. A man approached us and wanted to give me some red and yellow roses ‘for free’. I dumbly accepted, and then he said to Kel that he needed a little something, and Kelly was fishing for his wallet and was like ‘ahh…’ and the guy said he had change. Kelly gave him a 20 euro note, which was the smallest amount of money he had, and then the guy put it in his wallet and then gave me two more roses and walked off. A tip for anyone who has never been to Rome and wants to go…NEVER ACCEPT ANYTHING ‘FOR FREE’.
We then had some yummy gelati before walking back up to the Villa Borghese where we went to the Galleria Borghese, a museum. It was absolutely amazing! The building was very big and inside was beautiful. I don’t think one part of the interior hadn’t been decorated with art. To get to the main building you have to walk through this beautiful park, which I think would be even better in summer.
I heard after we had already been that you have to book the tickets in advance, and me being super organised for this trip had done that back in September . All our tickets for all the attractions had been booked, and it seems pretty hassle free so far. They only allow a certain number of people in at any one time. We went at 5pm on a Saturday afternoon (it shuts at 7pm on Saturdays) and I thought it was a great time to visit, though maybe daylight would have been better to look out over the gardens, but none-the-less, it was still gorgeous.
The Galleria Borghese is an 18th century villa which was owned by Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who was really into his art. Some of the pieces were controversial (because of the nakedness of the statues), which was unusual for a holy man to have as they were normally quite conservative, but since he was so high up in the Church, no one really cared too much. There was a lot of art by famous artists such as Caravaggio, Bernini, Botticelli and Raphael (the only one I had really heard of prior to coming to Italy was Raphael and even then didn’t know too much about any of them). Bernini and Raphael have tones of art around Rome, and especially at the Vatican.
The ceiling in the main room of the first floor is astonishing. You walk in the there are massive paintings on all the walls that draw your eyes up to the top and I was breath-taken. I have never seen anything like it before in my life. The details were amazing, and the statues were fantastic as well. Many made from big slabs of marble, and you would wonder how they could possibly get so much attention to detail. Be sure to get an audio guide here. You learn so much more about the art that way. I will have to add photos later as I still don’t have the camera cable to download the photos yet.
That night we went to dinner at a ristorante called San Marco on Via Sardegna and they had the best spaghetti pesto I have ever had. They gave us some nice crusty bread and the waiter poured some olive oil and balsamic vinegar on my saucer to mix and dip my bread in. Kel was annoyed as he didn’t get that service…the Italian men certainly know how to treat their women! And many are easy on the eye too (Bonus!!!)
Anyway, I ordered the pesto and Kel ordered a vegetarian calzone, and we had some bruschetta (pronounced broosketta) to share as an entrée. The bruschetta was so delicious! So fresh and flavoursome. The waiter decided to split the pesto without asking and we managed to have a 3 course meal for the price of two! He also brought a glass of wine (which was massive) and the wine was so good. Very thick, smooth and easy to drink. I’m sure it wasn’t a house wine…it seemed too good for that. Anyway, the price was very reasonable for 2 people, and Kel is still raving about their pesto. It wasn’t a creamy pesto which was great, but it wasn’t very oily either…just perfect!
I am writing this on our last night in Rome (and by the way, we have one bag…the other is apparently in Florence, so we had better get it tomorrow!) and we have been to all the sites, and so you can read more of our adventures in other posts.
Arrivederci!
K'n'K
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