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Buongiorno from Roma! Yes, it has only been 2 days sunce my last post, but the next couple of days in Florence will be hectic and I'm not sure how accessible internet will be in Cinque Terre!
Wow - I had forgotten how mindblowing Rome can be. Modern buildings, cars etc and all of a sudden you stumble upon some random roman ruin (not even a particularly well known one!) and remember where you are! I'm so happy to be back in Italy - love it here! I love the food, the people, the language....the list goes on. Had a slightly scary experience in a taxi last night, but apart from that everything has been fab!
The apartment Robyn found us is super central - I think rather than 'all roads lead to Rome' it's more a case of all 'all roads lead to our apartment'! It's a stone's throw to the Pantheon and Piazza Navona and is great - could be a little bigger but apart from that, perfetto!
Speaking of puns, 'when in Rome' has become an excuse to do anything we like - in particular eat loads of pasta and gelato. I've tried to
be a bit restrained, but had to get stuff like gnocchi with gorganzola out of the way early so I'm not pining for it the whole time! We found Campo dei Fiori yesterday and the great markets and bought some beautiful fruit & munchies. We've also found Giolotti which is the pope's fave gelato place and they do a mean chocolate gelato!
Yesterday we did a mega walking tour of Rome and covered Campo, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, Piazza del Popolo, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum & th Forum. I'm sure I've missed something out but it was a loooong day. We went to Pyramide for dinner to a restaurant Dan recommended. I had spaghetti with cheese & pepper and even though it wsa relatively plain, it was one of the best dishes so far!
Today we got up early and headed for the Vatican. We were lucky enough to land her on the last Sunday of the month, on which entry is free - woo hoo! It's funny what time does to distort memories.....some things here I remember being bigger, and some smaller. The Vatican fell into the latter category - I had truly forgotten how mammoth it is! By
the 5th hall you're just praying to get to the Sistine Chapel, and even after th Sistine, praying for the exit!! It was truly amazing though and I enjoyed it. The funniest thing was the announcements over the PA (very loud) telling everyone in 5 different languages to be silent - it pretty much defeated the purpose!!
After the Vatican we hit St Peters Basilica, another thing I had forgotten the sheer size of! We were fortunate enough to catch the end of a service and some beautigul singing. The others went and climbed the cupola but due to my fear of heights I passed and went down to the crypts of the popes instead. Saw the crypt of John Paul II which was quite mocving and many people praying in front of it.
This afternoon we were meant to do a walking tour of the Travastere area but we are all pretty knackered after being up since around 7am! It means I'll have to come back some time - darn it! I also didn't realise we needed to book Villa Borghese so far in advance, but then it is a weekend and bank holiday in the UK
- so we missed out on that - another reason to come back.
Tomorrow we head for Firenze on the train - kind of sad to be leaving here but looking forward to the next installment!! Love to all, Anj oxox
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