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Published: August 9th 2007
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The Famous Trevi Fountain
very tempting to jump in for a swim! Day 1...Covering Rome on Foot
We began our honeymoon in the Eternal City. Our overnight flight from Canada arrived in Rome at 11:00 AM, and we quickly found our way to the airport-termini train, which zipped us into the centre of the city. It was very hot for us getting out of the airport (maybe 25 C), as we came from Newfoundland where there was still a chill in the air and snow on the ground.
After a little fooling around and some swearing on our roller bags (cobblestone everywhere!) we found our accomodation...38 Viminale Street BnB, a great place to stay and I recommend it to anyone (without kids!). It was around 8-10 min walk from Termini.
I think the excitement of finally reaching Italy after so much planning chased away the fact that we just finished 20 hrs of travelling with little or no sleep, and after a quick wash and rest we were off!
We walked up the street to Piazza Della Rebublica, had a look around, and then headed down Via Nazionalle towards Bernini's 4 Fountains. After the fountains, continuing on Nazionalle we found a nice little park and enjoyed a stroll, exploring
On the Banks of the Tiber
This picture doesn't do justice to the beauty of this part of Rome. the many foreign trees and vegitations.
We then walked past the Quirinale (I believe some gov't building?) towards the Trevi Fountain. The crowds at the Trevi were a little overwhelming. I can't help but pity the uninformed tourists that travel to Rome and Italy in the Midst of Summer! I can only imagine (screamingly!) the crowds there in late July! We tossed our coins and were off...
We were coaxed into (but enjoyed none the less!) sitting for a beer and a cigar on a small (but tourist flooded) street between the Trevi and our next destination, the Pantheon. We explored the Pantheon a little, then headed to Piazza Navona where we enjoyed the local art. Too bad that Bernini's Fountain of the Four Rivers was covered in scalfolding and boards for repair.
Next we walked north to the Tiber where we saw the true beauty of Rome. With the sun now sitting lower in the sky, the Tiber River was awe-inspiring. We took the river path for a while until we came to the bridge of angels (another Bernini...hell of a popular guy in Rome!). We admired his work and crossed the bridge, telling the local
The Spanish Steps
Another popular location...beautiful this time of year when the flowers are out. "Gucci and Prada" "reps" we weren't interested in what they were selling! I did buy a pair of sunglasses though...10 Euro, original price 25...in retrospect I believe I could have had them for 5!! (He still probabily would have made a profit of 4!).
We walked to St. Peter's for a look and a quick call home (NEVER CALL HOME COLLECT FROM A PAYPHONE IN ITALY!!!!60 bucks=5 minutes!), then headed back towards our hotel, with a quick stop at the spanish steps. The steps were covered in Tourists and locals alike, and also many beautiful flowers. In the spring every year the flowers are put there in celebration of the season.
Our first dinner in Itay that night was a dissapointment. the pasta tasted like Chef Boyardi (No offense to the Chef, but I could have had that home!). I can't recall the name of the place but it was a major tourist trap with flashy lights...we knew what we were walking into, but we were hungry, and it was a hell of a long day (actually couple of days!)
Day 2...Ancient Rome and Ancient Religion
After a much needed good nights sleep we awoke
Mike's Moses
Our first view of Michaelangelo's master works with a full day planned (seeing a pattern here?!). We ate a nice breakfast (this hotel rocks!) and headed down Via Cavour to St Pietro in Vincoli to see Michaelangelo's Moses. Of all the art we seen during our 15 days in Italy, this was one of our favourites...amazing statue. Then it was off to Ancient Rome...
Susan said she will never forget the first glimpse of the Coloseum (see pic!), and nor will I. You imagine it being very large, but until you sctually see it I don't think one can truely grasp it's size. Thanks to some VT tips, we headed past the Coloseum to Palentine Hill to get tickets...I also wanted to check out the hill anyway, so it worked out great. I was hoping to get a glimpse of Circus Maximus from on top, however after walking around for about an hour we couldn't see it, and headed down to the Coloseum. Bypassing the large line we walked straight in with our tickets. I passed on some advise to some other NON-VT travellors who happily left on route for the hill to get their tickets also.
The inside was really cool...alot of dark history
The Coloseum
This thing is colossal!!! and blood spilled there I'm sure. We never bothered with any of the exibitions, and after a couple of pics and gazes we left to flag down a taxi...next Destination, the Vatican...and lunch!
The taxi dropped us at St Peter's square, where we left and walked north in search of a less touristed/cheaper area to eat. We didn't need to go far when we found a nice little bar and enjoyed some sandwiches and wine...followed by my new favourite drink Lemonchelo. We then headed back to the square to meet our guide. We had a 12:30 tour booked with Angel Tours.
While waiting for our tour we took in a little of the Papal Audience (It happened to be Wednesday). We heard the Pope bless Canada (the greatest country on earth!) and watched as the masses of people rolled like waves, shouting and holding banners. I think on a good day, the Pope could draw a bigger crowd than The Stones!
Our guide turned out to be rather informative, though I probabily would not recommmend him to devout Catholics...lots of good pope jokes, etc! We enjoyed it! We skipped the square, as it was still full of
Some of the Palentine Ruins
On our way back down to the Coloseum Papal show-goers, and headed into the museum, where we took in many of the highlites. Rather unfortunate that the Raphael rooms were closed at the time :-(
After the museum of course came the famous sought after Sistine Chapel. Though condemned, I did manage to squeeze off a short video to show we were there! After that we headed to St Peters to see some dead popes (I believe Madame Tousaude has had some influence here!), rub Pete's foot for good luck and maybe some forgiveness, and Michaelangelo's fabulous Pieta. Shame that some Whacko ruined it for everyone and now you can only view it from way back behind bullet-proof glass....maybe he wasn't whacko at all...maybe he was just hungry, and was pissed that the walls and ceilings of the chapel are lined with gold!...in which case I can't really blame him for taking a swing at the statue! Talk about making a statement!
Before leaving the Vatican we stopped by the post office to mail our moms a couple of post cards. The tour took a total of around 4.5 hours, and by this time we were hungry, and decided to head into Trastevere for what "Let's
St Peter's Bastillica
A view of St Peter's...HUGE! Go Italy" calls the best pizza in Rome. Unfortunatley I don't remember the name, however it doesn't matter becuuse we didn't get in anyway! This being only our second day in Italy, we were still unaware of the operating times of restaurants (generally most places close after lunch and don't re-open until 7:30 pm - Italians eat late)! We ended up getting stuck in a thunder storm, taking shelter in the well known church San Maria in Trastevere.
Coming back across the river we checked out the old bridge and the Isle of Tiber, on route for Circus Maximus...which we never found. I really don't know how we never found something that is supposed to be so HUGE, but we didn't! We ended up on Capitoline Hill, and took in the sunset from here. Being too hungry now to care for Circus M, we headed back toward the forum in search of nourishment. We admired Trajan's forum as well as some others (quickly!) and then stopped in a Trattoria just up the street for our first REAL Italian supper...Lasagna, potatoes, pizza, wine...we were full as a couple of eggs by the time we rolled away!
Day 2 was
Sun Setting Over Capitoline Hill
Looking for Circus Maximus, we ended up here awesome...what would the next 2 weeks have in store. Still to come: Florence, San Gimignano, Venice and Sorrento/Amalfi...we were going to busy!
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