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Published: October 11th 2008
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In had been a long time coming, but Ange and I finally found time to take ourselves on a honeymoon. Our plan was to spend ten days split across Rome and Paris. And of course having only been back in London for 2 weeks after our last trip to Italy, it was time for another break. And I did feel like I needed one after all the celebrations and hangovers surrounding my 30th birthday in that period.
We flew out of London on the Friday night after work and of course after some delays with flights, we arrived in Rome at about midnight and had to find our apartment. Unfortunately Ange had been starting to feel sick during Friday and by the time we had arrived and settled into our apartment, she was not feeling well at all. And this woudl end up persisting for the whole holiday (both Rome and Paris).
So with Ange incapacitated with a bad stomach bug, the first day and a half we did very little and spent most of the time in the apartment resting, reading and watching lots of CNN (the only English channel). The apartment itself was beautiful - a huge
Piazza Pietro
The columned surrounds were very impressive self contained one bedroom place right near the Vatican (you could see the dome of St Peter's Basilica out the window). And the great thing was that just around the corner was this great fresh food market that was a excellent source for fresh fruit and vege, along with fantastic cheese, wine, meat, and seafood - needless to say I made good use of the kitchen and great (and cheap) produce right there.
Late on the second day I managed to wheel Ange out for a walk around the Piazza in front of the Vatican. And we were both highly impressed with the main square in front of the Vatican - it was truly breathtaking. After a gentle stroll around here, we took shelter ina little food store while a brief storm passed over, and then we boarded one of the open top buses to ride the full circuit and see the sites. We figured this was a less strenuous option for Ange and let us get our bearings for the following days when we would explore the sites and areas in more detail. One thing we did notice at this stage of the trip was that Rome is
fairly spread out.
With two more days in Rome, Ange summoned all her strength to come and keep me company, and to visit some of the sites. The first of these days we spent exploring Rome itself.
Once again we hoped on the open top bus (given our ticket was still valid) and made our way to our first stop - the Trevi Fountain, which was fairly impressive. From here we wandered to see the Spanish Steps and then onto the Pantheon. For us it was interestign to see the Pantheon as we had only recently been to a private showing of the Hadrian exhibit at the British Museum. Hadrian was in fact the Emporer at the time (AD 118-125) who designed this impressive structure.
Now it had to be noted at this point in time that we had heard about a rather impressive gelati place in this area (Gelateria della Palma) that has more than 150 flavours of gelati. And it was tasty. Of course this had to be followed up with a visit to another little gem we had heard about (La Tazza d'Oro) that was reputed to be the best and cheapest espresso in
Piazza Pietro
Walking through the columned borders of the Piazza Rome - however although it was very good and cheap, I had found a little place near our apartment on my exploring that was just as cheap and I have to say nicer.
After our morning sustinance, we pressed on and walked along to and then through the main square, Piazza Navona. Our next stop was to the large memorial at the end of Piazza Venezia - an impressive site but apparently doesn't do much of anything, especially for its size. I think they have no made part of this a shrine to soldiers lost at war. After a wander around here we walked along the Roman Forum and out to the Colosseum for a wander around the great site.
From here we hoped on another open top bus that takes you for a bit of a drive out of the main areas of Rome, which while it didn't offer too many memoriable sites, it was nice to get out into some green areas and look at the countryside.
The following day we planned to work our way around the Vatican City itself. First stop was into St Peter's Basilica which was a very huge and grand
place - truly the best we have seen so far. We also made our way up to the top of the Dome to take in the amazing views across Rome itself and a look down onto Vatican City. Poor Ange did struglle a bit here as we had to climb a number of stairs. From here we went aroudn to see the Sistine Chapel. And what a rabbit warren that is to get to the Chapel itself - you make your way through room after room wondering if you are there yet. That's not to say it was boring, as the rooms were very impressive and ornate. And actually by the time we reached the Sistine Chapel itself, we were a bit underwhelmed and were surprised how small the Chapel itself was. I had always thought Michelangelo's ceiling would be a lot bigger. Plus I guess because they cram the people into this tiny space and yell at you if you speak or try to take a photo, you can be inclined to not take it all in properly.
And with that we had spent the last four days in Rome. Unfortunately Ange was struck down the whole time
with a bug, but we still got to have some time to rest and see the sights of Rome.
From here we caught a plane across to Paris for the next leg of our trip, and the focus of our next blog.
Till then, enjoy the photos.
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