I may be Canadian, but I have Roman hands

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The end of our trip came too soon (although it's taken me 4 months for my last blog).

During our first stop in Rome, we visited the gardens of the Roman History Museum and the Baths of Diocletian. We visited the group of four Late Renaissance fountains located at the Via delle Quattro Fontane and ended up at the top of the Spanish Steps. We took the high road next to the Borghese Park and looked out over the City of Rome from the Plaza del Popolo near the Da Vinci Museum. We met up with a free tour group at the Spanish Steps. The tour took us to the hidden gardens of St. Andrew’s Church and to the Pantheon. The tour was a bit slow so we went our own way and found the Trevi Fountain. The next morning, we caught the metro to the Vatican City. Although we were beleaguered by scores of people trying to get us on private tours, we made it to St. Peter’s Basilica. Ann sent a letter to her sister from the Vatican City post office. Then we had to leave for the coast to catch a boat.

After our cruise, we caught a train back into Rome. We stashed our bags at the train station and visited the Santa Maria Maggiore on the way to find an internet café. We looked all over the Colosseum and the Forum until Ann finally found an internet spot. We booked a hotel but I didn’t manage to finish my blog. We got our bags and dropped them off at the hotel. We walked to the old city walls and followed it into the Villa Borghese gardens. We saw Porto Pinociana, Pincio Hill, Piazza del Popolo, Via de Ripetta to the Mausoleum of Augustus. We bought a three day Rome pass and visited the Ara Pacis. We crossed the Ponte Cauous to the Palazzo Grustizia. We stopped at the Castel Sant’Angelo and took photos from the Ponte Sant’Angelo. We crossed the Vitrio Emanuel II and walked to the Piazza Navona, then Campo d’Fiori. We headed for Isola Tibernia and crossed Ponte Fabricio, Ponte Cestio and back over Ponte Palatino to end up at the Piazza Bocca della Verita. We also saw the remains of the Ponte Rotto. We found the Bocca delle Verita in the church of Santa Maria in Cosmedin in Rome. We walked through the Circo Massimo (Circus Maximus) just as it started to get dark and came to the Arco di Costantino and the Colosseum. We had dinner right in front of the Colosseum where I finally got a one litre stein that I had been missing out on for a couple weeks.

First thing the next morning, we caught the metro to the Colosseum to beat the crowds. For the first 20 minutes we had some breathing room and then the hordes descended. We scoped out the upper balconies, the exhibits, the ground floor and looked into the preparation area below the arena floor. We climbed up the Palentine Hill and down through the Roman Forum past the Arco di Tito. It was exciting to walk down the Sacred Way and enter buildings that Caesars and Senators walked over 2000 years ago. We grabbed a bite to eat, then caught the metro to Pyramide Station and followed the old city walls along to the Tereme di Caracalla (the ruins of the Roman Baths). A lot of the original flooring and some mosaics still remain within the vast ruins of the baths. Afterwards, we took the bus down the ancient Appian Way, which used to be the main road of the city during the time of the Caesars. We had dinner at a fancy Flavia St. restaurant with sirloin, risotto and a bottle of wine, which was enough to put us to sleep.

Thanks to some good advice, we had reserved tickets for the Borghese Gallery from which we started our adventures the next morning. The statues and artwork were impressive having been collected by Popes and the filthy rich for the last several centuries. It was surprisingly filled with mostly pagan decorations. Afterwards, we walked by the Zoologico where we stopped for lunch and an armadillo visit. We continued to the Etruscan Museum, but the lackluster staff abilities and unimpressive interior led us to seek other interests. We came across a local market where we bought a ring and cheap drinks. We found the oldest café Antico Caffé Greco (est. 1760) on the Via Condotti and Ann had an iced coffee with a Rum Baba dessert. We visited the Piazza Colonia, Piazza di Montecitorio, the Pantheon and the Trevi Fountain. We threw coins in the fountain to make sure we would return to Rome and caught the metro out to Leparto where we walked through the Prati area to the Piazzo Cavour. We spent a couple hours walking around the fortress walls of the Castel Sant’Angelo We watched the sunset behind St. Peter’s Basilica as we had dinner on the battlements of the fortress. We followed the passageway wall from the Castel Sant’Angelo to the Vatican City. We sat at the central obelisk in the centre of the Piazza San Pietro and saw the lights come on as it got dark.

The next morning, we were on a plane and the honey moon was ….. nah! The honeymoon is still strong and healthy every day.

Cheers, Richard and Ann

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