Rome Diary Monday July 11
We are very excited! After using the trusty computer for research we have found a water park in Rome! Our plan is to go for the half day session at 2pm, allowing Danny to snooze away the morning, as he likes to do. And he does! We eat breakfast at about 11:30 and lotion up and set out. We are not sure where to find the bus 906 that we are looking for, so we just stop a bus, hop on and point to the paper on which I have written, Bus 906-Hydromania. This seems to work well, and we are dropped off in one spot, and wait about 15 minutes, then the 906 rolls up and we are on our way. We brought our read-aloud and take turns reading to each other, which is fun. Time it perfectly and we are entering at 2:05. It looks great, we head right to the wave pool and start bobbing. For the first time in a week my temperature drops below 100! My feet are so happy to be soaking and not walking. All those museums will just have to wait till the next trip! No one speaks English, and when people tell us things, we have no idea what they are saying. We manage to get on some cool slides. After a couple of hours, I take a break and head to find a bottle of water. As I wander with my money, I round a corner and there is a foam canon beginning to fire up and shoot foam at everyone! I zoom back to get Danny, and he has fun being foamed and I get some great photos! Everyone came over, old, young, men, women, everyone here likes to have fun! I grab a coffee and a fanta for D then round him up to sit for a snack. Not hungry he snarls, and I know he is! After cookies and a soda he revives, and we head back into the scene. What is happening now in the big wave pool(waves off) is that there is a live DJ/dance leader and another guy spinning and mixing music, like an outdoor dance club. Everyone is in the pool, facing the DJ and doing crazy dances along with him and a couple of pretty girls! Danny and I wade right in a get our groove on, we don’t know the directions called out but we can follow, and we have a ball. Kinda glad there are no photos of this! More swimming and sliding, and then they close it down at 6:15. We walk out to the place where the bus dropped us off and a bus rolls up. It is hot, so we just get on, and I show the driver my paper with area we want to go. He nods. About 5 minutes later, in a neighborhood, he pulls over and tells us to get out and says another bus number. Okay! We spot a water spout and down to containers of water and commence reading our book(Clockwork Three) and the bus rolls up! Hooray! After about 10 minutes I stop reading and tell Danny we need to keep our eyes open…and I think, hey wait a minute, this is our street! Danny pushes the button, and the bus door opens literally on the doorstep of our Taverna where we have gotten food for the past 3 nights! GOD is good we say to each other as we pick out our dinner, stop for Danny’s gelati and head home. The guests who were supposed to be here had their passports stolen in Switzerland, so they can’t come, and Danny and I have the whole apartment to ourselves. It is Danny’s day, so he chooses Looney Tunes cartoons to watch, then reads me another chapter of our book. This was a wonderful break from the touring, and we had a good time together(though I am not as much fun at a water park as Christopher or Ryan would be-I tried!) Last day in Rome tomorrow..
Monday, July 11, 2011
Sunday in Rome Photos
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| after Sunday mass at Saint Peters |
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| the main altar |
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| Danny takes a snap of Mom |
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| Hey, The Pope's on TV! |
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| The Italian Army seeks a new recruit! |
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| on the roof of Castel Sant'Angelo |
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| Danny checks the site line on his shot-job, to protect the Pope! |
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| The bridge of Angels |
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| perfect Rome shot! |
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| filling up the water bottle-love those aquaducts! |
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| guarding the French Embassy in Piazza Farnese |
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| one of the ceilings in the oldest church in Rome |
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| cannoli, chocolatefilled cream puff, and off to the side, the notorious Bomba! |
Roma Ramblings --- Sunday Mass at Saint Peters!
Danny is singing in the shower right now, after being happily fed. we are alone again tonight, not that we get wild, but it is nice to know we aren't disturbing anyone.
We watched the movie Fantastic Mr. Fox together while lounging around our bed. So strange...will I be able to go back to cleaning,washing,answering the phone,etc....after my long idle?! Stay tuned!
PS>>When we unwrap the pastries after the movie, I give the Bomba a sniff and find out why it is called that...Danny would have gotten "bombed" if he had eaten it, it turns out to be soaked in RUM! Luckily the other 2 are fine! Live and learn :)
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Photos from Friday in Roma!
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| Trevi Fountain |
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| I'll be back! |
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| the fountain |
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| Danny filling our water at the base of Spanish Steps |
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| the Spanish Steps |
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| happy eater!! |
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| cool fixture |
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| gnocchi (or as we called it-not pizza!) |
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| In the Vatican Museum |
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| Pope Leo |
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| one of the many gorgeous ceilings |
Roma Ramblings -- Making our way to the Appian Way!
Tour,sleep,eat,repeat!
We ask our host(who is stuck cleaning the B&B because his housekeeper is on vacation) how to get to the Appian Way and he advises us to get on the Archaebus, a hop-on-hop-off deallyoh that costs 25eu for 24 hours....Uh, No Thanks Paulo! We study the guide books a bit more, and take the metro to the bus to the Appian Way for about 4eu! Wait time-metro-2 minutes, bus about 8 minutes, total time for trip 25 minutes! That's how the intrepid tourists do it, my Italian friend! Leaving us plenty of spatch to buy a corronetto chocolate for Danny at the newstand where we buy the bus ticket! We chat up a Chinese woman on the bus and walk with her down to the Catacombe Di San Callisto, which is about a mile down the road from where we are droppped off. It is a lovely walk through the Italian countryside, and we hear birds! and see greenery! The road was called Via Regina, or the queen of roads because it was the first one the Romans built, and is still made of the original large black stones. You cannot go in the catacombes unescourted, so we hop on an English tour (they offer them in 6 languages!) and head down into the catacombes. This one was founded in the 2nd centruy and is the largest, with over 20km of tunnels and more to be excavated. It is beautifully cold below ground, and we go on the first ywo of four levels. The shadowy sepluchres hold 16 Pontiffs, 56 martyrs and over half a million regular Giovanni's. It is also the home of the Crypt of Saint Cecilia,. When her tomb was opened in 1599, centuries after her death, her body was there, perfectly preserved, with her fingers on one hand showing the number 1, for one GOD, and the other hand 3 fingers, said to represent the trinity. This inspired Stefano Modernos beautiful sculpture of the martyr, a copy of which we saw, and the original is in Basilica di Santa Cecelia in Trastevere. Our tour is large and our guide speaks "english??" extremely rapidly with a thick Indian accent, but the palce is fabulous! We learn alot and enjoy it and visit the gift shop-true sign of a good tourist stop! We stroll back down the street to the next catacombe and decide to visit:am I glad we did! This one was Basilica E Catacombe Di Santa Sebastiano. This was actually the first catacombe(in spite of its braggarty neighbor!) and is where the name came from. In Greek, kata kymbas-near the quarry, is where catacombe originated. Folks would say where their family was buried, and they didn't use street addresses like today. We toured the catacombes with just 2 other people, and a fantastic guide, who gave us so much history and information, about Saint Sebastion, a mighty martyr and patron saint of soldiers,athletes and plague victims, about all the christian symbols found throughout, the burial techniques,etc. It was so great! Danny really loved being able to move around the small rooms and poke his head into places. The timeline went like this,: site used for pagan burial in 137ish, then the catacombes used in 3rd and 4th century, then a house and gathering place for followers of Christ especially devoted to Peter and Paul built on that, then the Basilica built over that. The basilica is stupendous and contains both the arrows used to try to kill Saint Sebastion, and the miraculous footprints of Jesus himselfWhen St. Peter was fleeing Rome for his life, he met a vision of Jesus on this very road. He asked Jesus "Domine, quo vadis?" "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus replied that he was going to Rome to be crucified a second time. Then he disappeared, and when St. Peter wondered if he had really seen Jesus, he looked down and there were the marble footprints of Jesus in the dirt! And we saw these in the church! The end of the story is that St. Peter turned around and went back to rome and was crucified. Wow! We again head out to the road, and pass many more ruins on the way back to the bus stop. Also a Harley Davidson Club rally, just to keep things in the 21st centruy! We wait less than 10 minutes for our bus, and shoot back to our neighborhood with nary a blink. We accidently exit the metro through the wrong hallway, and after a brief twilight zone moment "umm, how has this whole street changed since this morning?!" we end up happy, because we find a bank (no credit welcome in Italy), a delicious take-out bar(stuffed tomatoes, croquets of rice,meat,etc fried, and of course, Pizza! and a gelateria that Danny visits and snags pistachio and fruit inglese for later. Oh yeah! When we get home, we meet Jill form Australia, who joins us for our meal and we share stories. Glad that Danny got to see the fun of the B&B with meeting other people! Ciao!
We ask our host(who is stuck cleaning the B&B because his housekeeper is on vacation) how to get to the Appian Way and he advises us to get on the Archaebus, a hop-on-hop-off deallyoh that costs 25eu for 24 hours....Uh, No Thanks Paulo! We study the guide books a bit more, and take the metro to the bus to the Appian Way for about 4eu! Wait time-metro-2 minutes, bus about 8 minutes, total time for trip 25 minutes! That's how the intrepid tourists do it, my Italian friend! Leaving us plenty of spatch to buy a corronetto chocolate for Danny at the newstand where we buy the bus ticket! We chat up a Chinese woman on the bus and walk with her down to the Catacombe Di San Callisto, which is about a mile down the road from where we are droppped off. It is a lovely walk through the Italian countryside, and we hear birds! and see greenery! The road was called Via Regina, or the queen of roads because it was the first one the Romans built, and is still made of the original large black stones. You cannot go in the catacombes unescourted, so we hop on an English tour (they offer them in 6 languages!) and head down into the catacombes. This one was founded in the 2nd centruy and is the largest, with over 20km of tunnels and more to be excavated. It is beautifully cold below ground, and we go on the first ywo of four levels. The shadowy sepluchres hold 16 Pontiffs, 56 martyrs and over half a million regular Giovanni's. It is also the home of the Crypt of Saint Cecilia,. When her tomb was opened in 1599, centuries after her death, her body was there, perfectly preserved, with her fingers on one hand showing the number 1, for one GOD, and the other hand 3 fingers, said to represent the trinity. This inspired Stefano Modernos beautiful sculpture of the martyr, a copy of which we saw, and the original is in Basilica di Santa Cecelia in Trastevere. Our tour is large and our guide speaks "english??" extremely rapidly with a thick Indian accent, but the palce is fabulous! We learn alot and enjoy it and visit the gift shop-true sign of a good tourist stop! We stroll back down the street to the next catacombe and decide to visit:am I glad we did! This one was Basilica E Catacombe Di Santa Sebastiano. This was actually the first catacombe(in spite of its braggarty neighbor!) and is where the name came from. In Greek, kata kymbas-near the quarry, is where catacombe originated. Folks would say where their family was buried, and they didn't use street addresses like today. We toured the catacombes with just 2 other people, and a fantastic guide, who gave us so much history and information, about Saint Sebastion, a mighty martyr and patron saint of soldiers,athletes and plague victims, about all the christian symbols found throughout, the burial techniques,etc. It was so great! Danny really loved being able to move around the small rooms and poke his head into places. The timeline went like this,: site used for pagan burial in 137ish, then the catacombes used in 3rd and 4th century, then a house and gathering place for followers of Christ especially devoted to Peter and Paul built on that, then the Basilica built over that. The basilica is stupendous and contains both the arrows used to try to kill Saint Sebastion, and the miraculous footprints of Jesus himselfWhen St. Peter was fleeing Rome for his life, he met a vision of Jesus on this very road. He asked Jesus "Domine, quo vadis?" "Lord, where are you going?" Jesus replied that he was going to Rome to be crucified a second time. Then he disappeared, and when St. Peter wondered if he had really seen Jesus, he looked down and there were the marble footprints of Jesus in the dirt! And we saw these in the church! The end of the story is that St. Peter turned around and went back to rome and was crucified. Wow! We again head out to the road, and pass many more ruins on the way back to the bus stop. Also a Harley Davidson Club rally, just to keep things in the 21st centruy! We wait less than 10 minutes for our bus, and shoot back to our neighborhood with nary a blink. We accidently exit the metro through the wrong hallway, and after a brief twilight zone moment "umm, how has this whole street changed since this morning?!" we end up happy, because we find a bank (no credit welcome in Italy), a delicious take-out bar(stuffed tomatoes, croquets of rice,meat,etc fried, and of course, Pizza! and a gelateria that Danny visits and snags pistachio and fruit inglese for later. Oh yeah! When we get home, we meet Jill form Australia, who joins us for our meal and we share stories. Glad that Danny got to see the fun of the B&B with meeting other people! Ciao!
Roma Ramblings Vatican Under the Stars Day!
Rome Diary Friday July 8
Our pattern is set with Mr. Lay-about in charge! No, seriously, the poor guy's legs are walked off, and he sleeps forever! I enjoy my time alone though, and write our travel-log and scan the’ net for interesting Rome facts, read the Rome guidebook and prepare for the day’s adventures. So it’s all good!
The breakfast is as it would be at home, or at an inexpensive road-side hotel in the US, and that is just fine. As previously mentioned, the espresso machine is primo, so what else would I need?! Danny loves using it too, and bringing me my cup, so cute! We head down to the metro around 12:30, and exit at Spagna, emerging into the sunny crowed Piazza di Spagna. The first thing we see is the beautiful boat shaped Barcaccia fountain with water spouting out of the stem and stern. You can drink and fill you water bottles right from I and we do! The fountain contains the now famous to us Barcaccia bees, and they say symbolizes either the church, under attack, never sinking, or the fact that they used to flood the area to have mock naval battles there. Take your pick! The place is loaded with tourists, viewing the fountain and the Spanish steps, shopping in all the boutiques surrounding the square(I detour into Benetton for old times sake) all with large signs reading SALDE! which means sale! We head up the Spanish Steps, which in contrast to what we climbed daily in Greece are basically nothing! And are filled with knock-off purse and sunglasses men. Not really romantic or historical, such is the world now I guess. At the top of the steps we admire the view, and visit the beautiful Chiesa della Trinita dei Monti which has breathtaking side chapels and an altar that is also very beautiful. As always we pray, it is our custom now to visit the Blessed Mother altars and kneel and say a Hail Mary aloud together, and I love this. We head down a side street looking for The House of Monsters which is mentioned in our Kids/Rome guidebook, but it is gone, undergoing a facelift, covered with scaffolding, no monsters in site. Things come and go, we learn! Down another street in this posh area and we visit the Anglo-American Bookshop just or fun. Danny spends a good bit of time reading a comic book version of the history of Rome, and I’m sure is gaining as much, if not more from that than he would from any of the guidebooks! Two secret service type bodyguards are outside the door, and one is inside, so I’m hoping to see Suri Cruise or Angelina and her brood shopping for books, but no such luck. Just an unidentifiable non-descript business man type, though obviously he is “someone”! On we go, no stopping at a great bar as they are called, for a quick stand-up cappachuno and gelato. YUM! Danny has two scoops, vanilla and nutella, and reports that is wonderful! We are on the trail toTrevi Fountain, but wander through many Piazza’s and stop to take in an exhibit of Catholic frescos from Serbia on a traveling display in a beautiful peaceful courtyard. When we enter spontaneously from the blazing sunshine it is cool and peaceful and we are only two of four people visiting. Aaahh, off the beaten trail can be lovely and the frescos are magnificent. We also happen into the Pontifical University, where a Doctoral professor stops us and explains the purpose of the university, shows us the 15th century courtyard area with statues and the building across the square which houses the oldest most prestigious language institute in the world, minimum 7 languages to enter, and the Egyptian department communicates exclusively in hieroglyphs! Also the street to the left where they filmed the scooter scene in Roman Holiday(a must view when we get home!) So when you think you are lost, you usually end up in the most interesting spots, perhaps the best life lesson for both a ten year old boy and a forty-nine year old gal to take from this trip.
And then we emerge from an ally into the startling piazza with the Trevi Fountain. Though mobbed, the fountain is so enormous it doesn’t even feel crowed. The
Fontana di Trevi was designed by Nicola Salvi in 1732 and depicts Neptune’s chariot being led by Tritons with sea horses, one wild and one docile-representing the various moods of the sea. Danny is eager to find The Ace of Cups and sets off to explore. He is soo excited when he finds it, and gleefully drinks water right from it, and then has me do it too! The Trevi is the start from which all the other fountains get their water and it is strong and freezing! The story behind this spout is cute: the builders had a nosy barber in the neighborhood who kept on them all day about everything they were doing. One night they constructed this big spout area so that in the morning, the barber’s view was completely blocked!! We head off to find the Pantheon, but as we wander down a side street we find a restaurant with a food happy hour(jerry-take note!)! Pasta for $5eu! So Danny tries the classic Rome specialty buccelli ala ammarsomething and I have the potato gnocchi and he tries a lot of that too! Funny, we ask for tap water and they don’t serve it! “No water, NO! “ says the waiter. Okay…I turn the wine glasses over, pull out our canteen and fill ‘em up! We refill our bottle in the bathroom and have a second round! Too funny! After that 20 minute café stop, we decide to head to the Vatican, because we need to be there 30 minutes early for our tour. We consult the map, which we are starting to get a handle on, and decide to walk it. We find a fabulous bakery along the way and buy some pistachio cookies for Danny and some raisin ones for me for a treat later tonight. We wander across the river on a different bridge and end up in a neat riverside street market! I accidentally buy another purse, got down from 25eu to 12, so what could I do? I didn’t even know I wanted it!! I hope to return for a sundress, that skirt that you see in every photo is my only one, as the second went home with Molly after the embassy party. Note to European travelers in the summer..dresses and skirts are MUCH COOLER than shorts, and you never feel bad going into the churches. We arrive at the Vatican to find that rather than needing to get there at 6:30, the doors will open at 7 and we are lined up in a blazing hot area to wait the half hour. We end up with an unfolded map over our heads for shade, with Danny fanning us with our paper ticket receipt. It seems to take forever, but eventually we hear noises behind the 20 foot high bronze doors, and they are unlocked, releasing a blast of air-conditioning that truly feels like heaven! We are the third ones in, breeze through security, Danny checks the bag, I get the tickets and we are in. We realize as we start up the ramp with interesting boats from many lands displayed along it’s spiraling path, that we haven’t grabbed our guidebooks. In a way it is freeing though, and we decide to see what we see, read what is signed in English and just enjoy! Of course the visit is magnificent. The crowds are half what they are in the daytime, open courtyard reas are filled with lighted candles making it feel like you are bake in the 1500’s or earlier. The Sistine chapel is breathtaking, and is the crown jewel, but there really is so much more, every room has a ceiling to study, floor mosaics, and frescoed moldings, and then there is what is on display in it. Too much to take in, but wonderful. We took the short visit route to the Sistine Chapel, then went back and start again and did the long route. This turned out to be great, because the 8pm time slot folks were bustling along to the Sistine as were all the tour groups, that is where they end, whereas we had time to stop all along and see whatever we wanted to. We ended up in the Borgia apartments with the contemporary art(Klee,Dali,etc.) alone, just taking it in and chatting. It was amazing. We emerged at 10:30, the closing time, and began our hike up-hill towards home. It is a solid. Brisk 20 minute walk, and we arrived home basically having been on our feet walking for 9 ½ hours! Needless to say tomorrow will not be our early day! We wash our feet-oh heaven, and have our cookies and milk/coffee and read a bit and lights out at 12:30. Another stunning, perfect day!
Our pattern is set with Mr. Lay-about in charge! No, seriously, the poor guy's legs are walked off, and he sleeps forever! I enjoy my time alone though, and write our travel-log and scan the’ net for interesting Rome facts, read the Rome guidebook and prepare for the day’s adventures. So it’s all good!
The breakfast is as it would be at home, or at an inexpensive road-side hotel in the US, and that is just fine. As previously mentioned, the espresso machine is primo, so what else would I need?! Danny loves using it too, and bringing me my cup, so cute! We head down to the metro around 12:30, and exit at Spagna, emerging into the sunny crowed Piazza di Spagna. The first thing we see is the beautiful boat shaped Barcaccia fountain with water spouting out of the stem and stern. You can drink and fill you water bottles right from I and we do! The fountain contains the now famous to us Barcaccia bees, and they say symbolizes either the church, under attack, never sinking, or the fact that they used to flood the area to have mock naval battles there. Take your pick! The place is loaded with tourists, viewing the fountain and the Spanish steps, shopping in all the boutiques surrounding the square(I detour into Benetton for old times sake) all with large signs reading SALDE! which means sale! We head up the Spanish Steps, which in contrast to what we climbed daily in Greece are basically nothing! And are filled with knock-off purse and sunglasses men. Not really romantic or historical, such is the world now I guess. At the top of the steps we admire the view, and visit the beautiful Chiesa della Trinita dei Monti which has breathtaking side chapels and an altar that is also very beautiful. As always we pray, it is our custom now to visit the Blessed Mother altars and kneel and say a Hail Mary aloud together, and I love this. We head down a side street looking for The House of Monsters which is mentioned in our Kids/Rome guidebook, but it is gone, undergoing a facelift, covered with scaffolding, no monsters in site. Things come and go, we learn! Down another street in this posh area and we visit the Anglo-American Bookshop just or fun. Danny spends a good bit of time reading a comic book version of the history of Rome, and I’m sure is gaining as much, if not more from that than he would from any of the guidebooks! Two secret service type bodyguards are outside the door, and one is inside, so I’m hoping to see Suri Cruise or Angelina and her brood shopping for books, but no such luck. Just an unidentifiable non-descript business man type, though obviously he is “someone”! On we go, no stopping at a great bar as they are called, for a quick stand-up cappachuno and gelato. YUM! Danny has two scoops, vanilla and nutella, and reports that is wonderful! We are on the trail toTrevi Fountain, but wander through many Piazza’s and stop to take in an exhibit of Catholic frescos from Serbia on a traveling display in a beautiful peaceful courtyard. When we enter spontaneously from the blazing sunshine it is cool and peaceful and we are only two of four people visiting. Aaahh, off the beaten trail can be lovely and the frescos are magnificent. We also happen into the Pontifical University, where a Doctoral professor stops us and explains the purpose of the university, shows us the 15th century courtyard area with statues and the building across the square which houses the oldest most prestigious language institute in the world, minimum 7 languages to enter, and the Egyptian department communicates exclusively in hieroglyphs! Also the street to the left where they filmed the scooter scene in Roman Holiday(a must view when we get home!) So when you think you are lost, you usually end up in the most interesting spots, perhaps the best life lesson for both a ten year old boy and a forty-nine year old gal to take from this trip.
And then we emerge from an ally into the startling piazza with the Trevi Fountain. Though mobbed, the fountain is so enormous it doesn’t even feel crowed. The
Fontana di Trevi was designed by Nicola Salvi in 1732 and depicts Neptune’s chariot being led by Tritons with sea horses, one wild and one docile-representing the various moods of the sea. Danny is eager to find The Ace of Cups and sets off to explore. He is soo excited when he finds it, and gleefully drinks water right from it, and then has me do it too! The Trevi is the start from which all the other fountains get their water and it is strong and freezing! The story behind this spout is cute: the builders had a nosy barber in the neighborhood who kept on them all day about everything they were doing. One night they constructed this big spout area so that in the morning, the barber’s view was completely blocked!! We head off to find the Pantheon, but as we wander down a side street we find a restaurant with a food happy hour(jerry-take note!)! Pasta for $5eu! So Danny tries the classic Rome specialty buccelli ala ammarsomething and I have the potato gnocchi and he tries a lot of that too! Funny, we ask for tap water and they don’t serve it! “No water, NO! “ says the waiter. Okay…I turn the wine glasses over, pull out our canteen and fill ‘em up! We refill our bottle in the bathroom and have a second round! Too funny! After that 20 minute café stop, we decide to head to the Vatican, because we need to be there 30 minutes early for our tour. We consult the map, which we are starting to get a handle on, and decide to walk it. We find a fabulous bakery along the way and buy some pistachio cookies for Danny and some raisin ones for me for a treat later tonight. We wander across the river on a different bridge and end up in a neat riverside street market! I accidentally buy another purse, got down from 25eu to 12, so what could I do? I didn’t even know I wanted it!! I hope to return for a sundress, that skirt that you see in every photo is my only one, as the second went home with Molly after the embassy party. Note to European travelers in the summer..dresses and skirts are MUCH COOLER than shorts, and you never feel bad going into the churches. We arrive at the Vatican to find that rather than needing to get there at 6:30, the doors will open at 7 and we are lined up in a blazing hot area to wait the half hour. We end up with an unfolded map over our heads for shade, with Danny fanning us with our paper ticket receipt. It seems to take forever, but eventually we hear noises behind the 20 foot high bronze doors, and they are unlocked, releasing a blast of air-conditioning that truly feels like heaven! We are the third ones in, breeze through security, Danny checks the bag, I get the tickets and we are in. We realize as we start up the ramp with interesting boats from many lands displayed along it’s spiraling path, that we haven’t grabbed our guidebooks. In a way it is freeing though, and we decide to see what we see, read what is signed in English and just enjoy! Of course the visit is magnificent. The crowds are half what they are in the daytime, open courtyard reas are filled with lighted candles making it feel like you are bake in the 1500’s or earlier. The Sistine chapel is breathtaking, and is the crown jewel, but there really is so much more, every room has a ceiling to study, floor mosaics, and frescoed moldings, and then there is what is on display in it. Too much to take in, but wonderful. We took the short visit route to the Sistine Chapel, then went back and start again and did the long route. This turned out to be great, because the 8pm time slot folks were bustling along to the Sistine as were all the tour groups, that is where they end, whereas we had time to stop all along and see whatever we wanted to. We ended up in the Borgia apartments with the contemporary art(Klee,Dali,etc.) alone, just taking it in and chatting. It was amazing. We emerged at 10:30, the closing time, and began our hike up-hill towards home. It is a solid. Brisk 20 minute walk, and we arrived home basically having been on our feet walking for 9 ½ hours! Needless to say tomorrow will not be our early day! We wash our feet-oh heaven, and have our cookies and milk/coffee and read a bit and lights out at 12:30. Another stunning, perfect day!
Friday, July 8, 2011
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