April 30- Rome

Had breakfast at our place, yogourt and granola. We head out around 9:15. We are taking the hop on-hop off bus to go see the Catacombs found in Via Appia under the church of San Sebastiano. We walk to the Colosseum bus stop and hop on around 10:20. It takes about 15-20 minutes to get there. Luckily there is a tour in about 15 minutes. We visit the church and then wait for our guide. We are a dozen or so people for the English tour. Unfortunately we are not allowed to take pictures nor videos. Our guide walks us down 9 meters. It’s a real maze down there so we must stay with the group. I visited this place 30 years ago and there were still skeletons in the graves. No more. The guide said that people used to take souvenirs home. They were also broken into by bandits. Ah well, still cool to see the graves and headstones. We then walked another 3 meters lower. The experts believe that this area is were pagans were buried as it is different than where the Christian’s were buried. Pagans could also be cremated; not Christians. These Catacombs exist because there was no place in Rome for burial. The Emperors did not want dead bodies, some inflicted with disease, to be buried in the city. Our guide was very knowledgeable and his English was amazing. It was very informative and I would suggest a visit when in Rome.

In the entrance of the waiting area, we could take pictures, so this is the only one that I took. There were none of these left in the Catacombs.

We jumped on the bus just after we finished our tour and decided to just walk around and wait to follow another free walking tour included with our bus pass. We finally chose to take the 2:00 tour that would take us to Piazza Novana, the Pantheon, Piazza Venezia, and other stops along the way. Our guide was Filipo and he liked to add an “h” in from of words that began with a vowel. Missed at the beginning but luckily Ron and I caught on early enough. 

This bridge runs over the Tiber river and goes to a little island where there used to be mills.

This was a section of the original Piazza Novana that sits underground. There is also the Piaaza that we see with an amazing fountain with four different rivers known at that time. The Nile (Africa), the Danube (Europe), the Ganges (Asia), and the last one is Rio de la Plata, from Uruguay. (The America’s) I was sure that I took a picture of the fountain, but I can’t locate it. Hopefully we will walk by there again. 

We see the outside only of the Pantheon. We will make it there on our own to visit the inside, probably tomorrow. 

The inscription is the original and indicates the artist/architect who first constructed it in the first century BC. Like most every other building in Rome, there were modifications, add ones, or complete reconstructions whenever a new Emperor was in town or when they actually needed to be upgraded. 

We continue walking with our guide.

This fountain was only discovered around 1985 and was restored by a private individual. It’s original and is still fed by the original aqueduct from the first century AD.

Another fountain. Can’t remember the details.

Found the picture of the fountain with the four rivers. The Obelisk is an original from Egypt dating back 3400 years. 

Another original Obelisk from Egypt but the base was sculpted by Bernini, I believe. He had never seen an elephant so he sculpted what he understood from reading about elephants. Not too bad. 

We have learned that there are over nine hundred churches in Rome. Not all are still in use today. The nice thing is that all churches in this city have free entrance. The same cannot be said about most other cities we have visited in Italy. 

We finish this tour with the Piazza Venezia. In one of the buildings, we could see a balcony. This is where Mussolini would have given his many speeches during the 20’s to the 40’s. This piazza also lies in front of the Capitoline Hill, built in 1911  where we see  the sculpture of Victor Emmanuel. 

The tour ends near hear here but the funny thing is that our guide is also giving the next tour which we were interested in following. So off we go following Filipo. 7 other people from our group,decide to stay as well. Thank goodness as he wouldn’t have had anyone on his tour. There was no one else waiting at the meeting place. This tour will show us the Colosseum, the Forums, and so much more. The guide is full of info but of course our little brains are pretty saturated after a couple of hours. We hang in until the end and continue to learn more about the history of the Colosseum, called the Flavian amphitheater. Amazing history with this place. We then visit the Imperial Forums as many Emperors wanted their own: Trajan, Augustus, Nerva, and Ceasar also had one even thought he wasn’t an Emperor. Guess he had to pay big bucks, even back then, would equal 3 million Euros today to buy the land. We were toast by the end of the tour so we walked back to our place only stopping to pick up a few groceries on our way. 

Basilica di Santa Maria in Ara coeli (St, Mary of the Altar of Heaven)

Below the capitoline Hill, there was an old church. The Duomo is still standing and is probably the oldest in Italy. 

Saw this restaurateur shucking artichokes.

On our walk home we saw these nuns enjoying gelatos. So sweet. 

Back at our place for a little bit of down time. Ron gives his mom a call. Last time before he goes home on Friday. By 7:30 we decide to go out and grab a bite to eat. There are places not far from us but in the opposite direction to where we go every day. We did see a major stage where we’ve heard music in the last few days, but nothing more than what sounds like warming up. We also see other amazing buildings. We will have to go back in the daylight. There’s a restaurant at the corner and we go in. Ron starts with Bruschetta, I order a lasagna, and Ron gets a chicken Parmesan for his main. He also drinks a red beer. When our waitress asks if we want dessert Ron asks for a Tiramisu. It was time to try some after being here for 30 days. 

Ron’s beer 

My lasagna

Tiramisu 

Ron’s chicken Parmesan 

Outside of a church near us 

Staging for a concert

Great looking building near the staging. 

We go over to see if we might hear some good music, but nothing except drummer banging on a few drums. We get back to our place around 9:00. We hope to get to the Colosseum to buy tickets between 8:30-9:00 tomorrow morning to hopefully be able to visit the site. Tickets sell out very early on. Fingers crossed. 

April 29-Rome

Up this morning looking forward to doing the hop off hop on bus. We shower, have breakfast. I am so happy not to eat a croissant. I bought granola cereal and have some in my yogourt. Ron has toast, jam, and cheese. We also make sandwiches. Me with tuna and cheese and Ron has salami and cheese.  We head out around 9:15. We walk by the Colosseo where we’ll start the run. We get our ear phones and find a seat on the second level which is open-air. We want to do a full run and then stop at the Vatican station where there is a guided walk at noon. Well around 10:45 or so the rain starts. The cover is pulled over us but the rain makes its way by the open sides. We decided to go downstairs after Ron got tired of getting rained on. It was standing room only. By the time we made it to the Vatican it was pouring rain so we decided that the tour would be another day. We stay on the bus until we make it back to our start, get off and walk back to our place. We are cold and feet are wet. Ron also chose to wear shorts today so he is particularly not too comfortable. It is 2 pm and so we will wait out the rain. It is not supposed to last long. Fingers crossed.

One of the many fountains in Rome

Castel di Sant’angelo

The Tiber river that intersects Rome

Santa Maria Maggiore- Largest Catholic Marian Church in Rome. Completed in 1743 and has relics from the 12th century. Hopefully we will visit the interior. It is not far from our Airbnb.

The rain finally subsided around 4 pm so we head again. Luckily we walked toward the same church as above and the line was looking short so we joined it. They are checking bags only and we go in no problems. Wow. What a beautiful church. 

Long corridors on both sides of the church. Beautiful. 

There were small chapels at every angle

Ceiling

Priest was outside feeding the pigeons

We continued our walk when we came upon amonther church. This one was designed by Michealangelo but was modified throughout the the years and centuries. 

Thought that this was very unique and amazing. 

Sculpture by a Chinese artist of Galileo 

Entrance to the church. The original by Michealangelo

Two great stops on the way to the Spanish steps. We decided to walk the 35 minutes or so as we would see and do more. We pass by where our Hop On bus has a regular stop and a free tour of the area is just about to begin so we join the group. There are only 9 with us. The lady is a history major who teaches to senior citizens. You can tell that she loves talking about the history of her beloved city. We definitely  learn a lot from her. She talks about all of the artists who sculpted the statues that we see, the architecture, etc. We end up being with her for almost one and a half hours. She tells us to go to a very high end mall as on the bottom floor there are remnants of the city’s many aqueducts that were used in the late BC and afterwards. 

Aqueduc 

One of the many Obelisks in the city.

Spanish steps from the bottom looking up. It was raining off and on so people were sqattered. On a sunny day everyone is sitting soaking up the sunshine. We hope to return tomorrow maybe. 

On top of the Spanish steps 

Our guide

Looking down from the top of the steps. 

We start our return hoping to find a place to eat as it is already 7 pm. 

Colesseum at sundown

Ruins at sundown

We finally find a restaurant just after 8:00. I order pasta with eggplant and tomato  sauce. Ron has pasta carbonara and a plate of calamari and fries. He was very hungry. Off to bed around 10:30 or so after I spend some time trying to clean up my Facebook account. 

April 28- Naples to Rome

Had another early morning but we had to wait our turn to go for breakfast. The eating area can only accommodate 14 people and the hotel, if full, could have 60. At 8:15 we are told that we can go. It’s the usual Italian breakfast: croissants, yogourts, other sweets, bonus is that there are bananas, pears, and apples. Bad part is I forgot to pick one up on our way out. I also only noticed granola on my way out. Oh well, back in the room to prepare to walk to the train station. We are early and so we wait to see which platform we will need to go to. We board with about 15 minutes before departure. Our seats are reserved and are facing each other. We thought that we had the four seats to ourselves but then a woman sat beside me. The trip was quick as we were on an express and first stop was Roma. At one point I noticed that the train was going 298 km/hr. We arrive on time but then it takes about twenty minutes to find the tourist info center. Why do they show the signs, but hide the offices?  Very frustrating. We buy a map, they don’t give them away in this city. The woman shows us the route to walk to our Airbnb. It was only 20 minutes away. We actually find it quite quickly, not always an easy task for the two of us. One of the owners is waiting for us. He walks with us to the small apt and shows us everything that we need to know.
He told us where the supermarket and laundromat were located. Luckily bother are pretty close to here so we decide to check those places out before becoming real tourists. On our way we see a Vietnamese restaurant. I started to salivate. Veggies and no pasta and bread. We decide that we will go there for supper. On our way back from the grocery store, it is 1:30 and we are hungry, so Vietnamese food it is, now. We can’t wait any longer. It is also packed and with Asians, so it must be good. It does not disappoint. We start with spring rolls and then I have chicken, rice, and veggies, and Ron has the same except with beef. It is soooooo yummy. No camera, so no photos.

After putting things away, we are out for our first adventure in Roma. Today we begin at the Colosseum, the Forum, and the Palatine Hill.

And we thought we had seen so much Roman history in other Italian cities. This is the top of the world. 

The forum. Many leaders wanted their own forum, Ceasar, Augustus, and others.

Ceasar’s Forum as his statues are here and there

Standing with Ceasar

Ruins of a Forum

Colisseum

Another angle as it is too large to get with my camera.

We continue our walk to find Trevi Fountain. Ron gets a much better view than I do as crowds surround it. They say that you take a coin while having your back to the fountain and toss it to ensure that you will return to Rome.

Trevi Fountain 

Victor Emmanuel Monument, Italy’s first king. I will get a closer photo soon.

We tried buying tickets to visit the Colosseum, Forum, etc, but th tickets that we wanted were sold out for the day. We will try again in a couple of days. 

On our walk back to our place we decide to get information about a Hop-on-hop-off bus. We decide to get a two day pass. First day we will hit all of the hot spots around Rome, including Vatican City. (We have tickets for a visit on Thursday) The bus ticket will also get us to the Appian Way where we pay a bit more to visit the Catacombs. 

We are tired and it’s about 7:00 when we return. We will not go out again tonight. We shared a beer and some chips for supper. Our wonderful meal at lunch was filling enough to tide my over until the morning.