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.