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5/18/19:
Arrival Day
We left our
Air B&B and walked though the narrow streets (row 1 left) to the Piazza Farnese,
which was an open air food market. We bought pizza slices for lunch from the
Forno Campo de' Fiori. The pizza slices were served cold and wrapped in paper.
We explored the market, looking at the variety of past, fruits, vegetables and
cheeses. There was one table selling wines and liquors (row 1 center).
We walked back to the Air B&B, but they were still working on the shower.
We left the Air B&B, heading for the Parthenon. We passed the Largo Argentina
(row 1 right), which was an excavation of 4 temples. This excavation was also a
feral cat sanctuary. Several cats were seen laying in the sun.
We continued walking North,
passed the Elephant obelisk, and saw the round dome of the Pantheon (row 2
left). The Pantheon was a roman temple (row 2 center) dedicated to all the gods
(one-stop worshiping?), but later turned into a Christian Church consecrated to
St. Mary and the Martyrs (row 2 right). In front of the Pantheon was the
fanciful Fontana del Pantheon (row 3 left). We walked up the street and found
the Church of St. Louis of the French (row 3 center & right). We
then walked back to the fountain, and ate dinner at Napoletano's Pantheon.
We walked back to the Elephant obelisk (row 4 left) and went inside the Basilica
Maria Sopra Minerva (row 4 center & right). Liz wanted to walk to the Trevi
Fountain (row 5 left), which was surrounded by a crowd of people. Across the
street was the Chruch of Santi Vincenzo e Anastasio (row 5 center & right) and
we went in. We then decided to walk to the Spanish Steps. We walked to the
Palazzo del Quirinale (row 6) which had steps, but this was one of the
residences of the Italian President. We then walked back to the Air B&B.
The step counter on the cell phone showed we walked 5 miles on our first day.
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5/19/19:
The Vatican
We woke early
to make the 8 am mass at St. Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.
This is one of the four Papal Major Basilicas.
After a 20 minute walk, we found ourselves
at a closed entrance, and had to walk around the block to get to the main
entrance. The guards did not allow metal water bottles, and Liz had to throw her's out. Once inside the Piazza San Pietro (row 1 left), we found the short
line for folks going to mass, and made our way inside the Basilica of St. Peter.
We walked all the way back to the Chapel of the Chair (row 1 center) where we
observed mass in Italian. After mass, we looked around (row 1 right, row 2
left), and took the elevator up to the dome. We did not walk the narrow
steps to the top of the dome, but went out on the terrace (row 2 center).
After leaving the Vatican, we stopped for coffee and Liz found a place where
photographers were taking pictures of the dome's reflection in the puddle.
We walked up the street and came to the Castel Sant'Angelo (row 3 left). We
decide right there to pay the fee and walk insides. We saw the usual items found
in castles, including amour, cannons, and medieval weapons. From the balcony, we
had a very nice view of Rome (row 3 center & right, photo at top of this web
page). On the walk back to our Air B&B, we saw a random church, Santa Maria in
Vallicella (row 4) We passed through the Piazza Farnese. At the liquor table, a
man, who appeared to be Pakistani gave samples, and we bought a bottle of Lemon
Cello and Almond Cream.
Later that
afternoon, we crossed the bridge over the River Tiber into Trastevere. We
visited the church of Saint Cecilia in Trastevere (row 5) and the Basilica Our
Lady in Trastevere (row 6, row 7 left). We ate dinner at La Botticella
(row 7 center) where I had the best lasagna of my life. We walked back
over the River Tiber (row 7 right). Our cell phone step counter showed that we
walked 11 miles that day. (row 5 left attribution: User: Gobbler at wikivoyage
shared [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)])
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5/20/19:
The Colosseum
We woke up early and made the 30
minute walk to the Oppio Cafe to meet our Context Tour guide. On the
way, we passed by the Altare della Patria (row 1 left) and excavation of
the Forum of Augustus (row 1 center). As we arrived, we viewed the
Arch of Constantine (row 1 right) and the outside of the Colosseum (row
2 left & center). We met our guide and tour group and made our way
inside the Colosseum. Climbing steep stairs, we way displays of
artifacts on the second level (row 2 right). Then, into the arena (row
3) where the structure under the stage was visible. After photos of the
Colosseum were take, we left the structure and crossed the street to
enter Palatine Hill (row 4 left & center). This was the location of the
grand residence of Emperor Nero, Unfortunately, There were excavations
of walls, which we were told were originally covered with marble. I
think the marble ended up in the basilicas and churches. Over the hill,
we came to the Roman Forum (row 4 right). While it continued to rain, we
walked thought the forum.
Leaving the forum, Liz and I
decided it was time to obtain a 7 day bus pass. Our Context tour guide
told us we could get it at some of the subway stations. We walked in the
rain up Via Cavour until we reached the Cavour Metro station. We hoped
to find a person in a windowed booth who spoke English and could sell us
the bus tickets. No such luck. We found kiosk machines where
people were buying tickets. We tried one machine, but it didn't work.
The adjacent machine took our Euros and give us the 7-day tickets.
They were 24 euro each, but we figured we would be able to use it enough
to make it worth it. We used it first on the Metro to get to the Termini Station, and from there
Google Maps found a bus to get us near our Air B&B. We
asked We
had planned a Taste of Rome Sunset Bike Tour involving riding around and
eating street food, but the forecast showed a strong possibility of
rain. We discussed this through several texts, and the hosts decided it
would be best to cancel and refund our money. So instead, we took a long
bus ride to visit the Basilica of St Pauls Ouside the Walls (row 5), the
second of the four Papal Major Basilicas.
Then, we returned to Trastevere
for dinner at a
restaurant which reminded me of an American pizzeria. Our cell
phones showed that we walked 11 miles that day.
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5/21/19:
Galleria Borghese & Pasta Making
We again woke up early to get to the Galleria
Borghese (row 1 left), as we had tickets to view the museum from 9:00 am
to 11:00 am. We were glad to have the bus pass, as it would have
been a 42 minute walk. We had an English speaking guide who talked about
the sculptures of Bernini and others along with numerous paintings.
Unfortunately, there was a visiting art collection of metal sheets with
patterns of holes in them which resulted in photography inside the
museum to be forbidden. After the museum, we made our way to the
Basilica St. Mary Major (row 1 center & right, row 2), the
third of the four Papal Major Basilicas. We then found lunch in a
pizzeria. It seems that pizza is served at room temperature, which I
thought was a disadvantage. After lunch, we took the bus to the
Basilica Holy Cross in Jerusalem, but we could not find a way in. We
took a long walk around the block looking for another entrance, which we
did not find. We went into an adjacent hotel and found that the church
was closed until later in the afternoon. We did not have enough time to
wait for this and we walked to the metro station and took the metro to
the Spagna Metro stop. This let us out by the Barcaccia Fountain
(row 3 left) and the Spanish Steps (row 3 center & right) which we
walked up. We walked several blocks to the Bishops’ Office for
United States Visitors to the Vatican to get tickets and a briefing
about our Papa audience the next day. As we walked back, we
checked out a random church, the Church San Marcello al Corso (row 4).
That evening, we attended a Pasta Making
Class through Walks of Italy. After meeting at the
Piazza Farnese, we walked a few blocks and up 5 flights of steps to the
uppermost apartment. Our class was held another flight higher on
rooftop. The class started with a glass of wine, after which the two
cooking instructors had us moisten our flour with egg and kneed the
dough. Once kneaded to our instructor's satisfaction, we used a machine
to flatten the dough, then cut out little raviolis. The instructors took
them aside to cook them in boiling water. Another small box with piano
wire was used to cut the flattened dough into fettuccini strips, which
also were cooked. Then the group ate, drank wine, and talked,
enjoying each other's company and the food. Kneeing egg into the dough
made the fettuccini on a whole new level.
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5/22/19:
The Pope's Blessing
We arrived early at St. Peter's
Square for the mass audience with the Pope Frances. We shared our time
with the pope with several thousand other people. After the Pope
arrived, the sat in a chair on the back of the pope-mobile and was
driven around pathways through the crowd (row 1 left). People
would hold up their babies for the Pope to kiss. Liz and I never got to
meet Pope Frances personally. We had heard that the Pope personally
talked to newlyweds, but Liz didn't bring her bridal veil. I did get a
close picture of the pope has he drove by (row 1 center). After
listening to about 30 minutes of greetings to the pope by several groups
and a mini sermon from the pope in Italian, we got the Pope's blessing
(row 1 right).
We then took public
transportation to the Basilica St John Lateran, which was the fourth of
the Major Papal Basilicas (row 2). I found this to be the most
impressive church outside of St. Peters. We then took the tram to the
Basilica San Clemente, but it was closed for lunch. We found something
to eat and we ate it in the Park Tombs of Via Latina with the Colessuem
in the background (row 3 left). We returned to the Basilica
San Clemente (row 3 center & right). Photographs were not allowed
inside, but this 12th century church was the least ornate of all the
churches we saw in Rome. We paid the fee to explore the excavations, and
walked one level down to find ourselves inside a 4th century church.
Another level down was 2nd-century pagan temple and a 1st-century Roman
house with a subterranean river running under it.
We took the tram back to the
Basilica St John Lateran and walked to an adjacent building containing
the Scala Sancta, which, according to tradition are the steps leading up
to the praetorium of Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem on which Jesus Christ
stepped on his way to trial. They were brought to Rome by St. Helena in
the fourth century. Photography was not permitted. There were many
pilgrims slowly walking up the Holy Stairs on their knees. Liz and I
walked up one of the 3 replica stairs. We then took the tram to the
Basilica Holy Cross in Jerusalem (row 4 left & center). Photographs were
not allowed inside the Chapel of Relics, but we were able to view the
fragments of the cross, one of the nails used in the crucifixion, two of
the thorns in the crown of thorns, and the Titulus Crucis- the
wooden tablet of the Cross. We then returned back to our Air B&B and
went to dinner at the Sora Margaurite (row 4 right).
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5/23/19:
Positano & Pompay
We took an
early bus ride to the Piazza della Repubblica to meet our 7:00 am Walks
of Italy Pompeii Tour with Amalfi Coast Drive. From there, we rode a
small tour bus for 2 1/2 hours over the Italian highway to Naples, then
on a winding road along the beautiful Amalfi We passed by Serrento
(row 1 left) and then onward to the costal town of Positano (row 1
center & right). Positano was very much a vertical town, and Liz and I
walked down to the Mediterranean before the found a nice restaurant to
eat lunch. We then went shopping, and found a ceramic bowl with the
Positano lemon themes. Then back onto the tour bus which took us to
Pompey. Pompay was an amazing excavation of a living city buried
under volcanic lava and ash (row 2 & 3). We walked along the streets,
seeing homes, stores, temples, baths, and even a brothel. Before
leaving, Liz bought a hugh edible Lemon. We rode back to Rome, and our
guide recommended getting dinner at the Mercato Centrale in the Termini
Station. This was a fabulous food court, we both found good dinners to
eat.
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5/24/19:
The Catacombs
Our Air B&B was in the Jewish
Ghetto section of Rome, so we decided to tour the nearby Synagogue and museum
(row 1). We then took the long bus ride to the Apian Way where the
Catacombs of St Callixtus was located (row 2 left). A modern day monk took us
down into the catacombs and gave us a tour, but photographs were now permitted.
We then looked at the nearby Church St Sebastian (row 2 center & right). By this
time, it was late afternoon, and we took the bus and metro back to the Termini
Station where we could get a quick dinner in the Mercato Centrale. The Metro
took use back to the Vatican, where we met our Context Tour guide for our
Vatican museum evening tour. After a quick line, we were inside the museum
(row 3 left) and the guide gave us an explanation of what to look for in the
Sistine Chapel. We walked down corridors of countless objects of art (row 3
center), and through rooms painted by Raphael (row 3 right). Inside in
Sistine Chapel, talking and photography were not allowed. We stood staring
at Michelangelo's paintings on the rounded ceiling above. We walked back
to the Air B&B, looking for lighted fountains. We passed by the Barcaccia
Fountain at the bottom of the Spanish Steps, the Trevi Fountain (row 4 left),
the Turtle Fountain (row 4 center), and the Fontana Cairoli (row 4 right).
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5/25/19:
The 2- Capitoline Museum
On our walk to the Capitoline Museum, we
stopped by the Church of St Maria in Monticelli (row 1). It was a 15 minute walk
to the Capitoline Museum (row 2 left). In the courtyard we found the large
statues of Emperor Constantine (row 2 center & right). There were three floors
of numerous art objects to explore. We found the famous sculptures of the Boy
with Thorn (row 3 left), the Capitoline Wolf (row 3 center), and The Lion
Attacking a Horse (row 3 right). On the walk back, we stopped by the church of
Santa Maria in Portico in Campitelli (row 4). We went back to the Basilica Maria
Sopra Minerva for 4 pm mass in Italian. Then, we took the tram back to Traverse
and found a restaurant for our last dinner in Rome.
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