Tour Day 11 |
Rome |
Wednesday was a 'set the alarm' day and we were up earlier than usual for last minute packing, breakfast with two cups of Americano with steamed milk for Denise, loading up the hotel van with luggage, and the walk up the hill to the bus pickup. Our first stop of the day was at St. Mary of the Angels Basilica at the base of the hill in lower Assisi. The interior nave was decorated conservatively, but the side chapels were quite ornate with gold and large sculptures and paintings. Within the church is the tiny original church of St. Francis. This was our last day with Sauro, best motor coach driver ever, especially those curvy hills approaching Levano, and he gave each of us a small Pinocchio ornament which hangs on our Christmas tree every year. This was also a good opportunity for the RS My Way Italy tour group picture. On our way to Rome we stopped at our last autogrill for lunch and as we approached Rome, Cinzia shared a lot of information about getting around Rome and timing for our travels (leave early for the Vatican). We checked into the Aberdeen Hotel near Republica Piazza which is a transportation hub. Cinzia led us on the neighborhood orientation walk to Republica where we purchased our Roma Pass and learned where to board the metro and the train and the buses.
Colosseum |
Our Roman holiday has begun!
This afternoon's plan is Ancient Rome and Lorraine, Thomas, and Myriam joined us on the metro B line for two stops to the Colosseum. Wow! It's huge and an engineering marvel and amazing work of architecture! Even exposed to the elements, the underground passageways and stalls would require a map to navigate.
This afternoon's plan is Ancient Rome and Lorraine, Thomas, and Myriam joined us on the metro B line for two stops to the Colosseum. Wow! It's huge and an engineering marvel and amazing work of architecture! Even exposed to the elements, the underground passageways and stalls would require a map to navigate.
Roman Forum |
Clearly visible from an opening in the Colosseum is the Constantine Arch which we passed as we crossed the street to the Roman Forum - Bill's favorite! Again, the immensity of the ruins and pillars and stone debris was amazing.
Victor Emmanuel Monument |
After the Forum we were very thirsty since we had been made to empty our water bottles prior to entering the Colosseum so we searched out a cafe to rehydrate and sit before our next adventure. Then we walked back several blocks past Trajan's Column to the Victor Emmanuel Monument where the Italian Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located. This huge building is often called the wedding cake building because of it's shape and white marble stone. There must have been a million steps to climb to the level with the glass elevator that whisked us to the very top of the monument for only 7 euros - so totally worth it. This was Denise's WOW moment of the trip to Italy! The 360 degree views were fantastic and sunset was approaching. Yep, our Christmas Card picture for this year!
Tour Day 12 |
Vatican |
After a long tiring day on Wednesday we were up very early on Thursday for the metro to take us to the Vatican meet-up at the "green bar" at 7:15 for our Pristine Sistine tour by Walks of Italy. Our group of 12 was in line at the Vatican Museum door for opening time of 7:45. We passed through many beautiful rooms - we'd be back for the details later - directly to the Sistine Chapel where our eyes were drawn up to the ceiling and front wall of the long rectangular room. The side frescos are beautiful and painted by well knows artists, however the ceiling by Michelangelo depicting Genesis including God reaching down to man and the front altar wall of The Last Judgement are most marvelous. No pictures allowed but there were long benches on each side where we could sit and see it all. Because we were in one of the first groups allowed into the Chapel, we had enough room to actually see and move around in the room, but "quiet, please" for the 20 minute visit per the attentive guards. We highly recommend an early morning entrance to the Chapel or perhaps an evening or after hours tour time for which we were grateful when we passed back through the Chapel to St. Peter's at 10:15 in the shoulder to shoulder crowd.
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Museum |
We left the Sistine Chapel by the main door and passed back through the museum halls viewing the artifacts, wonderful ceilings, sculptures, paintings, frescos, floors and again, especially the ceilings. One of the most interesting is the Map Room with really well done maps from the known world on the walls. The Raphael Rooms in the private apartments were commissioned by the Pope for Raphael to paint frescos while rival Michelangelo was also working on the Sistine Chapel ceiling. The gardens can be glimpsed from the open windows along the hallways.
St. Peter's Basilica |
Our exit from the museum halls was planned to be through the shortcut door in the Sistine Chapel opened only for tour groups; however, it was closed due to some visiting dignitaries from Belgium so our tour guide used a different exit which took only a little more effort to bring us to the side of St. Peter's where the tour ended. We were allowed to enter St. Peter's through the open Holy Door or Jubilee Door which was a treat since the Pope had declared 2016 as a Jubilee Year outside the usual 25 year declaration, however, no close-up pictures were allowed of the Jubilee Door and Denise only got one from a distance. The basilica is huge and beautifully decorated with statues, columns, paintings, and carvings. We exited to the Square and fountains before leaving the Vatican City walls.
Trevi Fountain, Spanish StepsWe were tired and hungry and found a nice place for lunch, then headed back to our hotel for a brief rest. Then we're out again to the Trevi Fountain which was very crowded even in mid-afternoon. Next up was the newly restored Spanish Steps due to reopen in the next few days so pictures only, no climbing them, which was OK with us. Tonight is the group dinner for those that want to attend on this last night of the My Way Tour.
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Tour Day 13 |
Pantheon, Circus and Wanderings |
After yesterday's very long day, we slept late on the last day of the official tour however, we were staying one more day. Thursday's agenda included a bus ride to somewhere near the Pantheon - near but some wandering was also involved. Three blocks in the wrong direction took us to Trevere Garibaldi which looked like an island in the middle of the river so after pictures we doubled back past the excavations at Piazza Argentina and finally found the back of the Pantheon. It fronts a plaza with its massive columned front. The inside of this ancient Roman building is magnificent and yes, there is a hole in the top of the dome! The sun was shining today and it does rain inside but there are little drainage holes in the floor as pointed out in our Rick Steves guidebook. Formerly a place of worship to all gods, then God Almighty of the Christians, and now a place of honor for great Italians like Victor Emmanuel II and Raphael, the Pantheon's dome has been used as a model for many other domes.
Our next adventure was one involving several busses as we made our way to Circus Maximus which Denise thought looked like an extra long soccer field but think about the Ben Hur chariot race. Lunch was nearby in the shadow of the palace ruins of Palantine Hill.
Our next adventure was one involving several busses as we made our way to Circus Maximus which Denise thought looked like an extra long soccer field but think about the Ben Hur chariot race. Lunch was nearby in the shadow of the palace ruins of Palantine Hill.
After resting and ordering the taxi for 5:45 am tomorrow morning (a 45 minute ride and 3 hours before the flight) - not looking forward to that early of a start - and chatting with family on the phone, Denise wanted to explore again, so we walked to the Republica Piazza and Santa Maria degli Angeli Church. It was beautiful, built from the Roman baths, with a garden and cloister behind the church. We could also see the ruins of the Roman baths and checked out the small museum attached to the church. For dinner we found a trattoria near Republica downstairs with good food and good prices and of course, topped our night off with gelato from a very unique shop with a VW where the cash register was "in" the VW. Based on all our gelato taste testings - at least once every day - this was second only to Cortona - yummy!
Food in Rome
Interestingly the food we ate in Rome was good maybe not the best in Italy, but it was a sampling of the different parts of Italy with pasta, pizza, veal, prosciutto, and gelato. The gelato was always eaten before we thought to snap a picture.