As No 44 said, “Rome is an interesting city”. I am glad we decided to stay for a full week as I think that this is the kind of place that needs to be explored and then judged. A day or 2 would certainly not be sufficient! We have been exploring for 3 days and we have covered a lot of miles and a lot of sights and sites. We have been hot and sweaty and warm and rained upon. We have not had anything on except for summer clothes – around us we have seen ugg boots, gum boots, overcoats, leather coats, woolly coats, cotton coats, scarves of the winter variety, fleecies, warm hats, sloppy joes, multiple layers and the occasional gloves. I wonder what will happen in the winter?
We have eaten out and cooked our own meals in our little kitchen.
I am a bit surprised at the lack of variety of vegetables and spices in the supermarket. It is also almost impossible to buy any grainy bread. However there are lots of breadsticks, biscuits and other similar items. The price of seafood is horrendous - I guess the Mediterranean has been fished out. Tonight we have a carton of Italian wine – 1 litre for 1.49 Euro……..and it is quite nice.
We are 3 stops from the Vatican and we have explored parts of it very well. We thought that Sunday would be an appropriate day for our first visit. They were showing a recording of the Pope saying mass in the square and the large screens and sound systems were excellent. We then decided that we would check out the location of the Museum and then circumnavigate the city walls – that was quite a walk as it is a large place and it was hot. The path is very narrow in spots and it was a bit precarious rounding corners. I don’t think a lot of people bother but I thought it was fun! We recovered by having lunch on the main roadway leading up to St Peter’s – we had a glass of vino and then decided a second one would be in order! (we spent some of this time watching the street vendors disappearing and then reappearing depending on where the authorities were)
We have spent hours in the Colosseum, we have clambered all over the Palatine Hill and we have investigated the Forum. We walked miles along the Tiber (well – it felt like miles), we raced along the Circus Maximus, we have “done” the Spanish Steps and the Pantheon, sat at the Trevi Fountain and thrown the money in and seen many brides. We have also seen lots of beggars and accordion players in the trains and in the streets and lots of illegal street vendors. We have met a retired clergyman and his wife who were staying in a convent and we had a good chat. Apparently convents are good places to stay. Other places we have visited include the Via Veneto, the Hard Rock, every famous and expensive hotel in the city (even if we didn’t go in), the Palazzo Borghese, the Temple Adriano, the Piazza Navona where there were lots of artists and caricaturists, Palazzo Madama (lots of guns including a semi automatic which felt like it was pointed at me) and looked at the exterior of the Castel Sant Angelo (we will go in if we have time later in the week).
We have seen a centurion using his mobile phone – perhaps he wasn’t real.
We have formulated our theory that even if the light is red at a pedestrian crossing/intersection no one stops unless they are going to hit you.
We have gained much knowledge about parking – I wonder if we should apply that knowledge back in Australia…….perhaps not.
Tomorrow? – who knows – we may have a little rest!
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